Dave here:  

As social and environmental problems get worse, it's becoming clear that our current economic system isn't working well for most people or the planet. Dr. Josh Farley, an expert in ecological economics, joined Transition Town Jericho to explain why we need a new kind of economy—one based on cooperation and helping each other, rather than constant competition.

On December 8, at the Deborah Rawson Memorial Library, 24 people joined Josh Farley to dig into the topic,  “Rethinking Economics: Evolution, Community and Transition Towns”.  MMCTV was also there, recording the presentation. The video link is at the end of this blog.
 
Josh asked, what is the traditional goal of the economy? Growth, of course!  But nature is not part of the equation and we have to realize that the economy is a subsystem of all of nature.

Since humans outweigh all other life by 90%, there are less resources available for the rest of the beings on earth.  How is this sustainable when we use micro economics which is “egocentric’? Alternatively, we can be “ecocentric” and support ecological economics, prioritizing the relationship between humans and the rest of nature.

The question was posed; can we adjust to new ideas?

​We’ll first need to create the following new rules:

• Ecological sustainability
• Social justice
• Efficient allocation with minimal ecological impact.

Then we’ll need to manifest the new rules in the following ways:

• Common ownership of wealth created by nature and societal as a whole
• Collective decision making that accounts for future operation
• Renewables, non-renewables

Josh showed us how ideas from modern evolution support us in working together, and how community traditions like Ubuntu and Territories of Life point to healthier, more sustainable ways of living. One real world example is a project that turns ordinary grass lawns into edible, native gardens that support both people and the environment. Josh shared various examples of such gardens.

​Link here to the presentation:
https://youtu.be/tnd5OkdQc10

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Adam here, with my first blog post since joining the Transition Town Jericho Steering Committee in January!
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Last Monday, October 27th, 2025, TTJ hosted Brian Tokar from the Institute of Social Ecology (ISE) at the Deborah Rawson Memorial Library for a talk titled “Social Ecology: A Vision of Positive Change in our Towns.” The link to the recording from MMCTV can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-5rQpqKq20

Brian has been living in central Vermont since the 1980s, about 10 years after the Institute’s founding, and has been involved with the organization since. Brian has written broadly about environmental justice and social ecology, and taught for 15 years in the University of Vermont’s Environmental Program (my alma mater). Brian presented attendees with an overview of social ecology, movements the philosophy has inspired, and how it can be applied in our towns, with time for questions.
Brian arranged his overview of social ecology through the following slide:

Brian began by talking about his mentor and teacher, Murray Bookchin, from whom much of the theory of social ecology evolved. Bookchin began by 1) critiquing politics as usual, having grown up in the Great Depression and labor movement of the 1930s, and having witnessed the limitations of the old Left. The focus of his critique emerged through the understanding that the environmental problems we face are fundamentally social and political in nature. Bookchin was critical of a technological fix, since he believed that our social system, with its history of social domination and hierarchy, was more to blame.

From there, Bookchin began exploring 2) the anthropological and historical roots in Western society of the notion that humans were (and are) separate from nature and must dominate the natural world, but in fact, discovered that that’s a myth. Humans can’t actually dominate nature. Our belief in this myth evolved from a tendency towards hierarchical social relationships at different times throughout history. Bookchin also discovered that earlier human societies (and contemporary indigenous cultures) had a focus on interdependence and reciprocity with each other and the natural world, and believed in the unity of diversity, which is a core ecological and social cornerstone. Economically, these early societies believed that ensuring everyone's needs was paramount. Bookchin did this deep dive into history and anthropology not out of nostalgia, but as he concluded in his book, Ecology of Freedom, so we could learn from those cultures and elevate human freedom.

With this background, Bookchin moved toward 3) philosophy in His book, Philosophy of Social Ecology, looking at the birth of consciousness through evolution, social evolution, and the differentiation of first nature, meaning the natural world, and second nature, human societies. Murray saw Social Ecology as having the potential to lead to a free nature, one that transcends those divisions, and saw natural evolution as moving towards abundance and increasing complexity. These deep reflections led to 4) a political strategy that came to be known as communalism, which was inspired by the Paris Commune of the French Revolution, that sought to reclaim decisions that affect our lives through decentralization, direct democracy, and confederalism, of free cities and towns working together.
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Brian concluded his overview with 5) a Long Range Vision, which is about restoring human harmony with the natural world and involves practical utopianism through experiments in permaculture, greening of buildings and cities, and renewable energy. Some of these took place at the original home of ISE at Cate Farm in Plainfield, VT.

​After this overview, Brian moved into discussing movements that have been inspired by social ecology. The first such movement, emerging in the 1960s, was the anti-nuclear movement, which embraced the politics of direct democracy to oppose the development of nuclear energy.

​The 1990s saw attempts from left-wing environmental groups to shut down Wall Street, followed by protests in Seattle against the World Trade Organization, and then protests against the International Monetary Fund, or IMF.

​The turn of the century, in the early 2000s, saw the development of the anti-GMO movement. In Vermont, 85 towns passed resolutions against GMOs, and in 2010, the Legislature passed a GMO labeling law.

​The 2010s saw the Occupy Wall Street movement, which demonstrated popular assembly.

​At the end of the presentation, some attendees had questions. The first question was about communities out there that have successfully utilized the principles of social ecology. Brian pointed to the book Practicing Social Ecology by Eleanor Finley, which explores Kurdish regions of southern Turkey, Barcelona, and the permaculture movement of Western Massachusetts. Then, even here in Vermont, there are many groups working towards a Better future.
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In the second question, I asked about the current thinking around opposition to nuclear energy. The opposition, Brian said, has to do with energy sovereignty and community choice over energy sources, cost, safety, and claims from the nuclear industry that have yet to be realized.

Another question was about how social ecology would respond to this era of mistrust in science. Brian pointed to the anti-intellectualism pervasive in American society and understanding who is spreading misinformation and why. A final question explored economic alternatives, like Cooperation Jackson and Cooperation Vermont.

Dave Here,
With a frost in the coming in 36 hours, the squash needed to be pulled out of the field and covered up before distribution to the local agencies.  I am always impressed with the people of Jericho to assist, as we were able to get a team of 10 people together to get the squash picked before this frost hit.  It took me less than 24 hours to get the team together from the email lists of Transition Town Jericho, The Jericho-Underhill Food Hub and FPF listing.  With that many people in the field, we were able to be done in less than an hour.  Thanks to our volunteer pickers:  Anne Clift, Bill Butler,  Mary Bibb Carol Bahr Benita Lord, Vanessa Farley, Laura Markowitz, Marjorie Hollocher and Jim Morris (Dave Clift taking the picture)

A special thanks to Tucker Andrews of Bone Mountain Farm for growing the squash and making it available to TTJ to pull from the field and distribute.  Thank you for continuing to support the Extra Row Project.  It has become something that the food shelves look forward to each year.  Believe it or not, this was the fifth year that we have been doing this good work!  And over that time period, it is estimated that Tucker has provided about 10,000 pounds of food to people in need in Jericho, Underhill, Essex, Williston, Essex Junction, Colchester and Burlington.

For 2025, 366 butternut were harvested, 167 Delacata squash was gleaned, and 55 misc types of squash was gleaned and distributed, estimated to be over 1,100 pounds.

The following Food Pantries received squash:

Aunt Dots in Essex - 100
Heavenly Food Shelf in Essex Junction - 150
Essex, Jericho, Underhill Ecumenical Food Shelf, in Jericho  160
The Family Room, Old North End of Burlington  - 148

After completing the spring garden deliveries, the Transition Town team—Dave, and Laura—set out to reconnect with the young gardeners to see how their gardens had fared. They were eager to learn about the children’s gardening experiences, including what they grew, how their plants thrived, and whether they enjoyed managing their own gardens. We successfully followed up with 6 of the 12 contest winners, discovering a rich tapestry of gardening stories filled with both triumphs and challenges. These reflections echoed the common ups and downs of gardening that we all experience.

A follow-up discussions covered important seasonal preparations. The team offered advice on how to "put their garden to bed" for the winter, helping the young gardeners plan for the off-season and ensure their gardens are well-prepared for the next growing year. This proactive approach will set the stage for a successful and vibrant gardening season when May arrives in 2026.

Elizabeth
Had a good summer in the garden.
Her garden had a lot of bees this year.  She wanted to grow a lot of flowers.  The garden was overrun with the delicata squash and found a good size carrots in amongst the squash leaves.  She loves to eat the carrots and put them in her salad. 
Had to put a fence around the garden to keep out the rabbits.  There are a lot of flowers on the cucumber patch and talked about the male and female flowers.  The fruit under the flower indicate the “girl” flowers.  Talked about the cucumber beetles and how they can infect the flowers on the cucumbers.
Looked at the delicata squash and determined that many of them are ready to eat. Mom makes a “squasage” for dinner which is not Elizabeth’s favorite.
Had some corn that was undeveloped for this late in the year, so won’t produce much.
Next summer will pay attention to spacing and not grow things so closely.
 
Eila-
The garden got a slow start this year.  The starts did well, but the seeds did not germinate very well.
Eila grew edible flowers, cherry tomatoes, basil, ground cherries, carrots, and chard
Planning on using the basal to make pesto.
Nesturcians, Merigolds, but some of the animals helped themselves to the foliage
The ground cherries are small, and be sure to take the “wrapper” off and eat the cherry inside
Next year she will not plant chard and may try zucchini.
 
Isaac
Had good summer that flew by. He and his Grandpa worked together on the project.
Carrots were still growing and have yet to pick them.  The animals got to the radishes early on and ate them.  The garden overall got a slow start.
The beets were growing well.  Summer squash did also did well.
Isaac liked the project and spent once a week in the garden during the summer.
Did not like the fact that he had to weed.
He would do growing next year and do pretty much the same thing as this year
  
Dominique and Adriana
Got most of the planting done in May soon after the garden delivery.  The peppers were small for the length of time in the soil.    Also planted green beans, basil, carrots and melons.
There was some mildew blight on the melon leaves, and talked about how you can prune the infected leaves and keep the mildew at bay.
Talked about garlic for next season and that planting time will be in the late fall.
Adriana also planted Zinnias for cut flowers.  Also grew some sunflowers that the bees really liked.  Talked about the sunflower seed and using them for eating or seeds for growing next year.
 
Oscar and Wallace
Oscar planted Cherry tomatoes in the garden this year.  Also had carrot and basil which was very big.  Also grew beans and Marigolds.  The tomatoes looked very healthy as they were spaced out and branches were thinned to allow for good air flow and keeping the leaves dry.
Had a very slow start to the growing season, so plants were on the small side.
Was challenged by the lack of rain and being away a lot for the summer.
Lesson learned to space out the carrots and thin them when they got bigger.  Will want to add more soil to the garden for next season.

Laura here:

​Dave Clift led an informative presentation at the community center in late August, called “Idea to Action: the JU Food Hub Journey”. A member of the steering group for Transition Town Jericho, Dave is also part of the newly formed Board of Directors for the JU Food Hub. The fledgling group recently obtained 501c3 nonprofit status.

​Dave began with some history, citing how in 2023, Transition Town Jericho got the go ahead at Town Meeting to form a task force to explore food hubs, ultimately leading to the formation of a joint food hub the following year with sister town of Underhill. 

​In just over a year, the joint food hub has already done ample moving and shaking in both towns. Besides developing a website, JUfoodhub.org and facebook page, the food hub has published guides which have been mailed out to town residents. The guides celebrate local farmers, makers and producers. 

Activities of the food hub have included organizing seasonal community meals featuring local food, summer workshops around growing and food topics, and a farm-to-school pumpkin venture.

Food hub organizers help maintain a community potato patch, pizza nights at Jericho Elementary School, a Garden Contest, and area food sheds, among other things.

Dave reported that most recently, the food hub met to have a visioning session, to unify goals and help propel the group into the future. Among the many questions that came up were: 

-Would developing a community kitchen be helpful for processing, having classes, etc?
-How can we connect (new) farmers to unused town land?
-How can we grow our number of local producers?
-How do we finance the food hub; grants, an endowment, other?

Before the Q&A, Dave showed a video he created of the many and assorted food hub activities in the area. All in all, it was a lovely, informative presentation that surely inspired many in the audience to get involved!

The JU Food Hub meets fourth Wednesdays at 6pm at the Deborah Rawson Memorial Library; all are welcome to attend!



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Dave here:    We’re thrilled to congratulate the ten young winners of this year’s Transition Town Jericho Garden Contest!
Ranging in age from 4 to 12, these budding gardeners are helping build a more resilient, self-sufficient community—one raised bed at a time. 
Thanks to generous funding from the Town of Jericho and support from Geoff Cole, Jeff Coulson, Curt Belton, and Brad Vietje, the project was a joyful success once again. From hauling soil to building and delivering garden frames, this team effort brought learning and excitement right to the doorsteps of local families. 
It was a delight to see the children’s enthusiasm as we arrived with their 4x6’ raised beds. Some raced out with wide eyes and laughter; others took on the role with quiet seriousness. They showed us their chosen garden spots—some perched with scenic views, others nestled into sunny corners—and shared their plans for watering and protecting their plants from curious wildlife. 
Gardening teaches adaptability, and these kids are up to the challenge. Their planting goals range from classic Vermont crops like peas, carrots, and tomatoes to showy sunflowers, squash, corn, and even flowers just for beauty’s sake. We invite you to meet this year’s winners below. Hover over each photo to see what they’re planning to grow. Here’s to a season full of growth, learning, and joy!

​Laura here:

Transition Town Jericho has been around nearly ten years and appears to be going through its own transition!

Since our beginning days in late 2016, other local groups are doing amazing work re: resiliency such as the Jericho Energy Task Force, Affordable Housing, and Diversity/Equity & Inclusion Committees, to name a few. Combining forces with Underhill, the budding Jericho Underhill Food Hub has taking on farmer support/food security, through its many activities.

TTJ projects such as the public education series, the Kids Garden contest, and Extra Row for farmers are now largely under the umbrella of the JU Food Hub. It thus begs the question, what role does Transition Town Jericho now have in our town?

Please share your thoughts here, readers. If you think Transition Town Jericho should continue its efforts, what does that look like to you? Do you envision any particular projects that would strengthen our community? We welcome all feedback, so please send your comments to: [email protected]

Meanwhile, TTJ’s most recent public presentation, covering climate change effects on maple sugaring, can be viewed on You Tube, thanks to the team at MMCTV. You can view it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAhSke5NSUo&t=14s

No matter what the future holds, many thanks to fellow steering members, Dave Clift and Adam Wechsler for all of their efforts in maintaining TTJ. 

Most of all, thanks for striving to be resilient in these most challenging of times! 

​*Announcement below on Transition Town founder Rob Hopkins’ latest book, soon to be released:

​Laura reporting:

​Melissa Needham focuses on Healthy Communities in her role as public health specialist with Vermont’s Department of Health. Good to know there are such dedicated public servants in our state government, as she demonstrated in her talk on Food As Medicine at TTJ’s February resiliency talk. You can view her full presentation here:

https://youtu.be/sJ9Oc6VlUSA

Melissa started with an overview of chronic disease, including cancer, heart disease and diabetes among others. Vermont, though healthy by US standards, is facing an increase in chronic diseases along with the rest of the country. She said if one is food insecure, they are statistically at higher risk for chronic disease. She added that 12% of youth in Vermont are considered food insecure.

She mentioned ‘modifiable risk factors’ which lead to food insecurity such as living in food deserts, convenience of unhealthy and/or junk food, psychological stresses and lack of nutritional education.

Food as Medicine programs enable health compromised and/or financially challenged individuals to get a medical prescription for CSA shares, giving them access to organic vegetables and other foods. Programs might also include recipes, cooking classes, nutritional counseling and other things benefiting health.

She said Vermont’s Farm to Plate initiative, in conjunction with Healthcare Communities of Practice, *CoPs oversee five Food as Medicine programs currently in Vermont: 

1)Acorn
2)UVM’s Medical Center’s Farm Shares for Health
3)Healthy Roots Collaborative: Sheldon NW Farmacy CSA
4)VT Farmer Food Center Farmacy Project (Rutland)
5)VT Youth Conservation Corp’s Health Care Shares (Richmond)

Melissa also mentioned three NOFA programs aiding community food access:

-Farm Share: half-price CSA shares to those in need
-Crop Cash: discounts at farmers markets for participants
-3SquareVT farm stand match: discounts at farm stands for participants 

*CoP has regular zoom meetings which are open to the public, and bring together existing food farmacies and Farm to Plate organizers. If interested in attending, contact:
Kelly Dolan: [email protected]

Laura here:

Rosemary Rochford, newcomer to Jericho, gave a very informative talk "Why Climate Change Matters to our Health” to about 25 of us at the community center in late January. Some tidbits are mentioned here; for the full video go to: https://youtu.be/iYROqlb_IPM

In the early 2000s, Rosemary was in Kenya, doing malaria research. There she studied anopheles, a
climate sensitive mosquito. Thus began her fascination with climate driven infectious diseases.
Ultimately in 2015, she became co-director of the Colorado Consortium on Climate Change and Health.

Rosemary talked about ice core labs for studying climate change. In locations such as the Arctic and Antarctic, researchers drill down about two miles deep for ice cores which are then stored in tubes. Going back as far as 800,000 years, the cores enable scientists to study gases trapped in the ice. Co2 can be measured to study trends over time. For example, in the 1860s levels started to rise with the industrial age. From a previous 360 ppm average, it reached 417 ppm as of 2022. Rosemary touched on the Paris Climate Accords; how a goal of keeping temperature increase to 1.5 degrees has been shattered, and that 2024 was the hottest year on record.

When studying climate change effects on health, Rosemary said that heat index is actually a more important measurement than temperature, as it takes in the humidity factor as well. She mentioned numerous effects on the body, including core temperature rise, nervous system instability, dehydration, and blood vessel inflammation. She added that outdoor workers may take a heavier toll as 'wet bulb globe temperature' comes into play; how being exposed to sunlight adds heat stress to the body. She talked about Vermont specifically, how it's getting getting hotter and wetter here. Vermont averages six more inches of precipitation per year than in the 1960s.

These days Vermonters are also effected by wildfires from Canada. Rosemary talked about the danger of fine particulates; smaller than sand, they are in the air from fires and can get into the lungs and even the bloodstream, causing undue damage.

Rosemary spoke of the effects of climate change on food. She said that while most greenhouse gases are caused by burning fossil fuels, roughly a quarter are caused by food production; transportation, cows, and land use, etc. She talked about a so-called planetary heath diet, quoting the EAT Lancet Commission: "food is the single strongest lever to optimize human health and environmental sustainability on earth." She went on to recommend a "plant forward diet" which minimizes meat in the diet and prioritizes plant based food.

*Many thanks to the folks at MMCTV for videotaping this presentation!