Vermont has become the nation’s first state to require fossil fuel companies and other big emitters to pay for climate-related damage. The law, enacted a year after damaging floods in July 2023, authorizes Vermont to charge major polluters a fee for the share of greenhouse gas emissions they produced between 1995 and 2024. The law will be challenged, but it suggests a path forward for states grappling with the impact of climate change. Similar bills have been introduced in other states, including New York, California, Maryland, and Massachusetts. How do you perceive the fight to protect the planet from climate change? Do you see hints of hope? [Photo credit: "Mother Nature's Light Show" by Rigney Deliso, YWP]