Energy Committee Chair Rebecca Foster said she is perplexed by the Selectboard’s “disproportionate” concerns over a series of small purchases made by the committee, given the EC’s modest budget and the town’s energy conservation goals.
In a parallel universe, Charlotte is celebrating 50 years of hosting nuclear power—or perhaps regretting it. The fork in…
For many traditional outdoorsmen and women July can be a month of relaxing and enjoying summer’s bounty. But for some of us who are truly dedicated wildlife lovers, we want to give something back to the resource.
The Charlotte Conservation Commission has acquired several trail cameras to help identify and confirm key significant habitat corridors in town.
The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) has been in the news recently. The populations of these colorful and much loved butterflies have declined 90 percent in the past 20 years, and people are alarmed. Why has the monarch disappeared, and what can we do to reverse this trend?
In my work at the Conservation Commission I reviewed a subdivision application in which two state agencies, another town committee, and a not-for-profit all held interests aimed at compliance with federal guidelines. Add to that a concern for global climate stability, and these layers of complexity, while necessary, are frustrating and often counterproductive.
As a solar community organizer, I spend a lot of time talking to people about renewable energy. The question I get most frequently is, “Why is there so much wind and solar energy in Vermont?” Folks from out of state, or those who spend time in other places, are surprised by the number of wind projects on our mountains and solar installations on our homes and businesses.
In a regime of “alternative facts” are you engaging the application “fundamental truth”? In an era imagining the inhabitation of Mars are you attending to your habitat here on Earth? The Charlotte Conservation Commission is captivated by these challenges. So how are we engaging truth and sustaining our human habitat? In the last two years we have built a team that includes an artist, a teacher, an ecological economist, a farmer, a law student, a former state resource manager, a journalist, a community activist and a Charlotte resident with a legacy of four generations. This diverse team is motivated by the truth that sustaining our habitat is increasingly a matter of life and death around the planet, and the threat is growing toward Charlotte.
This time of the year I tend to walk around my place a lot collecting maple sap. I often…