George Plumb’s curious choice to attack the VNRC on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary celebration for not protecting the environment enough leaves me completely dumbfounded.
In a letter that has been reproduced on Digger, in the Messenger and who knows where else, Mr. Plumb quotes piecemeal, and takes exception to a sentence from a BFP interview with Elizabeth Courtney, former executive director of the VNRC,
“It is commendable that we’ve found a way to grow our economy while maintaining the health of our environment.”
He somehow manages to interpret this as a “claim” by the VNRC rather than a positive outlook on Vermont’s better record of environmental stewardship, on balance with growth pressures, than that of any other state.
What he neglects to include is the grave proviso that tempered Ms. Courtney’s statements.
Earlier in the same interview, she plainly states:
“I am no Pollyanna; I do believe we are in big trouble,”
and goes on to express her agreement with Bill McKibben’s characterization of the state of our environment:
“Our almost but not quite finally hopeless predicament.”
Mr. Plumb, who is associated with Vermonters for a Sustainable Population seems to have some sort of personal grudge against the VNRC (or, perhaps Ms. Courtney?)
The remainder of his diatribe focusses on how good Vermont used to be, rather than providing a practical vision for the future. Apparently he is angry that the VNRC in its fifty-year history has been unable to stop all unfavorable growth and sprawl in the state rather than curb and redirect some of its momentum.
That would be a tall order, Mr. Plumb; especially for an organization that must depend upon the generosity of like-minded donors to fund all of its efforts.
I write from some experience as a member of the Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth who, for an extended period of nearly twenty years, has relied upon the help of the VNRC to combat a single imposing threat of big box sprawl from the largest Walmart siting in the state.
The VNRC fought this same project twice, all the way to the Vermont Supreme Court; successfully the first time. Against all reason, they were forced to fight it a second time and finally lost in the Supreme Court. I can promise you that no effort was spared.
And the St. Albans Walmart struggle represents just a small piece of the overarching work of the VNRC, which tackles land use and water issues all over the state, all the while advocating for effective legislation to enable positive environmental initiatives.
Exactly how many similar battles does Mr. Plumb expect the VNRC to be able to tackle with its extremely limited resources?
To paraphrase a popular truism, Mr. Plumb:
If you can’t say anything nice about an organization that is doing precisely the work for which you seem to be advocating, you are part of the problem.