Thank you to the thousands of VNRC members and activists who make our work possible! Your support and dedication mean a lot to us – and to Vermont.

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VNRC is urging lawmakers to pass an important working lands measure to bolster the economic viability of Vermont’s farm and forestland. The legislation – H.496 in the House and S.246 in the Senate – is designed to encourage strategic investment through the creation of the Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Fund, the designation and support of "working lands," and the development of revenue to support working landscape enterprises and conservation. The bill would also create an Office of Planning and Coordination and activate the Development Cabinet. Lawmakers held a well-attended public hearing recently and VNRC’s Kate McCarthy was among the witnesses who spoke in favor of the bill. Click here to watch her in action. (She’s the second witness in the video)

VNRC recently testified in favor of creating an alternative means of measuring economic well-being. The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) incorporates the diverse factors – social, economic, and environmental – that contribute to people’s overall wellbeing and quality of life. Adopting a GPI for the state of Vermont will create a decision-making framework that measures not only economic wellbeing, but also healthy ecosystems and healthy communities. For more information, go here, and then click on the link at the bottom of the article to read VNRC’s full position on this issue.

Mark Blucher Honored

Mark gave generously of his time and talent to a variety of organizations, serving as chair of the Council on Rural Development and working actively in the Vermont Association of Planning and Development Agencies, the Rutland Region Workforce Investment Board, and the Rutland Region Educational Alliance. You can read the full obituary here.

March 21: Energy Independence Day

On March 21st you can declare your energy independence by participating in Vermont’s first crowd-sourced film. Crowd-sourced films are short films made up of clips created by a variety of people. In this case, Vermonters – like you – are invited to create the film clips which will be compiled and edited into a short movie by Blue EcoMedia, a Vermont-based educational organization that uses digital media to communicate, enhance, enrich and sustain human cultures and ecological systems on which they rely. 

On March 21 you can tell your story and help show the world how Vermonters are redefining their energy use. All you need is a video camera, some friends and some ideas!

For more information click here.

On Thursday February 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. in Room 11 at the State House in Montpelier, there will be a joint legislative hearing for both the House and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committees to hear from Vermont town energy leaders specifically.

"As the two committees that take the lead in shaping energy- and climate-related policy in the Legislature, we need to hear from Vermonters doing the real, hard work on these issues at the local level to inform what we do this year and into the future," said House Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Tony Klein. 

For more information, contact House Natural Resources and Energy Committee Assistant Catherine Russell at crussell@leg.state.vt.us or VECAN Coordinator, Johanna Miller at jmiller@vnrc.org or 802-223-2328 Ext. 112. 

For a recent update on energy news under the Golden Dome, click here for a video from Chairman Klein.

The State Department, facing an accelerated timeline imposed by Congress, recently announced that it would deny the permit needed to build the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Bill McKibben, 350.org organizer, XL protest leader and VNRC advisor, hailed the decision and praised President Obama for the move. “In the face of a naked political threat from Big Oil to exact ‘huge political consequences,’ he’s stood up strong,” McKibben said. “This is a victory for Americans who testified in record numbers, and who demanded that science get the hearing usually reserved for big money.” Opponents of the XL project have warned that the developers may re-apply for permission to build a pipeline.

(Photo: Javier Sierra)