The Vermont Sustainable Initiative meets with Governor Douglas, Lieutenant Governor Dubie, and Representative Greg Clark. Smile and say "biomass!"
The Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative (VSHI) is a group of high school and college students working towards a local and lasting energy future for Vermont. We would like to see Vermont become a self-sustaining state and even a net exporter of energy needs. This would provide Vermonters with an affordable and secure source of energy. We believe there are moral and ethical issues with mining someone else’s backyard for our own needs. Vermont has enough marginal pasture land, not suitable for food production that if grown with a polyculture of grasses could sustainablely heat our entire state. Sustainable to us means giving back what we take. We are currently borrowing our earth from future generations, from our children and this will negatively impact how they are able to live their lives. We don’t view our current energy crisis as a bad thing, we view it as an opportunity to rise up, grow, learn and flourish from our mistakes.
We have been bringing our solid-biofuels proposal to VT legislators and citizens of all levels for the past year and a half. Notably including Governor Jim Douglas, Lt. Governor Brian Dubie, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Congressman Peter Welch, Gubernatorial Candidate Gaye Symington, high school students from 26 different Vermont high schools, college students from St. Michaels, UVM and Middlebury, and many Vermont green-effort agencies, non-profits and businesses.
We are running a pilot project, in cooperation with
LIHEAP in Addison County to transition low income households to pellet heating. Families heating with propane, oil and kerosene are currently our highest priority transitions due to the high cost of these fuels. Our goal is to make as many successful transitions as possible. We are only limited by the funds we can generate. VSHI feels that we are a year behind the curb with this transition. Record high heating prices have made this winter something many Vermonters are unprepared for. Support the cause & donate to our pilot project by purchasing
local carbon offsets through the Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative.
