To the Editor: Vermonters care deeply about the land.

We care about clean water, healthy soil, and food we can trust. We care about the forests, the farms, and the communities that make this state what it is. On that, there is broad agreement.

Where we are increasingly divided is not on the goal — but on the method.

Much of today’s environmental effort relies on legislation: restrictions, mandates, and regulatory controls over how people live, build, grow, and consume. While often well-intentioned, this approach is meeting growing resistance. Many Vermonters feel overregulated, constrained, or financially burdened, and that tension is beginning to undermine unity around environmental goals.

At the same time, there is a quiet but powerful truth emerging: people are not the problem.

In fact, people are the solution.

Across Vermont, individuals and communities are actively seeking ways to live more in harmony with the land — to grow clean food, reduce toxins, and restore natural systems. The desire is there. The will is there.

What is often missing is a business structure that makes those choices easier, more connected, and economically rewarding, where resource sharing is a multigenerational objective.

What if, instead of relying primarily on mandates, we focused on rewarding and empowering regenerative economic action? What if we made it easy, fun and inclusive for Vermonters to engage in environmental restoration?

Vermont has long been a leader in local food, land stewardship, and community-scale innovation. We are well positioned to lead again — this time by aligning our economic activity with regeneration of our environmental values.

A new model is emerging through EdensBay, a Vermont-seeded marketplace and membership framework designed to support regenerative products, services, and practices. Its aim is simple: to help people invest in one another and participate in rebuilding local ecosystems and economies — together.

This is not about abandoning policy. It is about complementing it with something equally powerful: participation. Because in the end, people are far more likely to engage when they are invited, supported, and rewarded — rather than restricted.

If we want lasting change, we must build with the people, not against them.

Vermonters are ready.

The question is whether you are willing to meet that readiness with a model that trusts it.

Emily Peyton

Putney, April 20

The Vermont Lottery offers several draw games for those willing to make a bet to win big.

This letter is from Suzanne Kenyon, a resident of St. Albans City. 

I am writing today to announce my intention to run for State Representative, Franklin 3 and to graciously ask for the support of our community.

I am a mother, local photographer and have been recently re-elected to a second term on the Maple Run School District’s Board Of Directors.

With a nest that has grown almost empty, I have have chosen to spend my time continuing to serve my community. Service where you live is the backbone of making a place somewhere that you want to stay.

We still live in a place where neighbors look out for one another. Where an honest day of work matters. I admire that. This City is hometown to many of us, myself included. I would be proud to represent us.

If elected, I will work for the best interests of my constituents, when it comes to matters of Taxes, Education Reform, Housing, Crime and Equality, to name a few. I intend to be a listening ear to every voice and make common sense decisions, the Vermont way.

We deserve practical leadership that puts the needs of the community and its members over party affiliations.

I humbly ask for your support and vote in November.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Kenyon