Residents want community to embrace biking, organic farming under climate economy initiative

MIDDLEBURY — Environmentally minded residents are determined to place climate change front-and-center in shaping the community’s future economic path.

Residents of the Addison County shire town came together Oct. 26 at American Legion Post 27 for the second of several rounds of discussions as part of the Greater Middlebury Climate Economy Initiative. The initiative kicked off in town on Sept. 28 with over 100 residents in attendance.

Photo by Lou Varricchio

Environmentally minded Middlebury, Vt., residents gathered Oct. 26 for a second Climate Economy Initiative meeting. They identified three climate-change related efforts for the town to undertake. (Photo by Lou Varricchio/TNR)

The effort, spearheaded by the Vermont Council on Rural Development, started in 2015 with the premise of going town by town to address the accumulating evidence for climate change — whether man-made or natural in cause, or a combination of both. The initiative aims to mitigate climate change through what the organization calls “innovative economic development.”

“This process is a great opportunity to think creatively about our community’s future,” said Andrea Murray, an architect and local resident.

Murray is a member of the local planning committee for the climate economy initiative.

“Hopefully people of all ages, from all parts of Middlebury and the surrounding towns, and with a variety of perspectives and experiences, will join us and add their voices to the conversation,” she said.

The meeting was the second step in the Climate Economy Initiative process. It built from the kick-off event with forums discussing topics ranging from transportation efficiency to local food and agriculture.

At the first forum, residents brainstormed 22 ideas for community improvement. The ideas ranged from electrifying school and transit buses to helping local farmers transition to organic and regenerative farming methods.

Jon Copans, director of VCRD’s Climate Economy Model Communities Program, helped attendees at the Oct. 26 meeting distill the 22 ideas down to three action items. The priorities focused on transportation, local and regional coordination, and farming:

  • Advance public transportation, facilitate more ridesharing, and make Middlebury and surrounding towns the best possible place for biking and walking.
  • Increase staff capacity at the local and regional level to coordinate climate change and energy related actions.
  • Help local farmers transition to organic and regenerative practices.

In addition, they set up a task force lead by resident Chris Huston to focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy opportunities for homes, businesses and other buildings in the community, Copans told True North Reports.

The group also decided that it was important to engage area youth in the work, with youth involvement being an overlaying priority for the task forces as they begin their work.

Photo by Bruce ParkerMiddlebury Selectboard member Laura Asermily, who along with Murray is a member of the Greater Middlebury Climate Economy Initiative, has made biking and walking transportation one of her areas of interest in town. Asermily has been a champion for the Middlebury Bike-Ped Coalition, a grassroots forum of locals interested in improving alternative transportation options in Addison County.

Over the past month, Asermily helped bring International Walk and Roll to School activities to Middlebury schools. The effort is already contributing to part of the local Climate Economy Initiative goals.

“We reported wonderful results for the Way to Go! School Challenge and International Walk and Roll Day,” Asermily posted on the coalition’s blog last week. “We’re awaiting results of the contest (we held). Bike racks at our middle and high schools remain full. We hope we qualify to win a bike rack.”

As a key part of the effort, Asermily wants to see a task force established to make Middlebury and surrounding areas as a safer place for biking and walking.

“There is also a desire to have an over-arching vision or goal for the Greater Middlebury Climate Economy Initiative, and there was agreement that a vision statement should be developed as part of ongoing work,” Copans noted.

Task forces will now convene to work on all of these priorities. The teams will include experts that “provide advice and technical assistance to those task forces as they begin their work at the next meeting,” Copans said.

The Climate Economy Initiative is not without controversy. Some attendees of an April meeting in Pownal, Vt., voiced concerns that VCRD’s program isn’t accountable and comes from outside the local community.

A third Addison County-focused meeting is planned for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 16 at Middlebury Union High School.

Lou Varricchio is a freelance reporter for True North Reports. Send him news tips at lvinvt@gmx.com.

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/David Edgar, Lou Varricchio/TNR and Bruce Parker/TNR

4 thoughts on “Residents want community to embrace biking, organic farming under climate economy initiative

  1. The Vermont I and many generations before me grew up in likely can no longer be found anywhere within the borders of Vermont. Instead Vermont is focused on being a trend-setter and it is becoming harder and harder to simply live what most people would consider a normal life. The “live and let live” nature of Vermonters has turned out to burn them. You can only “live and let live” when everyone embraces that idea and that clearly is not the case in Vermont.

  2. Middlebury loves all these ideas and wants them as long as someone else is paying for them. Like you!

    About 10 years ago, there was a huge uproar over Fort Ti burning used tires for energy. The Middlebury Eco-warriors soiled their panties over that, threatened to sue, throw a hissy fit and make BIG signs and protest. When asked in a letter to the editor in the local paper what should be done with the tires, sending them to Maine seemed to be the universal response.

    I suggested they toss them in the local wetlands as a foundation for a massive Section 8 housing project to assuage their social conscience. You would have thought I farted in a crowed elevator.

    So much for Liberal caring. It’s fine as long as they can’t see it from their house.

  3. I love it; the entire assembly is a gathering of grey-haired biddies and over-the-hill retirees whose lives will never be impacted by the changes they propose. Vermont is not Holland, as we are too spread out to make cycling a reality. Climate change? Oh please! Vermont has a fraction of the population of the US, with no effect on climate. This an insane waste of money. It’s no wonder people are moving away from this little green “paradise”.

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