Mona and Leo Boutin used to raise beef cattle on their picturesque Williston farm. The cows would graze in the grassy field that sweeps up to the forest line, and drink from the babbling brook that cuts through the couple’s land.

That was before the Boutins worried about lead contaminating their groundwater. Water experts have since collected samples from the creek, and the couple has stopped drinking the well water.... Read more

11/13/09: Chittenden Solid Waste District's (CSWD) Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) processes about 180 tons of single stream recyclables a day and over 42,000 tons of recyclables in a year.  See what happens to your recycling in a behind the scenes look at the MRF on the weekend of the 12th Annual America Recycles Day.... Read more

10/26/09: Over 65 exhibitors and hundreds of attendees packed the third Vermont 3.0 event at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel & Conference Center on Monday.  There were plenty of green, high tech, innovative companies on hand to offer a glimpse into Vermont's future.

Seven Days sponsored and helped organize this event, along with the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Vermont Software Developers' Alliance, the Vermont Department of Labor, the Vermont Department of Economic Development and Comcast Business Class.... Read more

The historic Church Street building housing Leunig’s Bistro is about to get a modern touch. According to owner Robert Fuller, later this year or early in 2010, Building Energy of Williston will install six rows of eight solar panels each on the roof.... Read more

Huge corporations like S.C. Johnson and Clorox have been hopping on the “green” wagon for several years now. That has presented a growing challenge to smaller, authentically earth-friendly companies such as Burlington-based Seventh Generation. Without improving product recognition, and consumer loyalty, companies that have been manufacturing green products for years run the risk of being swallowed up by these multinational giants.... Read more

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) has sported virtually the same logo since the union’s inception back in 1891: a clenched fist grasping radiating bolts of electricity. But that symbol could use a 21st-century update, showing an outstretched hand capturing rays of sunlight.... Read more

Unless you’re a medical researcher, science geek or local business buff, chances are you’ve never heard of BioTek Solutions, a Winooski-based company that makes “multi-mode microplate readers” and “microplate pipetting systems.” But you probably have heard of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and bird flu — diseases for which scientists are finding lifesaving cures with the help of BioTek brand equipment made right here in Vermont.... Read more

You have to be sure footed, and comfortable with heights, to get a peek at the 572 rooftop solar panels atop the corporate headquarters of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in Waterbury. They’re only accessible via two very steep ladders. Alternately, a 32-inch flat-panel TV in the lobby of the 90,000-square-foot facility displays pictures of the array, which is the largest in Vermont, along with up-to-the-minute power output statistics. Between 9 and 10 percent of the coffee distribution center’s electricity is derived from the sun.... Read more

When 70-year-old Dave Warful moved to the Lindale Mobile Home Park on the eastern outskirts of Middlebury three years ago, what drew him to the community was that it was quiet, wooded and serene. He expected it to stay that way.... Read more

For Marie Audet of Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport, it’s not good enough to say that “shit happens.” On her family’s farm, shit happens to earn them money.... Read more