On Tuesday May 1, the Vermont Sierra Club and dozens of other organizations, such as the Vermont Workers Center, 350.org, Rural Vermont, and the VT AFL-CIO, will take a stand for our environment and the well-being of all of Vermont’s working families!

Will you take this stand with us?

Sign up to attend and march with the Sierra Club at the “Put the People and the Planet First” Rally on May 1 by going to the below link!

http://action.sierraclub.org/s…

The “Put the People and the Planet First” Rally will build a popular front of grassroots movements across the state. For our part, the Sierra Club and the Nulhegan Abenaki will march in support of comprehensive conservation through the creation of new Tribal and Town Forests. The Sierra Club will also be supporting green renewable energy for all Vermonters.

This will be a great family-friendly event with kids’ activities, music, and speakers including: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Bill McKibben of 350.org, and Luke Willard, Nulhegan Abenaki Leader and VT Sierra Club Organizer.

Join the Vermont Sierra Club and thousands of other Vermonters for this historic rally!

Here are the details:

WHAT: “Put the People and the Planet First Rally”

WHO: You and your fellow Vermonters

WHERE: We’ll meet under the Sierra Club banner in front of Montpelier City Hall at 39 Main Street (map)

WHEN: 12:00 noon sharp to march with us to the Statehouse!

Questions: Contact David Van Deusen at david.vandeusen@sierraclub.org

This will be a great afternoon of community action to support the human rights of all Vermonters! Bring your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. Together we are strong!

Join us and our allies for  “Put the People and the Planet First Rally,” the biggest weekday rally Montpelier has ever seen!

In solidarity,

David Van Deusen

Vermont Sierra Club

(This is an important event that everyone should know about.  Front paging it is the least we can do! – promoted by Sue Prent)

Written by the Vermont Workers Center

PUT PEOPLE FIRST!

Healthcare is a Human Right!

One Movement for People and the Planet!

Join us for the biggest weekday rally Montpelier has ever seen!

Tuesday May 1st 2012

Gather at noon at City Hall in Montpelier for a march to the State House!

Kids friendly activities, music, fun and rallying for our human rights!

FEATURING Bernie Sanders, Bill McKibben and many other inspiring speakers!!

11:30am-Noon: The Build Up – drumming, music, skits (bring your own instruments!!)

Noon-12:30: Rally Kick-Off – chants, speakers, songs and more

12:30-1pm: March – As part of a national day of action thousands of VTers will converge on the Statehouse in Montpelier to connect our struggles for universal healthcare, [environmental justice] education, housing, childcare, workers’ rights, women’s rights, disability rights, migrant justice and a healthy environment and livable planet into one huge march! Join nurses, farmers, farm workers, teachers and people from every corner of the state for this exciting march!

1-2pm: Rally featuring Senator Bernie Sanders, Bill McKibben of 350, Shela Linton of the Put People First Campaign, Sandy Gaffney of Mobile Home Residents for Fairness and Equality, Luke Willard of the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe and Vermont Sierra Club, Vermont Parents United, healthcare providers, music, skits and much more.

2-3pm: 10 Piece Salsa Band Afinque performs while we organize and visit the “Take Action Fair” featuring a Pie-the-Lobbyist booth, kids activities, free health screening with Fletcher Allen Nurses,  opportunities to connect and get organized and much, much more!!

3-6pm: Occupy Vermont groups from throughout the state come together for A Labor Speak Out from the 99%- Bringing Capitalism to trial! (3-4pm) and Statewide General Assembly (4-6pm)

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You can park at the Department of Labor and take the Shuttle to the Statehouse.

Other parking lots can be found here.

For information about carpools call (802) 861-4892

Many organizations are joining us to make this event a true movement building opportunity. Contact kate@workerscenter.org if you are interested in finding out more.

(From the Vermont Sierra Club and Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe)

Clik on the below link to download the tribal forest petition:

http://action.sierraclub.org/s…

Green Mountain Community,

Over the past week, nearly 500 people from across Vermont joined you in signing our petition supporting tribal forests. This has been an amazing response, and we are building the momentum we need to get this done.

You signed our petition, and now we need your help to spread the word in your town. Can you download our petition and collect five signatures from your friends, family, and neighbors?

By gathering signatures in your community, you are helping spread and strengthen our campaign throughout the state. These petition signatures will show Governor Shumlin and other decisionmakers that our campaign is a true grassroots movement — built town by town, by people like you.

Tribal forests will benefit all of us in Vermont — especially the Abenaki people who are most in need. These forests will help preserve Vermont’s iconic forests, as well as providing much needed resources for Vermont’s native people. It’s a win-win that protects both our environmental and cultural treasures.

Take a moment today and download our petition. Every signature counts.

Clik on the below link to download the tribal forest petition:

http://action.sierraclub.org/s…

In solidarity,

David Van Deusen

Vermont Sierra Club

(The below letter, from the Vermont Sierra Club, was today sent to every member of the Vermont Senate, as well as Governor Shumlin and Rep Klein.)

April 19th, 2012

Concerning H468

Vermont Senate,

    The Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club, representing three thousand members in the Green Mountain State, is very concerned about the fate of the Energy Bill, H 468.  From the start of this process our organization has called for bold and comprehensive moves to make Vermont a leader in renewable energy reliance/production. We have consistently called for achieving the capacity for 90% reliance on renewables by 2025, with a minimum of 25 MW of new community scale renewable electricity, built in Vermont, per year.  We have not been alone in advocating for these numbers.  350 Vermont and the Vermont AFL-CIO have also supported these goals, as have many others.  In fact, the original Senate version of the Energy Bill, S.170 brought forth by Senator Ginny Lyons, gallantly sought to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2025.

    The Sierra Club recognizes that we, as a state, need to move boldly in such a direction if we are to do our part to fight climate change and pollution while creating good green jobs for Vermonters. The vast majority of Vermonters agree with us on these points. As it stands, H 468 does not embody this sense of urgency concerning renewable energy. Instead of 25 MW of new renewables a year, the legislation has called for 10 MW, and seeks to require not 90% renewables, but 35%.  If left unchanged, and un-strengthened these numbers represent significantly less than what the objective situation demands, and even less than what is called for in the Governor’s Comprehensive Energy Plan.

    After witnessing the numerous waves of citizen advocacy from our members, and those of other organizations such as 350 Vermont, VNRC, VPIRG, etc., you must understand the frustration and disappointment our members feel for both the process and the proposed outcome of this legislation.  As an organization, we have worked hard to generate grassroots support for the goals of this legislation. We have heard the repeated statements by our elected leaders, calling for strong energy legislation. We now call for our legislators to stand behind those statements to maintain credibility for our shared goal of making Vermont a renewable energy leader.

    Therefore, we ask that the Energy Bill, H 468 be passed out of committee, and strengthened through amendments from the Senate floor. We need to strengthen the annual standard offer and the requirements of the RPS in the years to come. We urge you to pass this stronger bill, and then work in the interests of Vermonters in the reconciliation process to guarantee that this bill emerge in a final form that is as strong as possible.

    In this election year, the Vermont Sierra Club looks forward to actively supporting legislators, in every county, that work to achieve these important ends on the renewable energy front.  And finally, On May 1st, we will help orchestrate a huge rally in Montpelier, and we hope and expect to share good news regarding this bill at that event.  

Sincerely,

Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club

Put People and The Planet First!

CC Governor Peter Shumlin, Speaker Shap Smith, Representative Tony Klein    

Today we have a chance to expand our forest conservation efforts while also helping preserve the culture of the Abenaki in Vermont.

The Abenaki people are the original Vermonters, and they are facing a tough situation. While two tribal groups are recognized by the state (and two more are seeking recognition in the General Assembly this year), they have no land and no source of revenue. As a result, these tribes face high rates of poverty. Tribal forests can help change that and protect our state’s natural and cultural treasures.

Sign the Vermont Sierra Club’s petition today supporting the new and innovative concept of tribal forests in Vermont by going to the below link:

http://action.sierraclub.org/s…

Over the past year, we, the Vermont Sierra Club, have been working hard to establish town forests as part of the Our Forests, Our Future campaign.

Our campaign has formed a partnership with the native Nulhegan and Elnu Abenaki tribes of Vermont to not only to help preserve their forests, but also their culture.

These tribal forests will conserve wildlife habitat and build and protect paths for animal migration. Most importantly, tribal forests will allow the Abenaki to provide firewood for their elders, food for their families through hunting and fishing, and give tribes sources of revenue through sustainable forestry and maple sugaring.

Tribal forests, like town forests, will advance our conservation goals and support the social and economic progress of the tribal community. To secure support for these forests, we need your help. Sign our petition today by going to the below link:

http://action.sierraclub.org/s…

By signing this petition, you will be adding your name to those in Vermont, who like yourself, value our environment and believe we should allow the Abenaki the means to take care of their people.

Sign the petition and let Governor Shumlin know that we support tribal forests!

Solidarity,

David Van Deusen

Conservation Organizer

Vermont Sierra Club

I will find the outcome of the option tax vote in Montpelier interesting.  If you recall, the last time this came to a vote it was opposed by the local small business owners AND the Montpelier Downtown Workers Union UE Local 221.  

Back then, the union had contacts in two local shops, and had individual members in bissinesses all over Montpelier. At one point the 221 had over 100 downtown workers signed up.  

In that past fight the union framed the tax as regressive, and as an effective 1% pay cut for the many downtown employees who regularly buy their lunches and other meals in town.  The union had anti-option tax posters up all around town.  They also had union meetings with local workers where the option tax was discussed, and all workers (who live in Montpelier) were encouraged to vote in the election and to vote NO.  And again, the union further advocated against this tax in their Montpelier Downtown Workers Journal publication, which was given out to hundreds of union and nonunion employees alike.   And finally, the union was not shy in sharing its anti-option tax views with the media.  In fact I was quoted in the Montpelier Bridge as a spokesman for the union where I encouraged a no vote.  This was the first time I was publicly quoted as a union member.  And the very next day I was fired, by Jeff Jacobs, from my job bartending in Charlie O’s (coincidence?). Jacob may have been against the option tax, but he was also against the union.

Rooms tax?  Sure. Meals and goods tax? I still say no.  These are regressive taxes that negatively impact hard working people in Montpelier.

Northeast Kingdom Member/Supporter of the Vermont Sierra Club,

    Town Meeting is nearly upon us.  Therefore we would like to ask you to help us spread the word about the Our Forests Our Future campaign.  Can you put out community forest pamphlets at your Town Meeting?  If so, please immediately email me, David Van Deusen, at:

david.vandeusen@sierraclub.org

    The Our Forest Our Future campaign is seeking to create a mosaic of new town and Abenaki forests in Vermont as a means to help build wildlife migration corridors and to make our forests more resilient in the face of climate change.  Our Forests Our Future contends that community forests not only help in the fight against climate change through carbon sequestration, but can also serve the social and economic needs of local people by providing firewood to the poor, local revenue to the community, and jobs to local loggers through sustainable forestry. This is the Vermont Way!

    Over the last year and a half we have made tremendous progress on the Our Forests Our Future campaign.  Together we have made a strong case in favor of establishing new locally owned, conservation oriented, community forests throughout the Kingdom and beyond.  Thus far we have:

* Built a large coalition of Native American Tribes (especially with the NEK Nulhegan Abenaki), organized labor, farmers, and fellow environmentalists.

*Presented a petition to the Governor with well over 1,000 signatures in support of new town forests (and in turn the Governor is proposing a 1.2 million dollar annual increase to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Fund).

*Helped to build the largest environmental rally in the history of Vermont (the Sept. 24th Moving Planet in Montpelier), where Our Forests Our Future took center stage.

*Had Our Forest Our Future op-eds and LTE’s printed in newspapers all around the state.

*And now WE NEED YOU to carry our momentum forward by spreading the word in your community on Town Meeting Day!

    Please help the Vermont Sierra Club and the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe advance the goals of Our Forests Our Future by agreeing to place campaign pamphlets in your Town Hall on March 6th.  After you email me to say you are willing to help, I will get these in the mail to you immediately so that you can have them in time.

    As always, thank you for your support. With your direct participation, we will win!

David Van Deusen,

Conservation Organizer,

Vermont Sierra Club

David.vandeusen@sierraclub.org

(802)522-5812

By Vermont Sierra Club

Montpelier, Vermont, February 23rd, 2011- An effort by conservation and affordable housing advocates to demonstrate an outpouring of public support for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Fund met with great success.  On Thursday morning more than 150 Vermonters packed room 11 of the Statehouse to voice their support for this program, and to hear from the Governor and other elected officials on this issue.  The event was organized by the Vermont Housing and Conservation Coalition and was supported by the Vermont Sierra Club and its partners in the Our Forests Our Future campaign.

    The Vermont Housing and Conservation Fund, which was established in the late 1980s, provides resources for the construction of low income housing and for forest and farm conservation.  In response to Hurricane Irene Governor Peter Shumlin has suggested that a portion of these resources to be used to buy damaged homes located within floodplains, and to convert these parcels back into a more natural state. Presently, the Governor is calling for a 1.2 million dollar increase to this fund.  If the Governor’s recommendation is accepted by the General Assembly, the fund would see a total of $14,000,000 for the coming year.

    The Vermont Sierra Club, which is supporting the Governor’s efforts, mobilized for this event with solidarity from 350 Vermont and the Vermont Workers Center as part of the Our Forests Our Future campaign.  All three organizations had members at this event.  The Our Forest Our Future campaign is seeking to create a mosaic of new town and Abenaki forests in Vermont as a means to help build wildlife migration corridors and to make our forests more resilient in the face of climate change.  Our Forests Our Future, which is also endorsed by the Vermont AFL-CIO and the two state recognized Abenaki tribes, contends that community forests not only help in the fight against climate change through carbon sequestration, but can also serve the social and economic needs of local people.

    “We envision new town and Abenaki forests not only providing wildlife with a more robust habitat, but also providing low income and elderly Vermonters with free or affordable firewood to heat their homes, public/tribal revenue for social programs through sustainable logging, and a public place for Vermonters to take deer, moose, and other game to feed their families. The Vermont Housing and Conservation Fund is one of the major places where funding for such projects can be found, and that is why we are supporting this. For us, it is about the environment, about economic development, and Irene recovery,” said David Van Deusen, Conservation Organizer with the Vermont Sierra Club.

     At the event, in addition to Governor Shumlin, a number of law makers spoke out in favor of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Fund.  These included LT Governor Phil Scott-R, House Speaker Shap Smith-D, Senate Pro Tem John Campbell-D, and Northeast Kingdom Senator Vince Illuzzi-R.  

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(The below are excerpts from an article on Governor Shumlin, Hurricane Irene, climate change, and the Our Forests Our Future campaign. The article appeared in the latest Sierra Club Magazine-Circulation 600,000 nationwide.  To read the full article go to this link: http://www.sierraclub.org/sier… )

When The Rivers Rise

From the governor to Native leaders to maple syrup producers, Vermonters aren’t sitting still for climate change

By Tristram Korten

WHEN THE HARD RAINS SLOWED and the winds calmed, Vermont governor Peter Shumlin climbed into a National Guard helicopter at Knapp State Airport. As the chopper lifted off, Shumlin looked down at a landscape reshaped by the violence of water. It was the aftermath of Irene, a tropical storm that unleashed a torrent over the state last August. The rains rushed down mountainsides and engorged rivers and streams that charged over their banks and rampaged through towns. Homes were torn from their foundations, cars were flung into walls, and farmers’ fields were turned into lakes. More than 500 miles of roads were ripped up or made impassable, and at least 20 bridges were washed out, among them several historic covered bridges.

    A lot of things raced through the governor’s mind as he gazed down-among them, the logistics of getting food and water to stranded communities and the need to get Federal Emergency Management Administration officials in on this as soon as possible. But not too far off in his thinking was the belief that there was more to come. In the eight months since he’d taken office, Shumlin had dealt with a major blizzard in March, unprecedented flooding in April and May, and now Irene. He put the blame for the frequency of these events squarely on climate change…

Shumlin’s election came at a fortuitous time for the Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club, which has launched its own ambitious response to climate change: the statewide Our Forests, Our Future campaign. Its goal is to create migratory corridors, with land that can be acquired by local towns and native tribes, that will allow cold-weather animals to move north as their habitat transforms. Crucial to the plan is the acquisition of lands along the state’s borders with New York, New Hampshire, Maine, and Canada, which will keep the corridor biologically viable…

.

For the past year David Van Deusen, the Club’s Vermont conservation organizer, has been building consensus among a delicate coalition-native tribes, local populations, and labor unions-about what these “town forests” should offer the communities that will control them. Van Deusen, a former archaeologist who’s fond of broad-brimmed hats, has toured the state getting input and ideas-sustainable logging and firewood operations are two suggestions that would help bring in some local revenue and provide heating assistance for the poor…

“Now we’re working on getting policymakers on board,” Van Deusen said. Chief among them is Shumlin. It helps that many of the groups in the coalition, including the Vermont AFL-CIO, are Shumlin allies. [Mike] Morelli [of the VT Iron Workers Local 7], for example, recalled how Shumlin had arranged for his union to sit down with a contractor to work out the details of a large public-works project. And only in Shumlin’s term did the Nulhegan Abenaki (and the Elnu Abenaki, another Club partner) gain official state recognition. “Peter Shumlin is the first governor who looked at us as equals, and not as a thorn in his side,” Willard said. “It meant a lot to all of us…”

    To read the full article go to this link: http://www.sierraclub.org/sier…  

(This is an important effort that deserves our full support.   – promoted by Sue Prent)

Green Mountain Daily Community,

This Thursday, February 23rd, we need YOU to come to the Statehouse to tell Governor Peter Shumlin that forest conservation is important to Vermonters, important in the fight against climate change, and is important in helping to maintain our rural way of life!

What: Vermont Housing and Conservation Coalition Meeting With Governor and Lawmakers

When: Thursday, February 23rd, 2012, 9:00am-10:00am

Where: Room 11 of the Statehouse, Montpelier, Vermont

Why: Because you care about our forests, our environment, and our wildlife!

    For more than a year the Vermont Sierra Club, along with our partners in 350 Vermont, the Vermont Workers Center, organized labor, the Abenaki community, and other environmental groups have been engaged in the grassroots Our Forest Our Future campaign. This campaign is seeking to build a comprehensive system of conserved wildlife corridors throughout Vermont, linking our forests to those in surrounding states.   We intend to achieve this historic task by creating a mosaic of new locally owned town and Abenaki forests.

    We assert that such community forests can help protect our environment, reduce the climate change related stressors placed upon wildlife, and aid in carbon sequestration.  In addition, community forests can help local communities provide free or affordable firewood for elderly and low income residents, provide public revenue and jobs through sustainable forestry, and can provide a public place for Vermonters to hunt and fish. This is The Vermont Way!

    But in order to achieve these historic goals, we need to have the tools to do so.  The Vermont Housing and Conservation Fund is one such important tool in this fight.  This fund, in part, helps provide public money to establish community forests, and must be expanded in order to meet the needs of Vermonters and our environment.  

    Governor Peter Shumlin has made support for VHCB funding a central part of his fiscal policy.  His budget recommends $14 MILLION FOR VHCB – a $1.2 million increase for the year. However, there are those within the Republican Party who are not only against this increase, but who are calling for the fund to be entirely eliminated.

    Don’t let this happen!  Let’s not roll back the clock in our efforts to save Vermont’s forests!  Come to the Statehouse on Feb 23rd and let’s send Montpelier an unmistakable message: Vermonters support conservation, Vermonters support community forests, and Vermonters support an increase to the Housing and Conservation Fund!  

    Together, with your direct support and participation we will win! Let’s Put People and the Planet First!

David Van Deusen,

Conservation Organizer,

Vermont Sierra Club

(802)522-5812