independence Washington DC has lost all moral authority over Vermont. We need to exert our rights as a sovereign state. What would a politically independent Vermont look like? What could Vermont do if we spent our annual share of the cost of US military overstretch, $1.5 Billion, to build the local economy instead?
Those who followed the results of my experiment in heating water with a special mound of composting wood-chips will be glad to hear that my mound is up to 115-degrees, a full year after we first built it.
I celebrated Independence Day by marching in parades, promoting Vermont independence and partying with friends. I consider myself a patriotic American, I love what America stood for in the past: New rules, no more kings and queens, and the freedom to live and let live. But for me, America no longer stands for those ideals. For me, Vermont now comes first and I just can't ignore the destructive behavior of our hopelessly corrupt federal government.
The topic of how we get our energy is on the forefront of conversations these days as we grapple with the oil-spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and the recent coal-mine collapse in West Virginia, not to mention the dozens of aging nuclear power plants around the country.
I recently had the privilege of visiting friends and family in the chaotic and bizarre city of Beograd (Belgrade), Serbia, former capital of Jugoslavia. Beograd's economy collapsed and spiraled into black-market chaos during the civil war and the 10-year embargo of the 1990s. I lived there for a year in early 2000s and the economy has only seen a modest improvement since then, with the average income still being only $6,000 per year.
In this 7-minute clip I try to explain my ideas about economic sustainability on the Vermont Today show filmed in Burlington for Public Access TV Channel 15.
The letter below was written to Seven Days newspaper by Josh Schlossberg of East Montpelier. Josh is active in Transition Towns and other relocalization projects, and is a supporter of Vt Commons and the independent candidates running for VT political office in November.
This is why I'm running for Senate in Washington county, to turn despair and denial into ACTION.
www.GaelanBrown.com
Although I'm guilty of it myself, I am personally tired of every natural or man-made disaster being held up as more "proof" that the world is ending. Nothing is ending, we're just entering a new beginning.
The doom and gloom is a tired wake-up call. We need to focus on what we can do to create stronger local communities and stop focusing on "see, look at how messed up our ______ is!" and instead focus our positive energies on creating solutions.
How can “greens” talk about a “green economy” and work to move in sustainable directions, while we ignore the escalating cost of war and the guilt that we must accept by funding this with our tax dollars?
How can “fiscal-conservatives” complain about deficits and size of government, while completely ignoring the $1 trillion annual cost of our military overstretch?
The US ANNUAL military budget of $1 TRILLION is enough money to pay for the complete installation of more than 166 GIGAWATTS of residential solar power, enough to power 27 MILLION homes across America. That would be 1000 times more residential installation than the entire nation saw in 2009 and would convert nearly 30% of American homes to being completely powered by clean solar energy.
US taxpayers pay this amount of money EVERY year to keep our global military overstretch funded, but solar power is too expensive?
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