Sustainable Williston will be gathering this Thursday for a facilitated workshop to identify our priorities for 2023. No prior experience with Sustainable Williston required, only interest and a desire to make Williston more environmentally sustainable. Details:
Where: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library Meeting Room
When: Thu December 8th, 7:15-8:50 pm
What: 2023 Planning Workshop
Bring: Open mind, creative thinking, a snack to share
Join us Tuesday, April 14 from 7-9 pm, to learn how to build soil health and sequester carbon while growing your own food. This event will featuring CAT BUXTON, co-founder of the Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition. The webinar will cover all aspects of starting your regenerative garden this spring – from cover cropping to no-till methods. Co-sponsored by 350VT and Sustainable Williston.
To receive info on how to join this webinar, please register for event at
https://forms.gle/UXWXLSHkTtieYJYS6
Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus) Sustainable Williston meetings are going virtual. Virtual meeting links will be posted by the morning of the 4th Thursday of each month.
We are considering holding virtual meetings on the 2nd Thursday of each month as well, in lieu of the social, to avoid risks. The extra meeting could help keep activities moving forward. Stay tuned.
Sustainable Williston encourages Williston residents to attend this Repair Cafe event, recently announced at CVU:
“CVU EnACT is working with Transition Charlotte to coordinate a Repair Cafe here at CVU on Saturday, 5/18 from 10-2. A repair cafe is a community event where community volunteers offer no-cost repair of clothing, jewelry, electronics, small appliances, furniture and more! You bring the broken stuff and our volunteer fixers will use their skills to help you fix your stuff so we can keep it out of the landfill and learn from important skills from one another. At this point, we are continuing to recruit volunteer fixers — this is open to students, faculty, staff and CVU families. We especially need repairers who can help with: skateboards, lacrosse sticks, bikes, and small appliances like radios, cd/dvd players. We also especially need more fixers who know about computers, laptops and smartphones. Also, if you know how to mend clothing by hand or sewing machine, repair lamps–replace switches and cords, tighten wobbly lamps, sharpen garden tools, replace wooden handles, repair trimmers/weed-wackers, repair jewelry (no soldering), replace watch batteries, fix watch bands, repair furniture, sharpen knives or scissors, or tune chainsaws, we want you! If you can join us as a volunteer fixer for part or all of the event, please contact EnACT adviser Katie Antos Ketcham @ kantosketcham@cvsdvt.org or Jamey Gerlaugh with Transition Town Charlotte at Gerlaugh@gmail.com.
We’re seeking volunteers as Sustainable Williston (SW) provides zero-waste support to the Williston Fire Pancake Breakfast for the second year running. Volunteers are needed for 1 hour shifts beginning at 8, 9, 10, and 11am to help visitors separate compost from trash. Please contact Caylin McCamp at caylin.mccamp@gmail.com to sign-up for a shift. No prior experience required!
Our Silverware Share will also be on show with SW volunteers washing throughout the event to limit use of single-use plastics. Thank you to the Williston Fire Department for partnering with SW again this year!
Looking for an opportunity to do something about water quality in Allen Brook/Winooski River/Lake Champlain? Maybe you are a dog owner and care about having a clean and enjoyable place to walk your dog. Whatever your motive, Sustainable Williston, Long Trail Veterinary Center, Williston Recreation & Parks, and the Lake Champlain Committee team up annually to facilitate a scoop the poop event. All you need to do is dress for the weather and pitch in!
Melinda Petter of Sustainable Williston prepares to testify on single use plastics bill at the State House.
On Wednesday morning (3/13), representatives from Sustainable Williston testified as the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy considered bill S.113 – An act relating to the prohibition of plastic carry out bags, expandeded polystyrene food service products (Styrofoam), and single-use plastic straws. Melinda Petter, Lynn Blevins, and Brian Forest made the trip on behalf of 111 Williston area residents who signed onto letters of support for S.113 and its companion legislation, bill H.74 in the House.
We spoke at the Senate Natural Resource and Energy Committee hearing to relay the concerns and support from over 100 VT residents who are interested in reducing single-use plastics waste. With testimony being given by agencies and industry, we felt it important that our legislators also heard directly from the people they represent.
Sustainable Williston will monitor progress of the bill(s) at the state level, and consider next steps based on the outcome.
*Update* – The Senate bill (S.113) made it out of committee (with some amendments) on 3/15! This means it WILL go to the House of Representatives for consideration.
We welcome you to join us at a monthly social (2nd Thursday, 7:15pm, VT Tap House) or meetings (4th Thursday, 7:15pm, DAM Library) – See Calendar. You can also use the “Contact Us” on our website to request we add you to our meeting group emails where we share agendas, minutes, and coordinate action.
This year, Sustainable Williston is a Button Up Vermont community partner. This means that Williston is one of 18 Vermont towns whose residents are eligible for a free home visit from a professional energy contractor who can identify opportunities for home weatherization. Buttoning up your home is the best way to conserve home energy and reduce heating and cooling costs. Sustainable Williston has a few upcoming events where Williston residents can get more information and take action.
Ice Cream Social- July 3, 2017
This week’s July 3rd Ice Cream Social in Williston marks a decade of zero-waste efforts by Sustainable Williston. In 2009 residents and SW members Lynn and Lori formed a new partnership with the Williston Historical Society (host of the Ice Cream Social) to make the event zero-waste by using compostable materials for serving, and collecting the compost at the end of the event.
Did you know?
The waste collected at the July 3rd event is composted locally at Green Mountain Compost on Redmond Road in Williston!
Making a big event like the July 3rd social waste-free isn’t always glamorous. Volunteers help everyone properly sort their waste to ensure a clean batch of compostables, and it can be a messy job handling melted ice cream, fudge sauce and strawberry topping! The compost then travels to a volunteer’s garage to wait for Green Mountain Compost to open on July 5th. All that work is worth it though, and diverts a significant amount of waste from the landfill into a renewable resource. The event also provides an opportunity to answer questions about composting and educate residents on how to sort their waste stream.
We hope to see all Williston residents this Tuesday to enjoy some ice cream, music by the Williston Town Band, and of course enjoy the peace of mind knowing your bowl, spoon, and food scraps are going to eventually turn into nutrient rich compost!
Sustainable Williston is springing into 2018 with a series of events.
Come on out!
