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Location: Choose a rural or urban setting for your home

RURAL

Live in the countryside

PRO

  • Quiet living
  • Viewscapes
  • Gardening / Animal Husbandry

CON

  • Commuting expenses
  • Less accessible to goods services

URBAN

Live downtown

PRO

  • Social Living
  • Great accessibility to conveniences
  • Public Transportation

CON

  • High cost of living
  • More air, water, noise pollution
  • Higher potential for crime

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Building Materials: Do you want to build with conventional or natural materials?

CONVENTIONAL

Stick frame construction, dimensional lumber, cement, asphalt shingles, vinyl siding

PRO

  • Tried and true methods
  • Easy to find knowledgeable builders
  • Less hassle with building codes
  • Much quicker to build
  • Less expensive to build if relying on hired labor

CON

  • Large amounts of energy required in production and transport of materials
  • Less personal and intimate

NATURAL

Straw bale, cob walls, natural earth plasters, living roofs, solar integration, local materials

PRO

  • Less energy required to manufacture and transport building materials
  • Lower exposure to harmful chemicals and materials
  • Opportunity for home owner to do most of the construction themselves, reducing cost of construction
  • Balances growth with ecological integrity by incorporating on-site earth materials into less intrusive, yet functional living spaces

CON

  • Building is more sensitive to weather
  • Requires more upkeep and maintenance
  • Requires significant time investment

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Waste Treatment: Conventional septic or alternative?

CONVENTIONAL

Town sewage or septic tank with leach field

PRO

  • Tried and true methods
  • Less hassle with building codes
  • Low maintenance
  • All-weather systems

CON

  • More expensive to install (in theory)
  • Often pollutes groundwater
  • Potentially valuable nutrients become nuisance pollution

ALTERNATIVE

Composting toilets or living machines

PRO

  • Recycles nutrients (nutrients as resource rather than pollutant)
  • Eliminates groundwater pollution
  • Potentially less expensive to install

CON

  • Requires more upkeep and maintenance
  • Regulatory obstacles—Vermont building codes require installation of backup septic system as well

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Winter Recreation: Where do you want to ski?

STOWE MOUNTAIN

A large ski resort

PRO

  • Lots of terrain
  • Not dependant on natural snow

CON

  • Runs are large and wide to accommodate snow guns and groomers
  • Large-scale, less intimate resort
  • Higher ecological footprint due to real estate development, water consumption for snowmaking and larger trails
  • Expensive
  • Adjacent real estate development leads to increased habitat fragmentation

MAD RIVER GLEN

A small skier-owned ski area

PRO

  • Less real estate development
  • Less water used for snowmaking
  • Mostly narrow "hidden" runs which follow the natural contours of the mountain
  • More intimate, community feel
  • Minimal snowmaking and narrow trails lead to lower impacts on water quality in adjacent streams
  • Historical single-chair lift
  • Affordable
  • Provides environmental education programs

CON

  • Dependent on natural snow conditions
  • Long weekend lift lines

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Lawn and Garden Care: Fertilize conventionally or test soil chemistry first

FERTILIZE

PRO

  • Use readily-available fertilizers designed to work on a wide-range of lawns and gardens
  • Minimal time investment

CON

  • May fertilize excessively or unnecessarily
  • Often pollutes groundwater
  • Excess nutrients runoff into waterways; excess phosphorus is main cause of algal blooms in Lake Champlain

TEST SOIL CHEMISTRY FIRST

PRO

  • Allows choice of a fertilizer suited for particular lawn/garden needs
  • May indicate that little or no fertilizer is needed, potentially saving money and reducing runoff of excess nutrients into waterways

CON

  • Price of soil test kits ($15 to more than $40)
  • Test kits not always easily available
  • Time investment of running soil test, then purchasing appropriate fertilizer

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Cleaning Products: Do you want to use conventional cleaners, safe cleaners from a local company, or make your own household cleaners?

CONVENTIONAL

Soaps and detergents with phosphates, all-purpose cleaners with ammonia, bleach, and petroleum solvents, shampoos with unnatural chemicals

PRO

  • Widely available in all types of stores
  • Specialized for particular jobs
  • Effective and easy to use

CON

  • Neurotoxins and carcinogens
  • Toxins may become biomagnified at top of the food chain
  • Promotes algal blooms and consequent algal toxin production in Lake Champlain
  • Harmful and noxious fumes

NON-TOXIC

Phosphate –free soaps and detergents, all-purpose cleaners that are free of toxic chemicals, paper products produced without dioxins

PRO

  • Widely available in co-ops and natural food stores across the country
  • No special ventilation needed
  • Low health risks
  • Unlikely to damage ecological systems when used outside

CON

  • Not available in all grocery stores
  • May require hotter water than conventional cleaners
  • May cost slightly more than conventional products

MAKE YOUR OWN

Mixtures made from vinegar, baking soda, water, detergent, rubbing alcohol and other simple, mostly natural items

PRO

  • Ingredients are widely available in grocery stores and pharmacies
  • Less expensive than other options
  • Non-toxic and environmentally safe
  • Unlikely to damage ecological systems when used outside
  • Usually does not require special ventilation

CON

  • Mixing requires more time and effort than other options
  • Requires hot water and careful scrubbing

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Home Ownership: Who will you buy from?

CONVENTIONAL

Buy from a large real estate agency or developer

PRO

  • Record of success/name recognition
  • One real estate agency has access to numerous property listings
  • Homeowner has total ownership and tax benefits

CON

  • Expensive to pay market value for a home as well as any costs associated with buying through a real estate agent

ALTERNATIVE

Buy through the Burlington Community Land Trust

PRO

  • BCLT buys down the value of homes, thus ensuring permanent affordability
  • Encourages the "democratic stewardship of land" by breaking up rights to the land
  • Tax breaks from home ownership along with proximity to urban centers of commerce

CON

  • Upon selling home purchased through the BCLT, a homeowner receives only a portion of the total sale

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Home Rentals: Who will you rent from

CONVENTIONAL

Rent a VT apartment from a landlord who lives in Seattle

PRO

  • Increased privacy; your landlord will never drop by unannounced

CON

  • Your landlord may not be accessible when needed
  • Rents are not always fair and affordable
  • Buildings may not be carefully maintained

ALTERNATIVES

Rent from Stu McGowan

PRO

  • Renting from Stu ensures affordable, well maintained housing
  • Stu lives in the neighborhood where he owns property.
  • Cool paint jobs on houses

CON

  • Stu always knows what's going on in his apartments because of his proximity
  • All of Stu's apartments are in the same recently-distressed neighborhood

Rent from Main Street Landing

PRO

  • Rentals are in multi-use buildings close to commerce, local art, and community space
  • Buildings are environmentally friendly and all building materials are found within 500 miles of Burlington and directly support local economies

CON

  • Buildings are in urban/commercial areas which lack a typical neighborhood feel

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Cheese: Do you want to buy local artisan cheese, buy into a small-scale cooperative, or buy conventional cheese

CONVENTIONAL

Dykema Farm

PRO

  • Cost is lowest
  • Quality is good

CON

  • Land has to be intensively farmed to feed large herds of cows
  • Milk prices have stagnated over the past two decades forcing farmers to expand their operations to stay in business

LOCAL ARTISAN CHEESE

Windy Corner Farm

PRO

  • Locally produced
  • High quality

CON

  • High cost
  • Producer may be pressured to expand to afford costs of equipment

SMALL-SCALE COOP

PRO

  • You own a share of the products
  • You have a say in how coop is run

CON

  • You have to commit capital or labor

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Produce: Do you want to grow your own, buy into Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), or buy from a supermarket?

CONVENTIONAL

Non-organic produce from a conventional supermarket

PRO

  • Cost is lowest
  • Similar varieties of produce available across the country

CON

  • High transportation/energy costs since most produce is shipped long distance
  • Requires intensive pesticide and fertilizer use leading to pollution of waterways
  • Often grown in monocultures that promote soil depletion and erosion

ORGANIC

Organic produce from a supermarket

PRO

  • Benefits of organic farming practices for ecology
  • High quality

CON

  • Organics are often produced thousands of miles from where they are consumed
  • High purchase price for consumers
  • Does not necessarily support local economies

CSA

Acadia Brook Farm

PRO

  • Supporting a local producer
  • Low fossil fuel usage for transportation
  • Pay a reasonable price for high quality food
  • Typically very fresh
  • Have a say in what is grown

CON

  • Consumers share risk with the farmer. If there is a bad local season, your return is smaller
  • Must take what is grown (i.e. sometimes more of a particular item than you would otherwise use)
  • Seasonal (i.e. you must buy food from elsewhere outside of local growing season)

GROW YOUR OWN

Windy Corner Farm

PRO

  • Know where your food is coming from and how it is grown
  • Freshest possible product
  • Can close ecological loops

CON

  • Large time and labor cost to grow food
  • Access to land a common barrier

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Farmland: How to get it and how to keep it

Farmland in Vermont is disappearing as a result of development pressure and lifestyle changes. These organizations work to preserve the working landscape

The Vermont Land Trust

Helps landowners permanently protect their property from development

The Vermont Land Trust (VLT) works to conserve land for the future of Vermont. The VLT achieves this goal by providing technical and legal assistance to individuals, communities and local land trusts to help them reach their local conservation objectives.

Conservation easements are tools they many land trusts use to ensure various conservation goals in perpetuity.

The Sustainable Agriculture Center at UVM

Supports projects such as: Land Link Vermont and the Vermont New Farmer Network

Land Link Vermont is a program that connects retiring farmers or non-farming landowners with new farmers looking for land. The program connects sellers directly with buyers, helping to keep farmland in productivity.

The Vermont New Farmer Network provides new farmers with resources such as: access to land, markets, skill training and financing.

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Recreation on the lake: Purchase or rent a boat

PURCHASE

Own your own motorized boat

PRO

  • Easy access to the lake
  • Can go on the lake whenever you like

CON

  • Expensive to buy and maintain
  • Can transport and spread invasive species (e.g. Eurasian water milfoil, zebra mussels)
  • Wakes can contribute to shoreline erosion
  • Water pollution from fuel and oil

RENT

Rent a motorized boat

PRO

  • Affordable for the occasional boater
  • Lower risk of transporting invasive species (rental boats more likely to stay in one region)

CON

  • Less convenient access to the lake
  • Limit recreational activities

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Lumber: Buy conventional lumber or lumber from a Vermont Family Forest

CONVENTIONAL

Buy from a local lumber yard

PRO

  • Easy access to cheap lumber
  • Abundant supply
  • Familiar to builders and architects

CON

  • Imported, possibly from around the globe(requires more fossil fuel for transport)
  • Management and harvesting practices do not favor the ecological integrity of forests
  • Involves outflow of money from the local economy

ALTERNATIVE

Buy Vermont Family Forest wood

PRO

  • Minimal transportation required
  • Managing and harvesting practices favor the ecological integrity of forests
  • Directly benefits the Vermont economy
  • Encourages proper stewardship and local ownership of the land

CON

  • Market supply and demand still being established
  • Access to VFF-certified wood is limited (limited acreage of forests)
  • May be unfamiliar to builders and architects

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Land Management: Manage your timber land yourself, or hire a Timber Management Organization (TIMO)

TIMO MANAGES FOREST

Land managed for individual or investor by a TIMO

PRO

  • TIMOs employ long-term timber management plans
  • Investors, in general, are better able to weather economic downturns

CON

  • Investors are generally more interested in return on investment than in forest stewardship (i.e. profit may come at cost of forests' ecological integrity)
  • Lack of personal connection with the land may contribute to degradation of forest ecology
  • Profit from forest management and harvesting often goes out of local economies

MANAGE FOREST YOURSELF

Land managed by individual living on or around it

PRO

  • Owner has intimate connections to the forest (e.g. family history, personal ties, financial dependence) which may bode well for proper stewardship
  • Owner-manager probably has long-term management objects beyond receiving a financial return (e.g. keeping a healthy forest in the family)
  • Local landowners have economic incentive to manage for diverse forest products (e.g. maple sugar), which may contribute to the local economy

CON

  • Small-scale owners may be on shaky financial footing. Forces such as: increasing property taxes, economic downturns, high land prices, or little retirement savings may force subdivision and sell off of land for "development"

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