Climate Matters: We can see clearly now

In Vermont, the scent of wood smoke on a late fall afternoon is an iconic smell. It’s not like that here today, in the first week of June — it’s more like sitting on the side of the campfire where the wind is blowing, but without any of the benefits of the blaze.

Climate Matters: Food justice and climate resiliency

What do food justice and climate resiliency actually look like? Few can deny that one of Vermont’s best attributes is its commitment to locally grown food. 

Climate Matters: An ounce of prevention…

I don’t know if it’s just us Americans, or if it is a universal human trait, but we seem to prefer medical treatment over prevention.

Climate Matters: Climate activism in the toilet

What is the carbon footprint of human defecation? This oddball question comes to me as I continue this journey of exploring what I as an individual and what we as a community can do to combat the climate crisis.

Climate Matters: A carbon bomb in our Green Mountain National Forest?

I believe that the staff at the Green Mountain National Forest are good, well-meaning professionals who care deeply about our forest, but that they are locked into outdated science and policies in a 2006 Forest Plan that works directly against efforts to … (read more)

Climate Matters: To Florida and back in our EV!

A well-known saying on bicycle touring trips is, “Drink before you’re thirsty, eat before you’re hungry, and shift before you have to.” 

Climate Matters: Our young people’s future, our forests, our changing climate

I have examined the findings of the 2022 report from the International Panel on Climate Change and other authoritative research, and what I have found is downright terrifying for our young people’s future. 

Climate Matters: Try the 30-Day Low Carbon Diet and save

According to the Low Carbon Diet Program, a group of five- to eight households agree to meet consistently once a week over a month for an hour to motivate each other to take energy saving actions listed in the “Low Carbon Diet” workbook by David Gershon o … (read more)

Climate Matters: Too late for business as usual

Do you remember when Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” came out? I saw it in a crowded movie theater almost 20 years ago. Recently I wondered how our local climate data in Vermont look now compared to then. Quick answer: things have gotten worse. 

Climate Matters: The Knoll is a place of nourishment and wellbeing

Founded by students in 2003, the Knoll, Middlebury College’s educational garden, has become a vitally important center of climate justice, resiliency, education and community nourishment.

Climate Matters: Turn off the gas, bring on the magnets

Gas stoves make people sick, why are we still using them?

Climate Matters: Traveling Vermont and beyond by train and bus

With a little advance planning, it is quite feasible to do the things you want to do in Vermont by public transit, and thus decrease your carbon footprint substantially compared to driving a fossil-fueled vehicle by yourself. 

Climate Matters: A late fall and ‘shifting baseline syndrome’

This year, the last leaves fell on Nov. 8. Last year they fell on Nov. 3. In 2020 the leaves fell on Oct. 31.

Climate Matters: A case for on-site solar

Regular Climate Matters columnist Mike Roy sat down with Ian Phair of Cornwall to learn more about his new solar power venture, Vermont Solar Fund LLC. 

Climate Matters: Vermont’s climate politics and the midterms

On paper it looks like Vermont has done a lot to address climate change. 

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