Vermont Council on Rural Development launches climate leadership program

This article originally appeared Jan. 10 in the Bennington Banner.

MONTPELIER — The Vermont Council on Rural Development has launched a new leadership program for Vermonters working to create climate solutions at the local level. The Climate Catalysts program will bring together 10 local leaders from all walks of life and all corners of Vermont to build peer connections, strengthen leadership skills, and receive support in developing a local project or initiative.

“This new program is a manifestation of VCRD’s core belief in the power of Vermont towns to build a prosperous future while leading in developing local climate solutions,” VCRD Executive Director Paul Costello said in a media release. “Through this program we will Invest in and support local leaders who are thinking creatively about the climate challenge and deeply committed to developing solutions.”

The program will run from February through December and at the core will be four evening sessions to convene, enjoy a meal, work together, and connect with other leaders and programmatic partners. Between sessions there will be one-on-one consultations (with VCRD staff and with cohort partners) and full group zoom meetings.

Read full article at the Bennington Banner.

(Fair use with written permission from the New England Newspapers Inc.)

Image courtesy of Bruce Parker/TNR

3 thoughts on “Vermont Council on Rural Development launches climate leadership program

  1. Here we go again, wasting time on climate issues when there is much work to be done. High taxes, unfriendly business climate, young folks leaving the state, und and r funded pension plans, take your pick. Whatever you do, spend your valuable time fixing the fixable and stop tilting wind mills.

  2. If this VCRD program invests in and supports local leaders who are thinking creatively about the climate challenge and are deeply committed to developing solutions, why is there no mention of purchasing abundant, inexpensive and sustainable hydro power from Hydro Quebec – costing half as much as wind, solar and the other tax schemes (TCI) that stifle Vermont’s economy?

    It’s all about the money…that they control.

  3. This tactic of VCRD has been employed for quite some time in Vermont used for pitching the dreams and goals of UN Agendas 21 & 2030.

    These agendas are not legislated but are normally handed down to our municipalities through a conduit of 11 Regional Planning Commissions. They also come with an implied mandate that triggers most towns and cities to self-inflict them through their local zoning while thinking they have little choice but to comply, even though many agendas are not necessarily based on a statute, nor are they mandated.
    Town plans once considered the basis for establishing local zoning, and a resource for development, are now used to insert action items from a menu of topics provided by your regional planning commission and organizations like the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD). One of their favorite tactics, community visits, is where they solicit your ideas that somehow coincidentally mirror a menu of their agendas, thus transferring ownership to you when you click on one and, presto, an activist is born with a local committee or commission to go along with it. (Check your town plan; action items began showing up there a little after the Paris Accords in 2015.) Next, if there is pushback as the town tries to implement the idea, we are reminded this is what a significant number of your peers said they wanted at a community meeting — or in other words, this was your idea. This tactic is simple but very effective.

    This leadership program is just a new twist on their old game of installing activists in our local municipalities, but the UN is still the wizard behind the curtain.

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