Vermont Sustainable Living

Purpose

¨ To explore the meaning of sustainability.

¨ To consider the ties between lifestyle choices and their impact on the earth.

¨ To learn about steps that can be taken to move toward ecologically sustainable organizations, lifestyles, and communities.

Session Themes:

A Call to Sustainability:  The goal of a sustainable society is popular, but difficult to define.  How does the way our society functions affect the earth, and how can we be “a blessing to the planet”?

Ecological Principles:  Some argue that the earth is the best teacher of sustainable practices.  How can nature’s organizing principles be applied in design, production of goods, and everyday living?

Sustainable Food:  According to one author, our food travels an average of 1,300 miles before reaching our plates.  How can we lessen our impact on the earth through choices about the way we eat?

Sustainable Buying:  Daily messages tell us to buy, buy, buy.  How can we escape from these cultural pressures, and instead only purchase what we truly need, from the most sustainable sources available?

Sustainable Communities: Change does not come without people coming together and taking action. In what ways can your community work towards sustainability? How can you make your community a sustainable one?

Sustainable Business and Economy:  Is a growing economy equivalent to a healthy economy?  What are other ways of measuring success, and how can we encourage businesses to adopt sustainable practices and perspectives?

Visions of Sustainability:  Choices we make today are shaping the world of tomorrow.  How can we create the most sustainable society for our future?

Resource Guide

Designed to accompany Vermont Earth Institute’s discussion course

Choices for Sustainable Living 2007 Edition

SESSION 1: A CALL TO SUSTAINABILITY

Vermont Earth Institute: sustainability   www.vtearthinstitute.org     (802) 333-3664

Northwest Earth Institute:  sustainable living, sustainable communities, voluntary simplicity, ecological principles  www.nwei.org     (503) 227-2807

Population Action International: population   www.populationaction.org     (202)-557-3400 

Worldwatch Institute: sustainable society   www.worldwatch.org    (800) 555-2028

Population Connection (formerly Zero Population Growth {ZPG}):  population   www.populationconnection.org    (800) POP-1956

SESSION 2:  ECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES

Efficiency Vermont: energy efficiency

www.efficiencyvermont.com     (802) 658-6060

10% Challenge: energy efficiency & conservation (esp. NW Vermont)

www.10percentchallenge.org    (802) 865-7330

Renewable Energy Vermont (REV):  clean power & heat 

www.REVermont.org    (802) 229-0099

Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Compost Center:  compost

www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/wastediv/compost/main2.htm    (802) 241-344

Vermont Agency of Natural Resources waste reduction

www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/wastediv/R3/WReduct.htm

To calculate your carbon footprint see www.safeclimate.net/calculator

SESSION 3:  SUSTAINABLE FOOD/AGRICULTURE

Center for Sustainable Agriculture (UVM):  sustainable agriculture

www.uvm.edu/~susagctr/  802-656-5459

EarthSave:  environmental well-being via food choice   www.earthsave.org  (718) 459-7503

Master Gardener Program:  gardening mentors  www.uvm.edu/mastergardener   (800) 639-2230

Northeast Organic Farming Association of VT (NOFA-VT):  local, organic agriculture

www.nofavt.org     (802) 434-4122

Vermont Department of Agriculture:  sustainable agriculture, VT products, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)  www.state.vt.us/agric/   (802) 828-2416

SESSION 4:  SUSTAINABLE BUYING

Co-op America:  environmentally preferable products  www.coopamerica.org   (800) 584-7336

Green Seal:  environmentally preferable products  www.greenseal.org   (202) 872-6400

Center for a New American Dream: responsible purchasing www.newdream.org/procure/index.php

Worldwatch Institute’s guide for responsible purchasing www.worldwatch.org/pubs/goodstuff

Regional solid waste districts publish directories of local reuse businesses and the Association of Vermont Recyclers has a searchable reuse businesses database on its website (www.vtrecyclers.org)

SESSION 5:  SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

Burlington Legacy Project  Burlington sustainability initiatives

www.cedo.ci.burlington.vt.us/legacy/  (802) 865-7532

The Cohousing Network:  cohousing   www.cohousing.org/    (510) 486-2656

Good News Garage:  vehicle redistribution   www.goodnewsgarage.org     (877) 448-3288 

Rideshare Vermont:  carpooling     www.vermontrideshare.org  (877) 5-RIDEVT

Sustainability Institute:   cohousing   www.sustainer.org/cobbhill

Sustainable Communities Network:  sustainable communities 

www.sustainable.org     (202) 328-8160  (will reach offices of CONCERN, Inc.)

Vermont Forum on Sprawl:  sprawl www.smartgrowthvermont.org/  (802)  864-6310

Vital Communities of the Upper Valley:  healthy communities

www.vital.communities.org        (802) 291-9100

SESSION 6:  SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Building for Social Responsibility (Vermont Chapter):  sustainable building practices

www.bsr-vt.org/ 802-922-4767

Building Green: green building products     www.buildinggreen.com  (802) 257-7300

National Wildlife Federation:  Vermont Wood Products  (Smart WoodTM) 

www.nwf.org/forests/smartwood.cfm   (802) 229-4532 regional office

Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR):   sustainable business practices

www.vbsr.com     (802) 862-8347

Vermont Business Materials eXchange:  business surplus trading network

www.vbmex.net   (800) 895-1930

Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund:  sustainable business assistance   www.vsjf.org     (802) 828-1260

TAKE ACTION

Your discussion group may come up with actions you want to do in your community. Here are some personal actions from the Center for a New American Dream www.newdream.org/tttoffline/actions.php.

The Center asked leading scientists and environmental experts to recommend some steps that Americans could take that would have a significant positive environmental impact. Their goal was to select actions that would save forests, protect endangered species and stem global warming, among many other environmental benefits. More information about each of these steps is available on their website.

1. Skip a car trip.

2. Eat one less beef meal each week.

3. Don’t eat shrimp.

4. Declare your independence from junk mail. Contact www.DirectMail.com/Junk_Mail to request that your name is removed from all 3^rd class mailing lists.

5. Replace four standard light bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFLs).

6. Move the thermostat 3o F.

7. Eliminate lawn and garden pesticides.

8. Install an efficient showerhead and low flow faucet aerators.

9. Convince two friends to take these steps.

The Vermont Sustainable Living Resource Guide was produced by the

Association of Vermont Recyclers and Vermont Earth Institute.

 It was funded in part by a grant from the USDA’s rural development program

For more information on starting or participating in a Vermont Earth Institute course contact:

            Barbara Duncan     333-3664     vei@valley.net         www.vtearthinstitute.org/programs.html

Educating and supporting Vermonters and Upper Valley residents to reduce consumption and adopt environmentally sustainable practices in their homes, workplaces and communities.

I. A Call to Sustainability

Definitions of Sustainability ¨ Excerpts from “Easter’s End” by Jared Diamond ¨ Excerpt from “The Parables of Rats and Mice” by Kathleen Dean Moore ¨ “Making Other Arrangements” by James Howard Kunstler ¨ “The Great Turning” by Joanna Macy

II: Ecological Principles

“Footprints to Sustainability” by Professor William E. Rees ¨ “The Technology Factor” by Paul Ehrlich ¨ “The Personal Impact of No Impact” by Colin Beavan ¨ “The Natural Step to Sustainability” by Mary Jane Brukardt ¨ Case Study: “Scandic Hotels Thrives with The Natural Step”¨ “Mother Nature’s School of Design” by Jeanine Benyus ¨ Case Study: “Bear River’s Living Machine” by Dave Redwood and Sean Kelly

III: Food

“Cheap Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser ¨ “What’s Eating America” by Michael Pollan ¨  “Stalking the Vegetannual” by Barbara Kingsolver ¨ “Eating at Home” by Brain Halweil ¨ “Top 10 Reasons to Buy Organic”

IV: Buying

“American Excess: Are We Shopping Our Planet to Death?” by Alan Durning ¨ “Buy Now, Pay Later” by Jess Worth ¨ “Plastic Bags are Killing Us” by Katherine Mieszkowski ¨ “What Does Not Buying Really Look Like?” by Anne White ¨ “Green from the Ground Up” by Bill McKibben

V: Communities

“City After Oil” by Richard Register ¨ “If You Build It, Will They Change?” by Bill McKibben ¨ “Building Green Community on a Budget” by Liz Walker ¨ “Las Gaviotas” by Richard White and Gloria Eugenia Gonzales Marino ¨ Excerpt from The Common Life by Scott Russell Sanders

VI: Business and Economy

Detroit Speech by Robert Kennedy ¨ Excerpt from Eco-Economy by Lester R. Brown ¨ “It’s Folly to Save Jobs by Risking a Resource” by Donella Meadows ¨ “Feeding the Beast” by John R. Ehrenfeld ¨ Excerpt from “The Extravagant Gesture” by William McDonough and Michael Braungart ¨ “Profits of Place” by Josh Harkinson ¨ Case Study: Excerpt from “Breaking Down Buildings, Building Up a Neighborhood” by Holly Dressel ¨ “Dreams of a Livable Future” by Paul Hawken 

VII: Visions of Sustainability

Excerpt from “Tools for the Transition to Sustainability” by Donella Meadows, Jorgen Randers, and Dennis Meadows ¨ Excerpt from Understanding the Social Transformation Process by Christopher Uhl ¨ “To Remake the World” by Paul Hawken ¨ “The Seven Sustainable Wonders of the World” by Alan Durning ¨ Excerpt from You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train by Howard Zinn¨ “What You Can Do to Protect the Earth”