Environmental advocates hold confab this weekend
Toolbox
Times Argus Staff - Published: November 14, 2008
Grassroots environmental advocates will convene for a daylong skull session in Randolph this weekend.
The Environmental Action 2008 Conference, sponsored by six of the state's environmental organizations, brings together small-town activists and organizers from across Vermont for a series of speeches and workshops intended to help residents better advocate for local causes.
"The theme this year is mobilizing grassroots for healthy, sustainable communities," says Emily Maxwell, with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.
While major debates over environmental policy occur in the Statehouse or Washington, D.C., Maxwell says lower profile battles are constantly fought at the local level. Proposals for water-bottling plants, quarry operations and other industrial ventures, Maxwell says, demand scrutiny, and sometimes opposition, from local residents.
"It's all about what we can do as towns and communities on issues ranging from climate change and energy issues to making sure we have clean water to drink," she says.
Jessica Edgerly, with the Toxics Action Center, says the conference, now in its third year, has previously helped residents mobilize against proposals for quarries. She says developers have proposed quarry operations in more than a half-dozen Vermont towns, and that last year's conference offered geographically scattered quarry opponents a chance to compare notes.
"It's an open strategy discussion," Edgerly says. "It gives people a chance to learn what's going on in other places, and how they might incorporate different strategies into their own approach."
The Saturday conference, which begins at 8:30 a.m. and runs until 5:30 in the evening, includes more than 20 workshops that will teach residents everything from how to mitigate their own carbon footprints, to how to launch a campaign for local office. Lessons in public relations, media outreach also are on tap, and Maxwell expects a heavy focus on Vermont's power future as well.
"Folks from around the state will have a chance to sit down together and cultivate and develop our ideas for what we want to see in Vermont, and how we can make that agenda come to fruition," Maxwell says.
The conference, held at Vermont Technical College, includes a keynote address from nationally renowned ecologist and author Dr. Sandra Steingraber, whose book, "Living Downstream," detailed the impact of toxins on women's health.
People can register at the door Saturday morning. The event costs $35, but Maxwell said "scholarships" are available for people unable to afford the fee.
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