STARKSBORO — To spend any time at all with Ellen Kahler is to be inspired that a better world is possible.
The 48-year-old Starksboro resident recently won two state awards for leadership toward a sustainable economy: the Vermont Natural Resource Council’s Art Gibb Award for Individual Leadership and the inaugural Con Hogan Award for Creative, Entrepreneurial Community Leadership.
Since arriving in Vermont 26 years ago, Kahler has been a powerhouse for economic justice and social change across the state, first as executive director of Burlington’s Peace and Justice Center and since 2005 as the executive director of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund.
“Ellen’s a big picture thinker, but she also likes to get her hands on the problem,” said Kevin Harper, the Bristol developer who helped fo