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Community action/Vermont

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Location Vermont, United States
Coordinates 44° 35' 56.66" N, 72° 30' 0.94" W

The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Vermont.

Vermont
New England
US
US climate
Cosmolocal
  • News ‘Game-changing’: Vermont becomes first state to require big oil to pay for climate damages, theguardian.com (May 31, 2024)
  • News Vermont farm models diverse method of raising sustainable grains: Duck, duck, rice, news.mongabay.com (Mar 22, 2023)
  • News Vermont Green: The new US club attempting to do things differently, BBC Sport (May 11, 2022)
Read more
  • News New England Lawmakers Weigh Plug-in Solar as Europe’s Model Spreads, insideclimatenews.org (Feb 18, 2026) — Legislation in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island would allow small solar panels to plug directly into home outlets, expanding access to clean energy.
  • News Where the wild things thrive: Finding and protecting nature’s climate change safe havens, theconversation.com (Dec 17, 2025)
  • News New England warming faster than most places on Earth, study finds, theguardian.com (Dec 04, 2025)
  • News Eva v Goliath: the 20-year-old climate activist taking on Trump and the fossil fuel industry, theguardian.com (May 20, 2026)
  • News Meet the Americans who choose to live without a car in the US: ‘It takes some doing’, theguardian.com (May 08, 2026)
  • News Inside a Kentucky City’s Unusual Experiment in Citizen-Led Governance, nextcity.org (Apr 08, 2026)
  • News Eva v Goliath: the 20-year-old climate activist taking on Trump and the fossil fuel industry, theguardian.com (May 20, 2026)
  • News US has caused $10tn worth of climate damage since 1990, research finds, theguardian.com (Mar 25, 2026)
  • News New York Cooks Up a Plan to Boost Energy Efficiency in Public Housing, insideclimatenews.org (Mar 16, 2026)
  • News Amsterdam, along with other major European cities, bans public adverts for meat and fossil fuels [BBC], Daily Alternative (May 22, 2026)
  • News Solidarity fields in Syria: Reviving local seed production, globalvoices.org (May 21, 2026) — A community garden on Damascus's edge is quietly rebuilding Syria's agricultural memory
  • News The household battery revolution that could change energy bills … and the world, Adam Morton and Petra Stock, theguardian.com (May 15, 2026)

Networks and sustainability initiatives

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Cosmolocal discovery club

Each week 3 different short videos from across the world.

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What Is Hylo? A Quick Overview
Authors: Hylo, 1.01 mins.
Date: 2026-05-20
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A resilient island, Guiuan, Philippines - trailer
Authors: Partners for Resilience, 3.50 mins.
Date: 2020-03-30
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First Timers Welcome Explained
Authors: parkrun, 2.14 mins.
Date: 2022-01-27

Community networks, Community action/Philippines, Arts, sport and culture / ...This week's featured UK videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism

International events

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Global or International events

  • Event Jun 03, 2026 (Wed) — World Bicycle Day, The bicycle is a "symbol of sustainable transport and conveys a positive message to foster sustainable consumption and production, and has a positive impact on climate." (United Nations), June 3 each year, un.org
  • Event Jun 05, 2026 (Fri)World Environment Day, June 5, annually, worldenvironmentday.global
  • Event Jun 08, 2026 (Mon) — World Oceans Day, June 8 each year, worldoceanday.org
  • Event Jun 12, 2026 (Fri) — World Day Against Child Labour, every year on June 12, ilo.org
  • Event Jun 17, 2026 (Wed) — World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, each June 17, un.org
  • Event Jun 21 and all of June — World Localization Day, worldlocalizationday.org
  • Event Jun 22, 2026 (Mon) — World Rainforest Day, June 22 is World Rainforest Day, worldrainforestday.org

2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events

Vermont video

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Why use ducks as rice farmers?
Authors: Mongabay
Date: 2024-01-11

Community involvement

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Communities online

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Front Porch Forum, free community-building service in Vermont and parts of New York

Food activism

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The Vermont Foodbank is the largest anti-hunger organization in Vermont.

Started in 1986, the Vermont Foodbank provides charitable food to more than 280 food shelves, meal sites, shelters, senior centers and after-school programs throughout Vermont. According to their website, the Foodbank distributed more than 8.2 million pounds of nutritious food to as many as 86,000 hungry Vermonters in 2013.

Sugar Mountain Farm is a 70 acres (28 ha) family-operated pig farm in West Topsham, Vermont with approximately 200-400 pastured-raised pigs. The pigs are fed acid whey from a nearby dairy farm, apple pomace leftovers from a nearby cider facility, vegetables, and spent barley from a brewery as opposed to grain.

The company has stated that it uses "natural farming methods", also known as permaculture. They only use antibiotics if a pig gets sick. The farm does not use castration to control boar taint, relying on other methods such as selective breeding, diet, and pasturing males away from females. They raised sheep and pigs until 2009, when the farm focused on pork due to lower demand for lamb and wool.

Citizens data initiative: Vermont data from Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Community energy

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The Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) is a consumer-owned electric distribution cooperative headquartered in Johnson, Vermont.

In 2019, Vermont Electric Cooperative served about 34,000 members in 74 towns in northern Vermont, including Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, and Orleans counties.

Vermont Electric Cooperative not only supplies electricity to members, but also offers a range of programs including bill credits for the purchase of certain electric appliances and devices including electric vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles, heat pumps, heat pump hot water heaters, pellet stoves, electric forklifts, and Zero Energy Modular homes. In December 2016, Vermont Electric Cooperative launched Co-op Community Solar, a program under which members can sponsor solar panels in community solar arrays. Members pay an upfront payment for a term of either ten or twenty years and get a fixed monthly credit on their electric bill. Over the term, the total value of the bill credits exceeds the value of the upfront payment.

In 2021, Wind power in Vermont consists of five utility-scale wind farms with a total capacity of 149 megawatts (MW). They are responsible for one-sixth of in-state electricity generation in 2019.

No other wind farms are in the pipeline as of January 2020.

The first megawatt turbine in the world was installed in Vermont, at Grandpa's Knob in 1941.

Solar power in the U.S. state of Vermont provides almost 11% of the state's in-state electricity production as of 2018. A 2009 study indicated that distributed solar on rooftops can provide 18% of all electricity used in Vermont. A 2012 estimate suggests that a typical 5 kW system costing $25,000 before credits and utility savings will pay for itself in 10 years, and generate a profit of $34,956 over the rest of its 25-year life.

Net metering is available for up to at least 500 kW generation, but is capped at 15% of utilities peak demand. Excess generation is rolled over each month but is lost once each year. Group net metering is also allowed. Vermont is given an A for net metering and a C for interconnection. A feed-in tariff was created in 2009, but is limited to 50 MW and is fully subscribed. The cap increases by 5 to 10 MW/year starting in 2013 until it reaches 127.5 MW in 2022. It is available for solar, wind, methane, and biomass. Seven solar projects are receiving payments, of $0.30/kWh, for 25 years.

Vermont Energy Investment Corporation or VEIC is a non-profit organization in Chittenden County, Vermont that seeks to reduce the economic and environmental costs of energy consumption through energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption. Since its founding in 1986, the organization has been involved in designing energy efficiency and renewable energy programs in North America and worldwide.

VEIC also operates three large-scale energy efficiency programs in the United States, including Efficiency Vermont, the nation's first statewide energy efficiency utility.

Wikipedia: Vermont, Renewable energy

Climate action

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Climate change in Vermont encompasses the effects of climate change, attributed to man-made increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, in the U.S. state of Vermont.

The state is already seeing effects of climate change that affect its ecosystems, economy and public health. According to the Vermont state government, rainfall has significantly increased in the last 50 years, storms and flooding have increased, and winters have become warmer and shorter. These changes have led to significant impacts on both the winter tourism industry, and a decline in critical agricultural and woodland industries like maple sugaring.

The state openly acknowledges and is developing programs that respond to global warming. Vermont was one of the first states in the United States to adopt greenhouse gas emissions goals in 2006.

In 2006, the state of Vermont was one of the first states in the United States to set greenhouse gas emission goals. Vermont's green energy programs, such as Efficiency Vermont and incentives for use of clean energy, have been effective at changing the mix of energy used in the state. Green Mountain Power, the main provider of energy in the state, is 60% renewable and 90% carbon free.

The state recognizes the need to invest in adaptation, especially since much of the state's infrastructure, housing stock, and economy were developed with much cooler environments.

In 2024, Vermont became the first state to pass a law that will penalize companies to pay for damages from extreme weather as a result of increase climate change. The law requires the State treasurer, in conjunction with the Agency of Natural Resources, to evaluate damages up to January 15, 2027 and fine companies for their share of global emissions from extracting or processing oil, gas, and coal.

In 2025, Vermont released the Resilience Implementation Strategy. The Resilience Implementation Strategy gives actions that the state can use against the negative consequences of climate change. State officials selected over 100 important actions out of a pool of over 300 methods of reducing the impact of climate hazards.

Ethical consumerism

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Champlain Valley Cohousing

Sustainable transport activism

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Cycling activism

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U.S. Bicycle Route 7 (USBR 7) is a north–south U.S. Bicycle Route that follows the Western New England Greenway in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont in the United States.

Biodiversity

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Open spaces

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Trees, woodland and forest

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Green Mountain National Forest is a national forest located in Vermont, a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest typical of the New England/Acadian forests ecoregion. The forest supports a variety of wildlife, including beaver, moose, coyote, black bear, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, and ruffed grouse. The forest, being situated in Vermont's Green Mountains, has been referred to as the granite backbone of the state.

News archive

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2014-2021

  • "When democracy is conducted at a human scale, it helps create what looks like superhuman wisdom." How the state of Vermont does it, Mar 9, 2021...thealternative.org.uk
  • America's First All-Renewable-Energy City, Nov 17, 2016...politico.com
  • Burlington generates 100% of electricity from renewable sources, October 1, 2014...European Green Capital
  • First-in-nation single-use battery recycling law passes in Vermont, May 12, 2014...Vermont Product Stewardship Council, press release

About Vermont

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Past Events

Green Up Day, observed annually on the first Saturday of May, is a statewide effort in the US state of Vermont to clean up roadside trash.

Vermont ( ) is a landlocked state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. According to the most recent U.S. census estimates, the state has an estimated population of 644,663, making it the second-least populated of all U.S. states. It is the nation's sixth-smallest state by total area. The state's capital, Montpelier, is the least populous U.S. state capital. No other U.S. state has a most populous city with fewer residents than Burlington.

Page data
Keywords US states
SDG SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities
Authors Phil Green
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 3 pages link here
Redirects Vermont, Vermont community action
Views 36 page views (analytics)
Created April 8, 2014 by Phil Green
Last edit January 11, 2026 by Phil Green
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