Central Vermont floods

Parts of cental Vermont suffered flood damage from rain this week. Here's one story about Barre, and a blog post about Montpelier.



How did your home make out, in Ripton or elsewhere in our rainy zone?

Bill McKibben, Riptonite, on communities and climate change: part 3

Here's part 3 of our interview series with Riptonite Bill McKibben. (Here's part 1, part 2)

7. (from Twitter) More generally, how can the internet strengthen a small community, and how weaken it?

i think for the first time we can really imagine staying at home in a local
economy and still being a part of the larger world. there's no longer the need
to choose between staying by your roots and 'going out in the world to make
something of yourself.'

8. (from Facebook) What role can cohousing play in building a more sustainable world?

cohousing is a completely great movement, but not mostly because it's more
efficient (though that's nice). it's because it is helping us recover the idea
of community and connection. most humans at most times and places have lived in
close emotional and physical proximity to many other people; it's only in our
brief postwar moment that we've embraced the idea of building bigger houses
farther apart from each other as the 'American dream.'

9. (from Facebook) "As people start to feel the pinch of limited resources (think: impending peak oil), they tend to get more conservative. I'm thinking of Europe that seems to blossoming in so many ways (including sustainable design) but is also building a bigger wall around itself) Is there any way to avoid this slide into localized survivalism?"

a very important question. i think we need to do everything we can to build real
solidarity. it's one of the reasons we've organized 350.org as one of the
planet's few true global movements, with people participating in every corner of
the planet. climate change is truly the best example of 'if we don't hang
together, we hang separately'

One more interview part might be forthcoming, if we get more questions.

Please comment!

Ripton school car wash coming up fast

It must be nearly summer, as the annual Ripton school car wash is nearly upon us.

The Saturday after next, "the 5th and 6th graders will be holding a CAR WASH on JUNE 4th from 10 - 2 at the Mobil Station in Middlebury!!! "

The results of this half-day of work will go towards a fine act of appreciation from those kids.

Please contact Tammi Beattie with questions. And volunteers, of course.

What are those purple boxes?

Ripton residents and visitors might notice several mysterious boxes hanging over our main roads. A purple, rectangular box hangs over route 125 about one mile below the General Store. Another appears above the Lincoln Road. What are they?

They are information weapons against a tree pest.

According to the USDA and Vermont's Ag department,

The purple traps are coated with an adhesive that captures the insects when they
land and are baited with a lure to attract the pest if it is present. In
addition, the color is thought to be attractive to EAB, and is relatively easy
for humans to spot among the foliage.

What's the enemy?

[The]emerald ash borer (EAB), a non-native, wood-boring beetle that has
killed tens of millions of ash trees in the eastern United States and Canada.

Good news: "To date, EAB has not been detected in Vermont."

For more information, check out this site.
Or read this:

“The traps being placed around Vermont will help us discover if we have EAB
in Vermont early on which allows us to address this invasive pest immediately,”
said Jon Turmel Vermont State Entomologist. “Early detection is the best tool we
have to fight EAB...

The triangular purple traps do not pose a risk to humans, pets, or wildlife;
however, the non-toxic glue can be extremely sticky,” said USDA State Plant
Health Director, Mark Michaelis. “We want people to understand that the traps
don’t attract or pull beetles into an area, but rather they are a detection tool
to help find EAB if it is present in the area.”
These traps will be
monitored and remain in place throughout the summer during the beetles’ flight
season. The traps will be monitored throughout the summer and removed in the
fall. Results from the trapping will be available once the traps are removed.

If you see a purple trap on the ground, please call the USDA’s toll-free
num ber: 1-866-322-4512. The EAB hotline is staffed during regular business
hours and a message may be left at any time. Callers are asked to include a name
and telephone number.

(thanks to Warren King; image from takomabibelot)

Bill McKibben, Riptonite, interviewed: part 2

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!

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!

Bill McKibben, Riptonite, interviewed: part 1

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)

Riptonite in USA Today

Local Tik Root gets written up by USA Today. It's a summary of Tik's Syrian odyssey, with some reflections.