A very large rally in support of Vermont's democracy and sovereignty in the face of Entergy Corporation's defiance is just winding up as I post these photos.  Speakers included Vermont Governor and Windham County native Peter Shumlin, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Vermont Attorney-General Bill Sorrell, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Brattleboro native Jody Williams, State Senator Jeanette White, State Rep. Sarah Edwards, and Citizens' Awareness Network executive director Deb Katz.  A message from US Congressman Peter Welch was read.  All spoke out against Entergy's untrustworthiness and recalcitrance in opposing the will of Vermont's voters and democratically elected government by refusing to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, whose...

Truth or Duh – Why Wall Street Doesn’t Do Climate Science Jeremy Grantham of GMO came to our MBA program to speak last week.  The title of his talk was “Irrational Avoidance of the Unpleasant: Perspectives on Investing, Resource Limitations & Global Warming.”  It was a fantastic, well-attended talk by one of the most respected investment advisers in the world today, but he accidentally ended up almost duplicating one of his major criticisms of the mentality of Wall Street: climate change denial or willful ignorance. He never meant to, of course.  Look at his title!  A point early in his talk was that, while 97% of scientists world-wide agree that human-induced global warming is taking place, the ratio is almost the reverse among Wall...

Dear Readers, Work continues on my scenario novel of 2040, Inter States. An updated glossary was just posted at: http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2009/04/27/autumn-09-web-exclusive-inter-states-story-about-vermonts-americas-future-novel-idea You can download all 11 installments to date from this page. Visit the Facebook page "Inter States" for social networking around my work in progress. Follow "InterStates2040" in Twitter for breaking developments. New, long installment coming soon. The election of 2040 is a week away, and your vote is urgently needed! Ralph Meima

Seize the High Ground, Vermont   With an expert team from Harvard advising Vermont on how to proceed toward single-payer health care, and the most solidly progressive political alignment in Vermont in almost a decade, my inclination is to hold my breath and see what emerges. I almost don’t want to jinx it. At the same time, I am moved to speak out urgently in favor of Dr. Hsao’s public/private single-payer recommendation, and hope that we can all overcome our emotional and ideological reservations and support this very significant step forward for Vermont’s society and economy.   I spent 14 years living in Sweden, where our three kids were born, and got to know the universal health care system there quite well. My wife is British, and...