Concentration of CO2 in the Atmosphere

Is It Greener to Take Showers or Baths?

And How Can I Save Water Either Way?

EarthTalk®, From the Editors of E – The Environmental Magazine

Whether or not a shower or bath uses less water depends on various factors including how much you fill the tub, how long you spend in the shower and the “gallons per minute” rating of […]

Free Weatherization Services for Apartment Owners from 3E Thermal

Finding ways to help renters enjoy the benefits of weatherized homes can be difficult. There’s a program we wanted to put on your radar that might be able to help when working with apartment building landlords in your community. 3E THERMAL is a statewide program designed to help apartment building owners who are rehabbing or […]

Kingdom Bio Foam Fills the Need for Insulation

The McKiernan’s retirement home required insulation for an unusual roofing structure. Biofoam was the perfect solution. Images courtesy of Kingdom Bio Foam.

By George Harvey

Kingdom Bio Foam is a small insulating company in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Its story might best begin with an example of its work.

When Neil […]

Intus: One Window, One Tree Campaign … and a little something about windows

Ground-breaking for the Intus “One Window, One Tree” program. Credit: Intus

By Greg Whitchurch

Intus Windows will launch its “One Window, One Tree” campaign on Earth Day, Sunday, April 22. For every commercial window sold, they will sponsor the planting of a tree, to contribute toward offsetting the carbon footprint of the building.

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Weatherization Targets the Most Vulnerable with No-Cost Solutions to Home Energy

Harald O’Brien, Weatherization Crew Chief, stands next to one of SEVCA’s weatherization trucks, parked on-site at a home in Brattleboro. Courtesy images: Becky Himlin, SEVCA

By Becky Himlin

Increasing costs for basic necessities coupled with stagnating or reduced real income over time is a recipe for increasing hardship and inequality. Energy is one […]

Aging In Place – With Grace

The Floersch home in Berlin, VT with solar PV field in the background at the right. Credit: Larry Floersch.

By Barb and Greg Whitchurch

Smack dab between Montpelier and Barre, VT lies the tiny Knapp Airport (KMPV) in Berlin. Not far from its north-south runway sits a cozy little house, almost completed, that […]

Vermont Research News:

Maple Syrup and Climate Change, Sustainable Agriculture

Image: pxhere.com

MAPLE SYRUP and CLIMATE CHANGE

Vermont is the leading producer of maple syrup in the U.S. But could this change with the impacts of climate change? A recent study looks at changes in sap flow and sugar formulation as trees adapt to a changing […]

A Slowing Gulf Stream

Flow of the Gulf Stream. NASA image.

By George Harvey

There are some things nature brings us that we feel we can count on, such as the warmth of summer and winter snow. We depend without thought on rain to grow our crops.

Perhaps most of us have never heard […]

Lessons from Winter – A Snowy Winter Gives Way to Spring

Snowy winter in Pittsford, Vermont in mid-March. Photo: Alan Betts

By Dr. Alan K. Betts

It has been a chilly and snowy winter in the northeast. While temperatures in the western U.S. and Alaska have been above average, temperatures in the Arctic have been very high, and the sea-ice cover has […]

A Brief Intro to Climate History

By Rick Wackernagel

Earth’s climate has been changing for a long time. One way to assess the significance of current changes is to compare them to past changes. Two important measures to compare are atmospheric temperature and carbon-dioxide (CO2) concentration. Temperature is both an indicator and a determinant of climate. It influences how much […]