Cemetery in Vermont torn up by Hurricane Irene, September 2011. More at Burlington Free Press.

(via architectureofdoom)

Thoroughly enjoyed NPR’s piece on Ben & Jerry’s “Flavor Graveyard” in Waterbury, Vermont. The piece is part of NPR’s “Dead Stop” series, which visits unusual graves in the U.S.

Happening now: LiveChat with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) ›

Vermont becomes first U.S. state to ban fracking ›

Flooding Spreads Invasive Species In Vermont, Iowa, Louisiana ›

Vt. governor chased by 4 bears in backyard ›

FLASH! 55+ towns in Vermont just voted to urge Congress for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United. MSNBC’s excellent interview here, PR here, resolution text here.

USDA’s New Plant Hardiness Zone Confirms Vermont Is Getting Warmer

Since 1970, the average temperature in New England has risen 2 degrees Fahrenheit, with average winter temperatures rising twice as fast — 4 degrees between 1970 and 2000. That’s according to Alan Betts, an atmospheric researcher from Pittford, Vt.

Precipitation in Vermont has also increased by as much as 20 percent, with more of it arriving as rain and less as snow. Overall, Betts warns Vermonters to expect rainier winters, earlier springs, hotter summers, longer and more persistent droughts, and heavier and more frequent and torrential “extreme” weather events such as Tropical Storm Irene.

keep reading on Seven Days

Route 4 between Killington, VT and Mendon, VT. More aerial photos of Irene damage in Vermont, here.

Straight shooter Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont):

“I’ve always believed that this the United States of America, U-N-I-T-E-D, that we are one nation. That when there’s a problem in the West Coast or in Louisiana,the people of Vermont, the people of New Jersey are there for them. When there’s a problem in the East Coast the people in the Midwest who have suffered their tornadoes, they’re there for us. This is what makes us a nation. And the idea that anybody in the United States Congress could say, ‘I don’t care. We’re going to allow communities to be devastated’… We need, along with other states, help from the rest of the country that our part of the country has provided in the past. That’s what makes us a nation... I sometimes think, Ed, that some of these right-wing Republicans want this nation to be a second-rate country. Maybe they’re looking to China for the future, but some of us are not. We believe America’s great. We believe that we can grow and we have got to invest to do that. At the very least, at the very least, we have got to make sure that everyone in this country knows that when disaster comes help will be there for them.”

(via joshsternberg)

This is nowhere near Katrina’s death toll of over 1800 souls, but the damage to scores of towns, businesses, houses, and basic civic armature is going to be very impressive as the news filters in later this week and the disaster is still very much ongoing Monday, even with the sun shining bright. Towns all over Vermont and New Hampshire are still drowning. The Hudson River is still on the rise. The Mohawk River is at a 500-year flood stage and is about to wipe the old city center of Schenectady, New York, off the map. Bridges, dams, and roads are gone over a region at least as big as the Gulf Coast splatter-trail of Katrina.

That story is still developing. A lot of people will not be able to get around for a long, long time, especially in Vermont and New Hampshire, where the rugged terrain only allows for a few major roads that go anywhere. Even the bridges that were not entirely washed away may have to be inspected before people are allowed to drive over them, and some of these bridges may be structurally shot even if they look superficially okay. There are a lot of them. If you live in a flat state, you may have no idea.

The next story is going to be the realization that there’s no money to put it all back together the way it was. The states don’t have the money. The federal government is obviously broke, and an awful lot of the individual households and businesses will turn out to not have any insurance coverage for this kind of disaster where it was water, not wind, that destroyed the property. I don’t know what the score is insurance-wise along the mid-Atlantic beachfront towns - but remember, insurance companies were among the biggest dupes of the Big Bank mortgage-backed securities racket, and when the new claims are toted up they may find themselves in a bail-out line.

This is a warning to America that the converging catastrophes of climate change, energy scarcities, and failures of capital formation add up to more than the sum of their parts in their power to drive a complex society into a ditch - no matter what a moron like Rick Perry might say. But, of course, political ramifications will follow. There will be a lot of pissed-off people in the Northeast USA. Maybe they’ll even start giving the grievance-bloated folk of Dixieland some competition in the politics of the bitter harvest. Oddly, the Siamese twin states of Vermont and New Hampshire are political polar opposites. Vermont, the land of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, and other squooshy culture tropes from the attic of Hippiedom, is about as Left-progressive as it gets. New Hampshire’s license plate says, “Live Free or Die,” and that same draconian mood defines the state’s politics: hard Right. It’s like a few counties of Georgia shook loose and drifted north somehow. My guess is that the political rage will be about equal on both fronts, as folks are left stranded, or homeless, or without a going business they thought they had only a day or so ago. And my further guess is that their mood will afford some insight into the extreme impotence, incompetence, and mendacity of both major political parties. As I’ve said before in this space, think of these times as not unlike the convulsive 1850s, preceding the worst crisis of our history.

James Howard Kunsler, Katrina in Vermont

(via underpaidgenius)

Postcards from a Vermont on the Edge [Photos and Video] ›

Elderly couple rescued by brave emergency crew in Mount Holly, Vermont. Click for story and video.

inothernews:

Part of Highway US 4 in Rutland, Vermont is destroyed by torrential rains brought by Tropical Storm Irene.  President Obama declared a state of emergency for Vermont, where all government offices and schools were closed Monday; up to 50,000 residents statewide are without power and several cities, including Montpelier, Waterbury and Brattleboro experienced flooding.  (Photo: Steve Costello / Central Vermont Power Service via the Burlington Free Press)

Holy moly! 

Downtown Brattleboro, Vermont, a city of 12,000 residents, succumbs to floodwaters caused by Tropical Storm Irene.  Montpelier, the capital, faces a flood threat from the confluence of rivers in the area — rivers which could crest at 20 feet — as well as the possibility of an intentional release of water to alleviate pressure on the earthen Mashfield Dam, four hours upstream.  At least one resident is confirmed dead.  (Photo: Zach McLaughlin / WCAX)

(via inothernews)