Our Power, Our Planet
Celebrate Earth Week with the Upper Valley Earth Week Open House Photo by Judy Payne Next Wednesday, April 22nd marks the 56th annual Earth Day celebration. Over 1 billion people […]
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Planning Ahead for Your Next Home Improvement
A contractor installs insulation. Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash There’s a joke I always see floating around on social media this time of year: “We’re getting a tax refund,
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Make your Next Snow Blower Electric
Using a gas-powered snow blower for one hour produces the same amount of emissions as driving a car 339 miles. Image by Sergei Starostin. I love the silence of snow.
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Ways to Fund Your New Sustainable Heating Appliance or Weatherization Project
Window inserts can make a big difference in keeping your home warm. Photo by WindowDressers Despite the loss of federal tax rebates, we are lucky in Vermont to have many different
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Keeping Warm with Heat Pumps and Heat Pump Hot Water Heaters
Ductless heat pumps use less energy than oil or propane furnaces, and can be used to both heat and cool your home. Vermonters spend over $2 billion per year on
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Working with Nature to Dye Fabric
Clothes dyed with marigold petals hang out to dry. Photo by Jenevra Wetmore. Textile production is a dirty and harmful industry. The industry is responsible for 20% of global water
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Volunteer to Help Keep Your Neighbors Warm this Winter
Assembling inserts is easy and there’s a job for everyone! This fall, Sustainable Woodstock will make free insulating window inserts for community members, and you are invited to join us!
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Celebrate Sun Day
Show your support for the solar revolution Sun Day is a day of celebrating clean energy. Image by Mark Stebnicki Sun Day is a celebration of solar and renewable energy.
Upper Valley E-bike Lending Library
Participants at last year’s E-Bike Lending library. The Upper Valley E-bike Library is returning to Woodstock on August 14th-19th and will be located at North Chapel. This is a great
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Hedgerows for Creating Biodiversity and Microclimates
A young recently-planted hedgerow. Photo by Heather Knoll Recently I started planting a small orchard. There is really only one location near my home to do so, the perfect spot
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Tips for Gardening with Nature
Transforming a section of your yard into a wildflower meadow creates food and habitat for many beneficial creatures. Photo by Jenevra Wetmore. As spring unfolds and the garden begins calling
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A Modern Victory Garden
Poster by James Montgomery Flagg (1918), National War Garden Commission, Courtesy of the Library of Congress Chances are that you have heard of the concept of a “Victory Garden.” Victory
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How to Improve Old Leaky Windows
Volunteers help build window inserts at a fun community event in the fall. Do you have older windows in your home that let cold air in and heat escape? Replacing
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Why Mending Matters
Hosting your own mending party can be a fun way to motivate your community to shift to a repair mindset. In 1830, the sewing machine was invented by a French
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Firestorm
The remainder of a neighborhood that burned in a firestorm in Sonoma County, CA. Photo by Josh Fields. Each of us have been touched by climate change in different ways. I
Eating Locally 365 Days of the Year
Photo by Annaelle Quion Buying local farm-fresh produce in winter is not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when meal planning in Vermont. Many of our farms close
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Gratitude – 2024 Isn’t All Bad News
1 in 4 Americans now live in a state with some restrictions on pesticides that kill bees. Photo by Erik Karits The Presidential election results are extremely stressful and disheartening
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The Health Benefits of a Walk in the Woods
Photo caption: A walk in the forest can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and increase our ability to focus. Photo by Humphrey Muleba. Vermont is blessed with 4.5 million acres
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E-Bike Library Coming to Woodstock
By Heather Knoll and Jenevra Wetmore The Upper Valley E-bike Library is a great opportunity to borrow an e-bike for free and get a feel for whether or not they
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How We Saved the Ozone Layer
The ozone layer is crucial in shielding our fragile planet from harmful UV rays. Photo by Jorg Hamel. In 1974, chemists Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina made a terrifying discovery:
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The Magic of Mushrooms
By Heather Knoll Underneath the fruiting body of the mushroom that we see coming out of the ground or growing in trees is a large network of threadlike tissue called
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Reasons to Start a No-Till Garden
By Heather Knoll Produce harvested from a minimal disturbance community garden. Photo by Heather Knoll In recent years, no-till gardening, also known as minimal disturbance gardening, has gained popularity among
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Honey Bees are Producing Less Honey – A New Study Helps us Understand Why
By Heather Knoll There are many things that we can do to help pollinators, including planting flowering herbs and other pollinator-friendly species in the garden. Photo credit: Affonso Jr, Pexels Over
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Harnessing Wastewater for a Greener Future
By Heather Knoll Wastewater serves as a continuous source of energy, available year-round as people clean their homes, do their dishes, and shower. In the pursuit of a sustainable and
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Embracing Leaf Litter in Your Garden
By Heather Knoll Fallen leaves left in place to mulch perennial garden bed. As the vibrant autumn color fades and the winter chill sets in, we often have the urge to
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Vermont’s Climate Challenge: Rising to the Occasion
By Heather Knoll Image Courtesy of the Energy Action Network. Sources: Fossil fuel spending: Vermont Department of Taxes, 2023; VGS, 2023. Dollar recirculation share: EAN Senior Fellow for Economic Analysis,
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