Resources: Interviews
Daniel Hecht , Executive Director, Vermont Environmental Consortium
Many Vermont businesses and the communities that depend on those businesses are currently disadvantaged by a global system that values cheap goods produced in regions with low wages and poor regard for the natural environment. As evidenced by mounting environmental degradation and social stratification, this system is not built to last. But alternatives exist. 'The Vermont Way', as exemplified by a healthy, diverse mix of businesses in a variety of sectors, from organic agriculture and specialty food companies (e.g., the Vermont Mystic Pie Company) to manufacturers (e.g., NRG Systems) and world-class educational institutions (e.g., the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at UVM), demonstrates that a model valuing workers, communities and the natural environment can thrive. Creating a supportive environment to nurture and sustain these kinds of businesses and organizations is a prudent use of limited development resources. VSJF recently discussed this topic with Daniel Hecht, Executive Director of the Vermont Environmental Consortium, an alliance of environmental businesses, education programs, public agencies, and other nonprofits.
VSJF: What challenges do you see facing Vermont in the next several decades?
DH: Like most of the world, Vermont will face a shortage of energy and have to make difficult choices about how to conserve and create more to supply human needs. In the short term, this entails the end of the Vermont Yankee's productive life and the end of the current Hydro-Quebec power agreement. In the larger sphere, it involves the dwindling global supply and increasing cost of fossil fuels. The effects on our lifestyles, economy, and employment opportunities are likely to be profound.
Global warming also increasingly looks like a factor that will change Vermont. Higher temperatures and changes in rainfall will probably affect everything from the cost of living to agricultural productivity to the stability of Vermont's forest-based ecosystem. Vermonters pride themselves on a uniquely beautiful landscape and strong community identity. Many forces 'globalization, political polarization, new technologies' will affect these. It is up to the current generation to make the choices that affirm strong communities and sustainability.
VSJF: What kinds of businesses do Vermonters want to attract to the State?
DH: If you are broke and desperately need a job, you are unlikely to be picky. Our objective should be to avoid putting Vermonters in the position of having to take jobs they don't like, in businesses they disapprove of, just to be able to feed themselves. There are other options. During the recent Vermont Rural Development Council conference at the Statehouse, the most often-repeated concern was that people want a growing state economy and increased personal income, but they don't want growth if it destroys traditional ways of life, community cohesion, or Vermont's natural environment. I hear similar worries, and see examples of divisions about forms of economic development, every day. When people express concern about a Wal-Mart opening in their town, they are clearly seeing that economic development can take many forms, and that franchise, box-store giants can have destructive impacts. What I hear is that Vermonters want businesses that respect our long tradition of close communities, pretty towns, local ownership, and employee-friendly management policies.
VSJF: What kind of economic development is appropriate for Vermont?
DH: The simplest answer I can offer is: green and sustainable. Vermont communities know that green industries employ people and do good things for the natural world. Economic development that looks ahead and addresses sustainability issues will help build, not destroy, communities, and will more likely endure economic changes.
It's no longer just a matter of taste or aesthetics; it's becoming a matter of hard economics. Example: A new box store sells discounted consumer goods very cheaply, and produces profit because the company's cost of doing business is less than its income from sales. But if a new box store is erected with poor insulation and fossil fuel heating/cooling systems, relatively small changes in the cost of fuel can push the enterprise outside the margins of profitability. How long will Wal-Mart or Rite-Aid keep an unprofitable outlet open in a rural area that already has lower sales volume and longer distribution lines than other areas' Unless a business makes a commitment to sustainable practices and architecture, to good community relations, it is highly vulnerable to changes in costs of fuel or foreign labor. Vermonters don't want to become dependent on jobs that vanish due to lack of planning or to foreign labor markets. Now is the time to encourage green and sustainable development.
VSJF: What is the 'Green Valley''?
DH: The Green Valley concept was first conceived by Peter Murray, VEC's president from 2000 to last year, and has been enthusiastically embraced by Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie. The term combines 'Green Mountains' and 'Silicon Valley,' and is shorthand for a vision of Vermont as a place where environmental enterprises thrive, create a major engine of economic growth, and develop a worldwide reputation for excellence. In the Green Valley, economic development and sound stewardship practices go hand in hand.
VSJF: What is a green business?
DH: VEC interprets 'green' and 'environmental' broadly because it's not really a 'sector' per se, but a strand that runs through innumerable forms of business activity. Green businesses have as their main activity the creation of products or services that benefit the natural environment, reduce pollution, and promote sustainability. Environmental engineers, renewable energy research and development, green building design and construction, environmental education, laboratories that deal with environmental sciences, value-added green consumer products that are made with less pollution or resource consumption, environmental law and economics, sustainable community planning and development: all are green businesses.
VSJF: What is VEC? Why was it created?
DH: VEC is a statewide, nonprofit alliance of environmental businesses, education programs, public agencies, and other nonprofits. Its members are active in many fields. It was started in 2000 to help boost economic activity in the environmental sector, building synergy among Vermont environmental firms through information exchange, resource sharing, partnering, and cooperative marketing.
The economic vitality of environment-related industries depends to a large degree on regulatory policies that encourage (or fail to) the use of green goods and services; likewise, on prevailing cultural attitudes about the value of the environment. Accordingly, VEC conducts activities that inform policy-makers about environmental issues and emerging resources to deal with them, and seeks to promote a general culture of sustainability and sound stewardship practices. Education is a crucial part of VEC's mission.
VSJF: Who makes up the membership of VEC? What do they do?
DH: We have 34 members statewide. Many are environmental engineering firms which conduct water and soil studies and work to clean up pollution; some work to develop and produce renewable energy technologies; some work with natural resource management. We have a number of colleges and universities, as well as public agencies and instrumentalities that promote business development. Our membership also includes environmental lawyers, sustainable community development consultants, and a local, nonprofit development corporation.
VSJF: What kinds of success stories can you point to?
DH: VEC's membership has tripled in the last year. We've hosted an annual environmental expo for four years that has helped keep people informed of new developments, opportunities, technologies. Our conferences, like our stormwater conference, and the recent brownfields redevelopment conference in Montpelier, have brought together experts in science and administration and have contributed positively to changing state policies and programs. We've circulated a dozen bid notifications to 270 environmental firms, making Vermont companies more competitive in pursuing out-of-state contracts, and have represented dozens of Vermont firms at international environmental technology trade shows. Since a thriving sector also must attract and retain skilled professionals, we've also circulated several resumes and found jobs for several people. It's been a busy year, but we're just beginning!
VSJF: Where would you like to see VEC in five to ten years?
DH: We serve 60 to 80 members and are self-sufficient financially through member dues and project grants. We have proven ourselves as an initiator of major projects, pulling in significant federal funding for demonstration and R&D projects in renewable energy generation, resource monitoring, environmental technologies, and innovative educational programs. We are well-known as a one-stop point of call for client firms or municipalities seeking environmental goods and services, and as a resource for colleges and universities. Collectively, our members and core organization are viewed as a trusted resource to advise state policy on environmental issues and economic development.
Photo credit: Wayne Fawbush
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