BETTER(NOT BIGGER)VERMONT BLOG

Happy Earth Day! Better(not bigger)Vermont Our message for Earth Day 2021 (which is April 22nd) simply echoes Richard Louv's 2019 article calling for access to Nature as a basic human right. Need we say more? https://www.childrenandnature.org/resources/outdoors-for-all-access-to-nature-is- a-human-right/ We also call your attention to a new film premiering this Tuesday (20th). 8 Billion Angels weaves together voices of people around the world as they confront the growing imp

In this Issue ➢Vermont Futures Project ➢Another development in Hinesburg ➢Don’t like your current school tax bill? Growth would likely increase it further. ➢Ethics complaint against Vermont Senator (update) ➢Let’s build municipal sewage treatment and ax our local zoning ➢Danish tool for increasing the housing supply WITHOUT more construction. ➢Annual appeal Vermont Futures Project Our apologies that we haven’t sent you a newsletter since last March. We’ve been busy working to

Save your small town! You likely know about the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a program funded by the Federal government to help the Nation recover from the negative economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Over 1 billion of the ARPA funds Vermont is receiving goes to the State government, and Gov. Scott is allocating that money to 5 broad categories... $250.5 million for broadband and wireless connectivity $249 million for housing $200 million for climate change mitigat

What We’ve Been Up To Great news! The proposed bills to expand the use of tax increment financing to towns throughout Vermont (H.129 & S.33) did not make it out of the General Assembly! These bills would have Vermont towns subsidizing new development. Ya-hoo! In addition to educating legislators, it’s important for us all to engage in local discussions concerning growth, and to call out pro-growth bias in the media when we see it. We reproduce examples of each below and encou

What We’ve Been Up To Prof. Kate Raworth, in her 16 min TED Talk, eloquently explains why economic growth must end if humanity is going to thrive ... ... and that our financial-, political-, and cultural-addiction to economic growth make it hard to give up, even though it’s hurting (some say killing) us. From Our Executive Director With an Open Heart Bob Fireovid How You Can Help Better(not bigger)Vermont works to improve the lives and natural surroundings of present and futu

What We’ve Been Up To Both an article and a "Celebrate Lower Birthrates and Less Consumption" ad were published in Green Energy Times (p. 27 in www.greenenergytimes.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/GET_Jan-2021_pp.1-40 _v4.pdf). The author, Wolfger Schneider, is our Board President. You may also have seen this VTDigger commentary by George Plumb, BnbVT’s founder and current Treasurer... Plumb: Population growth is driving some of the world’s most serious problems . Speaking of

Update on S. 33 The Vermont Senate will soon vote on S.33, which will enable government subsidies for development in Vermont’s small towns. Below is the body of a letter which lays out the arguments against S. 33 and which our Executive Director personally sent to his State Senator and Representatives. You are welcome to plagiarize it to craft letters to your own Senator and Representatives. I urge you to oppose S.33, "An act relating to project-based tax increment financing

What We’ve Been Up To We recently updated our website! Click here to explore the new site. In May we were published in Montpelier's Times Argus newspaper for our commentary "Creating a Resilient Vermont: An End to a Growth-Based Economy". COVID-19 revealed the serious injustices that our current economic system permits. Earlier in May Board Member Margit Burgess gave a webinar to Transition Town Charlotte and Transition Town Jericho on the fundamentals of ecological economics