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 second in a short series. Here's part 1.
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.
4. When and how should our community partner w/other communities?
on a local basis, to help figure out our regional future, we've got all
sorts of possibilites: acorn (addison county relocalization network),
all the state folks working on local food and energy, great people at
the college and at UVM. on a global basis: we need to amplify our
local concerns through networks like 350.org
5. (from the MetaFilter online network) What does your skiing tell you about our community, and its place in a transforming world?
i love the fact that we have a vibrant muscle-powered sports scene up
here. the Ripton-Goshen plateau is some of the best xc skiing in the
American east (Bolton-Stowe is its only rival in Vermont) . There's
nothing that makes me happier than seeing red-cheeked friends out on
the trail somewhere. Of course, xc skiing is also the single most
vulnerable sport to climate change; maybe Mike Hussey can help us build
a little bit of snowmaking to make sure our season lasts longer than a
few weeks going forward
6. (from Twitter) How can social media build local initiatives, like bike paths or co-ops?
The net in general is a great tool for helping people keep in touch
easily. It's like the bulletin board at the post office but somewhat
easier to use! communities around vermont are having great luck with
front porch forum; hopefully it will be a great complement to the
riptonite when it arrives!
This post is the second in a short series. Here's part 1.
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.
4. When and how should our community partner w/other communities?
on a local basis, to help figure out our regional future, we've got all
sorts of possibilites: acorn (addison county relocalization network),
all the state folks working on local food and energy, great people at
the college and at UVM. on a global basis: we need to amplify our
local concerns through networks like 350.org
5. (from the MetaFilter online network) What does your skiing tell you about our community, and its place in a transforming world?
i love the fact that we have a vibrant muscle-powered sports scene up
here. the Ripton-Goshen plateau is some of the best xc skiing in the
American east (Bolton-Stowe is its only rival in Vermont) . There's
nothing that makes me happier than seeing red-cheeked friends out on
the trail somewhere. Of course, xc skiing is also the single most
vulnerable sport to climate change; maybe Mike Hussey can help us build
a little bit of snowmaking to make sure our season lasts longer than a
few weeks going forward
6. (from Twitter) How can social media build local initiatives, like bike paths or co-ops?
The net in general is a great tool for helping people keep in touch
easily. It's like the bulletin board at the post office but somewhat
easier to use! communities around vermont are having great luck with
front porch forum; hopefully it will be a great complement to the
riptonite when it arrives!
meanwhile, social media in particular are great for letting people do
things like arrange impromptu carpools or deal with surplus produce
from the garden. travel by mouse!
2 comments:
We're eager to bring Front Porch Forum to Ripton! We're in 60 VT towns now and looking for resources to help us expand FPF to more towns. Folks can join the FPF waitlist here: http://frontporchforum.com/join
Thanks Bill. -Michael at FPF
Looking forward to it, Michael. Nice seeing you at that Vermont broadband conference, too.
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