Sustainable Woodstock sponsors, participates in and serves as the catalyst for a broad array of activities to make Woodstock and the surrounding area more sustainable. Our initiatives fall into three interrelated areas:
Environment: More community members use less and make more energy, reduce waste, and recycle trash. We protect the environment. [Read more about our work on environmental issues ... ]
Economy: More businesses are greener, profitable and provide good jobs. [Read more about our work on our local economy ... ]
Community: More people want to and can live here to build a friendly, diverse, multigenerational community [Read more about our work in the community ... ]
One of our strengths as an organization: we realize that everything is related to everything else. The change we seek requires synergy and collaboration. We make connections among individuals, among groups and organizations, among ideas.
For instance, the vision to create a community park in the undeveloped east end of Woodstock came from our Economic Development Action Group, but its focus is not just to strengthen the local economy. This project will also enhance the natural environment, promote “green” development principles, and expand community recreational and cultural activities.
How do ideas turn into action?
An individual champion steps forward: Sometimes someone sees a need in the community, connects with others, and organizes people and resources to something happen. For example, master gardener Anne Dean and a small group of community members created the first community garden in 2009; now there are two community gardens in Woodstock, one in Pomfret, and a fourth in Taftsville. Our small town can claim to have the most community gardens per capita in the nation! If you have a good idea, let us know and we’ll see how we can help.
Sustainable Woodstock takes the lead: Sometimes a group within Sustainable Woodstock identifies a problem and goes to work to solve it. For instance, our Energy Group recognized that the Town Hall building needed to be made more energy efficient. So, the group members wrote a proposal to fund an energy audit, helped with the actual legwork of the audit itself, and are now consulting with town officials to make the recommended changes. [Download a copy here.]
We create partnerships: We work very closely with other organizations in the community to achieve common goals. For example, for the last three years, Sustainable Woodstock has worked with the Covered Bridges Half Marathon to recycle the waste from this nationally acclaimed event. As the need arises, we collaborate with the Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Park , the Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Planning Commission, the Ottauquechee Community Partnership, the Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce, the Town and Village of Woodstock, and with many local businesses and non-profit organizations.
So, if you’re an individual with a personal passion around sustainability or a member of a community organization that wants to link with Sustainable Woodstock, we should talk! Email Sally Miller, our director, and she’ll be in touch with you.
Memberships
We are members of the following organizations: Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce; Sustaining Member, Local First Alliance; Vermont’s Working Landscape Partnership; Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network
