Words like sustainability have become political triggers and turn-off words, when really sustainability is very much aligned with our heritage as Vermonters. Out of necessity and community-oriented values, Vermonters have lived a sustainable lifestyle for generations - long before the word became so overused and lost much of its meaning. Simply defined, sustainability is the ability for people to benefit from economic production and have a decent quality of life indefinitely without overloading the capacity of the Earth's ecosystem to a point where it cannot be renewed.

Vermont cannot survive as an island, there are too few of us and there is too much of what we need to live every day that is produced outside of our borders. But we can honor our values by relying more on our own resources, people, communities, businesses, and our regional neighbors as a way to guard against the broader forces that are outside our control.