By Jane Dwinell

Ever wonder what it would be like to live in a really small space with just the basics? Ever wonder what it would be like to do this with your sweetheart? Could you stand to be together in such tight quarters, doing all the activities of daily living along with all the fun things you enjoy? Well, if you have a hobby that takes up a lot of space or needs tons of equipment (or you don't want to be that close with your loved one), living in 250 square feet may not be for you. But it is for me.

8/6/08

THE EXPENSE OF FREE SPEECH
By
Richard Davis
GUILFORD-. Last week a case played out in Federal Court in Brattleboro that revolved around the free speech rights of the pharmaceutical industry. The big boys are crying foul and saying that a new Vermont law, Act 80, will drive up drug prices and stifle innovation. It’s hard to have a lot of sympathy for an industry that is perhaps the most profitable on the planet (neck and neck with the oil companies), an industry that profits from the sickest and most vulnerable people in our society.

Seven Days "Fair Game" columnist Shay Totten spells out the Intervale's woes.

So let's get this straight - we've got a community-managed agricultural resource that is a global model for relocalization, and state government is making it as hard as possible for it to survive?

In an interview with Seven Days' Suzanne Podhaizer, Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser said this of the Intervale:

Do you want a quick way to reduce your rapidly increasing weekly food bill by 25 percent?  It’s easy: stop wasting food.  According to a recent article in the New York Times, 25 percent of all food purchased in the U.S. ends up in the trash.  Not only is this a waste of money, but it is bad for our landfills now bursting at their seams with unwanted remnants of our wasteful society.  I do find it hard to believe that frugal Vermonters are near the national average in terms of food waste.   

“North Star” On The Long Trail– An Interview with Dana Dwinell-Yardley

conducted by Rob Williams, webeditor

VC: Tell us a little bit about yourself.  

Dana:  Well, I'm a 20-year-old Montpelierite and eighth-generation Vermonter. I take real pride in being born of our Green Mountain State, of having roots here. I love being outside. I was homeschooled for my entire life and now I work in the "real world" as a graphic designer.      

WESTMINSTER WEST, Vt. -- An award-winning sheep-cheese farm,
community-supported vegetable farm and a garden with semi-wild
medicinal herbs are among the attractions that will be featured on
Sunday, July 20 in an event celebrating the continuing agricultural
heritage of a small Vermont village.

by Jane Dwinell and Dana Dwinell-Yardley

Worried about high gas prices affecting everything from food to fun? Wondering what to do about your summer vacation? Try having one close to home. There are so many things to do in Vermont — so many reasons people from everywhere else to want to visit here. It’s your turn to discover Vermont.

We don't usually post press releases here, but this is too exciting to pass up.

Especially in the wake of Suzanne Podhaizer's fabulous interview with IN DEFENSE OF FOOD author Michael Pollan in this week's SEVEN DAYS.

Go Burlington!

--- snip ----

For Immediate Release 6/18/08

Downtown Burlington Farmers’ Market Goes Year Round:
Winter Market in the Works for 2008-2009

Victory!

Good to see the Guv coming around on this one.

For details, visit VNRC's web site.

VNRC's Johanna Miller wrote a feature article, entitled "Who Owns Vermont's Water?", about this vital issue in our spring 2008 issue.

Rob Hopkins' The Transition Handbook is a new, tremendously useful, and inspiring book on how to move, as the subtitle says, "From oil dependency to local resilience."

Richard Heinberg has spent a lot of time visiting Transition Towns in the UK, and he describes the movement as looking "more like a party than a protest march."

And it is a party, not a protest. The Transition Town philosophy is about making change where you are, with the people around you, not pressuring someone else to make the change for you.

Here's one small way this book has helped me:
I give a lot of peak oil slide shows, and I was intrigued by his suggestion for a "do-it-yourself" peak oil slideshow. You create the slideshow by printing up each slide on a piece of 8.5x11 paper, with circles and arrows (or, in any case, a paragraph) explaining the slide on the back of each one, and then hand the cards out to the audience. Each person's job is to meet every other person in the room and explain the slide he or she has. By the time everyone has met everyone else, they have had quite an introduction to peak oil. It really gets people invested in the ideas and helps them get to know each other!

I haven't tried the full DIY slideshow yet, but the idea has inspired me to cut off the final part of my standard slideshow and replace it with a visioning exercise about the future of Vermont. I then ask the audience to break up into small groups and share their visions. The room comes to life when they do it!

Though the book came out in March or so in the UK, it's not scheduled to be distributed in the US until September.* Normally, I try to buy books at local bookstores. This one is too good to wait that long for. You can order it online, with quick and surprisingly inexpensive shipping from the UK.