The Vermont legislature passed the Farm to Plate Investment Program legislation in 2009. On its fifth anniversary, the Farm to Plate program has issued an annual report touting remarkable results: 5,300 new jobs in the food sector and $10 billion in annual sales. We discuss the impact of Farm to Plate and Vermont’s food sector with two of its leaders.
Erica Campbell, Farm to Plate Network Director
Jake Claro, Farm to Plate Network Manager
Should Vermont divest? A recent study argues that Vermont’s state pension funds have given up $77 million in gains due to investments in fossil fuels. Gov. Peter Shumlin has also recently called for the state to divest, causing a rift with State Treasurer Beth Pearce, who opposes divestment. We speak with a Vermont investment manager about why he advocates for divestment.
Eric Becker, Chief Investment Officer, Clean Yield Asset Management
Drones. Computer hacking. Cell phone location services. These are just some of the threats to privacy that citizens face on a daily basis. Allen Gilbert, executive director of the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, discusses new legislation aimed at protecting privacy, and why he feels that Act 46, Vermont’s new education law, violates the Vermont constitution and will likely result in a lawsuit from the ACLU.
Allen Gilbert, executive director, Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union
More than 57,000 working Vermonters lack any kind of paid time off. In 2015, a paid sick leave bill passed the Vermont House but failed in the Senate. The Healthy Workplaces Bill currently in the Vt. Legislature would enable many Vermonters to be eligible for paid sick days. Gov. Peter Shumlin endorsed the call for paid sick leave in his 2016 State of the State address. To discuss paid sick leave:
Jen Kimmich, co-owner, The Alchemist, member VBSR Policy Committee
Paul Millman, president, Chroma Technology
“Ban the Box” refers to the policy of removing the conviction history check-box from job applications. If employers must ask about convictions, they can ask later in the hiring process. The call to “ban the box” has become a powerful movement for fair hiring.
Today, over 100 cities and counties have adopted “ban the box” and a total of 19 states representing nearly every region of the country that have adopted the policies
Last April, Gov. Peter Shumlin signed an Executive Order to implement a ‘ban the box’ state hiring policy. Vt’s ‘ban the box’ Executive Order removes questions about criminal records from the very first part of job applications for state employment. Agencies will continue to conduct background checks, but only after an applicant has otherwise been found qualified for the position. The policy will prevent applicants from being immediately screened out of state jobs because of a criminal conviction. The policy will not apply to law enforcement, corrections, or other sensitive positions.
We talk about the effort to get all Vermont employers to ban the box with:
Russ Bennett, from NorthLand Design & Construction, chair of the VBSR Public Policy Committee
Chris Curtis, staff attorney, Vermont Legal Aid
Manuel La Fontaine, who was formerly incarcerated, and now works to ban the box nationally with the group All of Us or None.
Greg Jobin-Leeds is the author of When We Fight, We Win: 21st Century Social Movements and the Activists That Are Transforming Our World. The book, rich with art curated by the activist art group AgitArte, chronicles the movements for same-sex marriage, Black Lives Matter, the DREAM Act, climate justice, mass incarceration, Occupy Wall Street, and others. Jobin-Leeds is the son of Holocaust survivors. He discusses what he has learned about how to successfully make transformative change in the 21st century.
Greg Jobin-Leeds, author, When We Fight, We Win: 21st Century Social Movements and the Activists That Are Transforming Our World (The New Press, 2016)
We dedicate our last show of 2015 to going beyond the headlines to talk with folks on the frontlines of working with some of the most vulnerable Vermonters. For 15 years, Rev. Peter Plagge has been pastor of the Waterbury Congregational Church and director of the Waterbury Good Neighbor Fund, an emergency financial resources for Waterbury area residents. He talks about the hidden face of poverty, how to help, and the power of listening.
Rev. Peter Plagge, pastor, Waterbury Congregational Church, Director, Waterbury Good Neighbor Fund
ANEW Place is a homeless shelter in Burlington, Vt. that aims to create long term solutions for homeless men and women. The ANEW Place shelter used to be called the Burlington Emergency Shelter, but it rebranded last year to reflect its focus more on long-term solutions, in which shelter is just the first component. ANEW Place recently launched a video, #IAmMoreThanHomeless, to challenge stereotypes of homeless people
Michelle Omo, director of development, ANEW Place
We often hear stories about the cutthroat competition among high school seniors applying to elite colleges. But the experiences of low-income students of color are too often reduced to grim statistics. Joshua Steckel is an inner-city high school guidance counselor and the co-author with Beth Zasloff of Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty (The New Press). His book traces the intimate narratives of ten different students in a Brooklyn public high school as they strive to get to—and through—college. He is joined by one of his former students, Maya Ennis, who talks about the challenges of leaving the inner city to attend Wheaton College and Carnegie-Mellon University.
Joshua Steckel, college counselor and co-author, Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty
Maya Ennis, graduate student, Carnegie-Mellon University
More than 2 million children are arrested each year— and predictions are that one in three American schoolchildren will be arrested before the age of 23. Award-winning journalist Nell Bernstein’s Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison (The New Press) takes a personal look at America’s hidden children.
Bernstein is a former Soros Justice Media Fellow in New York, and winner of a White House Champion of Change award. Her articles have appeared in Newsday, Salon, Mother Jones, and the Washington Post, among other publications. Bernstein has spent more than 20 years listening and bearing witness to the stories of incarcerated kids.
Nell Bernstein, author, Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison
Leaders of two Vermont anti-poverty organizations talk about the scope of the problem and what works.
Duncan McDougall, founder and director, Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF). CLiF has provided free literacy programs and brand-new books to low-income, at-risk, and rural children up to age 12 in almost 85% of the communities in New Hampshire and Vermont.
Mark Redmond, executive director, Spectrum Youth & Family Services. Founded in 1970, Spectrum is a nationally recognized leader in helping youth ages 12-26 and their families turn their lives around, serving 2,000 teenagers, young adults, and their family members annually.
On Dec. 14, 2015, Gov. Peter Shumlin cut the ribbon on the new state office complex in Waterbury. As visitors enter the building, the first thing they will see is a striking mural that rises up a stairway. The mural tells the story of Vermont and of the former Vermont State Hospital that occuped the buildings of the state complex for over a century.
The mural was created by Sarah-Lee Terrat of Waterbury Center, one of Vermont’s leading public artists. She was chosen in 2001 to design the Vermont State Quarter, part of a national state coin series. She also designed many of the original Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops.
Her iconic brightly colored murals can be seen all around Vermont, and the country. Her bright, fantastical artwork can be seen at the Vermont Children’s Hospital, in the floors of NRG Systems in Hinesburg, in the children’s bedrooms inside the homes of Phish musicians Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon, on the walls of Arvad’s Restaurant in Waterbury, and at the Bonaroo Music Festival in Tennessee. Samples of her work can be see on her website
In 2015, Terrat received a $50,000 Arts in Public Buildings Grant from Vermont Arts Council for a mural project in the Vermont State Office Complex. She spent two years in the State Archives doing original research about the former psychiatric hospital and its patients. The mural captures the lives and stories of the former patients and staff.
She discusses the former state hospital, her roots in art, and her advice to young artists.
Sarah-Lee Terrat, artist, owner, Yelodog Design
There is a revolution in spirits going on in Vermont — not (just) the new age kind, but the kind you drink. The craft beer revolution has spawned a sister act. To talk about the explosion in popularity and varieties of Vermont spirits:
Mimi Buttenheim, President, Mad River Distillers, vice president of Distilled Spirits Council of Vermont
Ryan Chistiansen, distiller, Caledonia Spirits
There are new ways that homeowners can pay for energy efficiency improvements–including no-cost loans. A conversation about Green loans for Vermonters:
Laurie Fielder, Program Director for VGreen loans, VSECU
Mark Kelley, Efficiency Vermont
Jitu Brown is a national leader on civil rights and defending public education. He recently undertook a 34 day hunger strike to protest the closing of Dyett High School on the South Side of Chicago, where he lives. He talks about threats to public education, the Black Lives Matter movement, and his advice to his young African American son
Jitu Brown, national director, Journey for Justice Alliance
In June 2015, recent college graduates Morgan Curtis (Dartmouth ’14) and Garrett Blad (Notre Dame ’15) came on the Vermont Conversation to talk about the bike ride they were about to embark on: riding 10,000 km from Vermont to Paris (climatejourney.org), where would finish at COP21, the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Morgan and Garrett arrived in Paris for COP21 on November 25th, 2015 after 5 months, 3 days, 27 rainstorms, 91 homes, 18 ferries and 4979 kilometers of bicycling through New England, Atlantic Canada, Iceland, Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland & the UK.They join us from Paris to talk about their journey, and the UN climate summit.
Mike Donoghue is a veteran reporter who’s covered just about every story big and small in the state of Vermont — and lots of sports games in between. He has just retired after nearly a half century of reporting for the Burlington Free Press.
Donoghue has been named to five halls of fame. They include being selected by the New England Press Association for its Community Journalism Hall of Fame in 2000. Three years later he was named one of three charter members selected nationwide by the Society of Professional Journalists and The National Freedom of Information Coalition for their National Hall of Fame for Local Heroes. Other honors include the Yankee Quill Award in 2007 for a lifetime commitment to outstanding journalism in New England and beyond; selected the New England Journalist of the Year for print or electronic media in 2013; and voted by Gannett employees nationwide to receive “Greater Good Award” from the company in 2013.
Earlier this year Donoghue received the Matthew Lyon Award from the the Vermont Press Association for his lifetime commitment to the First Amendment and the public’s right to know the truth in Vermont.
Donoghue reflects on the stories he’s done that have changed policy, the state of journalism today, and shares some of the highlights of a storied career.
Mike Donoghue, reporter, Burlington Free Press
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 70 percent of women with children under age 18 are in the U.S. workforce, and working mothers are the sole or primary breadwinners in 40 percent of households. Is Vermont a leader or laggard when it comes to providing opportunities for women and families in the workplace? We talk with people who have taken the lead in making workplaces women and family friendly.
Bram Kleppner, CEO, Danforth Pewter
Cary Brown, Executive Director, Vermont Commission on Women
Russ Elek, Communication and Membership Manager, VBSR
Sarah Lord, Seventh Generation
Sascha Mayer, CEO and Co-founder, Mamava,
Gwen Pokalo, Director of the Women’s Small Business Program at Mercy Connections
During WWII, Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social workers, organized a rescue network to save 2,500 Jewish children from death. Sendler was unknown until three high school girls from a poor town in Kansas stumbled upon the story and wrote a historical play about her for National History Day that they called Life in Jar. Their play was performed around the world and finally in Poland, where the forgotten Irena Sendler, in her 90s, was hailed as a national hero. Dr. Jack Mayer, a Middlebury pediatrician, wrote a book about this remarkable story and met Sendler before she died. He tells the story of the Holocaust heroine. More info can be found at www.irenasendler.org
Dr. Jack Mayer, pediatrician and author, Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project
Bill McKibben, author and co-founder of 350.org, talks about his decision to get arrested in Burlington, Vt. last week to bring attention to the recent revelation that Exxon covered up what it knew about global warming from its own research. The expose was published in Inside Climate News and the LA Times. McKibben charges that Exxon should be prosecuted under organized crime statutes for lying about its climate change research. He also talks about where the climate movement goes from here, and the upcoming UN climate summit in Paris.
Bill McKibben, co-founder, 350.org
In 1988, the Vermont Pub & Brewery opened for business as the first brew pub in the state. Today Vermont craft beers are taking the state, and world, by storm. Out of state visitors now flock to Vermont to bring back a sample of brews, such as The Alchemist’s Heady Topper and beers from Hill Farmstead, that have become cult classics.
All this is happening against a backdrop of consolidation in the beer industry. On October 13, the world’s leading brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, announced its plan to take over its main rival, SAB Miller. If the deal happens, it will be the biggest merger in brewing history, creating a company with sales of $55 billion. It means one mega brewer could soon own nearly half the world’s top beers.
But the microbrewers are posing a challenge to the megabrewers. In 2013, sales of craft beer (by volume) exceeded the sales of Budweiser, America’s top selling brew. And 44 percent of Americans between the ages of 21 and 27 have never tried a regular old Budweiser. We talk about Vermont’s craft brew phenomenon with its pioneers.
Steve Polewazyck, owner, Vermont Pub & Brewery
John Kimmich, co-owner, The Alchemist
Dave Juenker, owner of Blackback Pub, a craft beer pub in Waterbury, Vt.
Steve Cook, deputy commissioner, Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing
Nearly five percent of the Vermont’s workforce now participates in clean energy activities, and the clean energy economy has grown nearly 10% since 2013, according to a new study from the Vt Dept. of Public Service.
The clean energy sector comprises over 2,500 businesses employing more than 16,000 workers. Businesses project roughly 1,000 more workers by March 2016, a growth rate of 6.2%.
We look at the current state of renewable energy in Vermont and the challenges ahead.
Gabrielle Stebbins, executive director, Renewable Energy Vermont
If you’ve ever purchased Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked or Chocolate Fudge Brownie, you have helped the unemployed. That’s because the brownies in the ice cream are from New York’s Greyston Bakery, which employs the most unemployable people in America. The bakery has an open hiring process, and does not do screenings or background checks. What began as a social experiment in 1982 has now helped thousands of people get back on their feet.
Greyston is located in Yonkers, New York. Its mission to hire ex-convicts, recovering addicts, the homeless, and others who have had trouble finding work. Among the benefits that its workers enjoy are childcare and subsidized housing. The bakery’s profits go to the Greyston Foundation, which supports local gardens, health clinics, and free job training programs. The bakery employs about 85 people.
Mike Brady, president & CEO, Greyston Bakery
During Vermont’s LGBTQ Pride Week in September, Dave Hallquist, CEO of Vermont Electric Co-op, the state’s second largest electric utility, came out as Christine, a transgender woman. Christine Hallquist is the first CEO in America to transition while in her job. In coming out, Christine has opened a window on a transgender journey shared by an estimated 1,400 Vermonters, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality. She is using her public position to talk about the challenges faced by transgender people and encourage others to express their true self. She talks about her lifelong struggle keep her secret, her decision to come out, the reaction from her family and colleagues, and the future.
Christine Hallquist, CEO, Vermont Electric Co-op
Social entrepreneur Duane Peterson is on his 7th career with stints as a medic, LA cop, political campaigner, justice department official, legislative director and values-led business practitioner. The common thread throughout all of these roles has been organizing people to take meaningful action towards positive change. Duane moved to Vermont in 1996 to help Ben use Ben & Jerry’s as a force for social change. After 12 years there as Ben’s Chief of Stuff, Duane left to launch his latest venture — SunCommon — to make it easy and affordable for homeowners to help repower Vermont with clean, safe, in-state energy. A Benefit Corporation and a Certified BCorp, SunCommon is Vermont’s largest solar business with almost 100 workers. In September 2015, Duane received VBSR’s Terry Ehrich Award for his commitment to the environment, workplace, progressive public policy, and community.
Duane Peterson, co-founder, Suncommon
On December 19, 2008 University of Utah student Tim DeChristopher disrupted an oil and gas lease auction, effectively saving thousands of acres of pristine Utah land slated for oil and gas drilling. Rather than protest outside, DeChristopher entered the auction hall and registered as bidder #70. He outbid oil industry representatives on land parcels (some of which, starting at $2 an acre, were adjacent to Canyonlands National Park), winning 22,000 acres of land worth $1.7 million before the auction was halted. DeChristopher was removed from the auction by federal agents and taken into custody, Prior to his 2011 trial, DeChristopher toured the country, speaking to crowds of thousands. He co-founded the environmental group Peaceful Uprising. He eventually served 21 months in prison, including time in solitary confinement. He is the subject of the award winning documentary film Bidder 70. He is now a nationally known climate activist and frequent speaker.
Tim DeChristopher, climate activist
The Essential Bernie Sanders and his Vision for America (Chelsea Green) is a new book by veteran journalist Jonathan Tasini that features speeches by and analysis of presidential candidate Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Tasini is the former president of the National Writers Union and a political analyst. He is the publisher of Working Life, a popular progressive blog on work and the economy. In 2006, he ran against Sen. Hillary Clinton in New York. He talks about his new book, Sanders, Clinton, Donald Trump, the decline of the labor movement, and his own insights on what it takes to run a major campaign.
Jonathan Tasini, author, The Essential Bernie Sanders and his Vision for America (Chelsea Green)
Vermont students can now take two free college courses while in high school and enroll in a full year of college classes during their senior year of high school, thus saving a year of college tuition. These are some of the many new ways that college is becoming accessible and affordable to Vermonters. To discuss the new choices available for secondary education, including online education and new programs in renewable energy, nursing, STEM, and how VTC has achieved a 96% job placement rate, we speak with:
Joyce Judy, president, Community College of Vermont
Dan Smith, president, Vermont Technical College
Vermont has the highest rate of homelessness in New England; at least two thirds of Vermont households do not earn enough to afford the average fair market rent — which is $1,015 for a 2 BR apartment in Chittenden County, 44% higher than the national average. The wages required to afford that rent are $19.48 an hour or $40,518 a year. That may help explain why Vermont’s homeless population rose by 9% in 2014. To talk about the drivers of homelessness and what works to prevent it:
Becky Holt, Development & Communications Director, Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS)
Janet Green, assistant director of rental assistance for the Burlington Housing Authority, where she has worked since 2011. Part of Green’s job is to manage the Authority’s housing for homeless people.
Melissa, a 28-year old mother who has been homeless and now lives in subsidized housing
Ron Dellums is an American political legend. A native of Oakland, California, Dellums was first elected to Congress in 1970 as an opponent of the Vietnam War. He became an expert in military and foreign policy, he rose to become chair of the powerful House Armed Services Committee. He was re-elected 13 times, retiring from the House in 1998.
Dellums used his leadership positions to question US policy on weapons systems and foreign intervention.He also led the fight against apartheid in South Africa, winning passage of the US Anti Apartheid Act of 1986 over the veto of President Ronald Reagan. His efforts helped win the release of Nelson Mandela. In 2006, Dellums emerged from retirement and was elected mayor of Oakland from 2006 – 2011.
Dellums reflects on his lifetime of social change and service, from Vietnam to helping free Nelson Mandela to his advice to Black Lives Matter activists today.
In 2003, Heath Eiden, a Vermont filmmaker and director of Stowe Media Group, traveled through New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa to chronicle Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s presidential campaign. Eiden’s film, Lesson from an American Primary, recounts the meteoric rise and fall of the campaign. Dean’s campaign is generally considered the first presidential run to make effective and extensive use of social media as an organizing and fundraising tool. The filmmaker discusses the lessons that emerged from the campaign trail.
Heath Eiden, director, Lessons from an American Primary
Vermont resident Max Barrows was recently at the White House to receive a “Champions for Change” award for his work to “uphold and expand the spirit of the Americans With Disabilities.” Barrows, 29, has autism and works for Green Mountain Self-Advocates (GMSA) as the Outreach Director. GMSA is a statewide self-advocacy organization in Vermont that is run and operated by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. GMSA has more than 600 members involved in 21 local self-advocacy groups. We talk with Barrows and two other GMSA members with developmental disabilities about their work, challenges and hopes.
Max Barrows, Outreach Director, Green Mountain Self-Advocates (GMSA). Barrows, a person with autism, received a Champions of Change award from the White House.
Nicole LeBlanc Advocacy Director, Green Mountain Self-Advocates. LeBlanc, a person with autism, completed a 10-week internship at the Washington Center in Washington, D.C., and earned a certificate of professional studies from the University of Vermont.
Stirling Peebles, Advocacy Educator, Green Mountain Self-Advocates. Peebles, a person with Down syndrome, has produced videos about the life histories of several leaders of the self-advocacy movement in Vermont. She has attended the “Think College” program at UVM and done internships at WCAX-Channel 3 News and ORCA Media.
Vermont marriage equality trail blazers Rep. Bill Lippert & former Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Amestoy, outside WDEV after The Vermont Conversation, July 8, 2015.
On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that same-sex couples could wed throughout the country. The avalanche that swept America actually began as a snowball high up in the Green Mountains in the late 1990s. In 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled in Baker v Vermont that the Vermont state legislature must craft a law granting all of the rights and privileges of marriage to same-sex couples. In 2000, Vermont legalized civil unions, the most sweeping grant of rights to same-sex couples up to that time. In 2009, the Vermont state legislature legalized same-sex marriage, making it the first legislature to do so. We talk about Vermont’s role in the marriage equality revolution with some of the pioneers of that effort:
Former Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Amestoy, author of the groundbreaking Baker v Vermont ruling.
State Representative Bill Lippert, who led the fight for passage of civil unions in 2000, and same sex marriage in 2009.
Susan Murray, attorney with Langrock Sperry & Wool, who represented the plaintiffs in Baker v Vermont, along with attorney Beth Robinson (now a Vermont Supreme Court judge).
Stacey Jolles & Nina Beck, a lesbian couple who were one of three same-sex couples who sued the State of Vermont in the late 1990s in Baker v Vermont, catalyzing the fight for marriage equality in Vermont, and in the U.S.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. From early efforts by business people who dubbed themselves “socialists for capitalism,” Vermont has been at the forefront of the socially responsible business movement. VBSR is now the largest statewide socially business association in the country. As home to iconic socially responsible brands such as Ben & Jerry’s, Gardener’s Supply and Seventh Generation, Vermont businesses have pioneered the idea of businesses with a “triple bottom line:” measuring success in terms of people, profits and the environment. We speak with Vermont business leaders who have nurtured this movement since its inception:
Dave Barash, co-founder of VBSR, longtime social entrepreneur who worked for Ben & Jerry’s, currently Director of New Ventures for Vermont Energy Investment Corp.
Allison Hooper, co-founder of Vermont Creamery, early VBSR board member and on the original board of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund
Bruce Seifer, VBSR founding member, appointed by Burlington Mayor Bernie Sanders to lead the City of Burlington’s economic development efforts, which he did for three decades
Julie Lineberger, former VBSR board chair, co-owner with her husband of LineSync, an architectural firm
Will Patten, former VBSR executive director, co-owner of Hinesburgh Public House, a socially responsible restaurant
Jesselyn Radack is an attorney who was a rising star in the U.S. Justice Dept. In 2002, she revealed ethics violations by the FBI in the case of John Walker Lindh, the “American Taliban.” As a result of her revelations, she was forced out of the department, investigated and smeared. Today she is the director of National Security & Human Rights at the Government Accountability Project, where she is an attorney for Edward Snowden and other leading whistleblowers including Thomas Drake of the NSA and John Kiriakou of the CIA. Radack talks about her own experience resisting the “full weight of the government” when she became a whistleblower, why Edward Snowden can’t return to the U.S., and says there is an unprecedented “war on whistleblowers and journalists.”
Jesselyn Radack, director of National Security & Human Rights at the Government Accountability Project,attorney for Edward Snowden
Recent college graduates Morgan Curtis (Dartmouth ’14) and Garrett Blad (Notre Dame ’15) are riding their bikes 10,000 km from Vermont to Paris (climatejourney.org), where they will finish at COP21, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in December 2015. As they bike across New England, eastern Canada, Iceland, Scandinavia, and the UK, they “are writing, photographing, filming, collaging and painting, telling stories of individuals and communities mobilizing for a just transition to a climate-stable future.” They talk about what motivates them to ride, how they will deal with fatigue and saddle soar, and what they hope will come of their climate journey.
Mark Bittman writes (mostly) about food for the NY Times Opinion pages, and is The NYT Magazine’s lead food columnist. He is the author of the bestselling cookbooks, VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 and How To Cook Everything, has published over 15,000 recipes. But Bittman also writes about a variety of social justice issues, from police brutality, inequality, the fight for a living wage, to climate change. Bittman talks about his background as a community organizer, his love for food and his insistence that “fast food is poison,” and how food is a social justice issue. He also discusses his articles about Vermont’s innovative eateries and the local food movement.
This spring marks the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. Daniel Ellsberg was a key figure whose revelations contributed to the war’s end. Ellsberg is a former Marine and adviser on the Vietnam War to President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. He is best known for provoking a national political crisis in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times, and other newspapers. The Pentagon Papers revealed that top US government officials had been lying about the Vietnam War to the American people.
For leaking the Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg was charged with theft, conspiracy and violations of the Espionage Act, but his case was dismissed as a mistrial when evidence surfaced about the government-ordered wiretappings of his phone and break-ins of his psychiatrist’s office.
Henry Kissinger referred to Ellsberg as “the most dangerous man in America,” but many view Daniel Ellsberg as hero who risked his career and even his personal freedom to help expose the deception of his own government in carrying out the Vietnam War.
Daniel Ellsberg is now 84 years old and remains active in the peace movement. I spoke with Ellsberg earlier this month at a conference in Washington DC about the lessons of the Vietnam War which featured a number of key leaders from the antiwar movement.
Live broadcast from the VBSR Spring Conference: we speak with three women with different perspectives on socially responsible business:
Markey Read, president, Career Networks, on leadership styles and changing careers
Rachel Jolly, Vermont Works for Women, on creating an inclusive workplace
Sara Newmark, Director of Sustainability for New Chapter, VBSR board chair, on creating family friendly and socially responsible businesses
Mary Powell, CEO of Green Mountain Power since 2008, has transformed the company from traditional utility to clean energy pioneer. One of the nation’s few women to lead an electric utility, she was recently named Woman of the Year by an industry trade group. Powell recently confronted a new challenge: cancer. She discusses how undergoing genetic testing and having a double mastectomy earlier this year has changed her outlook on life and work. She also describes Vermont’s energy future beyond “twigs and twine” (electric poles and wires) toward communities powered by small micro-grids, how GMP will be the first utility to offer home batteries made by Tesla Motors, as well as her views on nuclear power, resistance to renewable energy, and her advice to young women entering the work world.
Author David Grant discusses how mission-driven organizations can go from good to great. And he discusses his experience with reconnecting high school students with the land at Vermont’s famous Mountain School, a semester program which he co-founded in the 1980s. Grant ends with a re-enactment of Mark Twain, which he formerly performed to worldwide audiences.
David Grant, author, The Social Profit Handbook: The Essential Guide to Setting Goals, Assessing Outcomes, and Achieving Success for Mission-Driven Organizations (Chelsea Green).
Traditional economic development has ripped off communities, losing both jobs and money. Economist and author Michael Shuman argues that investing locally can reverse the damage. He proposes how local reinvestment could be a solution in riot-torn Baltimore, which has suffered from massive disinvestment from the inner city.
Michael Shuman, author, The Local Economy Solution: How Innvoative, Self-Financing ‘Pollinator’ Enterprises Can Grown Jobs and Prosperity (Chelsea Green)Did the election of President Obama undermine the antiwar movement and other progressive causes? What can we learn from the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street? The new book Party in the Street tackles these questions.
Michael T. Heaney, co-author, Party in the Street: The Antiwar Movement and the Democratic Party after 9/11, assistant professor of organizational studies and political science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Tom Hayden was a leader of the student, civil rights, peace and environmental movements of the 1960s. He went on to serve 18 years in the California legislature. He was a founder of Students for a Democratic Society and was described by the NY Times as “the single greatest figure of the 1960s student movement.”
During the Vietnam War, he made controversial trips to Hanoi with his former wife, actress Jane Fonda, to promote peace talks and facilitate the release of American POWs. He helped lead street demonstrations against the war at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, where he was beaten, gassed and arrested twice. Hayden was indicted in 1969 with seven others on conspiracy and incitement charges in what became the Chicago Eight trial, considered one of the leding political trials of the last century.
Hayden is Director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center in Culver City, California, he organizes, travels and speaks on a variety of issues. He helps advise Gov Jerry Brown on renewable energy, and He is the author and editor of 20 books, his current one is Why Cuba Matters.
Tom Hayden is now 75 years old. I caught up with him last week at the U of Michigan Ann Arbor, where Hayden was speaking at the 50th anniversary of the first Vietnam War teach in held on a US college campus.
Declan Coyle has gone from being a priest in the poorest communities of the developing world to preaching about the power of positive thinking to global business leaders and the top-ranked University of Kentucky men’s basketball team. How does positive thinking help businesses succeed and teams win?
Declan Coyle, management consultant and motivational coach, author, The Green Platform
More than three people per day were killed by police in America in the last month. The majority of the victims were men of color. What hope is there for progress on racial justice in this deadly environment? How can we shut off the school-to-prison pipeline, where school students are being sent to jail instead of the principal’s office? What are the lessons of Selma, Alabama, for the post-Ferguson America?
Dennis Parker, director, ACLU Racial Justice Program
Does Vermont have a racial profiling problem? Is your privacy at risk? Are your civil liberties being violated by drones, license plate readers, and other new electronic surveillance?
Allen Gilbert, executive director of the Vermont chapter of the ACLU, talks about the state of civil liberties in the Green Mountain State
Today, 47 million Americans live in poverty, while middle class incomes are in decline. The top 20 percent now controls 89 percent of all wealth. Can poverty be ended?
Scott Myers-Lipton, author of Ending Extreme Inequality: An Economic Bill of Rights to Eliminate Poverty and professor of sociology at San Jose State University
Christopher Phillips believes that dialogue is good for people and essential for a democratic society. He travels the world and leads what he calls a Socrates Cafe and Democracy Cafe to encourage people to engage in Socratic dialogues to tackle difficult issues in more productive ways.
Christoper Phillips, author and founder, Socrates Cafe
Is primary care endangered? That’s the contention of some who are concerned about the Medicaid cost shift, in which providers make so little money on Medicaid that some health care providers are refusing to treat Medicaid patients altogether. Discussing this and possible solutions:
Dr. Joseph Haddock, family practitioner in Williston, Vt.
Leslie Nulty, owner of Focal Point Advisory Services in Burlington, Vt.
Russ Bennett, owner of Northland Design & Construction, Waitsfield, Vt
Vermont education leaders explore the future of education in Vermont and analyze Town Meeting 2015 results, in which 20 school budgets failed.
Paul Cillo, founder and president, Public Assets Institute (first half-hour)
Jeff Francis, Executive Director, Vermont Superintendents Association (second half-hour)
Stephen Dale, Executive Director, Vermont School Boards Association
Vermont Conversation 