National Media Recognizes Vermont's Green Economy

 
The entire cast of NBC's Today Show broadcast on location from Sugarbush Mountain Resort on Thursday, February 21, 2008.  It was fun to see Meredith Viera do the penguin plunge (which incidentally, rumor has it, was re-created just for her that week after she read about it on-line while preparing for their Vermont broadcast - she thought it had something to do with a penguin exhibit on the Burlington waterfront - apparently she asked her staff to set up something with the penguins and once they realized her misunderstanding they just went with it - she ended up dunking in Lake Champlain with a few intrepid colleagues, wearing a penquin cap - and raising $20,000 for the Special Olympics, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23241410/), to see Matt Lauer try snow-biking and get taken out by our local Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Hannah Teter, and to see WPTZ personalities Stephanie Gorin and Tom Messner so excited about their joint broadcast on location with Today.  But what really struck me about the broadcast, or at least the portion I was able to watch on a normal busy morning in the Cole household, was the segment  on Vermont's vibrant green economy.   Instead of solely focusing on maple syrup and dairy farming and the ratio of cows to people, the segment reported on Vermont's green economy.   The report highlighted the State's expenditures on energy efficiency, the CVPS "cow power" project, and green business initiatives at Ben & Jerry's and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters as part of a larger green business movement in Vermont.  The piece suggested that "The Green Valley" already is an important feature of Vermont's business landscape.   Whether or not one agrees with the perspective of the report, it marks progress for Vermont's national image.  In trying to convey the nature of Vermont to a national audience, the Today Show chose to feature Vermont as a place to do business and particularly green and socially responsible business rather than a place merely to ski, shop for antiques and revel in bucolic beauty.   Even if this angle was suggested by State p.r. communications (I don't know if that's where Today got the idea but it's certainly possible), the fact that Today picked up on it indicates that once they started looking into the subject they found something worth reporting.  In our efforts to attract entrepreneurs and green businesses, national media attention to our green economy is invaluable.  And talking about it slopeside at Sugarbush can't hurt.