Dan Quinlan's passion for working on climate change and clean energy had its genesis in a technical talk about global warming he heard more than 30 years ago when he was a principal scientist at Bell Laboratories.

In response to that presentation, Dan started volunteering with local environmental groups and, over time, he shifted his professional focus as well. Inspired by work with Health Care Without Harm, Dan's attention moved to the impacts of climate change on human and animal health in 2015.

Dan's work has been tied to carbon pricing and taxation initiatives, creation of energy efficiency programs and entities, mandates to meet greenhouse gas emission targets in statute, clean energy loan programs, fossil fuel divestment, building efficiency regulation, transportation programs, and renewable energy project regulation.

In 2017, Dan launched the Vermont Climate and Health Alliance. The mission of VTCHA is to use our expertise to inform the public and our lawmakers about the effects of climate change on human and animal health.

By working to shift the conversation about climate change to health impacts on Vermont’s children and other vulnerable citizens, VTCHA has changed the narrative within the state’s advocacy community, the medical/health community, and in the State House.