The Commons Co-op

As part of my responsibilities at the Vermont Commons School, I teach a class in our Research and Service Program. The Commons Co-op was a project that I created this fall of 2004 to explore various market driven solutions to decreasing energy consumption. My personal belief is that while developing an environmental ethic is important we also need to use the power of the market to get people to conserve energy. Conservation can be profitable and can even work when you energize a employees at a small business or school by giving them the opportunity to benefit economically from a change in their own behavior. This spring we are expanding the scope of the project.