Paul Hawken, the author of The Ecology of Commerce, has written that the planet came with a manual of operating instructions that we seem to have lost. The instructions included: don't contaminate the soil, don't poison the water and the air, watch for overpopulation, and don't turn up the thermostat.
There has been a movement afoot to find that manual, to work to compensate for the damage that has already been done, and to develop what Hawken calls a new operating system for the planet.
Businesses worldwide are moving in a more socially and environmentally responsible direction. There is the opportunity here in Vermont to be part of this movement and advocate for increased environmental stewardship of the land on which Vermont Yankee is sited.
Throughout time, many cultures have lived more in accordance with the rules Paul Hawken references. The Great Law of the Iroquois, for example, wisely cautions us to think seven generations ahead to determine whether the decisions made in our time will benefit the children living in that future time.