B e t r a y T h e A g e

New greenhouse-gas emissions from China, India, and the US will swamp cuts from the Kyoto treaty.

"So it isn’t just an issue of trauma; it is, as well, an issue of morality. This is a horrible burden to inflict, especially on a young life. It’s why war should always be waged as a last resort, because the costs are so tremendous, not only to families who lose loved ones and will spend the rest of their lives grieving, but for those who return and for the rest of their lives bear these emotional and psychological burdens."

"I pay a steep price when I live a divided life, feeling fraudulent, anxious about being found out, and depressed by the fact that I am denying my own selfhood. The people around me pay a price as well, for now they walk on ground made unstable by my dividedness. How can I affirm another’s integrity when I defy my own? A fault line runs down the middle of my life, and whenever it cracks open—divorcing my words and actions from the truth I hold within—things around me get shaky and start to fall apart."

Failing to gain the White House was a crushing blow for Democrats and progressives, but it also overshadowed the successes we've had at the state level, says Tim McFeeley of the Center for Policy Alternatives. Democrats gained control of state legislatures in Colorado, Oregon and Vermont, among others, on Tuesday. States can be the greenhouses for progressive growth—if we stay organized.

A simple fact of life is that any system based on the use of nonrenewable resources is unsustainable. Despite all the warnings that we are headed for an ecological and environmental perfect storm, many Americans are oblivious to the flashing red light on the earth’s fuel gauge. Many feel the “American way of life” is an entitlement that operates outside the laws of nature. At the Earth Summit in 1992, George H.W. Bush forcefully declared, “The American way of life is not negotiable.” That way of life requires a highly disproportionate use of the world’s nonrenewable resources. While only containing 4% of the world population, the United States consumes 25% of the world’s oil. The centerpiece of that way of life is suburbia. And massive amounts of nonrenewable fuels are required to maintain the project of suburbia.

His new book, “Plants Roots: 101 Reasons Why the Human Diet is Rooted Exclusively in Plants” (Outside the Box Publishing), is a mother lode of verification on how the eschewing of animals as food, clothes, entertainment, shooting targets, and laboratory subjects makes sense. And when I say “makes sense,” I mean not only for the typical selfish human wishing to steer clear of degenerative diseases...but also for every living thing on the planet.

The environment is in trouble and the religious right doesn't care. It's time to act as if the future depends on us – because it does.

Despite the five million extra tons of trash generated between Thanksgiving and New Year's, many people plan to 'go green' and give environmentally conscious gifts.

When the owner of the largest private soy producer in the world is also the governor of a soy-rich Brazilian state, is it any wonder that deforestation is rampant?

At first, Dater said, they thought they could make a low-budget film with what they already had. Then they went to Yale and met Maathai, and realized there was no way they could make a cursory film about her.

A 50-state study conducted in May by the National Women’s Law Center, using a set of 27 benchmarks developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that Vermont ranked third in the nation in providing health care for women.

A report entitled "Out of Reach" was commissioned by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In Rutland Vermont, a person earning the minimum wage of $7 an hour would be able to afford a two bedroom apartment at the rate of $451 a month. The Fair Market Rent for an apartment if Rutland is $698 a month. This person would have to come up with an extra $247 per month. The report also indicates that a person on Social Security Income (SSI),receiving $616 monthly could afford to pay $185 per month (30% of income) for a single bedroom apartment. The Fair Market Value of a single bedroom apartment is $568 a month. This individual would have to find $383 a month to pay for housing. Clearly, the housing market and the wages are out of line. It gets worse. A Section 8 Housing Voucher allows low income Vermonters and the disabled to pay 30% of their income towards their housing whether it be in a housing facility or their apartment of choice. Recently, there has been a 36 ...

Nearly a century ago, eight bodies of Narragansett tribespeople were exhumed in the name of science and shipped to a Smith College laboratory. No permission from the tribe was sought or granted, making the noted professor who oversaw the work -- in the view of tribal leaders -- not a scientist but a grave robber.

A New York-based seed company will become the first to refuse to sell its genetically engineered vegetable seeds in Vermont rather than meet the labeling requirements of a new state law .

The world is beating a path to Vermont. And, it’s not for maple syrup, cheddar cheese, ice cream, or Howard Dean. They’ve come for light bulbs.

WorldChanging.com works from a simple premise: that the tools, models and ideas for building a better future lie all around us. That plenty of people are working on tools for change, but the fields in which they work remain unconnected. That the motive, means and opportunity for profound positive change are already present. That another world is not just possible, it's here. We only need to put the pieces together. It's a collaborative weblog with a lot of good content, news stories, and links to sustainability resources. If you need more encouragement, Rosemary Woodruff provides an optimistic view of how the world is changing in "A Memo Designed to Cheer Up the Human Race."

Because of our globalized culture and modern food transport and storage, people have lost a feeling for what kind of food to eat that makes sense. The foods normally eaten historically by sedentary, temperate-climate populations—such as whole grains, vegetables, and legumes—usually get skipped in our society. People are too overworked to prepare regular meals at home from fresh, whole, unprocessed foods. Most of today's available foods are processed, lifeless, embalmed, colored, zapped, and chemicalized.

Study ranks production of beef, poultry and pork as second to automobiles in ecological cost.

New and updated satellite data from Greenland, the Canadian Arctic and Antarctica show parts of these regions are rapidly melting and contributing three times as much than previously believed to sea level rise.

The Bush administration announced new rules Thursday to allow U.S. farmers who grow tomatoes, strawberries and other crops to continue using methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting pesticide that had been scheduled to be phased out worldwide next year.

For more than a decade, corn, soybeans, and other food crops genetically engineered to produce drugs, vaccines, and industrial chemicals have been grown on American farms. But a new report by six agricultural experts now warns that the food supply is vulnerable to contamination by these "pharmaceutical crops" unless substantial changes are made in the ways and places such crops are grown and managed.

"Today, the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported that 2004 is on track to be the fourth-hottest year since record-keeping began in 1861. The WMO added that global warming trends will lead to increased extreme weather events.

There is hardly a person who not wish to be identified as a "peaceful" person. Yet, we find ourselves continually mired in violent conflicts around the world. Our society has progressed in a great many areas the most obvious being technological development. Over the years I have been inspired by individuals who been able to grasp the problems of violence, either domestic or international, and work towards furthering our understanding of the abuses of power and authority. Unfortunately, our country has not progressed in its development of curbing these abuses. Of course many of us are worried that we are in fact moving backwards. So the question remains, if everyone wants peace, why do we not have it? The same question can be said about health care. I am convinced that peace is not something others do for us or that is won by our military. Peace is something that people must insist upon and work at. Holding those in check is the work at hand. Please check out the Albert Einste...

....Mitchell is correct that the country's congressionally mandated transition to an all-digital broadcast system provides a unique opportunity to explore permanent funding. There are 20 to 30 billions of dollars worth of public spectrum (airwaves) that will return to the government from commercial and public TV stations. Even a small portion of the proceeds could easily generate sustainable annual revenues for noncommercial TV and radio.

Complying with Kyoto may prove more difficult than Europe envisions, but Europe has achieved what it regards as a major foreign policy victory and this signals the growing risk of an even sharper-edged trans-Atlantic rivalry.

To many eyes, sprawl threatens to blight the American landscape, and the types of developments popular in exurbia -- four- and five-bedroom homes built on lots of a quarter-acre or more -- are a prime culprit.

As scientists debate whether global warming is affecting Earth, "climate witnesses" told a U.N. environmental conference Friday they are already feeling the heat of the changing weather patterns they say are drastically affecting the way of life from the Himalayas to the South Pacific.

The challenge before us is to question what is the business case for Bush signing the $400 billion spending bill in August 2004 that will largely go to military efforts in Iraq And Afghanistan and strengthening of missile defense program, while millions starve.

"You, sir (or madam), are a monumental jackass. At this moment, American troops are risking their lives to protect your inalienable right to live your life in an impenetrable fog of selfishness and stupidity."

"We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people."

The magazine even offers consumer tips. For example, it says savvy shoppers who have to take 20 mg a day of the popular cholesterol drug Lipitor can save $58.50 a month by getting a prescription for a 40 mg dose instead and splitting the pills in half.

By Erika Mitchell - In his recent book, The Hundred Dollar Holiday, Bill McKibben describes how his family has adopted a hundred dollar spending limit for celebrating Christmas. Did this move result in rebellion or revolution or tears? No! Instead, McKibben tells us that holidays with his family have actually become less stressful and more enjoyable since instituting the spending cap.

Policy-makers and the media, particularly in the United States, frequently assert that climate science is highly uncertain. Some have used this as an argument against adopting strong measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example, while discussing a major U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report on the risks of climate change, then-EPA administrator Christine Whitman argued, "As [the report] went through review, there was less consensus on the science and conclusions on climate change" (1). Some corporations whose revenues might be adversely affected by controls on carbon dioxide emissions have also alleged major uncertainties in the science (2). Such statements suggest that there might be substantive disagreement in the scientific community about the reality of anthropogenic climate change. This is not the case.

The study found several surprises or what Levine calls wows in analyzing the cases. The most important, perhaps, was that success has been achieved even in the poorest of countries that are characterized by grinding poverty and weak or virtually non-existent health systems.

For 3 nights in October, the BBC electrified their viewers by showing a documentary exposing the goals of American Neoconservatives and Al Qaeda. This documentary is a deeply disturbing film as it shows how both the Neoconservatives and Al Qaeda have used fear as a tool in reaching their political goals. More detailed information about this film can be obtained at Commondreams . The film can actually be watched on streaming video at Information Clearinghouse . The intro to the series begins: "In the past, politicians promised to create a better world. They had different ways of achieving this. But their power and authority came from the optimistic visions they offered to their people. Those dreams failed. And today, people have lost faith in ideologies. Increasingly, politicians are seen simply as managers of public life. But now, they have discovered a new role that restores their power and authority. Instead of delivering dreams, politicians now promise to protect us from...

What we need to match the science of human health is what the ancient Israelites called 'hocma' - the science of the heart…..the capacity to see….to feel….and then to act…as if the future depended on you.

Unless the world's wealthiest countries comply with their past pledges, some 45 million children in the worlds poor countries will die needlessly over the next decade, according a new report released Monday by British-based development group, Oxfam.

Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley spoke privately about how daunting a task it will be to pull us out of this economic slump. For those of you in debt, this is not a good scenario. Because of the record trade defecit the dollar is expected to continue to fall opines Roach. This will force Greenspan to raise interest rates so that we can hold inflation at bay. This creates problems for many Americans who are in hock up to their eye balls. Those interst payments are going to be killers. The facts speak for themselves. Says Roach "Twenty years ago the total debt of U.S. households was equal to half the size of the economy. Today the figure is 85 percent." Are you getting the picture? On a similar note, PBS's Frontline ran a program called The Secret History of the Credit Card (available on line for viewing). This is yet another example of the unraveling of our governments responsibility at protecting its citizens from unscrup...

Researchers at a government nuclear laboratory and a ceramics company in Salt Lake City say they have found a way to produce pure hydrogen with far less energy than other methods, raising the possibility of using nuclear power to indirectly wean the transportation system from its dependence on oil.

On Thursday evening Jim Merkel spoke at Green Mountain College about his book "Radical Simplicity." A good size crowd showed at Withey Hall as Jim showed slides of his research in Kerala India and his exploits in living as simply as possible from California to British Columbia to East Corinth Vermont. Jim is an energetic soul with sparkle and enthusiasm that was infectious to those of us open to his message. After years as a electric engineer who designed weapons and travelled around the globe selling his systems to people "on both sides of the battle", Jim's conscience got the better of him. His book chronicles the challenges we face as a planet in regards to resource depletion. Jim actually presents solutions to these problems. Though I have several books I am working on right now, the pages are going to fly so I can get to Jim's book "Radical Simplicity.";>) mob

Forestbed Photographs are usually easy to classify: realistic or abstract; portrait, landscape, action shot, and so on. But the startlingly original images of Robert ParkeHarrison defy simple classification.

Since this is a truth walk, I will offer another confession. Shedding the car was no ordeal. From the beginning, I had scant trouble adjusting to my non-motored life. And, as the months wore on, the pluses far outweighed the minuses. For me, at least, it was easy to be car-free.

Reporting on what the Bush administration has done for the environment not only makes for a succinct paragraph, but also avoids the tedious listing of ways in which the White House is rolling back a generation of environmental laws and opening public lands to development.

Americans spend about 15 cents out of every food dollar on fruits and vegetables, according to household survey data. But they spend about 19 cents on such foods as cakes, cookies, pies, soda pop, potato chips, candy, and pudding.

Why the poor eat so poorly

So while Mom asked us, "Did you eat your fruits and vegetables?" today we might well ask: "What are our vegetables eating?"

Not only did EPA reward one company at the expense of public health, it set a precedent for future administration giveaways to industry.

A draft of federal dietary guidelines, now under review and expected in final form by February, says there is ''positive association between the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain

As the holidays unfold, we find ourselves on the heels of a divisive and contentious presidential election. It has been a difficult November for those of us concerned about environmental degradation and a tightening grip on the middle class and poor. Informal support groups for progressives seem to be the order of the day as we ask ourselves " what is happening to America?" Months before the Presidental Election, I tossed around which new person would I vote for come election time. As John Kerry was appearing more and more like a republican "look alike" except for a few important issues (environment and energy), I began considering the hated Ralf Nader. My thinking was this: Why would any democrat want to inherit the clean up job required to follow George W. Bush? It would take 4 years to clean up the mess GW left. Perhaps another 4 years of GW would help energize folks and the problems with his policies would reap real fruit. Looks like we are going down th...

The world's poor may soon find a new ally stepping into their communities with a sympathetic ear to help lift them out of poverty - the global conservation movement.

The chemicals go down the drain, but in the environment they remain. Researchers have found that a complex brew of everyday compounds -- from products as ubiquitous as shampoo, bug spray and even that morning cup of coffee -- lingers in Minnesota waters even after they're showered off or dumped down the sink.

Alarmed by the pace at which consumer-driven lifestyles are destroying the planet's resources, a leading environmental body has set its sights on creating a green-friendly haven replete with houses, restaurants, shops and hotels.

More U.S. Families Struggle to Stay on Track Of the 2.7 million jobs lost during and after the recession in 2001, the vast majority have been restructured out of existence, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

"while speaking at an anti-war rally at Johnson State College, the students wanted to know about alternatives to war, so Naylor offered up his notions about Vermont’s secession. He found a receptive audience for his beliefs and the Second Vermont Republic was born."

WWF Calls on Gov'ts. to Restrain Rapidly Growing Tuna Farming Industry

Some insiders even believe that unilateral action by US states will eventually force Bush to join Kyoto, by showing that it can work in the US. You can get more information about this project at: Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

The great Harvard biologist, E.O. Wilson, said in his 2002 book "The Future of Life" that if the rest of the world were to actually live like we do, it would take four planet Earths.

Virginia CEO offers workers free meals in firm's 'Vegeteria'

Vermont’s workforce shrank by 1,700 in September, according to data released by the Department of Employment and Training.

In Europe, where governments play a much larger role in managing health care, shortages are much less common.

"We're 34 families from all different walks of life. The mix is incredible," Hauck said. "The one thing we have in common is we want people around our families."

His administration and other climate criminals like Exxon-Mobil have failed in their attempt to wreck Kyoto, even going so far as to suppress the work of their own scientists

Higher energy costs, higher medical prescription costs, stiff increases in college tuition, all that is adding up to inflationary pressures at a time of total wage stagnation," he said. "The outlook is for continued pressure on personal income and continued pressure on personal spending.

People are plundering the world's resources at a pace that outstrips the planet's capacity to sustain life, the environmental group WWF said Thursday. In its regular Living Planet Report, the World Wide Fund for Nature said humans currently consume 20 percent more natural resources than the earth can produce.

PBS's award winning Frontline has now made available their indepth analysis of the presidential candidates with commentaries from historians and analysts. Just when you have had enough of the candidates spin, this streaming video promises helpful insightful information that could be actually usefull for the upcoming election. - Mike

The Intentional Communities Website publishes a directory of national and international intentional communities. It now offers this list online. Intentional Community is an inclusive term for ecovillages, cohousing, residential land trusts, communes, student co-ops, urban housing cooperatives and other related projects and dreams... As we look for solutions to today's current social, economic, environmental and political problems, many of these communities offer hope in the form of new ways to live in balance. This link is to the Vermont section of their list. - Mike

Economic WMD's are Being Used Against Our Own People in a Version of "Freedom" That Makes Greed the Dominant Economic Virtue. by Wendell Berry

Maathai planted seven trees on Earth Day in 1977 to honor Kenyan women environmental leaders. Then, recognizing that deforestation could only be reversed if village women throughout her country became tree planters themselves, she launched the Green Belt Movement. Government foresters laughed at her idea of enlisting villagers; it took trained foresters to plant trees, they told her. Because Maathai didn't listen, today Kenya has 30 million more trees, all planted by village women.

The study, a three-year collaborative effort between 500 zoologists, biologists, and wildlife specialists around the world, was organized by three wildlife organizations: NatureServe, Conservation International, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. They determined that 32.5 percent of amphibian species were threatened with extinction, compared with 12 percent of birds and 23 percent of mammals.

Scientists bewildered by sharp rise of CO2 in atmosphere for second year running

Seeger, who gave us "We Shall Overcome" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!," was blacklisted in the early 1950s as a member of pioneering folk quartet the Weavers. The legendary folk singer has just been informed that the title track from John Fogerty's new album, "Deja Vu All Over Again," alludes to Seeger's nettlesome '60s anti-war anthem "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy."

U.S. Could Tap Into Massive Economic and Environmental Potential of Renewable Energy

A Kenyan has become the first green activist to win a Nobel Peace Prize

Global corporations are reaching a stage where they can decide how, where, and even if they want to be taxed. During the past twenty-five years, the trend has been unmistakable. Both relatively and absolutely, corporations pay less income tax. Relative to the middle class and the poor, the super wealthy are paying on the whole a smaller percentage of their income in overall taxes.

.This year we are excited to celebrate the 15th Vermont International Film Festival. Films this year will be shown in one of three categories: War and Peace, Justice and Human Rights, and the Environment. Awards are given in each of these three categories.

The arithmetic foreshadows that in today’s dollars and rate of spending, in the next 50 years, the cost to bring the phosphorous discharge under control may well exceed $1 billion. By then, Missisquoi Bay will be a marsh, according to Alec Campbell, whose Campbell Campgrounds are on its shore.

The nation’s first seed-labeling law requiring companies to identify genetically engineered (GE) seeds and plant parts sold in the state takes effect today in Vermont. But few observers think the new law has settled the debate over the future of biotechnology in the state, or even the future of labels.

Maathai, the first African woman to receive the award, is known in her homeland for starting an environmental movement that has planted 30 million trees throughout Africa.

Cut through the BS from candidates and get independent information about the Health Care morass we find our selves in. Here's one plan : Reduce the copious amounts of money wasted every year on red tape and protective loopholes for insurance and pharmaceutical companies. A new report released by Jobs With Justice found that $245 billion is wasted each year through inefficient private insurance plans and laws that don't require drug companies to sell in a competitive market. So in addition to not spending more than industrialized countries, we're also wasting more—but Americans are still not getting adequate health care. It's time to end the waste .

The non-partisan Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI) is calling on the presidential candidates to talk about what they would do for America’s squeezed middle class in their October 8 and October 13 debates.

Tree ring records suggest that if past is prologue, global warming could trigger much longer dry spells than the one now in West, scientists say by Bettina Boxall

Tired of the “Foxification” of our corporately owned news culture, and fed up with the nonsense cranked out daily by commercial “shout shows” and “reality television,” people have turned to independent films to satisfy their need to know.

American Innovation for Profits, Jobs, and Security. Check out this book by Rocky Mountain Institutes own, Amory Lovins and others. The amazing thing is that you can download this book if you don't want to buy it. If for nothing else, read the quotes in the preview, it will really get your grey matter churning. "Winning the Oil Endgame offers a strategy for ending US oil dependence, and is applicable worldwide. There are many analyses of the oil problem; This synthesis is the first roadmap of the oil solution one led by business for profit."

As Russia joins the world's fight against global warming, it throws the question squarely to us here in the United States - the biggest carbon emitter

Further investigation of the Bush administration's abuse of science

Based on Bakan’s book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, the film is a timely, critical inquiry that invites CEOs, whistle-blowers, brokers, gurus, spies, players, pawns and pundits on a graphic and engaging quest to reveal the 4corporation’s inner workings, curious history, controversial impacts and possible futures.

Are zoo animals essentially being driven crazy in captivity just so we can gawk at them?

The Center for a New American Dream offers nine “Actions for the Planet” that you can take today to halt energy waste and its damaging environmental consequences. And their Web site has built-in “calculators that tally and track our individual and collective impact.”

New weekly's first issue set to hit streets Friday - Rutland Herald Article Also, The Vermont Guardian Web Page

A Manifesto for a Life-Changing Conclusion "There Is No More Important Social Change Work You Can Do Than Cooperative Development (hereinafter, TINMISCWYCDTCD). "

A huge part of that consumption is our insistence on huge cars, symbolized by Hummers and Caddys. But almost everything about our lifestyles, from our obesity epidemic to our homes, reeks of not giving one whit about being only 4 percent of the planet's population yet creating a quarter of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

(excerpt from the Story of B)"there are many among you who are burning to know why not a single one of you has ever heard a word about the Great Forgetting (by any name whatsoever) in any class you have ever attended at any school at any level, from kindergarten to graduate school. If you have this question, be assured that it's not an academic one by any means. It's a vital question, and I don't hesitate to say that our species' future on this planet depends on it."

In just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society spiral into chaos and cannibalism. Are we about to follow their lead ?

NEW YORK - New voters are flooding local election offices with paperwork, registering in significantly higher numbers than four years ago as attention to the presidential election runs high and an array of activist groups recruit would-be voters who could prove critical come Nov. 2.

"The glacier has receded a lot since 2002, which is very surprising and new since it had been relatively stable, almost unchanged since the 1950s,"

Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train documents the life and times of the historian, activist and author of the best selling classic A People’s History of the United States.

I believe that properly grown food is superior, safer and healthier. I further believe good, fresh food, grown locally by committed growers, is the very best to be found.

The Chinese Government has set a target to meet 12 percent of its power generation capacity from renewables by 2020.

"this presidential contest resembles a grotesque, media-focused war in which two sides skirmish for the attention of ill-informed voters"

In the quest for quality of life people are seeking voluntary simplicity.

How political science understands voters.It's alot worse than you can imagine.

American workers are stressed out, and in an unforgiving economy, they are becoming more so every day.Sixty-two percent say their workload has increased over the last six months; 53 percent say work leaves them "overtired and overwhelmed."

Climate change will soon make the Arctic regions of the world nearly unrecognisable, dramatically disrupting traditional Inuit and other northern native peoples' way of life, according to a new report that has yet to be publicly released.

"The Uses of History". Historian and writer, Howard Zinn has been active the civil rights movement, and in the movement against the Vietnam War. 7 p.m. at the Fine Arts Center. Free If you are unfamiliar with Howard, check out this site for more information http://www.geocities.com/howardzinnfans/. Howard offers intriguing information and perspectives on important matters of the day. The Rutland Community is lucky to have a teacher and writer of his magnitude here. Not to be missed.

Students squeamish about dissecting frogs and worms in biology class would be allowed to opt out of the well known rite of passage and instead learn about the anatomy of animals on computer software programs under a measure approved by the Massachusetts Legislature last night.

Harry Segil designs a future with less stuff and more room for fresh ideas. Is downsizing easy? No way. (LA Times, you must register to read.)

Why so much hunger? What can we do about it? To answer these questions we must unlearn much of what we have been taught. Only by freeing ourselves from the grip of widely held myths can we grasp the roots of hunger and see what we can do to end it.

We spend more money per person on health care than every other country. Why then are we willing to accept a ranking of 48th in life expectancy, behind others including Macau, Israel and Jordan?

This is an op-ed piece from the NY times (you have to sign up if you are not a member). A short overview of what we bought then and what we can buy now.

What We Work For Now: Changing Household Consumption Patterns in the 20th Centery "Despite all our concerns with self-fulfillment, most Americans work to earn money, just as their forebears did 100 years ago. The relative costs of necessities have changed, and so has a fair definition of what is necessary. But even with all our economic growth, and even with some items much cheaper than they once were, families still spend about four-fifths of their budgets for core needs, just as their counterparts did a century ago. Perhaps there should be some national introspection about how much we have really gained."

A source for products that are made in Vermont ! Support your community buy purchasing locally made and grown products. Why immediately send your hard earned cash out of state when purchasing items at out of state chain stores? Local products reduce the impact on our environment and helps to stenghten our local community by supporting our neighbors and helps build a higher quality life for us and our children. It's also fun!