Ripton writer and cofounder of this blog Bill McKibben is working energetically to help mitigate and understand climate change. He graciously agreed to let me ask him some questions about our small town's role in an age of a transformed planet.This post is the first in a short series.
Some of these questions were crowdsourced from the Web. I'd like to thank Doug Reilly, Kathryn Tomasek, Fred Moody, Ed Webb, JohnnyGunn, Erica Stephan, and others for their thoughts.
What are some of the best ways for a small, rural town like Ripton to respond practically to climate change?
well, we have to figure out how to make ourselves as resilient as possible in the face of changing conditions--the flood should have been a major wakeup call, and it feels like we've at least begun to respond. and we have to figure out how to make ourselves more self-reliant in the face of what will be rising energy prices/increasing shortages. efforts to figure out hwo to power our lives clsoe to home are a great idea--i keep hoping the day will come when we'll look up at the ski hill and see a windmill turning
and most of all we all have to figure out how to play a part in the political drive to cut emissions. ripton has been enormously supportive of our efforts at 350.org, for which i'm eternally grateful. in a sense it's where it all began, at the frost turnout when we stepped off on that first march to burlington in 2006
Which habits should we consider changing?
well, for rural areas transportation is always hard. patronizing the actr bus would be a good start--even though it's sometimes inconvenient. one of my resolutions for the year!
What are the best ways to learn about climate change in 2011?
for people who like weather, i recommend a blog by jeff masters at weather underground. it's pretty consumed with tracking hurricanes during the summer, but all year round it gives good updates on new climate information.
(more questions and answers to follow)
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