When Vermonters switch over to drive electric vehicles and even electric tractors, what happens to our local garages and auto parts stores? EVs have fewer moving parts to go bad and need far fewer repairs. How will these businesses adapt and survive?
Transitions like that are just one of the many questions the county’s businesses will face in the future. As we experience far greater changes in the climate, our businesses will need to change, and we’ll be forced to adapt.
Will people who rely on maple sugaring for some of their livelihood still be able to do so, as warming pushes maple trees farther north and produces erratic weather patterns? Will the Snow Bowl and Rikert Nordic ski center be able to stay open?
What about our farms? It’s already tough to make a living as a dairy farmer. As weather gets wetter and more unpredictable, what happens to local dairy operations?
Many smaller farms that produce vegetables, fruits and other products for local consumption have emerged in the past 30 years. Will those folks be able to survive economically when weather patterns are increasingly strange — frequent thaws through the winter, late frosts, heavy downpours through the year?
These are the kinds of questions that businesses themselves are beginning to confront. Also thinking about these issues are the local Acorn (Addison County Relocalization Network) energy and food groups.
Next Monday, another group – the Climate Economy Action Center (CEAC, online at CEACAC.org) — will bring together a panel of local businesses to ponder these questions.
Three Addison County business leaders will discuss how their companies are adapting so they can survive and thrive during climate change. The panel, “Doing Business in a Changing Climate,” is this coming Monday, March 9.
How important is this issue? The co-sponsorship list is one sign of how far-reaching climate concerns are for local businesses. Among the co-sponsors are the Addison County Chamber of Commerce and the Addison County Economic Development Corporation. Other co-sponsors are the Acorn Energy Co-Op and the three businesses providing panelists: Bees Wrap, Danforth Pewter and Elmer Farm.
This business networking event, which is free and open to the public, will be from 5 to 6:30 p.m. next Monday at Danforth Pewter, 52 Seymour St., Middlebury. Moderating will be Amy Sheldon, a natural resource planner and one of Middlebury’s two representatives in the Vermont House of Representatives (and also a CEAC board member).
It’s clear that leadership from businesses will be crucial if we’re going to successfully adapt to the changing climate and have a sustainable local economy. The Acorn groups, Middlebury College and several other organizations have long been working on climate change. CEAC (a nonprofit of which I am a board member) is positioning itself to communicate about and coordinate with all of those groups and the business community, including agriculture.
Many Vermont business leaders now recognize that addressing climate change can be part of a sound business strategy. But what are the wise next steps? This panel will help chart a course.
CEAC promotes a healthy local economy through deep carbon reduction in Addison County. Recent activities have included neighborhood energy audits, installation of free EV chargers in cooperation with Green Mountain Power, testimony to the state Public Utilities Commission, participation in planning for local renewable energy, and research into climate innovations in Europe that could be adapted to Vermont.
Here are the panelists for Monday’s event
Bram Kleppner: As CEO of Danforth, Bram has turned around a loss-making business and led the company to eight straight years of growth and profitability. Danforth now provides one of the free EV and plug-in hybrid chargers distributed by CEAC with help from Green Mountain Power. Danforth has instituted company-wide profit-sharing and partially paid maternity leave, and added an employee seat to the board of directors. He converted the company’s electricity to 100% solar power, and has committed to moving to zero fossil fuel use. Previously, Bram spent 10 years at Ben & Jerry’s, where he co-led their first campaign against global warming and led the creation of their first non-GMO ice cream.
Sarah Kaeck founded Bee’s Wrap in 2012. Searching for an alternative to disposable plastics in her own kitchen, she developed an all-natural, reusable food wrap designed to replace plastic wrap. In the eight years since founding Bee’s Wrap, Sarah has grown the business to 40 employees, and Bee’s Wrap is sold widely both nationally and internationally.
Spencer Blackwell is co-owner of Elmer Farm, a conserved 90-acre farm in East Middlebury. They grow eight acres of mixed vegetables, grains and flowers. The farm is certified by Vermont Organic Farmers. Crops are grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides. Like so many of the old farmsteads in Addison County, the Elmer Farm has a long history. This farm belonged to the Elmer family beginning in the early 1800s. The receding glaciers bestowed the farm with a mix of fertile soils and almost 30 acres of sandy loam, excellent for growing vegetables and grains.
I hope that business leaders and interested members of the public will join us next Monday at Danforth, to continue the work of charting a sustainable and profitable future for our local businesses.
Gregory Dennis’ column appears here every other Thursday and is archived on his blog at www.gregdenniswordpress.com. Email: [email protected]. Twitter: @greengregdennis.