Climate Matters: The shifting shoreline of what we think we know

“It might be the very assumption you know something that blocks you from really knowing, but it might be that there is something unknowable mixed in.”

I am writing this dispatch from a southbound train, which left Middlebury at midday and is making its way — not too fast, not too slow — toward Penn Station in New York City. 

I don’t know about you, but I hate talking about climate change.

In June the Middlebury selectboard approved a free right-of-way easement for Canadian-owned Vermont Gas Systems to build new fossil fuel infrastructure downtown on Mill Street.

I spoke with Taylor Rental’s Chris Bagley about his experience selling battery-powered landscape equipment, including chainsaws, string trimmers, leaf blowers, and all sorts of residential and commercial lawn-mowing equipment.

Could Middlebury bring the Vermont forest into its city center? Could it create a Green Lung, connecting say the Natural Foods Co-op, through the Village Green, along the Riverfront Park, across the Marble Works footbridge, linking all the way up to the M … (read more)

As many Vermonters become more aware of the climate impacts of traditional grass mowing, at Cornwall Orchards Bed and Breakfast we’re exploring alternate approaches.

What can we learn from public health campaigns that will help us make progress on climate-change prevention?

The honey bee is critical to the environment and our survival. Here are some facts about honey bees, drawn from two sources.

This Climate Matters column is brought to you by the letter L, the letter R, and the number 5. Five L’s guide my work and are inspired by Judy Dow’s 5 R’s.

Yes, I’m concerned about climate change. Yet I remain optimistic about the future, a future we in Vermont have some control over.

Two years ago, scientists were telling us that we needed to reduce carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 and to zero by 2050.

Solastalgia means, “The distress caused by environmental change.”

16th in a series Most of the time I’m writing about vested interest as the key obstacle to making the energy transition. And it is — without the endless campaign of delay, denial and disinformation from Big Oil and its friends, we’d have started making bi … (read more)

I’ve been directing Addison County River Watch Collaborative for about 10 years, and I still feel like a beginner. I’m only starting to get to know the six rivers we monitor.