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Table of Contents:
Special Events
Richard
Heinberg to speak in Vermont
Oil vs Wilderness & Climate Change in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
First Branch Sustainable Living Fair
Community Gardens for Vermont (Youth and School Gardens)
Sterling College Sustainable Agriculture Semester
The VPON Calendar
Plan
AheadOil vs Wilderness & Climate Change in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
First Branch Sustainable Living Fair
Community Gardens for Vermont (Youth and School Gardens)
Sterling College Sustainable Agriculture Semester
The VPON Calendar
Under the Golden Dome:
Support
S.350 - Energy Independence and Economic
Prosperity
Governor Signs S.209 into law
The Weiss Reports: VT Energy-Related Legislative Activities
Tools:
Governor Signs S.209 into law
The Weiss Reports: VT Energy-Related Legislative Activities
Tracking
Legislation in Vermont
Contact Vermont State Legislators
Live Audio Streaming of VT Legislative Proceedings
Tracking National Legislation
Quote
of
the Month: Contact Vermont State Legislators
Live Audio Streaming of VT Legislative Proceedings
Tracking National Legislation
Editorial:
Guest Editorial:
VPON Community Pages
Articles
Culture and Community
Heinberg
on Resilient Communities: Paths for
Powering Down
Finland held up as Model
Clothesline rule creates flap
Vote to "Seed" Front Porch Forum!
EconomyFinland held up as Model
Clothesline rule creates flap
Vote to "Seed" Front Porch Forum!
Clothing
(Partially) Made in
Vermont
Big Ideas: Hardwick farmer Andrew Meyer reinvents Vermont agriculture
EnergyBig Ideas: Hardwick farmer Andrew Meyer reinvents Vermont agriculture
Chemistry
to the
Rescue?
Peak Oil Implications, both Global and for the Green Mountain State (slideshow and presentation)
Pondering a Future for Oil Seed Crops in Vermont
Major Energy Producers' Big Problem
EnvironmentPeak Oil Implications, both Global and for the Green Mountain State (slideshow and presentation)
Pondering a Future for Oil Seed Crops in Vermont
Major Energy Producers' Big Problem
Senate
votes to
protect VT's groundwater
Improving VT's Current Use Program - first thumbs up from the Statehouse
National Hanging Out Day
Top 10 Reasons to Hang Out your Clothes
FoodImproving VT's Current Use Program - first thumbs up from the Statehouse
National Hanging Out Day
Top 10 Reasons to Hang Out your Clothes
Farm
Fresh Milk and Meat bills moving
Vermont Yak Company!
Addison County Locally Grown: A Model for On-line Local Farm Products Purchasing
Buying at the Farmer's Market
HealthVermont Yak Company!
Addison County Locally Grown: A Model for On-line Local Farm Products Purchasing
Buying at the Farmer's Market
Weaving
Farm to
School into your Northeast Kingdom
Community - a Healthcare and Fresh Food partnership!
Good Food - Good Medicine
Energy Bulletin health-related articles
Peak Oil Medicine Website
TransportationGood Food - Good Medicine
Energy Bulletin health-related articles
Peak Oil Medicine Website
Raise
a Ruckus for Bike/Ped Funding
Shelburne to have more sidewalks, bikelanes, paths
Update on Vermont's State-of-the-Art Train Car Deal
As
the Crow Flies: Reports from Around the StateShelburne to have more sidewalks, bikelanes, paths
Update on Vermont's State-of-the-Art Train Car Deal
Gold Stars to...
Action!
Vermont
Peak Oil Political Action Group
VECAN Activist Toolkit, and Town Energy/Climate Action Guide
Support the Oil Depletion Protocol
Idle-Free Vermont Campaign
Idle-Not Flyers for Idling Cars
Organize a Peak Oil Book Display
Write a Letter to the Editor of Your Local Paper
Write a Letter to a Representative
Resources
- Click here
to get there!VECAN Activist Toolkit, and Town Energy/Climate Action Guide
Support the Oil Depletion Protocol
Idle-Free Vermont Campaign
Idle-Not Flyers for Idling Cars
Organize a Peak Oil Book Display
Write a Letter to the Editor of Your Local Paper
Write a Letter to a Representative
New this Month on
our VT Resources
page...
Newsletters and other Resources
Fair
Use NoticeNewsletters and other Resources
| Special
Events Richard Heinberg to speak in Brattleboro, Hinesburg, Montpelier Author and Peak Oil Educator will discuss Preparing for Life after Peak Oil Wednesday, April 23rd, 7:00 PM, Brattleboro Union High School auditorium, Fairground Rd., Brattleboro Thursday, April 24th, 3:00 - 3:30 p.m. for NRG/Earth Turbine Employees (Hinesburg) Thursday, April 24th, 7 p.m. Montpelier High School (Smilie Auditorium) Brattleboro event details: Widely regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on Peak Oil, Richard Heinberg will be speaking at the Brattleboro Union High School auditorium, Fairground Road, on Wednesday, April 23, 2008, at 7:00 PM. There will be suggested donation of $5 for this event. His talk, the topic of which will be, "Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty," is being sponsored by the Brattleboro Selectboard, the Brattleboro Regional Peak Oil Task Force, and Post Oil Solutions. It will be preceded by a dinner that Mr. Heinberg will have with the Selectboard and its Task Force to discuss, amongst other things, the subject of municipal and regional planning for the growing petroleum crisis. For further information on the Brattleboro event, please contact 802 869 2141 or peakoiltaskforce@yahoo.com. Richard will also be interviewed on the Equal Time Radio Program, WDEV 96.1 & 96.5 FM/550 AM starting at 1:05, if you'd like to listen; listeners are invited to call in. Richard Heinberg to speak in Montpelier - two presentations: “Energy Overview: Navigating the Transition from Fossil Fuels to Renewables” 9:00 a.m., Room 11, State House, Montpelier - open to the public. Introductory remarks by Peter Shumlin (President Pro Tem, Vermont Senate) and Gaye Symington (Speaker, Vermont House). "Energy Overview: Navigating the Transition from Fossil Fuels to Renewables" 7:00 p.m., Montpelier High School Smilie Auditorium We strongly encourage people to walk, bicycle, use public transportation, or car share to get to these Montpelier events. For the 7 pm Montpelier event, the University of Vermont Energy Group is arranging a bus that will be free and open to the public ($8 donation suggested to cover their costs). Please contact Jared Alvord for information. Also, Vermont Rideshare is coordinating rides to this event. Fill out the form at their website, and their staff will contact you. (The staff have been alerted to expect many requests for rideshares for this event; let’s not disappoint them!) Hinesburg Event for NRG/Earth Turbines employees (Press Invited) From 3:00-3:30 on April 24 at NRG Systems in Hinesburg, Richard Heinberg, acclaimed Peak Oil author, will speak to NRG and Earth Turbine's employees. The focus of his talk will be "peak everything," linking shortages in oil to declines in other critical resources such as food, water, and basic commodities. Members of the press are invited to attend. To RSVP and learn more, contact Abby White, aw@nrgsystems.com or 482-2255." Richard Heinberg is the author of eight books including The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies (New Society, 2003, 2005); Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World (New Society, 2004), The Oil Depletion Protocol (New Society, 2006), and Peak Everything (New Society), 2007). He is a Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute, writes a regular column for The Ecologist, and has authored scores of essays and articles. (ed note: Read the "Cliff Notes" from Richard's latest presentation, "Resilient Communities: Paths for Powering Down," which he gave for the recent Positive Energy Conference at Findhorn, caringly documented and archived here; excerpts appear below.) |
Oil vs Wilderness & Climate Change in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
April 10th, 6:30PM - Simpson Hall. Sterling College, Craftsbury, VT
In 2006, National Geographic sent Jon Waterman north to investigate climate change in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in Alaska. Waterman will discuss what the expedition found for evidence of global warming and share his own soul stirring journey trekking, rafting and solo-kayaking through the Arctic Refuge. He will discuss the on-going political controversy of Arctic oil drilling and global warming an how people can get involved and take action. Raffle follows lecture. Supported by the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. and Patagonia, Inc. Cost: Free
Info: bmorrow@sterlingcollege.edu
FIRST BRANCH SUSTAINABLE LIVING FAIR
April 12th, 9:00AM to 3:00PM
In the gym at the Chelsea Public School
Displays & Vendors • Workshops • Films • Food • Lots of Give-Aways
FREE Admission - all are welcome!
DISPLAYS & VENDORS -- Vermont Environmental Ed. Program-VEEP, Home Performance Contractors, Vermont Earth Institute, Fiber.Net, Central Vermont Solid Waste Management-CVSWMD, Assoc. of Vermont Recyclers-AVR, Window Quilts, Solar Hot Water, Pellet Stoves, Ride Sharing, Welch’s Hardware, Orange County Master Gardeners and lots more!
WORKSHOPS -- Land Management, Making Window Quilts, Food Preservation, Garden Season Extenders, Home Food Production, Weatherizing Your Home, Solar Hot Water, Overview with Elizabeth Courtney-Head of VNRC.
FILMS -- Partial viewing of John O’Brien’s newest movie, “The Green Movie” & other films.
GIVE-AWAYS -- Solar Flashlights, LowFlow Shower Heads, Wooden Clothes Drying Racks, Reusable Cloth Shopping Bags, Interior Storms, CSA Share, Rechargeable Batteries & Kit, Books, Tire gauges, Local Cheeses and lots more!
Sponsored by FIRST BRANCH SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT and Supported by The Mascoma Savings Bank & The New England Grassroots Environmental Fund. Contact Information: Phillip at 802-685-7784 or phillip@sover.net
Community Gardens for Vermont Conference - The Youth and School Gardening Edition!
April 12th, 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Vermont Law School, South Royalton
Vermont Law School has graciously agreed to provide meeting space for the Vermont School and Youth Garden Conference, to be held Saturday, April 12, from 9:00 a.m. to
3:30 p.m. This first ever statewide school and youth garden conference provides an excellent opportunity for garden networking and skill building. Marcia Eames-Sheavly, a nationally known garden-based educator, will deliver the conference keynote. The conference format includes opening and closing plenary sessions, workshops, exhibits, a seed swap, and a networking lunch. Workshop tracks will be presented by Food Works, 4-H Growing Connections, National Gardening Association, Vermont Farm to School, and Friends of Burlington Gardens. A web page with information for the conference is available here. Participants are encouraged to register early as the conference has a capacity of 100 people. To keep costs affordable, registration is on a sliding scale of $10 - $35 depending on financial need. Conference organizers include Joseph Kiefer of Food Works, Sara Coblyn Porth of 4-H Growing Connections, Linda Berlin of UVM Extension, and Jim Flint of Friends of Burlington Gardens.
Sterling College Sustainable Agriculture Semester
Application deadline April 14, 2008
Sterling College, Craftsbury, VT
Sterling College is currently accepting applications for the 2008 Sustainable Agriculture Semester scheduled for June 8, 2008 to August 15, 2008. Application deadline is April 14th.
The Sterling College Sustainable Agriculture Semester immerses students in the daily rhythms and realities of farming. This 8-11 credit integrated program of work and study explores ecological management of plants, animals, and land. Classroom instruction, hands-on training, and work on the farm are combined to teach sustainable practices and to foster discussion about agricultural issues. Our farm includes certified organic gardens, a greenhouse, a movable hoophouse, a small orchard, solar and wind powered barns, and a variety of livestock including sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, poultry, and draft horses. We implement a mixed-power model, using both tractors and draft animals in our gardens, pastures, and forests. Enrollment is limited to ten. Application deadline is April 14, 2008. For more information go to www.sterlingcollege.edu/sas - Phone: 800-648-3591
Consult the VPON Calendar regularly for events this month and beyond; updated frequently.
Plan Ahead
Biofuels class at Yestermorrow Design/Build School, Warren
May 2-4, $300
Instructors: Mike Blazewicz and Ken Oldrid
Do you want to your slash your fossil fuel consumption? This workshop enables students to begin replacing fossil fuel with renewable fuel in a variety of applications. The heart of this intensive course is the adaptation of diesel engines to operate on straight vegetable oil. Students will perform all major operations in the design and construction of a heated fuel system, including electrical wiring, fuel filter and tank installation, coolant plumbing and controls. We will briefly explore biodiesel use and production, ethanol, methane, and locating/ growing fuel sources. There is the opportunity for up to three students to adapt their own vehicle during the workshop. Students interested in this should contact instructors at least 6 weeks prior to course starting date to arrange materials (at an additional cost). All Levels.
More information: 802-496-5545, www.yestermorrow.org
Email: designbuild@yestermorrow.org
Under the Golden Dome
Support
S.350 - Energy Independence and Economic Prosperity - Currently being
debated in the Senate.
A multi-purpose bill, perhaps the results of a session in which legislators saw many bills on energy introduced.
Statement of Purpose from the full text of the bill as introduced: This bill proposes to establish an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and sinks, and to require reporting of certain emissions and the development of a regional greenhouse gas registry. The bill proposes to establish an advisory group named the Vermont climate collaborative, and to direct it to develop a public education and engagement framework, to identify climate change “best practices,” to develop recommendations for funding greenhouse gas reduction efforts, to develop a climate change adaptation plan, to convene a task force to update Act 250 so as to integrate smart growth principles, concepts of carbon neutrality, and principles of energy efficiency, and to reduce the rate at which agricultural lands are converted to other purposes. It requires this climate collaborative to encourage employers to offer commuter benefit programs which are designed to reduce the use of single occupancy vehicles. It requires this group to develop a program that would implement a low-carbon fuel standard, to work with others to develop an action plan for the development of significant biofuel capacity, and to work with construction trades to develop and implement an energy efficiency training and education program for builders and others. It proposes to require the climate collaborative annually to assess the extent to which the state assigns adequate resources to implement the bill, and to report on the annual funding of specified programs.
This bill proposes to require the secretary of agriculture, food and markets to facilitate development of high quality nutrient management plans, to recommend ways to create incentives for carbon sequestration on farm and forest land, to develop a program to reduce methane emissions from farms, and to develop recommendations for measures to reduce the loss and fragmentation of important primary agricultural soils located in rural areas. It requires development of strategies to increase the production, processing, packaging, storage, and distribution of locally grown animal products, grains, vegetables, and fruits. It proposes to require the adoption of rules that require companies that offer auto insurance to offer “pay as you drive” insurance, the effect of which costs a driver less money the less the person drives. It requires that sewage treatment plants be retrofitted to be energy efficient.
The bill proposes to amend Act 250 to assure the accommodation of pedestrian and bicycle traffic and the ability to support multimodal transportation capabilities. It requires solid waste plans be updated to include organic wastes, used clothing, obsolete electronic equipment, and construction and demolition debris, and requires consideration of single stream infrastructure for the entire population. It encourages voluntary waste stream reduction on the part of manufacturers. It proposes to enhance transportation planning for alternative modes of transportation, to facilitate a greater use of passenger rail and freight rail services, to assure adequate intermodal connections, to increase the availability of public transit and the use of rideshare, carpooling, and vanpool programs, and to improve pedestrian and bicycle opportunities. It proposes to require automatic initiation of upgrades of the state’s residential and commercial building codes, and to require the development of minimum building efficiency standards that must be met at the time of sale of residential rental property, and standards that, over time, must be met when selling any residential property.
The bill proposes to increase the registration fee for new cars that get a low number of miles per gallon, to decrease the purchase and use tax for certain efficient vehicles, and to assess a surcharge on the purchase of certain inefficient new vehicles. It proposes to institute “green” state purchasing requirements.
The bill proposes to encourage the development of combined heat and power (CHP) facilities, and to require the adoption of a state biomass plan, a timber management program, and a forest land conservation program. It proposes to establish goals for the electrical energy efficiency program, and to establish a process for the commissioning and energy tracking of buildings. It proposes to allow utilities to recover a premium on investments in renewable energy generation and combined heat and power facilities located in Vermont. It proposes to expand the RGGI cap and trade program to include all significant sources of greenhouse gases, ideally in coordination with comparable efforts in surrounding states. It proposes to establish long-term goals for the state’s portfolio standards program for electric companies. Finally, it proposes to establish a system to pay rebates for retail sales of biodiesel blends. [This bill now has 5 ammendments attached to it; the best text version for viewing these is now available here - scroll down to S.350.]
S.209 - Energy efficiency and affordability, signed by the governor on March 19, 2008 -- Support for and expanded role of VT agriculture in energy, development of renewable energy resources (preferrably sourced from within VT), development of "energy fitness" through efficiency, solar energy income credits, revision of building energy standards, establishment of a fuel efficiency fund and efficiency entity, electric and gas utility conservation rates, rate schedules to assure affordability, net metering (increased generation capacity and group metering, not true net metering), heating and process fuel efficiency program, greenhouse gas reduction efforts, renewable energy pricing/portfolio standards, home weatherization assistance, and measures relating to business and municipalities (exemptions, tax credits). ANR will convene a public stakeholder process to review water conservation/flow standards in respect to proposed hydroelectric projects, and invite recommendations.
The Weiss Reports: VT Energy-Related Legislative Activities
submitted by Vermont Citizen Thomas Weiss
Thomas Weiss' legislative updates for the 2008 VT Legislative Session, and this session has been a busy one. Weiss' updates feature announcements of hearings and activities as well as reports on energy and climate change hearings, initiatives and proposals in the Vermont Legislature. Please go to this section of the VPON Community Pages for the most recent announcements and reports, as well as the report archives. You may want to bookmark that page; Weiss updates weekly during the legislative session. Thank you, Thomas.
A multi-purpose bill, perhaps the results of a session in which legislators saw many bills on energy introduced.
Statement of Purpose from the full text of the bill as introduced: This bill proposes to establish an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and sinks, and to require reporting of certain emissions and the development of a regional greenhouse gas registry. The bill proposes to establish an advisory group named the Vermont climate collaborative, and to direct it to develop a public education and engagement framework, to identify climate change “best practices,” to develop recommendations for funding greenhouse gas reduction efforts, to develop a climate change adaptation plan, to convene a task force to update Act 250 so as to integrate smart growth principles, concepts of carbon neutrality, and principles of energy efficiency, and to reduce the rate at which agricultural lands are converted to other purposes. It requires this climate collaborative to encourage employers to offer commuter benefit programs which are designed to reduce the use of single occupancy vehicles. It requires this group to develop a program that would implement a low-carbon fuel standard, to work with others to develop an action plan for the development of significant biofuel capacity, and to work with construction trades to develop and implement an energy efficiency training and education program for builders and others. It proposes to require the climate collaborative annually to assess the extent to which the state assigns adequate resources to implement the bill, and to report on the annual funding of specified programs.
This bill proposes to require the secretary of agriculture, food and markets to facilitate development of high quality nutrient management plans, to recommend ways to create incentives for carbon sequestration on farm and forest land, to develop a program to reduce methane emissions from farms, and to develop recommendations for measures to reduce the loss and fragmentation of important primary agricultural soils located in rural areas. It requires development of strategies to increase the production, processing, packaging, storage, and distribution of locally grown animal products, grains, vegetables, and fruits. It proposes to require the adoption of rules that require companies that offer auto insurance to offer “pay as you drive” insurance, the effect of which costs a driver less money the less the person drives. It requires that sewage treatment plants be retrofitted to be energy efficient.
The bill proposes to amend Act 250 to assure the accommodation of pedestrian and bicycle traffic and the ability to support multimodal transportation capabilities. It requires solid waste plans be updated to include organic wastes, used clothing, obsolete electronic equipment, and construction and demolition debris, and requires consideration of single stream infrastructure for the entire population. It encourages voluntary waste stream reduction on the part of manufacturers. It proposes to enhance transportation planning for alternative modes of transportation, to facilitate a greater use of passenger rail and freight rail services, to assure adequate intermodal connections, to increase the availability of public transit and the use of rideshare, carpooling, and vanpool programs, and to improve pedestrian and bicycle opportunities. It proposes to require automatic initiation of upgrades of the state’s residential and commercial building codes, and to require the development of minimum building efficiency standards that must be met at the time of sale of residential rental property, and standards that, over time, must be met when selling any residential property.
The bill proposes to increase the registration fee for new cars that get a low number of miles per gallon, to decrease the purchase and use tax for certain efficient vehicles, and to assess a surcharge on the purchase of certain inefficient new vehicles. It proposes to institute “green” state purchasing requirements.
The bill proposes to encourage the development of combined heat and power (CHP) facilities, and to require the adoption of a state biomass plan, a timber management program, and a forest land conservation program. It proposes to establish goals for the electrical energy efficiency program, and to establish a process for the commissioning and energy tracking of buildings. It proposes to allow utilities to recover a premium on investments in renewable energy generation and combined heat and power facilities located in Vermont. It proposes to expand the RGGI cap and trade program to include all significant sources of greenhouse gases, ideally in coordination with comparable efforts in surrounding states. It proposes to establish long-term goals for the state’s portfolio standards program for electric companies. Finally, it proposes to establish a system to pay rebates for retail sales of biodiesel blends. [This bill now has 5 ammendments attached to it; the best text version for viewing these is now available here - scroll down to S.350.]
S.209 - Energy efficiency and affordability, signed by the governor on March 19, 2008 -- Support for and expanded role of VT agriculture in energy, development of renewable energy resources (preferrably sourced from within VT), development of "energy fitness" through efficiency, solar energy income credits, revision of building energy standards, establishment of a fuel efficiency fund and efficiency entity, electric and gas utility conservation rates, rate schedules to assure affordability, net metering (increased generation capacity and group metering, not true net metering), heating and process fuel efficiency program, greenhouse gas reduction efforts, renewable energy pricing/portfolio standards, home weatherization assistance, and measures relating to business and municipalities (exemptions, tax credits). ANR will convene a public stakeholder process to review water conservation/flow standards in respect to proposed hydroelectric projects, and invite recommendations.
The Weiss Reports: VT Energy-Related Legislative Activities
submitted by Vermont Citizen Thomas Weiss
Thomas Weiss' legislative updates for the 2008 VT Legislative Session, and this session has been a busy one. Weiss' updates feature announcements of hearings and activities as well as reports on energy and climate change hearings, initiatives and proposals in the Vermont Legislature. Please go to this section of the VPON Community Pages for the most recent announcements and reports, as well as the report archives. You may want to bookmark that page; Weiss updates weekly during the legislative session. Thank you, Thomas.
VT Bill Tracker: Keep Track of what's happening with legislation in Montpelier: http://www.leg.state.vt.us/database/database2.cfm
Contact your Vermont State Legislator: http://www.leg.state.vt.us/legdir/legdir2.htm
Hear live audio streaming of Vt Legislative proceedings on Vermont Public Radio's "Listen to the Legislature" webpage: http://www.vpr.net/legislature/
And, on the National front, you can follow the trail of activity at: http://www.govtrack.us/ - GovTrack is a noncommercial project unaffiliated with the U.S. Government or any other group. You're welcome to reuse any material on their site. "Transparency in government is key for a healthy democracy. Transparency is achieved through spreading information about government, and making that information accessible to everyday citizens."
Quote of the Month
"If any good can come out
of this [pain at
the pump] mess, it would be an understanding — by
corporations,
consumers and government — that the era of cheap oil is truly
over. With that, the country could finally focus on developing clean
alternative energy sources and reducing oil consumption, a strategy
that has served other countries well."
—New York Times Editorial (courtesy, Energy Bulletin)
—New York Times Editorial (courtesy, Energy Bulletin)
Building a Great Good "Place"
by Annie Dunn Watson
The comprehensive Vermont Energy Independence and Economic Prosperity bill (S.350) - currently in the Senate - represents a major and hopefully bi-partisan effort to lay the groundwork for many of the climate and energy initiatives sorely needed in Vermont. Ambitious in scope, it draws from among several proposals generated by the Governor's Commission on Climate Change, and prioritizes the establishment of an advisory group (The Vermont Climate Collaborative) whose task will be to develop programs and identify funding sources for these endeavors. The question remains, will Vermont's citizens and lawmakers have the foresight and political will to prioritize and fund initiatives that will do the best going forward? There are tall barriers to creating effective strategies, at state, national and international levels. These include economic interests and related paradigms, as well as an apparent lack of understanding about the consequences of an oil production "peak". What, short of utter catastrophe, will motivate Vermonters to take the appropriate steps?
The ability to put our collective shoulders to the wheel is part of our history as Americans and Vermonters; we have done that on more than one occasion. But we've seldom had to embrace the concept of doing it with less; frugality has not, in recent memory, been touted as a cultural virtue, and the legislators are clearly having a hard time incorporating it into the bills. How do you frame and deliver concepts such as "power down" to Americans who, for 60 years have been asked to "power on!" in support of a non-negotiable American Way of Life? Given recent developments on the financial front, it would seem that this illusory veil should itself have been pierced. However, conservation and curtailment remain difficult medicines to swallow. Increasingly, the complexity of the issue dawns on us: the problem lies with our thinking, and eventually, we're going to hit the reality wall where the "It's the paradigm, stupid!" banner hangs.
There is vast disagreement even within the Peak Oil community itself as to just how much we should be powering down. Some anticipate preserving our current lifestyles through the discovery and implementation of alternative fuel technologies. Others are simply hoping to soften the blow of the bad news by focusing on what they see as the silver lining: a better and more equitable society built on relocalization and a steady state economy. Perhaps, as a few have suggested, the only way to insure timely progress is to levy taxes (on fossil fuels, for instance). While I have some agreement with this point of view, I believe we must cultivate a hopeful vision of where any chosen (or legislatively-imposed) "sacrifice" is going to take us in order to justify its adoption. We must also leave behind the oil-saturated paradigm of a prosperous growth economy and generate new visions for the development of truly sustainable communities and enterprises. Such visions must strike a balance between catastrophe and hope. And that brings me to the motivational carrot (locally grown, of course), that I'd like to leave you nibbling on.
In essays here as well as in Vermont Commons, it has been suggested that building local economies, preserving agricultural land and forests, and cultivating geographically-determined social networks are among the best responses to peak oil. Why? Because, going forward, we will need one another in ways that, for two generations, have not been well exercised. As prices for gasoline and other essential goods and services continue to rise, we will be thrown back upon our resourcefulness as individuals, neighbors and community members. We will carry out daily routines and conduct business in smaller, geographically-connected areas. This is unlikely to be pretty, no matter how much you ascribe to the Small is Beautiful philosophy; we are, after all, embedded in an economy that is not prepared to endure "un-growing pains".
But in almost every Vermonter's heart, there is a vision of Vermont as a "Great Good Place", a vision that can be capitalized on going forward. I am taking liberties here as I borrow from sociologist Ray Oldenburg, who used the term to refer to "public places on neutral ground where people can gather and interact". Oldenburg identifies Great Good Places as locations where one's concerns can be forgotten, at least for a time, through companionable interactions and conversations with others. He suggests that "... [such] places are the heart of a community's social vitality and the foundation of a functioning democracy. They promote social equality by leveling the status of guests, provide a setting for grassroots politics, create habits of public association, and offer psychological support to individuals and communities." Interactions such as these thrive in communities whose infrastructure and transactions occur on a human scale. As the Vermont "Buy Local" movement expands beyond local foods to embrace shopkeepers, restaurateurs, builders and building supply companies, clothiers, and more, it opens the door to a host of such locally-determined and locally-experienced transactions, developing a vital social as well as an economic infrastructure. These relationships may even generate an attractive frugality; they are certainly what make any community a Great Good Place. Legislators should assist in the further development of such community networks as part of the state's energy and prosperity initiatives; those engaged in mobilizing emergency responses will no doubt benefit from tapping into these networks when the time comes.
We need to meet one another not as special interest groups with competing needs, but as neighbors with shared interests, joys and sorrows. I know, it's not the way society is currently structured, but if Robert D. Putnam (Bowling Alone) is correct, we're not all that happy with the status quo anyway. The bottom line is that we cannot continue to infuse the economy with dwindling energy and resources. Any legislation coming out of Montpelier must reflect an understanding of this imperative, and it would be refreshing to have leadership that unabashedly said so. What we can do is infuse our communities and our lives with creative solutions for living more lightly and more locally upon the earth. In the process, we may well find a balance between catastrophe and hope.
Guest Editorial
Keep it in Vermont!
from Robin McDermitt
I recently started a new website called KeepItInVermont.org. The idea for KeepItInVermont came about from talking with fellow Waitsfield citizen Rob Williams about how great it would be if people took the money they are getting from the government and spent it on a CSA (community supported agriculture) share or to purchase food at farmer's markets. As one of the co-founders of the Mad River Valley Localvore Project, one of the biggest concerns I hear about eating more local food is the cost. I saw the Federal economic stimulus checks as a way to overcome that barrier, in a short term way at least. I imagined all of the good the millions of dollars that will come into our state could do for our farmers if everyone spent their checks on Vermont grown, raised, and produced food.
One thing led to another and practically before even I knew it..., the KeepItInVermont website was up and running. While the idea has broadened to encouraging people to spend their money on anything that keeps the money in the state, the basic premise is the same...let's take advantage of this opportunity to increase the wealth and well-being of the green mountain state. The idea of the website is to get people thinking about how they will spend their stimulus checks. Just the other night I was at a fairly large meeting and had mentioned KeepItInVermont.org to the group. At the end of the meeting a very enthusiastic woman came up to me and said that she loved the idea of keep it in Vermont and that she decided she was going to use her money to buy a CSA [share]. She said that every spring she wants to purchase a CSA [share], but it is hard to come up with the chunk of cash needed to buy a share. In the short time that I described the idea of KeepItInVermont.org at least one person had decided to keep her stimulus money in Vermont. One of the objectives of the website is to quantify the amount of stimulus money that will be kept in Vermont by Vermonters. That is why there is a pledge form on the site. We are asking people to make a completely anonymous pledge and to tell us where they plan to put their money. I believe that the more money that gets added to our ticker, the more motivated others will be to make a pledge. It is also fun reading the pledges and learning how others will be spending their money.
So, I am writing to ask you to please take a few minutes to go on the site and make a pledge. Our goal is to get a quarter million dollars in pledges by April 10. From the numbers we have so far, that means about 340 more people need to make a pledge by April 10. Our thought is that once we have a nice round number to talk about we will be able to take this story to the statewide press and spread the word throughout Vermont and we hope for that to coincide with April 15th...tax day!
Can you help us get the word out by taking the pledge and also by passing this e-mail onto your friends and asking them to take the pledge? We sure would appreciate it! Thanks again and remember to KeepItInVermont!
Robin McDermott is the co-founder of the Mad River Valley Localvores.
The VPON Community Pages!
The VPON Community Pages offer visitors a chance to read and, if so desired, engage in discussion of ideas and actions pertaining to peak oil, relocalization, and sustainability. Registered users can post comments and create their own contents in the Discussion area; members of VPON Regional Groups are invited to create their own pages, and to store documents that may be of use to individuals and groups around the state - and beyond! - in addressing the consequences of Peak Oil. The VPON Community Pages have their own site administrator. Information about how to contact the administrator and access posting privileges is provided here. Please note that the VPON Community Pages are a separate area from the main VPON site: they look and behave a little differently. Reading the "Purpose" and "Usage Guidelines" will help you find your way around.
From a Peak Perspective: Edible landscape likely to become a U.S. paradigm
by Carl Etnier (archived here.)
The Ecological Landscaping Association (ELA) is an organization of landscape professionals, individual gardeners and community groups whose work with the human landscape takes its cues from how natural systems work... As University of Vermont professor John Todd put it in his keynote address at the [ELA] conference, "This small but very yeasty community may be called upon in the not-too-distant future to provide the knowledge and the operating instructions for the rest of society, to make the transition from a petroleum era to an era in which the resources are scarce, and in some cases fought over, but where knowledge is rich and universal."
... As oil becomes more scarce, eating from the local landscape may soon be the primary way for most of us to keep our bellies full.
... [S]ome people are already pioneering the transition to an edible landscape. The ELA conference began with a one-day seminar on creating edible landscapes, led by Massachusetts permaculturalists David Jacke and Jono Neiger. Jacke is co-author of the two-volume "Edible Forest Gardens," which describes how to make beautiful landscapes out of trees and bushes that produce food and nuts. Add a "forest floor" layer of edible perennials and annuals, and food production increases even more.
Abundant food production requires healthy soils, and conference attendees had many approaches to keeping and building soil fertility.
... One of the more intriguing approaches to building and maintaining soil fertility came from the ancient farmers of the Amazon. Those ancient farmers sent no representatives to the trade show, but Charles Mann, author of the best-selling "1491," described what archeologists have learned about their methods... Mann showed pictures of tropical soils that were cultivated hundreds or thousands of years ago and are still full of nutrients and organic matter. Unlike typical yellow or red tropical soils, they are nearly as dark as recently manured garden soils in Vermont. Why are these soils different? They are full of finely ground charcoal powder. The charcoal helps hold nutrients and moisture, and it even promotes a different microbial community than that found in nearby, unimproved soils. Since charcoal is highly resistant to the microbes that rot organic matter, its beneficial effects persist for centuries or millennia. [read full article]
Carl Etnier is a peak oil activist hailing from the East Montpelier area.
Sampling of Recent Articles posted on the Community Pages:
The Cost of Oil for War
Capitalism as if the World Matters
Mobilize creativity to tackle energy needs
Letter to Robert Dostis re: net metering
Major Energy Producers Big Problem
March Legislative Reports by Thomas Weiss
Top-Level Folders
Discussions - all registered users are welcome to start or join a discussion thread.
Documents - repository of documents of interest that may not be available elsewhere on the site or the internet.
Regional Groups - VPON local groups are invited to develop pages for group news, events, minutes, shared documents, etc.
Events - although the VPON Calendar itself remains the primary events posting vehicle, some groups may be posting events in this folder.
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(ed note: The Community Pages are an open discussion area; contents presented are the sole responsibility of the individual authors, and do not necessarily reflect the ideas, beliefs, or actions of the VPON Network, its member groups, or the VPON website/newsletter editor... although they often do! )
Articles
PLEASE NOTE: Occasionally, an article referred to in one of our stories is no longer available through the link given. Please contact the original source, or check their archives, for that article.
Culture and Community
“The
problem is that it is an entirely new situation for never before has a
resource as critical as oil begun to decline without sight of a better
substitute. Oil is central
to the modern way of
life, so the consequences of its decline are immense. It is therefore
difficult for people to accept and react.”
- Petroleum geologist Colin Campbell, one of the founders of The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO)
- Petroleum geologist Colin Campbell, one of the founders of The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO)
Highlights of Richard Heinberg's presentation Resilient Communities: Paths for Powering Down
Positive Energy Conference, Findhorn, March 2008
Excerpted from report by Mattie Porte.
(Richard Heinberg wagered that those in attendance at the recent Positive Energy Conference, held at the Findhorn Foundation (Scotland), would have the strength to think strategically with him about the current geo-political, economic and environmental challenges facing the world today. He was right; Richard's no-holds-barred presentation received a standing ovation. Here are a few points, gleaned from the comprehensive report offered by Mattie Porte. Please see the full report for details, as these are presented as "bullets only.")
Assumptions
Richard offered the following assumptions as components of strategic thinking/planning:
1. Global oil production is near its all-time maximum and will begin to decline in the next couple of years, with gas and coal not far behind.
2. Consequences will be severe.
3. There is no techno-fix... there is no credible scenario in which efficiencies can make up for the decline in fossil fuels and other energy sources fast enough to offset it.
4. Society will have to power down, reduce our consumption, relocate, implying changes in behaviour and expectations.
5. Climate change poses thorny policy challenges, but enormous economic interests stand in the way of enforceable, effective global agreements.
6. Climate change makes global power down necessary, meanwhile peak oil means it's not only possible but unavoidable.
7. Power down will be complex, lengthy and perilous.
8. And there are other concerns, not the least of which are the staggering financial implications... There is a possibility that the world is teetering into another Great Depression, resulting in bank and currency failures.
4 Power Down Strategies
How can we use this information (of looming crisis) strategically to ease the transition and make the end result more satisfactory for people and planet? Richard identified specific strategies and addressed them one by one:
1. Topdown - changing government policy
2. Responsive — planning for crisis management — Resilient Communities Action Plan
3. Bottom up - grass roots organising
4. Proactive - planning for linear adaptation
Creating with Alternatives
We need to create a coherent disaster response plan that draws on the skills of the alternative movement to design low energy, low impact ways of meeting people's needs:
* natural healing (herbalism)
* renewable energy
* eco-agriculture, permaculture
* low-energy retrofitting
* carsharing, bicycle advocacy
* psychospiritual help for trauma
* Extensive literature re: ecosystems and economies
10 Steps to a Resilient Community
Richard proposed an action plan:
1. Form a working group with the express purpose of creating a resilience response strategy.
2. Identify people and organisations with something important to offer post peak.
3. Ask for their help and participation.
4. Work with them to develop a contingency plan in their field: how to scale up quickly.
5. Seek input from disaster management officials. It's for the sake of the community so inclusivity is important so that the plan is not undermined.
6. Contact mainstream organisations responsible for water, food, power, fuel, healthcare, etc.
7. Assemble a coherent Resilience plan.
8. Present the plan to public officials and the community as a whole.
9. Implement the plan.
10. Work with other communities to create a national plan, then repeat steps 1 though 10 at higher levels. [see full report, with links to other presentations from this 7 day conference.]
Finland held up as model
By Sara Buscher
Free Press Staff Writer, April 1st 2008
[ed note: Finnish Ambassador Lintu spoke to an intrigued group of Vermont citizens in Burlington's Contois Auditorium on March 31st, as Senator Bernie Sanders' guest.]
"Combined with a system
in which all
people receive the child care,
education and health services they need -- a safety network Lintu says
makes Finns more accepting of change -- a vital economy, and excellent
schools, by all accounts, the country is thriving."
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., believes there is a lot the U.S. can learn from Finland, and he brought the Finnish ambassador here Monday to share some of that with Vermonters.
... Speaking to a standing-room only crowd that overflowed into the balcony, Sanders cited the troubled U.S. economy, with its shrinking middle class, increasing poverty and widening gap between the rich and "everyone else"; a disintegrating health-care system, with 47 million uninsured; and the highest rate of childhood poverty in the industrialized world, among his reasons for inviting the ambassador.
... Making clear the fact that the U.S. and Finland are two very different countries, Sanders asked, "How does it happen that in Finland they have virtually abolished childhood poverty, have free high quality child care, free college and graduate school, and have, according to international reports, the best primary and secondary educational system in the world?"
Finland has one of the most competitive economies in the world, a function of the country's decision to become an egalitarian society in 1906, [Ambassador Lintu] said.
Combined with a system in which all people receive the child care, education and health services they need -- a safety network Lintu says makes Finns more accepting of change -- a vital economy, and excellent schools, by all accounts, the country is thriving.
The country also pays a much higher marginal tax rate than the U.S., as much as 50 percent depending on income.
"The more you earn, the higher the taxes get," Lintu said, "but you get the free day care, health care and school."
... [An] audience member wondered how to create a culture that accepts the fact that social welfare programs cost money in taxes.
"Finns loathe tax season," Lintu answered lightly, before explaining that they want to be sure they get value for their money.
"The issue is not so much how much you pay, it's what you get for what you pay," Sanders said.
"I think in that kind of situation, people would be delighted to pay more taxes, because at the end of the day they're better off."
(See also: Finnish Ambassador Tells It like it Is in the "Most Livable" Place on Earth By Paula Routly, Seven Days Vermont -- March 26th 2008 .)
Clothesline rule creates flap
Advocates in 3 New England states (including VT) fight ban, cite energy savings
By Jenna Russell, Boston Globe Staff / March 13, 2008, original here.
CONCORD, N.H. - They say they only want to protect their "right to dry." And in three New England states, advocates for clotheslines - yes, clotheslines, strung across the yard, draped with socks and sheets - are pushing for new laws to liberate residents whose neighbors won't let them hang laundry outside.
Homeowners' associations, which enforce bans on clotheslines at thousands of residential developments across the country, say the rules are needed to prevent flapping laundry from dragging down property values. But in an age of paper over plastic, as people try to take small steps to protect the environment, more residents are chafing at the restrictions. And some lawmakers in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut are taking it a step further, seeking legislation that would guarantee the freedom to let one's garments flutter in the breeze.
"People think it's silly, but what's silly is to worry so much about having to look at your neighbors' undies that you would prevent them from conserving energy," said Vermont state Senator Dick McCormack, a sponsor of "right to dry" legislation. "We're not making a big deal over clotheslines; we're making a big deal over global warming."
If successful, the measures in Vermont and Connecticut would be the first in New England, and among the first in the country, to protect the age-old custom of air-drying laundry. (The proposal in New Hampshire died in committee, but proponents say they plan to try again next session.) [read full article]
(ed note: See legislation proposed by Dick McCormack and colleagues on Voluntary Energy Conservation Measures, including "right to dry", here.. [Note: The Senate energy bill, S. 350, originally included a provision declaring that clothes lines are legal everywhere in Vermont. The Senate removed that provision. There may still be an opportunity to change that in the House.])
VOTE TO "SEED" FRONT PORCH FORUM!
By Michael Wood-Lewis
Tue, 25 March 2008
Thousands of Online Vermonters up for National Award
Can tiny Vermont win another national online vote a la Springfield and the Simpsons? Local success story Front Porch Forum is taking a shot and needs your help. This online community-building service is in the running to win a $35,000 grant that will provide much-needed seed capital. Front Porch Forum already made the Top 20 out of nearly 5,000 entrants; now they need your help to make the Final Four and secure the funding. Go to http://casefoundation.org/myvote to vote today! And please help spread the word .
Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County, VT. More than 8,000 local households subscribe and use it to share news with their clearly identified nearby neighbors. Already 30% of Burlington participates and as much as 90% of some areas.
People use it to find childcare and borrow shovels, to note signs of spring ("first crocus!") and turn out a crowd for a school play. Neighbors organize litter clean-ups and block parties, and form neighborhood watch groups. Action moves from the virtual to the actual front porch!
The Case Foundation is sponsoring this contest and aims to stimulate citizen-centered democracy through its Make It Your Own Awards.
Please vote today and spread the word through email, Facebook, MySpace, newsletters, blogs and more! One vote per email address and the polls close April 22, 2008. And any resident of Chittenden County may sign up for Front Porch Forum... here!
Michael Wood-Lewis
Front Porch Forum
Economy
“Business is
about relationships
with everyone we buy from and sell to,
and work with, and about our relationship with Earth itself. .. business
is beautiful when we put our creativity and care into
producing a product or service needed by our community.”
- Judy Wicks, restaurant owner and co-founder of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies and the Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia.
Big
Ideas: Hardwick
farmer Andrew Meyer
reinvents Vermont agriculture- Judy Wicks, restaurant owner and co-founder of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies and the Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia.
Clothing
(partially) made
in Vermont
by Carl Etnier (original archived here.)
... Finding locally made products is the next logical step in the localvore and buy-local movements. Local production is a security issue as much as an economic issue. Global supply chains using trucks, railroads, planes and container ships depend on cheap oil, good international relations, healthy economies elsewhere in the world, and other things we often take for granted. The more of what we use is produced locally, the more resilient our economy will be to disruptions like reduced energy availability after peak oil.
I asked around to find stories about local clothing and fiber production in Vermont or the region. It seemed like an economic niche closely related to local food. It is farmers, after all, who produce natural fibers like wool, flax, hemp and cotton. As with foods, some fibers are easily produced here, and others not so easily, for reasons related to both the climate and the law. Wool and flax grow well in our climate, like strawberries or parsnips or potatoes; heat-loving cotton is more like oranges or bananas.
... The fiber farmer I talked with is Kimberly Hagen, who raises about 20 merino and merino cross sheep in Washington County. Hagen turns the wool into yarn for local knitters; she has not yet found a way to get her wool into locally woven cloth.
... Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney takes the wool the next steps toward clothing. They card the wool, using metal brushes to work out the clumps, and then they comb it, to align the fibers in the same direction. Finally, they spin it into yarn. The spinnery can make quite a variety of yarns, according to Hagen, of various thicknesses and either single- or multi-stranded.
The spinnery sends the yarn back to Hagen's farm, where she dyes it. At least some of the natural dyes she uses, like goldenrod, grow around here, but she purchases them in bulk from elsewhere in the country. The skeins go back into the soup pot with the dye, and they emerge wet and colorful.
After drying the skeins, Hagen sells them directly to knitters she knows and through two local knitting supply shops. Presumably, the yarn is knit into some of the more beautiful hand-knit sweaters and scarves and caps we see this time of year.
At the other end of local clothing production is the Cheshire Cat in Montpelier. You can walk into the store on Elm Street and walk out with ready-to-wear, regionally produced clothing; no assembly or knitting required. And no one else will have anything quite like it, as each piece of Cheshire cat "art wear" is uniquely decorated.
Cheshire Cat owner and clothing designer Lucy Ferrada starts out with cloth, mostly cotton, from Away. After that, the work is done in Vermont and Massachusetts, with the clothing shuttling back and forth for different stages of production. Ferrada designs four seasonal lines of clothing each year, creating prototypes in the workshop in the back of her store. When she is satisfied with the fit of the design, she sends the patterns to a cut room in Massachusetts. They send the cut pieces to a stitcher in Boston, who sends it back to Ferrada in Montpelier.
The stitched garments are still the natural color of the cotton when they return to Montpelier. Ferrada sorts them into dyeing lots, chooses colors for the cloth, and sends them back to Massachusetts, to a dyer.
When the colored garments return to Montpelier a second time, Ferrada finishes them. "That's the fun part," she says. "I'm now working with a Vermont artist who is making hand-made ceramic buttons for my spring line. And I get to embellish, hand paint and appliqué." Each piece of clothing is decorated differently, with a painting or hand-painted patterns or sewn-on, hand-made textile flowers. If you're wearing clothing from the Cheshire Cat to a party, someone might show up wearing a garment of the same cut and color, but the detailing on yours will still be unique.
... For the sake of economic resiliency..., I'm glad to see fiber producers and clothing producers working in Vermont and the region... It's difficult to know how to promote local production of something that is so much less expensive when imported from far away, manufactured by low-wage workers under working conditions we wouldn't allow Vermonters to be exposed to. Yet the time may come soon when the imported clothing becomes, once more, a rarity. People like Kimberly Hagen and Lucy Ferrada are keeping alive the skills and markets for what could be a resurgent domestic textile industry.
One thing our Legislature can do to promote local fiber production, without costing a cent of public money, is to allow our farmers to grow hemp for fiber without fear of being jailed. As the Vermont Council on Rural Development explores the future of Vermont, perhaps it can consider fiber and clothing production. For both fiber and clothing, we have skills and resources to build on...
Carl Etnier, director of Peak Oil Awareness, blogs at vtcommons.org/blog and hosts radio shows on WGDR, 91.1 FM Plainfield and WDEV 96.1 FM/550 AM, Waterbury. He can be reached at EnergyMattersVermont@yahoo.com.
by Carl Etnier (original archived here.)
... Finding locally made products is the next logical step in the localvore and buy-local movements. Local production is a security issue as much as an economic issue. Global supply chains using trucks, railroads, planes and container ships depend on cheap oil, good international relations, healthy economies elsewhere in the world, and other things we often take for granted. The more of what we use is produced locally, the more resilient our economy will be to disruptions like reduced energy availability after peak oil.
I asked around to find stories about local clothing and fiber production in Vermont or the region. It seemed like an economic niche closely related to local food. It is farmers, after all, who produce natural fibers like wool, flax, hemp and cotton. As with foods, some fibers are easily produced here, and others not so easily, for reasons related to both the climate and the law. Wool and flax grow well in our climate, like strawberries or parsnips or potatoes; heat-loving cotton is more like oranges or bananas.
... The fiber farmer I talked with is Kimberly Hagen, who raises about 20 merino and merino cross sheep in Washington County. Hagen turns the wool into yarn for local knitters; she has not yet found a way to get her wool into locally woven cloth.
... Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney takes the wool the next steps toward clothing. They card the wool, using metal brushes to work out the clumps, and then they comb it, to align the fibers in the same direction. Finally, they spin it into yarn. The spinnery can make quite a variety of yarns, according to Hagen, of various thicknesses and either single- or multi-stranded.
The spinnery sends the yarn back to Hagen's farm, where she dyes it. At least some of the natural dyes she uses, like goldenrod, grow around here, but she purchases them in bulk from elsewhere in the country. The skeins go back into the soup pot with the dye, and they emerge wet and colorful.
After drying the skeins, Hagen sells them directly to knitters she knows and through two local knitting supply shops. Presumably, the yarn is knit into some of the more beautiful hand-knit sweaters and scarves and caps we see this time of year.
At the other end of local clothing production is the Cheshire Cat in Montpelier. You can walk into the store on Elm Street and walk out with ready-to-wear, regionally produced clothing; no assembly or knitting required. And no one else will have anything quite like it, as each piece of Cheshire cat "art wear" is uniquely decorated.
Cheshire Cat owner and clothing designer Lucy Ferrada starts out with cloth, mostly cotton, from Away. After that, the work is done in Vermont and Massachusetts, with the clothing shuttling back and forth for different stages of production. Ferrada designs four seasonal lines of clothing each year, creating prototypes in the workshop in the back of her store. When she is satisfied with the fit of the design, she sends the patterns to a cut room in Massachusetts. They send the cut pieces to a stitcher in Boston, who sends it back to Ferrada in Montpelier.
The stitched garments are still the natural color of the cotton when they return to Montpelier. Ferrada sorts them into dyeing lots, chooses colors for the cloth, and sends them back to Massachusetts, to a dyer.
When the colored garments return to Montpelier a second time, Ferrada finishes them. "That's the fun part," she says. "I'm now working with a Vermont artist who is making hand-made ceramic buttons for my spring line. And I get to embellish, hand paint and appliqué." Each piece of clothing is decorated differently, with a painting or hand-painted patterns or sewn-on, hand-made textile flowers. If you're wearing clothing from the Cheshire Cat to a party, someone might show up wearing a garment of the same cut and color, but the detailing on yours will still be unique.
... For the sake of economic resiliency..., I'm glad to see fiber producers and clothing producers working in Vermont and the region... It's difficult to know how to promote local production of something that is so much less expensive when imported from far away, manufactured by low-wage workers under working conditions we wouldn't allow Vermonters to be exposed to. Yet the time may come soon when the imported clothing becomes, once more, a rarity. People like Kimberly Hagen and Lucy Ferrada are keeping alive the skills and markets for what could be a resurgent domestic textile industry.
One thing our Legislature can do to promote local fiber production, without costing a cent of public money, is to allow our farmers to grow hemp for fiber without fear of being jailed. As the Vermont Council on Rural Development explores the future of Vermont, perhaps it can consider fiber and clothing production. For both fiber and clothing, we have skills and resources to build on...
Carl Etnier, director of Peak Oil Awareness, blogs at vtcommons.org/blog and hosts radio shows on WGDR, 91.1 FM Plainfield and WDEV 96.1 FM/550 AM, Waterbury. He can be reached at EnergyMattersVermont@yahoo.com.
By Candace Page
Free Press Staff Writer March 30, 2008
... Some people call it a dream. [Andrew] Meyer calls it "systems thinking" and he is out to show it's more than a dream.
He has taken the first steps toward demonstrating how a system of sustainable agriculture and value-added businesses could work in the hills around Hardwick, a down-at-the-heels town of 3,000 people about 25 miles north of Montpelier.
The 37-year-old former aide to then-Rep. Jim Jeffords launched two businesses last year in the industrial park at the edge of town. On one side of a dividing wall, Meyer and partner Todd Pinkham make fresh, organic soy milk and tofu using as many Vermont-grown beans as they can buy.
On the other side, Meyer's Vermont Natural Coatings company manufactures an entirely new product, a nearly odorless, "green," water-based polyurethane invented at the University of Vermont. It is based on highly purified whey, a byproduct of cheesemaking.
Simultaneously, Meyer has founded a nonprofit group, the Center for a Biobased Economy. The center is developing plans for a Hardwick "town agricultural green" -- land for incubator farms and a farmers market, along the lines of Burlington's Intervale Center.
He is one of those working to move the Vermont Food Venture Center -- an incubator for food processing businesses -- from Fairfax to Hardwick.
Finally, Meyer and two fellow entrepreneurs have hired a part-time manager to push their plans for an "agro-eco-industrial park" in Hardwick to provide space for growing farm-related businesses to share facilities, energy and vision.
... David Lane, deputy commissioner of agriculture, said Meyer and his colleagues offer a model of ways in which Vermont can grow its agricultural economy. "In any sector of the economy, the most efficient piece of the puzzle is the entrepreneur. You can find land and money and ideas, but the people are the most critical piece," he said.
"The agricultural economy has the potential to grow more than it has in past decades. Andy has recognized that and is building on it," he said.
..."We want people to understand where their food comes from," Meyer said. "This area still has a working landscape, but it is threatened. This is about educating people about the importance of open fields, productive land." [read full article here.]
Energy
"Renewable energy and
energy efficiency can
have the most immediate and
longest lasting positive effect on energy availability, stable prices,
and greenhouse gas emissions."
- from the Congressional letter to President Bush, December, 06
- from the Congressional letter to President Bush, December, 06
Chemistry to the Rescue?
from Thomas Weiss' report on a talk given by Daniel Nocera at St. Michael's College
Daniel Nocera, a chemist and professor of Energy at M. I. T. lectured on "The Global Energy Crisis: Chemistry to the Rescue". Nocera gave an overview of current and future energy demand and how solar energy is the only possible solution to meeting the energy demand. His important energy graphs seem to be best available here.
Current world energy demand in 12.8 terawatts. (NOTE: One terawatt is one million megawatts. After the uprate, Vermont Yankee is 650 megawatts. World energy demand is equal to 20,000 Vermont Yankees.) Based on historic rates of change for population growth (0.9% per year), per capita GDP (1.4% per year), and energy per unit of GDP (-0.8% per year), world energy demand in the year 2050 will be between 28 and 35 terawatts. (Norcera's Slide 1).
The change of energy use with gross domestic production for selected countries over a period of 23 years shows that most countries increase energy use as GDP increases. The United States on the other hand has remained flat at 350 gigajoules per capita as GDP per capita increased from $20,000 to $32,000. However, half of the world's population is in the lower left-hand corner: using less than 30 gigajoules per capita with GDP,s less than $3,000. He believes that the United States has stayed constant because we are getting good at efficiency and we have exported much of our manufacturing. For everybody to use as much energy as the United States, the world would need 102 terawatts of energy. If the future demand of 28 terawatts were distributed uniformly among the projected 9,400,000,000 people in the year 2050, the average would be the same as Equatorial Guinea uses today. (Slide 2).
We have conservatively a 200-year supply of oil (according to Schlumberger, one of the premier oil drilling companies in the world), a 400-year supply of natural gas, and a 2,000-year supply of coal from which we can make electricity, gasoline, and polymers. So why worry? His answer is carbon dioxide. Those who do not believe in climate change are the biggest gamblers: gambling the entire earth. He also believes that we do not need to get into the climate change argument. We can base the argument for a shift to solar energy and other sources based on economics and security. We are safer if we do not depend on getting our oil from one small corner of the world. (Slide 3). [ed note: how in the world are such fossil fuel supply estimates calculated?!]
Different fuels put out different amounts of carbon dioxide for the same amount of energy. A comparison of primary energy per capita against carbon dioxide per capita shows that average emissions trend along the the line for oil with some near the gas line. But as the world uses more coal, as China is now doing, then carbon dioxide emissions will trend to higher carbon dioxide emissions. (Slide 5).
He showed the carbon dioxide levels on Mauna Loa. At one time, atmospheric carbon dioxide was indeed above 2,000 ppm but that was millions of years in the past with a much different ecology. (Slide 6.)
Even with the best projections, wind and nuclear and biomass are woefully inadequate to meet our future energy needs. The world will need an additional 15 to 22 terawatts of power by the year 2050 based on his projection. If we dam up all of the remaining rivers (1 terawatt), if we use all class 3 winds (2 terawatts), if we grow no food and use all of the land for biomass energy (7 - 10 trerawatts), then we'll get 10 to 13 terawatts. If we complete one new nuclear power plant of 1,000 megawatts every 1.6 days for the next 35 years, we'll get another 8 terawatts. That is a total of 8,000 new nuclear power plants. Those are upper limits that will not be achieved nor probably even approached too closely.
The best efficiency that photosynthesis can achieve on a theoretical basis is a 10.5% conversion of the energy in sunlight to plant energy. Our best crops now convert 1%, we only get a 0.4% conversion rate from corn.
[According to Norcera,] the best long term hope is solar energy. An area about the size of the Colorado plains, converting only 10% of the energy in sunlight, will generate as much energy as the United States uses in one year. Co-incidentally, this is the same area as all of the roads in the United States. (Slide 7.)
Nocera's goal is to use the chemistry of photosynthesis to enable readily available materials to make solar energy at a low cost. He believes that energy will be stored as hydrogen. A major advance in understanding the chemistry and biology of photosynthesis was made two years ago. His research group is using that to develop better methods of photovoltaics and of creating hydrogen from water. Because he was speaking to college students, he urged them to get into chemistry.
Vermont citizen Thomas Weiss delivers a weekly report on energy-related legislative doings, archived here on the Community Pages.
Peak Oil Implications: Global and for the Green Mountain State
Slideshow and presentation
Chittenden County ("Plan C") VPON members Moshe Braner and Annie Dunn Watson have begun presenting a slide show and talk on Peak Oil and implications for Vermont; Braner also offers a presentation on Exponential Growth, its relationship to resource depletion, and the case for a steady state economy. These presentations are designed to offer both an informational focus and interactive, "brainstorming" opportunities. To find out more and/or schedule a presentation, contact Annie or Moshe.
Pondering a future for oil seed crops in Vermont
Equal Time Radio on WDEV, Waterbury, March 26, 2008
Carl Etnier and guests have a discussion about growing oilseed crops in Vermont for on-farm biodiesel production and other purposes. Guests are Netaka White, director of the Vermont Biofuels Association and Roger Rainville, a farmer in Alburgh who has grown 20 tons of oilseed crops and pressed the oil; Rainville is planning to produce biodiesel this fall. White discusses the results of the study, Homegrown Feed, Food & Fuel: The Market Potential of Farm-Scale Oilseed Crop Products in Vermont. Audio file, archived on the Community Pages here.
Major Energy Producers' Big Problem
Chart created by Scott Printz, Bennington Sustainability Outpost
A common assumption is that a greater investment in exploration and development will bring more oil to market. This chart shows just the opposite:
[blue=oil discoveries, in billions of barrels; red=exploration/development investment in billions of 2008 US dollars. Original - and readible! - chart here.]
There are several things to consider with this chart:
1) The companies represented with this data don't have the access to potential new fields as in the past, 2) There could be a lag between time of investment and and time of discovery, 3) Expected future oil prices could make the more expensive discoveries more profitable than "cheaper" discoveries of the past, 4) Discoveries may have been even less if not for the large increase in investment.
There's probably some validity to most, if not all, of these points. Regardless, it doesn't look good.
The companies represented with this data are: Amerada Hess Corporation, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Apache Corporation, BP America, Inc., Burlington Resources, Inc., Chesapeake Energy Corporation, Chevron Corporation, CITGO Petroleum Corporation, ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy Corporation, Dominion Resources, El Paso Corporation, EOG Resources, Inc., Equitable Resources, Inc., Exxon Mobil Corporation, Kerr-McGee Corporation, Lyondell Chemical Corporation, Marathon Oil Corporation, Motiva Enterprises, L.L.C., Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Shell Oil Company, Sunoco, Inc., Tesoro Petroleum Corporation, The Williams Companies, Inc., Total Holdings USA, Inc., Valero Energy Corp., and XTO Energy, Inc.
Environment
"We're all victims and
beneficiaries of
the
environment. Global warming is an equal opportunity disaster."
- Stephen Morris
from
Vermont Natural Resources
Council- Stephen Morris
Great news! Vermont lawmakers took a big step toward protecting the fresh water that flows beneath our feet. The Senate overwhelmingly passed S.304 a groundwater protection program. If enacted into law, S.304 will remove Vermont from its precarious position as one of the last states in the nation to adequately protect our primary drinking water source. In an era of dwindling supplies and increasing commodification of water, a forward-looking program to protect water for long-term use and availability for drinking, farming, and business is essential.
Among other things, the bill 1) sets up a program to manage large-scale groundwater withdrawals and 2) declares Vermont’s waters held in the public trust. The bill now moves to the House where there will be much more work to do to ensure it becomes law. Stay tuned for key opportunities to connect to your House Representative in support of S.304, or, let them know now by contacting them today. We’ll need your help to ensure this bill becomes law!
To add valuable perspective as to why this bill is so important, VNRC is proud to host one of the foremost experts on water issues. On April 2, author and activist Maude Barlow will be in Montpelier talking about global efforts to privatize water resources, the growing scarcity of world water supplies and why communities must work to get in front of problems. Please join us at any or all of the events we have planned with Ms. Barlow, including:
· Testimony to a joint legislative committee in the Statehouse
· A book signing of Ms. Barlow’s latest work: Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water
· An evening discussion on the coming battle for the right to water
Find out much more about Ms. Barlow and all the details of the April 2 events here.
While you’re at our web site, definitely make sure you check out the recent mini-documentary we created to help tell the story of what’s happening in Vermont. The video, called “In the Public Trust: The East Montpelier Town Meeting Stands Up for Groundwater,” includes footage of the East Montpelier town meeting debate on a groundwater withdrawal moratorium, as well as interviews and discussions with Vermont lawmakers and VNRC staff members...
For those of you interested in the science of groundwater, don’t miss a comprehensive analysis of what’s really happening beneath our feet. VNRC’s staff scientist Kim Greenwood tells you all about it here.
Improvement to Current Use Program gets VT Senate Approval
from Vermont Natural Resources Council
... Vermont lawmakers have taken action to protect Vermont’s invaluable natural resources. Yesterday, in a decisive vote, the Senate voted to improve one of Vermont’s most tried & true farm and forest conservation tools - the Current Use Program.
The bill S.311 builds on the success of the program and makes several improvements to bolster Vermont’s ability to keep our farm, forestlands, and sensitive ecological areas protected and free from development.
S.311:
Creates more flexibility for landowners and foresters by permitting the enrollment of important ecological areas, which could potentially include such features as rare or exemplary natural communities, riparian buffers, wetlands, vernal pools, and significant wildlife habitat; and, makes targeted improvements to update and streamline the administration of Current Use to benefit landowners and those who run the program.
The time is ripe for capitalizing on the many benefits this successful program offers, not only to landowners, but also to all Vermonters.
Last fall, an analysis provided to the Governor’s Climate Change Commission found that reducing the conversion of forestland to developed land was the single most powerful greenhouse gas reduction strategy Vermont could embrace. Strengthening the Current Use Program would help meet that carbon-reduction goal by helping to keep Vermont’s forests, forests.
The bill now moves to the House where there will be much more work to do to ensure it becomes law. Stay tuned for key opportunities to connect to your House Representative in support of S.311. Or, start today! Ask your Representative to support S.311 by leaving a message for them with the Sergeant-of-Arms at the Vermont Statehouse at 802-828-2228. Find your Representative and their contact information here.
The conservation and climate-change combating benefits of the current use program have made strengthening it one of VNRC's biggest priorities. Read more about our reasons for supporting the bill and reaction to the Senate's vote yesterday here.
We look forward to working with you in the coming months to ensure this good bill becomes law!
National Hanging Out Day - April 19th
from Project Laundry List
“We must all
hang together, or most
assuredly we will all hang separately."
-Benjamin Franklin
-Benjamin Franklin
Every year, on April 19th, Project Laundry List joins together with hundreds of organizations from around the country to educate communities about energy consumption. National Hanging Out Day was created to demonstrate how it is possible to save money and energy by using a clothesline.
For many people, hanging out clothes is therapeutic work. It is the only time during the week that some folks can slow down to feel the wind and listen to the birds. Consistent use of clotheslines or drying racks can save the average household much more than a hundred dollars every year in energy bills. Clothes last longer and smell better, too.
Some communities prohibit clotheslines, ostensibly, for aesthetic reasons. National Hanging Out Day is a time to protest such draconian covenants. In some states, “Right to Dry” legislation is being introduced to override these restrictive community regulations that ban the use of clotheslines.
In this country, six to ten percent of residential energy use goes toward running clothes dryers.[1] The average American uses more energy running a clothes dryer than the average African uses in a year for all her energy needs.[2] A typical National Hanging Out Day event will make people aware of these startling facts. Handing out wooden clothespins, generating community discussion about simple ways to save energy, and providing basic information about local energy sources are the three central activities of most National Hanging Out Day events.
Laundry is used as a beautiful art form to attract public attention. Statistics and sentiments are often painted on T-shirts and pants to make the case for using a clothesline (e.g., “Hang Your Pants, Stop the Nuke Plants”).
Is your community dependent on large hydroelectric dams, nuclear plants, or fossil fuels? Celebrate and encourage the use of that glorious, big reactor in the sky—our Sun—by holding a National Hanging Out Day event in your community. Hanging out clothes in public places to make an environmental statement started in 1995 at Middlebury College, when students got together to mobilize, educate and energize other students. (Read more about this project here.)
Project Laundry List uses words, images, and advocacy to educate people about how simple lifestyle modifications, including air-drying one’s clothes, reduce our dependence on environmentally and culturally costly energy sources. Board of Advisors includes (among other luminaries) VT senator Dick McCormack and author and activist Bill McKibben.
TOP REASONS TO HANG OUT YOUR CLOTHES
For sources, see: http://laundrylist.org/education/NHOD.htm#_ftnref1
Electric dryers
use
five to ten percent of residential
electricity in the United States!
Save money (more than $100/year on electric bill for most households).
Conserve energy and the environment.
Clothes and sheets smell better.
Clothes last longer. Where do you think lint comes from?
It is physical activity which you can do in or outside.
Sunlight bleaches and disinfects
Indoor racks can humidify in dry winter weather
Clothes dryer fires account for about 15,600 structure fires, 15 deaths, and 400 injuries annually. The yearly national fire loss for clothes dryer fires in structures is estimated at $99 million.
Save money (more than $100/year on electric bill for most households).
Conserve energy and the environment.
Clothes and sheets smell better.
Clothes last longer. Where do you think lint comes from?
It is physical activity which you can do in or outside.
Sunlight bleaches and disinfects
Indoor racks can humidify in dry winter weather
Clothes dryer fires account for about 15,600 structure fires, 15 deaths, and 400 injuries annually. The yearly national fire loss for clothes dryer fires in structures is estimated at $99 million.
(ed note: My #1 reason for hanging clothes: Opportunity to pause and deepen my connection to where I live... hanging out laundry slows me down and wakes me up at the same time. I touch and smell the fabrics, find myself visited by whatever seasonal sounds and fragrances are riding on the wind. Mortality and immortality meet in the humble act of pinning laundry to the line. We "hang" in winter, too, by the woodstove... that humidity is a welcome addition to the house.)
Food
"Organic foods
seem elitist only
because industrial food is
artificially cheap, with its real costs being charged to the public
purse, the public health and the environment."
- Alice Waters
- Alice Waters
FARM
FRESH MILK and MEAT bills moving!
from Rural Vermont
FARM FRESH MILK BILL HAS PASSED IN THE HOUSE
Last week, the Farm Fresh Milk Bill - as amended by the House Agriculture Committee - passed the Vermont House of Representatives with a vote of 124-16. The bill survived intact (raising the limit that farmers can sell from 25 quarts/day to 50 quarts/day).
The bill will move onto the senate now, and will begin in the Senate Agriculture Committee. We hope that hearings will begin next week, and we will keep you posted. THANK YOU to all who helped get this bill passed in the house - by showing up at the statehouse, making phone calls, writing notes, and writing letters to the editor. Several representatives reported that they were supporting the bill BECAUSE YOU CALLED. These calls and visits and letters really do make a difference! We can see the results in the statehouse! WE NEED YOU to stay active so we can get this bill all the way to the governor's desk this year! Please stay tuned for updates!
FARM FRESH MEAT BILL also moving:
At the very last minute before the crossover deadline, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed a bill (S.322) that calls for a study about on-farm slaughter of red meat. The bill as introduced did not have this requirement; however, the committee added it just before passage... This means that the Farm Fresh Meat bill still has a chance to pass this year. The Senate will vote on S.322 [shortly], and then the bill will go to the House and be considered by the House Agriculture Committee, who can choose to put the language from H.749 (the Farm Fresh Meat bill) into S.322. This is a great development, and we are very hopeful that the House Agriculture Committee will be support on-farm slaughter of red meat this year. For more information on this issue, visit our website.
Addison County Locally Grown: A Model for On-Line Local Farm Products Purchasing!
Addison County Localvores have created a new direct market for farm products, an on-line market that will be open year round. Visit the Market section, review the delicious locally grown products for sale and place an order. Each vendor in this market farms in the Champlain Valley or uses locally grown ingredients to produce what they are offering for sale. Participating farms vary in size and specialty, but all carry the common thread of dedication to community, environment, health and education. We all appreciate the chance to sell directly to our customers!
ORDERING ADVANTAGES Order Conveniently. With Addison County Locally Grown you get to order what you want, in the quantities you want, from the farms you choose, from your computer, by visiting The Market. Know what you are purchasing, with information about the farmers, their farming practices and their products on our Grower Page. Pick up your order at the centrally located American Flatbread in the Marbleworks, Middlebury.
PLACING ORDERS Two Sunday evenings a month a list of available products is sent to everyone with an account, by email. Customers may place their order any time after that email goes out, but no later than the following Tuesday at 8p.m. Growers receive their orders that same night and harvest and prepare orders on Wednesday and Thursday.
PICKING UP ORDERS Orders can be picked up between 4-6 p.m. on the following Thursday at American Flatbread, Marbleworks, Middlebury. BUT, if you would like to order and can not pick up between 4 to 6 please contact Susan Smiley (see below). We are trying to be very flexible and need to know what the most convenient time of day is for you – we need your input to make this market work. So, please contact Susan with suggestions!
MARKET FEES Growers pay 3% of their receipts to support the on line service Customers pay a 3% market surcharge cover market operating costs Have questions? Please email Susan Smiley, market manager, ssmiley@sover.net or call her at 802 388 6601. Visit the new market at www.addisoncounty.locallygrown.net
Buying at the Farmer's Market
sent in by ACoRN member Jeff Jones
(Jeff writes: I found these helpful hints at FruitandVegGuru.com. I figure since we are going to get our first taste of spring tomorrow it can't hurt to start thinking about it..... so here they are.)
1. Find out if all vendors are grower/producers. Some markets have stalls with overstock, distressed or supermarket-rejected produce purchased from local wholesalers who unload it cheaply to sellers for fruit and vegetable stands. While you can get good deals from these sellers, they are not a source for fresh local produce. If that’s what you’re looking for, call the market coordinator to determine if that’s what you’re getting.
2. Shop early in the day for selection. When the first-of-season blueberries or peaches or honeycrisp apples arrive, they often disappear from market tables faster than you can say “I’ve been waiting a year!” Even less time-sensitive foods like pickling cucumbers might be gone if you wait until late in the day. The early shopper gets the best choice.
3. Let the produce du jour guide your meal planning. Since farmers market selections come from just 100 or 200 miles away, the local climate dictates what you’ll find on any given day. That means you’ll get leafy greens, herbs and spr
from Rural Vermont
FARM FRESH MILK BILL HAS PASSED IN THE HOUSE
Last week, the Farm Fresh Milk Bill - as amended by the House Agriculture Committee - passed the Vermont House of Representatives with a vote of 124-16. The bill survived intact (raising the limit that farmers can sell from 25 quarts/day to 50 quarts/day).
The bill will move onto the senate now, and will begin in the Senate Agriculture Committee. We hope that hearings will begin next week, and we will keep you posted. THANK YOU to all who helped get this bill passed in the house - by showing up at the statehouse, making phone calls, writing notes, and writing letters to the editor. Several representatives reported that they were supporting the bill BECAUSE YOU CALLED. These calls and visits and letters really do make a difference! We can see the results in the statehouse! WE NEED YOU to stay active so we can get this bill all the way to the governor's desk this year! Please stay tuned for updates!
FARM FRESH MEAT BILL also moving:
At the very last minute before the crossover deadline, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed a bill (S.322) that calls for a study about on-farm slaughter of red meat. The bill as introduced did not have this requirement; however, the committee added it just before passage... This means that the Farm Fresh Meat bill still has a chance to pass this year. The Senate will vote on S.322 [shortly], and then the bill will go to the House and be considered by the House Agriculture Committee, who can choose to put the language from H.749 (the Farm Fresh Meat bill) into S.322. This is a great development, and we are very hopeful that the House Agriculture Committee will be support on-farm slaughter of red meat this year. For more information on this issue, visit our website.
Addison County Locally Grown: A Model for On-Line Local Farm Products Purchasing!
Addison County Localvores have created a new direct market for farm products, an on-line market that will be open year round. Visit the Market section, review the delicious locally grown products for sale and place an order. Each vendor in this market farms in the Champlain Valley or uses locally grown ingredients to produce what they are offering for sale. Participating farms vary in size and specialty, but all carry the common thread of dedication to community, environment, health and education. We all appreciate the chance to sell directly to our customers!
ORDERING ADVANTAGES Order Conveniently. With Addison County Locally Grown you get to order what you want, in the quantities you want, from the farms you choose, from your computer, by visiting The Market. Know what you are purchasing, with information about the farmers, their farming practices and their products on our Grower Page. Pick up your order at the centrally located American Flatbread in the Marbleworks, Middlebury.
PLACING ORDERS Two Sunday evenings a month a list of available products is sent to everyone with an account, by email. Customers may place their order any time after that email goes out, but no later than the following Tuesday at 8p.m. Growers receive their orders that same night and harvest and prepare orders on Wednesday and Thursday.
PICKING UP ORDERS Orders can be picked up between 4-6 p.m. on the following Thursday at American Flatbread, Marbleworks, Middlebury. BUT, if you would like to order and can not pick up between 4 to 6 please contact Susan Smiley (see below). We are trying to be very flexible and need to know what the most convenient time of day is for you – we need your input to make this market work. So, please contact Susan with suggestions!
MARKET FEES Growers pay 3% of their receipts to support the on line service Customers pay a 3% market surcharge cover market operating costs Have questions? Please email Susan Smiley, market manager, ssmiley@sover.net or call her at 802 388 6601. Visit the new market at www.addisoncounty.locallygrown.net
Buying at the Farmer's Market
sent in by ACoRN member Jeff Jones
(Jeff writes: I found these helpful hints at FruitandVegGuru.com. I figure since we are going to get our first taste of spring tomorrow it can't hurt to start thinking about it..... so here they are.)
1. Find out if all vendors are grower/producers. Some markets have stalls with overstock, distressed or supermarket-rejected produce purchased from local wholesalers who unload it cheaply to sellers for fruit and vegetable stands. While you can get good deals from these sellers, they are not a source for fresh local produce. If that’s what you’re looking for, call the market coordinator to determine if that’s what you’re getting.
2. Shop early in the day for selection. When the first-of-season blueberries or peaches or honeycrisp apples arrive, they often disappear from market tables faster than you can say “I’ve been waiting a year!” Even less time-sensitive foods like pickling cucumbers might be gone if you wait until late in the day. The early shopper gets the best choice.
3. Let the produce du jour guide your meal planning. Since farmers market selections come from just 100 or 200 miles away, the local climate dictates what you’ll find on any given day. That means you’ll get leafy greens, herbs and spr