November 14, 2010
Vermont's environmentalists look ahead with optimism
RANDOLPH -- The recent election left environmentalists around the country battered and dispirited, but in Vermont they emerged with their agendas intact -- and with optimism.
Climate-change deniers might have won the day elsewhere, but Vermont has a governor-elect who lists climate change as the state's biggest environmental challenge.
That's part of the message Peter Shumlin delivered Saturday to environmentalists who convened here for their annual action conference, sponsored by dozens of organizations. Shumlin's five-minute opening address, via video hookup, was a kind of pep talk in which he thanked his listeners for their backing and urged them on in their support for renewable energy and conservation projects.
"Let's make Vermont the efficiency leader," Shumlin said. "The work you are doing on the ground to make Vermont a leader is tremendously important."
The daylong symposium, held at Vermont Technical College, drew 270 activists from around the state. Shumlin's comments set the tone for the event, and they echoed welcoming remarks by Paul Burns of VPIRG, who depicted Vermont as one of the few places where environmentalists' legislative friends had held their own this election year.
"The eyes of the nation are going to be on us," Burns said, but added: "It's not all puppies and rainbows here. We face real challenges going forward."
The conference featured two dozen workshops on topics ranging from organizing and public speaking to junkyard laws, kicking the heating-oil habit and promoting clean-energy projects. The day offered ample opportunity to network, strategize and build momentum leading into the legislative session.
After gathering in the gym, conferees headed off to their workshops with more than enthusiasm in the air: The scent of manure from nearby fields hung over the campus.
Some of the workshops detailed startling problems that almost seemed to defy solution. A session on toxic chemicals in everyday products cited studies showing that most Americans carry scores of toxic chemicals in their bodies -- absorbed from products ranging from cosmetics and food to cleaners and mattresses -- and that the great majority of chemicals used commercially are not tested for safety.
One line of attack for environmentalists, suggested VPIRG's Charity Carbine, would be to push for a strengthening of the 1976 federal Toxic Substances Control Act, which she called woefully ineffective. Another tack, suggested Seventh Generation's Dave Rapaport, is to push for transparency in labeling and adherence to the precautionary principle.
Other sessions beckoned with ambitious themes that could barely be covered in 90 minutes. "Transportation: The Climate Change Challenge that Vermont Must Crack" turned out to be mostly about Complete Streets -- a design strategy to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians as well as vehicles -- with references to rotaries, public transit, carpooling and other approaches that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, Vermont's most prolific sector.
"There's no silver bullet," said Jason Van Driesche of Local Motion, one of the presenters.
"Zero Waste or Bust: Reducing Waste and Increasing Recycling in Vermont" reported that Vermont diverts (recycles, composts or reuses) just 30 percent of its waste output, far below the 50 percent goal the state set for itself two decades ago. California, by comparison, diverts 54 percent, and San Francisco, 75 percent.
"Vermont used to be a leader," said Donna Barlow Casey, former director of the Central Vermont Solid Waste District and an advocate of a "zero waste" commitment. "We're no longer a leader."
Two key goals for Vermont waste activists: Enacting an Extended Product Responsibility law that would require manufacturers to pay for collection and recycling of their products; and staving off efforts to repeal Vermont's bottle bill, which supporters call the state's most successful recycling program. Ideally, Casey said, the bottle bill should be expanded to include water bottles.
Bottled water was a focus of the workshop next door, "Taking Back the Tap," which confronted the question of how to strengthen beleaguered public water systems and oppose the bottled-water industry that profits at their expense.
To keep the water safe in Vermont's public water systems, according to the state's Department of Environmental Conservation, $58.7 million is needed for infrastructure. Yet the state's fund that provides loans and grants to maintain safe drinking water received just $8.2 million in federal aid in 2010 -- 14 percent of what was required.
How to address the growing needs of aging, failing public water systems across the country? One proposal, said Nisha Swinton, a Maine activist, is to establish a federal Clean Water Trust Fund, modeled after the Highway Trust Fund.
A congressional sponsor for the legislation has yet to be found, Swinton said.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20101114/NEWS02/11140322/Vermont-s-environmentals-look-ahead-with-optimism
