Posted By Kristen Ravin on Thu, Jul 30, 2020 at 6:02 PM

click to enlarge

Courtesy of Jean Cannon

'Predator Summit'

The climate crisis and COVID-19 are two topics likely to be weighing on Vermonters' minds. In a new zine presented by the Burlington-based climate justice nonprofit 350Vermont, writers and artists explore the intersection of the pandemic and Earth's changing climate.

In early May, organizers, including project initiator and 350Vermont staff collective member Lily Jacobson, put out a call for submissions. They were looking  for stories, essays, poems, drawings, photos, and other types of writing and visual art to fill a DIY publication, serving as "an artistic dialogue around the connections between COVID-19 and climate justice, aka the climate crisis," according to the call for submissions.

The response was enthusiastic. In a phone call with Seven Days, Jacobson said the team received submissions from 40 people, some of whom sent multiple pieces. With such a large number of works, organizers decided to parcel the zine, called Climate + COVID-19: A Community Conversation, into two issues.

Tags: 350Vermont , Climate Crisis , COVID-19 , zine , Web Only , Image

Posted By Ken Picard on Thu, Aug 15, 2019 at 10:52 AM

click to enlarge

File photo courtesy of CRREL

Testing snow guns at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.

Here's some very cool news out of the University of Vermont: On Wednesday, UVM announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), which is based in Hanover, N.H. According to a university press release, the partnership will allow UVM students to conduct math, science and engineering research in the facility's Arctic-like laboratories.

Never heard of CRREL? That's not surprising, given that the research facility, which is part of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, maintains a relatively low public profile — and even lower thermostat settings.

Tags: University of Vermont , U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory , Richard Galbraith , climate change , Web Only , Image

Posted By Sadie Williams on Mon, May 15, 2017 at 9:13 AM

click to enlarge

Rob Spring

Montpelier July Third Parade

Spring has barely sprung, but capital city nonprofit Montpelier Alive is already thinking about July. The third of July, specifically, and the patriotic celebrations that accompany that day.

Last Thursday, Montpelier Alive announced a new addition to the day's lineup of events: a parade competition with a hefty check for two winners. Officially titled the Union Mutual July 3rd Parade Competition, the event invites individuals and organizations to create patriotic floats, costumes, decorations and banners.

There's only one catch — they have to showcase "green initiatives." Organizers hope participants will use reclaimed and repurposed items, as well as objects that can be recycled post-parade.

Tags: Montpelier , July Third , Montpelier Alive , recycle , reuse , Image , Web Only

Posted By Dan Bolles on Thu, Dec 1, 2016 at 8:01 AM

click to enlarge

Courtesy of Avi Salloway

Standing Rock, November 24, 2016

Recently, some 40 Vermonters and New Englanders, many affiliated with the local grassroots environmental advocacy organization 350 Vermont, traveled to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota to join the ongoing protests there against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

If completed as presently planned, the 1,172-mile  DAPL would cross beneath the Missouri River and nearby Lake Oahe just north of Standing Rock, putting the reservation's only water source in jeopardy of contamination. Pipeline construction has already encroached into unceded Sioux territory, which was granted to the tribe in 1851 under the Treaty of Ft. Laramie. In the process, Energy Transfer Partners, the oil company building the DAPL,  has bulldozed several sacred or historic Sioux sites, including burial grounds.

Tags: Avi Salloway , Billy Wylder , Bow Thayer , Vermont 350 , Standing Rock , Oceti Sakowin camp , Image , Web Only