SAXTONS RIVER — The Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association invites the public to its annual meeting on Sunday, April 29, from 4 to 6 p.m., at Main Street Arts, 35 Main St., featuring a program entitled “Cool the Planet: Food, Water, Soil, Climate, Hope.”
In a PowerPoint presentation followed by a question-and-answer session, Henry Swayze and Cat Buxton will discuss the natural systems that allow for planetary cooling and the factors that contribute to understanding healthy soil and watershed functions, as well as how the average person can effect positive change in the backyard and marketplace.
Swayze has worked in sustainable agriculture and sustainable living for more than 40 years. In the 1970s and 1980s, he and his wife, Cornelia, resurrected a nearly abandoned dairy farm in Tunbridge, tripling the land's productivity and enabling it to offset the carbon footprint of approximately 10 Vermont households.
He is now focused on actually cooling the planet before reducing fossil fuel inputs and sequestering carbon have time to work. He feels that knowledge about natural systems is improving rapidly and that those systems can have the power to redirect the upward warming curve to level or cooling mode before it is too late.
Buxton works to connect communities to effect positive food system change from the ground up. She operates Grow More, Waste Less/Food Systems Consulting LLC, which offers all aspects of community organizing and consulting for soil health, gardening, composting, and farm-to-school projects. She is co-director of Soil4Climate-Vermont and founder of the Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition.
Prior to the program, there will be a brief WHPA business meeting, which members and the public are encouraged to attend to learn about plans the Pinnacle Association has for the coming year. Attendees are invited to come early to enjoy refreshments and view maps and other materials.