[00:00:00] And welcome back to our weekly webinar series that occurs here on our Facebook page every Friday at noon. Today we have with us, City Councilor Jack Hanson, and he's going to be talking about Covid-19 and climate change. Jack Hanson is also the leader for STVT's Advocacy and Outreach, and he also is the coordinator of the STVT interns. Jack, thank you so much for being here.

[00:00:27] Yeah, thanks for having me. I've been watching every week and I'm excited to be a part of it now.

[00:00:33] Yeah. Definitely. To start off, I would just love to ask you a little bit about, if you could tell everyone  a little bit about yourself and how you became so involved in advocacy work and environmental related issues.

[00:00:47] Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I grew up in Evanston, Illinois, right next to Chicago. And I first started getting really concerned about climate change and getting really involved in high school. And I had the opportunity as part of a senior project in high school to really dig deeper on climate change and how I could make a difference on it. And so through that project, I did a lot of kind of behavior change, things like riding my bike to school and installing a rain barrel at my parents house and things like that, and also got involved in local advocacy groups and organizations working on the issue. So I got to get a little bit involved in high school. And then when I started college, I came to UVM and majored in environmental studies. So that's when I got to learn a lot more about it and really dove in a lot deeper with advocacy. So the divestment fossil fuel divestment effort at UVM was a huge part of what I spent my time on. And also, of course, you know, with the environmental major, just learning more about the issue, but getting involved right off the bat from freshman year at UVM and on. And then I graduated in 2016. And my first my first job out of college. Well, my last semester of school, I worked on the Bernie Sanders campaign. So I kind of started to get involved from a political angle, but again, really focused on how we could use politics to influence climate issues.

[00:02:29] And my first job out after I graduated in May of 2016 was working for State Senator Chris Pearson and managing his campaign for state Senate. So that kind of tied me into Vermont state politics. And from there, I've worked in different advocacy organizations for a while at Green Mountain Power, the electric utility. And now working with Sustainable Transportation Vermont.

[00:02:58] And in terms of city council, I've gotten involved with local politics as well and decided to run for city council at the end of 2018 and was elected in March of twenty nineteen.

[00:03:15] So I've been doing that for a little over a year and I've been in this role at STVT since June or July of last year. So almost a year on that as well. So, yeah, that's that's a bit about about me and kind of how I got here and what some of my work around climate change has been. I guess maybe to answer your question and why and why I got involved. I think in high school. In high school, I remember reading this Onion article about how climate change or global warming might still be an issue. Right. Because in the mid 2000'S, when Inconvenient Truth came out, Al Gore documentary, there was a huge focus on climate change.

[00:04:03] And at least in the US and the focus that had never really been seen before that popped up, but then it faded back into the background behind other issues.

[00:04:16] So this Onion article was basically like, yeah, this still actually might be an issue.

[00:04:21] It still might be something worth paying attention to and working on. Given that the entire planet is at stake here and our ability to do this.

[00:04:31] So that was a wakeup call for me because it reminded me that I had kind of forgotten about it and seemed like everyone else had kind of forgotten about it.

[00:04:38] And, you know, the only option is to step up and try to work on it.

[00:04:44] So that was a wake up call for me and got me motivated just realizing that it wasn't happening.

[00:04:50] And so I had to jump into action.

[00:04:54] Definitely. Well, I'm so excited to hear more about what you're doing in Burlington during this time and just all the efforts you've made. Yes.

[00:05:06] Great. OK. Yeah. So I'll kick it off. So I wrote an article for Sustainable Transportation Vermont, about a month ago at the beginning of April that talked a little bit about this topic of, you know, the relationship between Covid-19 and the climate crisis. And specifically, I took a transportation lens with that. So I'll talk a little bit about that and kind of some of the immediate impacts and what we're seeing, the changes we're seeing in society and how they relate to the climate crisis.

[00:05:38] But I'm also going to spend some time just thinking, bigger picture thinking at a higher level what this moment means and how hopefully we can leverage the change that we're seeing into building a more sustainable and just society going forward. I think that is a very real opportunity as dark as this pandemic is, I think it does actually present a huge opportunity to move in a better direction, but it's only if we take it if we make that happen.

[00:06:11] So, yeah, immediately. There's a lot of interesting things happening on the kind of front. I just read an article the other day about how solar production right now this isn't transportation, obviously, but solar production is breaking records right now. So I'm not I'm not talking about new solar coming online, but the existing solar that we have is producing more electricity than it ever has before. And that's because the air is so much clearer, it's so much cleaner, there's so much less particulate matter. So not only the radiation is able to reach the panels more effectively, but also the panels themselves are cleaner. They're not accumulating debris.

[00:06:59] And that combined with kind of the warm not the one that kind of cool moderate spring weather and the sunny days is meaning that we're just seeing records broken over and over again for production. And that's a feedback loop, right.

[00:07:14] Because the more clean energy that the solar produces, the more it is actually displacing coal and other sources of energy production, which leads to cleaner air, which then causes it to produce even more. So that's kind of a bright spot that I want to highlight at the beginning.

[00:07:36] But yeah, something really interesting that's happening is as we address Coronavirus, we are creating these shifts that have all sorts of other effects.

[00:07:48] So I was just reading a study published in The Lancet that was published on Wednesday, taking a comprehensive look at mortality in China. So you can kind of pull up and this has been talked about a little bit, but it seems like this study now that some more time has passed and was able to really look back at it and clear out some of the some of the other factors and separate those out and really identify the exact differential in mortality specifically because of the changes in transportation in China. So they looked at nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. And the article talks about how those two are mostly driven by transportation and the drop that they're looking at. They're specifically looking at the drop that occurred because of travel bans and stay at home orders and because of economic shutdown and the reduction in traffic and pollution from that.

[00:08:56] So between nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, there were over twelve thousand

[00:09:05] avoided deaths that would have occurred.

[00:09:09] With those being the primary cause, twelve thousand avoided deaths because of that and the covid death count in China is about four thousand six hundred. So address in addressing Covid, China's response actually saved three times as many lives. Due to respiratory issues, then actually died due to covid, their response also, of course, saved a huge number of lives due to Covid itself because they curtailed the spread of the virus. But this whole other area that wasn't the focus, and wasn't what we were trying to address, saved even more lives. So it's really interesting and it highlights how deadly the status quo is and how deadly our transportation system is and I will kind of return to this, but I think there's an irony in the fact that with Covid it's all about let's save lives, let's do what it takes to save lives. But when it comes to these more. Status quo issues. We don't necessarily. We don't take that approach of saving lives, and clearly if we did it, we would. So there's a quote in the article, "our findings show that the substantial human health benefits related to cardiovascular disease, morbidity and mortality that can be achieved when aggressive control measures for air pollution are taken to reduce emissions from vehicles such as through climate mitigation related traffic restrictions."

[00:10:40] So it brings up the point that if we got serious about climate change and use that to change our transportation system, there would be this side effect of immediately huge numbers of lives saved because of the immediate pollution. So, yeah, the transportation system is very deadly, and that's what I talked about in my article and it's not specific to China.

[00:11:08] This is globaly and the US is one of the worst here in the US because like China, we're extremely car dependent in the US.

[00:11:17] So there was an interesting kind of infographic from The New York Times that that shows how emissions from automobiles have consistently been rising in the US. So, Brianna, if you could pull that one up and just show.

[00:11:37] You can  move around to different areas of the US, different metro areas and see those right. Those increases in emissions. So we're out in California here. And what is that?

[00:11:49] Yes, 16 percent increase, but shift over to the East Coast. Brianna, maybe go to the Boston area, New York.

[00:12:00] So the point being, we're going in the wrong direction and these emission, these rises in emissions, they coincide obviously with the pollution as well. So let me just throw out a couple.

[00:12:12] Couple numbers. So outdoor air pollution, not just from transportation but overall kills 4.2 million people annually.

[00:12:22] It's one of the leading causes of death globaly.

[00:12:26] Automobile collisions kill one point three five million people annually and they injure an additional 20 to 50 million. And that so that doesn't even capture the climate impacts. That doesn't even capture the health impacts because car dependency drives things like obesity and heart disease because it reduces exercise. So and even, you know, the health impacts that the stress of driving and of commuting that people experience the road rage. These have real health impacts. These actually shorten lifespans. Sitting in traffic shortens your lifespan. This has been shown. So there's all sorts of things that we don't even measure beyond the millions and millions of deaths that we do measure each year. But because it's kind of baked into the status quo, we don't view it as a health crisis with Covid, so we don't view it like covid if Oh, my God, we have to, we could prevent millions of deaths If we if we shifted these systems. That's very true. These are totally avoidable deaths, but we don't view it the same. What I brought up in the article is there's a there's a reason for that. There's kind of an insidious reason for that, which is thatthe transportation system it creates enormous profits.

[00:13:52] So the article highlights that you look at the largest corporations and the most profitable corporations in the world. Oil and car companies are right there. They dominate.

[00:14:04] So this transportation system is amazing for those on top and for those who profit from that. So it doesn't I mean, sure, there may be some quote unquote winners from the Covid pandemic, but for the most part, it's a threat to everyone. And there's not these huge winners like there are in transportation.

[00:14:24] So there's not much of a reason to try to

[00:14:30] not combat it. So that's a key difference.

[00:14:34] So, yeah, there are these immediate impacts of covid, right, where you know, I mentioned some of the pollution reductions and in terms of emissions,

[00:14:43] greenhouse gas emissions.

[00:14:45] This year is going to be the biggest drop that we've ever recorded from one year to the next.  I've seen, you know, the estimates that I've seen are around 8 percent reduction potentially, which is meaningful for sure. It's meaningful. But you know, if we don't create systemic change, those numbers will simply increase, continue to increase once the economy reopens. So while it is really important and meaningful that we've seen that drop, we have to actually address the drivers of emissions. We have to actually change structures and change systems. And we really this is an opportunity to pivot and to do that. And what I highlighted in my article is that the beautiful thing about it is responding to the climate crisis and to our transportation health crisis, it doesn't require us to, you know, shut down the economy and put, you know, a third of the country out of work and disrupt everyone's lives and prevent people from being together and, you know, social distancing and it's not about sacrificing and curtailing impact negatively impacting people, it's actually in responding to these crises, we're actually going to make society better. We're gonna transform the economy into a more regenerative and sustainable and clean economy and just economy. So that's that's the amazing thing is, is we can address these things and save these lives while making things better for everyone except maybe those at the top. As I mentioned, but for the vast majority of us, making things better. So just to talk about. I don't want to go too long. So I'll try to move along here just to talk about a couple of specific changes that we're seeing that I think open up opportunities. So there's a big rise in walking and biking that we're seeing during covid and a lot of that is for health reasons right? People want to get outside. It's a way to get outside while maintaining social distancing,

[00:17:01] it's a way to get exercise, get fresh air at a time when a lot of us are cooped up at home every day. But I do think that that can translate into people walking and biking to get around. I really do think that and in fact, we're actually seeing cities all over the place improving walkability and bikeability in response to this surge. So here in Burlington and all over the place, you're seeing, you know, streets getting shut down to car travel to open it up so that people can walk and bike while maintaining that distance and even just use that space and gather in neighborhoods and be outside and sitting six feet apart and interacting.

[00:17:45] So  I really like it, the fact that we're questioning how do we actually want to use public space? This is, you know, advocates in transportation, sustainable transportation have been pushing so hard for so long. Let's not just use the vast majority of our public space for cars. Let's actually use it for people and for people to get around and enjoy the outdoors and active transportation and prioritize safety. And how over cars being able to move around quickly in cars, being able to park conveniently. So in Burlington, yeah. You're seeing a lot of this. And in some cities they're making these changes permanent.

[00:18:28] They're closing streets through traffic permanently. You're seeing parklet's open up more. So converting a parking space to outdoor seating outdoor seating for businesses. This is something that Burlington is doing.

[00:18:42] This is something that other major cities are doing so that businesses can kind of get back going and allow people to social distance more easily. So that's an opportunity. You know, these are things that are without covid that are already beneficial. And so I think Covid's making them happen really quickly. And hopefully we can maintain that as people realize that. That these things are beneficial. Another example working from home, we had, you know, you hosted John Slason a few weeks ago for this webinar series. He talked about how teleworking could potentially triple or even more beyond Covid. So it's shown that. You know, a lot of people who were enduring a commute every day that they didn't enjoy can now work from the comfort of their own home. Skip that commute, have an hour or two extra a day. And yeah  a lot of people, like working from home better and now they realize that they can. And so I think a lot of people are going to continue to do that. Twitter just announced that permanently any employees who want to work from home are able to do so.

[00:19:54] Twitter and that's a huge, huge company.

[00:19:57] So a lot of companies are taking these steps permanently. Fare free transit. That's something that's been discussed in Vermont.

[00:20:04] It was enacted like immediately when Covid hit and has continued and will probably continue for some time. There's potential that in Vermont at least, maybe we can make that permanent.

[00:20:17] And we should push for that, I think, to try to make that permanent fare free transit.

[00:20:23] I think transit overall is going to suffer. To be honest, you know that it is going to suffer due to covid for many years, maybe permanently. But the fare free aspect is a positive. Similar to how transit will likely suffer due to fears of the spread of disease.

[00:20:43] I think air travel as well. And that's really positive. Air travel, I wrote an article, for STVT about it, but it's a growing problem. It's incredibly carbon intensive and it's rising pretty dramatically. And we don't have great, great technology to clean it up at this point. So the drop in air travel, especially international air travel, is a positive for climate.

[00:21:11] There's gonna be a potential drop in Uber and LYft, which have been really destructive. They're part of what has driven US cities to increase emissions. As Uber and Lyft have displaced transit, it's displaced, walking and biking.

[00:21:26] So, yeah, that's a positive. A lot of conferences and events are switching over to remote, just remote in general. Realizing that we don't have to make people travel long distances for things that can be done on a computer anyways.

[00:21:45] So, yeah, those are some of the tangible things I can point to that have changed and I think that it could continue to change. But I want to end by speaking more on the bigger picture, what the changes that we could get out of this that could be lasting and really meaningful. So one is just listening to scientists. Right. And taking it seriously. So that's what has happened in Covid that has not happened and climate change, which is, we as individuals down to the individual level, but also governments at every level and institutions are actually taking the scientists warnings seriously and responding urgently and dramatically in response to that, believing them and and acting differently accordingly. And that's really helpful. That shows that if we do trust it and take it seriously and act on it we actually can make swift changes and we can address a problem. Obviously, there's been you know, it hasn't been perfect. There's been bungled responses. But by and large, it's has been a dramatic response driven by you know, the alarm bells that have been raised by scientists, again, I'm not saying it's been great. It could have been better. But when you compare it to climate change, where scientists have just been completely ignored for decades and we haven't curtailed emissions at all. It's a big it's a big difference to change society in a month or two due to scientists  warnings. And then, yeah, I mentioned this, but governments at all levels stepping up, playing a role. And that's really up to us to push them and make them do that. Right? So I think it's on us to be really engaged in the various communities we're part of. So it's governments, local, state, federal are being involved in that aspect. But it's also pushing our employers and organizing, you know, with our coworkers. Our schools, our families, even our faith communities, and pushing change in all of being involved and engaged in those various communities and pushing change within them. And then also getting involved specifically in organizations that are trying to create these societal changes.

[00:24:05] So climate and I think of ones like 350 or Extinction Rebellion, Sierra Club, Sunrise Movement, there's political groups like DSA in Vermont.

[00:24:18] You have

[00:24:20] things like rights and democracy and VPIRG and others, so there's so many groups to tap in to that are pushing for these larger scale changes. I think it's really important that we engage in that and get involved. Another thing I think and I'll wrap up in the next few minutes here.

[00:24:39] Prioritizing the most vulnerable. I think that's been,

[00:24:46] that's been a focus in this pandemic and not as not as much as it should be by any means, and this hasn't necessarily worked out this way, but in terms of the mentality around it, the mentality is especially among young people and my peers, is that we're not necessarily that scared of contracting Covid and what it would do to us. But we know that the more we spread around and interact with people, we're putting elderly people at risk. We're putting immunocompromised people at risk.

[00:25:17] So for a lot of young people, that's kind of what's driving the behavior change is the knowledge that there are you know while we might not be at risk, there are folks who are more vulnerable to the pandemic that we want to protect. So that's similarly with climate change. Right. Like a lot of us are living in places that aren't getting hammered by climate change. But right now, there are parts of the world where it's already an absolute disaster and an existential crisis. And people's homes are getting wiped away. And there's islands that are going underwater. So we need to remember that and remember that our actions and what we do impacts them and put them at risk and on the frontlines right away.

[00:25:59] And so even if we're not getting hit, we have to make that change. So that's a cultural shift and a priority shift for us as individuals. And again, pushing our institutions to do the same.

[00:26:12] I think understanding that we play a role. Like I said with climate change, a lot of people turn away from it. They say it's too big. What can I possibly do? I'm not going to make a dent in that. But with Corona, which is equally this global situation, that is out of any one of our control. But  individuals are stepping up and saying, wow, yeah, me staying at home isn't going to be the make or break in the coronavirus pandemic, but I at least need to play my part right? And that's what we need to see with climate change. Everyone stepping up and playing that part.

[00:26:49] And then to kind of bring it to the bigger picture. We do have to talk about the economy. Right? We have to talk about things like the Green New Deal. We have an economy that is inherently unsustainable. This global capitalism that relies on growth, that drives inequality. We have to talk about that and we have to change that. You can't you know, we might think it's impossible to change, but it's not. And in fact, it has to change, because what truly is impossible to change is physics and the laws of physics. And you simply can't have endless growth on a finite planet. So the economy will change. It has to change. And we need to start talking about that. And if we don't change it it will be forced to change by environmental collapse. But the goal here is that we choose to make those changes ahead of that. And we can do it. We can absolutely do it. And the resources, money that it takes are very small compared to what disaster cleanup would be. Right? Like during this pandemic, you're seeing trillions of dollars pumped into the response. Think about that with time. If you pump in trillions now, you can. In many ways solve the problem vs. responding to huge climactic and weather events that are going to cost even more. So, yeah, I think focusing on on the Green New Deal and tying together a number theselarger issues to create that transformative change in our societies is really what we need to push on and I talked at the beginning about this feedback loop with solar. I think one of the scariest things about climate change is the feedback loops. Right? So the more we melt, the more we melt ice in the Arctic. You're losing a reflective white reflective surface, which makes it even which drives global warming even further because you're shifting a white surface to a dark blue. That's going to absorb heat and it drives the cycle more. Same thing with permafrost, where as this frozen soil or permafrost is released as it pours out, there's all this trapped nothing that goes up further, driving the cycle, feeding back into itself. But what I think is really hopeful is there's also these positive there's these positive feedback loops in a better direction as well.

[00:29:25] The solar example I gave, I think, you know, things around health care and clean communities that allows people to having cleaner air, allows people to get out more, interact more with their communities. Education, you know, if we make higher education free, you have a more educated population. You have people who aren't saddled in debt, who therefore can then pursue what they believe in and what they want to pursue rather than being forced to work a job to pay off that debt. So our transportation systems,

[00:29:57] I'll end it with this, there's feedback loops there where if you create a bike lane, more people will bike because more people feel safe.

[00:30:05] If More people bike, that's more people demanding additional bike infrastructure and so on and so forth. It feeds back into itself. So I should wrap up, but I think just to close, I think there are reasons to be hopeful. This is our opportunity to build out of this huge sea shift in this historic moment to build a better society.

[00:30:26] But that's not going to just happen on its own.

[00:30:28] And that's really up to us to to build that and to make it happen. So that's my call to action.

[00:30:34] Thank you so much for that presentation. We have a couple of questions. First one is from Richard Watts, the co-founder of Sustainable Transportation Vermont and he asks, What are some public policies that can be done to take advantage of this moment and allow us to come out being less dependent?

[00:30:54] Yeah, I mean, I mentioned a couple that are happening. A lot of them on the local level, right? We're changing public space. So not just having parking spaces used for cars, but actually opening up for businesses to use them for outdoor seating and opening up streets for people to walk and bike.

[00:31:15] So those are some of them. But I think on a larger level. You know, we should be shifting subsidies away from oil and car infrastructure and towards clean energy.

[00:31:28] Because again, if we truly care about public health and saving lives and that's the priority, we should funnel resources accordingly. So as we're doing for Covid, take that same approach. So yeah, those are just some examples. I think some things aren't necessarily covid related, but that are happening like in Burlington, we're pushing for new developments rather than forcing them to build a certain amount of parking spaces, instead forcing them to promote sustainable transportation among their tenants and among their residents and businesses living there. So that could be a big shift as well going forward in terms of shifting to policy.

[00:32:11] But yeah, overall, Richard, you always highlight the fact that most of the money, most of the public money, almost all of that goes towards car infrastructure. So that's the biggest thing is shifting where we direct resources towards the modes of transportation that we want to encourage.

[00:32:29] OK. Going back to Covid's impact on the economy. Bruce Lerman mentions the federal programs to deal with economic impact now total over four trillion dollars. Little if any of it is directed to all kinds of permanent infrastructure change we want. Thus, we now have four trillion more dollars in debt burden, less significant change.

[00:32:52] Those are big changes mode share changes other than those resulting from stay in place. Are small.

[00:33:01] Can you read that last sentence about mode share changes?

[00:33:05] Those are big changes. Modesharing changes other than those resulting from stay in place or small.

[00:33:12] Right. Yeah. So, yeah. The Mode share changes, so you know how people are getting around, what modes they're using.

[00:33:19] So the data, you know, that's constantly shifting.

[00:33:22] I don't know exactly where that's out right now, but I think.

[00:33:28] Part of what we're grappling with here in Vermont and with this federal money and how to spend it in terms of transportation, there is a lot of money coming through that is dedicated to public transportation.

[00:33:43] So as much as we can use these transportation dollars that are coming in towards, again, building a type of transportation system that we want to see rather than just doubling down on the existing system. I think that's an opportunity. So that's something they're grappling with. I think in the legislature is what restrictions are there on these federal dollars? You know,  So to some extent, there's limitations on what we can choose to do. But whenever possible, if there is leeway, I think it's really important that the legislature and the governor are directing those resources towards building a new economy rather than getting us back into the old one.

[00:34:25] The debt issue that you raise, I think that kind of ties back to what I mentioned with our economic system.

[00:34:31] And that is so fundamental to. Our economic system, and that's extremely problematic, it ties back to the growth, the growth paradigm, the need for growth. The need for that debt to be paid back with interest and therefore the need for the economy to grow as a whole. And it's incredibly unsustainable and problematic in so many ways.

[00:34:55] And I know you just talked a little bit about what's going on in Burlington when you responded to Richard's question, but I'm just wondering, what are you working on in Burlington right now on the local government level related to climate change?

[00:35:10] Yeah. So I mentioned a couple of things that are happening and in addition to that. Couple of things, not transportation related, but climate related. I've been working really since my campaign and since I got elected on mandatory weatherization of rental units in Burlington, 60 percent of Burlington rents. So most of our housing stock is rentals. And there's a split incentive where the tenants usually pay the utilities, but tenants don't have the ability to make upgrades or changes to the building. And it doesn't really make sense as an investment if we're not staying for that long. So requiring landlords to actually step up and weatherize and make these buildings more efficient, I think will be huge. They'll save tenants money on utilities, but it also will reduce wasted fossil fuel use. And then another initiative that I'm bringing this Monday, to the council, is to begin transitioning our building stock off of fossil fuel, fossil fuels for heating and for appliances and towards renewables, mostly towards electrification.

[00:36:26] So we're going to that policy. If it passes on Monday, it's going to open up into this public process. And really the idea is that we would start out with new construction and trying to require incentivize new construction to be  non fossil fuel heating for buildings, heating and appliances, and then from there try to regulate it and and move existing building stock over.

[00:36:53] So there's the efficiency and the kind of the building shell and then there's the switching of fuel sources. So we're I think we're working on both fronts, but I think we need to push harder and faster on both of those.

[00:37:07] Definitely.

[00:37:09] And then my last question is just about your work at STVT and you have been coordinating the STVT internship program and I'm just wondering what your experience has been with that and where you see it going.

[00:37:24] Yeah. It's been amazing. I've been you've been involved with it, Brianna, essentially since the beginning, right? Because, yeah, we kind of started last summer, but we really ramped up in the fall when students came back for the fall semester and we had a team of 10 that semester.

[00:37:41] And this spring semester we had 8. And this summer we're gonna have nine. So it's great. It's a great group of students.

[00:37:49] And students are working on so many different projects, whether it's advocacy around local issues like bike lanes I mentioned or minimum parking requirements or other things, whether it's students, you know, getting plugged in with efforts like bicycle benefits that, you know, working with local businesses to try to incentivize folks riding bikes to do their shopping and folks wearing helmets. Students have done articles for STVT students have done mapping projects. You've been working on this this Facebook live. So it's great. A lot of people are working on different projects. And I just love the opportunity to support them in that work and help them start to realize their own potential to create change.

[00:38:41] So  I think this summer, get ready, we're gonna get a lot done. I think it's gonna be an awesome group and we're gonna really make waves and create change in Vermont.

[00:38:51] And because we are in this seismic shift moment and because we've got this really passionate group, I think the potential for us to create change is going to be there. So I'm really looking forward to working with you and the other the other students this summer to do that.

[00:39:09] Definitely. Me, too. I'm super excited for everything that's gonna happen this summer. Okay. So I think that was our

[00:39:16] last question. Thank you so much for being here, Jack. Thanks for having me.

[00:39:21] Yeah, of course. So I'm just going to switch a little bit to make some announcements about just these videos and accessing them.

[00:39:31] So we're actually starting and Sustainable Transportation, Vermont, YouTube. So if anyone struggles with accessing Facebook or if you know anyone accessing Facebook that has issues accessing Facebook, we now will post all of our videos on YouTube. I'll share a link with that on our Facebook as well as our Instagram and in our next video next Friday. And also, you can just in YouTube search Sustainable Transportation Vermont. And so far we have Abbie Dillon's video uploaded and Curt McCormack's.

[00:40:07] So stay tuned for the other ones to be uploaded. And Jack's as well. And the future ones. So thank you so much for everyone being here. And we hope to see you next Friday.