Warning: I'm about to throw a whole lot of thoughts into a 50 gallon drum and I'm thinkin I might light it on fire. Certain professions sometimes call what I'm about to do the "trash can method."(minus the match).
I was a lifeguard and Water Safety Instructor in the summer of 1981. I miss those carefree days when at 17 years of age, I thought of myself as old enough to be an adult yet young enough to ignore most of the pressures of life. Interestingly enough, I had only just moved to VT from Colorado Springs that June with my senior year of high school still ahead of me.
I spent my days biking to and from work, training lifeguards and blowing bubbles with the Fishers. I often walked with mom to the general store to read the bulletin board news and then on to the post office for the mail. On Thursdays I played softball, but all the other days I went for a bike ride after supper; and most importantly, Vicki, Ducky and I became friends swimming laps and hanging out on the sandy beach at the Saxtons River Rec.
How ironic that my brother Charles declared that same summer of 81, "The Summer That Never Was." I suspect my disconnect is what long timers refer to as the good old days. Days when the simplicity of youth is stored in our memories and those of hardship fade away. Or could it be that thoughts of what defined prosperity as a youth were based on something more meaningful than consumption?
In 1980 Mt Saint Helens in Washington state passed gas. Those who study such things labeled her breach of etiquette, a "cataclysmic eruption." For my younger readers, it's probably easier to relate to the the Canadian wildfires that blew smoke down into Vernon creating a sun filtering haze or perhaps that few minutes during the eclipse that chilled the air and darkened the sky. And so during that following summer, the one that wasn't, we purchased lifeguard sweats and kept our sleeping bags at hand to keep us warm after teaching lessons.
Smoke from the Canadian wildfires settles in the hills of Vernon
I've since discovered that Charles' clever label was already put into use on our east coast after the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia.
Let's stretch back a little farther shall we? Ahh the 70's Though I was little at the start, some things I remember well. In Burlington, when we weren't walking to and from school and friend's houses, Mom drove us around in her first car, a secondhand white Oldsmobile Cutlass. Dad for his part, drove a full sized green Dodge van with a custom built storage area in the far back that had a kid sized bed above it. I remember him to be a chain smoker. Dad smoked cigarettes in the house in the car, at work, outdoors and pretty much everywhere else. Our smoke filled clothes must have stunk something awful; but nobody seemed to notice because practically everybody else had a smoker at home or at work. There was one big hitch to his addiction however, my mom was a chronic asthmatic.
Our family did a fair amount of camping back then complete with tent and campfires. On our black and white tv set, we had Woodsy Owl and an Indian with a tear streaked face asking that we do our part to keep America beautiful. But more impactful to my mind than those icons, was my dad telling us as we broke camp, that we should always leave a place better than when we found it. So it was, that us five kids dutifully policed the campsite for cigarette butts as our last act of enjoying the great outdoors.
A burn ban due to drought in effect since October, has freed the neighborhood up from the constant autumn smoke
In 1970 the Clean Air Act became law.
In 1972 the Clean Water Act (as its known now) of 1948 was amended. The act was originally passed to clean up polluted water caused by the post WW2 industrial expansion. Oil and chemical slicks on rivers were catching fire and our rivers were near death's door utilized more for waste discharge than for recreation. Today, Wayne who grew up in Bellows Falls, still refuses to swim in the CT River even though it tests safe for swimming below the Vernon Dam.
In 1972, Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station came online and with it Vernon grew in population and Grand List. In 1970 our population was 1024, in 1980 it was 1175 and in 2020 we were at 2192 residents.
In 1973 the Arab Oil Embargo began and "the long summer of prosperity" ended. I was a proud member of our neighborhood's bicycle gang and dad was home since 72 from his second tour in Vietnam. .
In 1977 Jimmy Carter, a farmer from Georgia, was elected President and let me tell you, my dad for the life of him refused to wrap his head around Jimmy's humanitarian and environmentally conscientious leadership.
Now to my mind, these were funny times and I get muddled about the year but not the events. Dad had sold the van and had since been driving a maroon with white top 8 cylinder Chevy Camaro and Mom drove, a nine passenger Chevy Suburban. But with the embargo and climbing fuel prices, our family like many large families, found ourselves on a steep learning curve. Reducing consumption was not only for economic purposes; but it was the patriotic thing to do. And so it was that dad's Camaro fell victim to modern day pressures. My parents replaced that muscle machine with a sewing machine (Mazda GLC) in which I learned to drive.
In 1978, Dad at age 40, quit smoking cold turkey on the Nations first Smoke-out day ending his habit of 24 years. Dad lived into his 80s. His cause of death is listed as complications from Agent Orange exposure.
In 1979 President Carter had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House. Dad was livid; but I thought it was pretty cool.
The summer of 1980, I landed my first real job with the United States Youth Conservation Corps in Grand Mesa Colorado.
I promised you a trash can dumping perhaps short of the match. and that is what you have been given. It may seem like I have packed the can full; but keep in mind that I never included the Acid Rain years nor explained that even with international laws in place to reduce acid rain, Vermont suing midwestern coal companies and ensuing laws to scrub emissions that resulted in significant reductions, Vernon still lies smack in the path of the airstream that delivers acid rain to our ponds, streams and maple trees. I hadn't thought about acid rain in years; but during the planning process for the five year Deerfield River Watershed clean water plan, it was brought up in connection to Lily pond and how, due in part to acid rain, that pond will likely remain acidic.
Through all of this; we as a country have been innovative in our ways to return to the ideas of great conservation visionaries like Theodor Roosevelt, George Perkins Marsh, Fredrick Billings, John Muir and Laurence Rockefeller. Through times of adversity and economic prosperity, haven't we learned from our common experiences? Haven't we moved forward, by protecting more lands, developing cleaner ways generate energy, smarter cars and appliances, efficient buildings, safer chemicals and practices? Or could this be nothing more than my childhood optimism creeping back in, as clearly we have much work ahead of us. After all, didn't I come up with the title for this submission when I was asked, "What have you been smoking" in reply to my concerns for losing our hard fought for environmental protections. I must ask my readers, even if you don't believe that climate change is caused by man, don't you want green mountains, clean safe air to breath and drinkable water?
- Norma Manning
Further reading:
Our Nation's Air Trends through 2021 : This EPA report speaks to the lives saved and extended since the Clean Air Act went into effect. It reads in part, "Since 1970 , implementation of the Clean Air Act and Technological advances from American innovators have dramatically improved air quality in the U.S. Since that time, the combined emissions of criteria and precursor pollutants have dropped by 78%" Also noted that we achieved cleaner air while sustaining economic growth.
Southern Vermont CEDS : A comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for Bennington and Windham Regions.
Do Not Eat Wildlife Consumption Advisory Maine Department of Fisheries and Wildlife: possible PFA contamination in Deer and Turkey, NH and Vermont has since issued warnings as well, though no contamination has been detected in VT to date. .
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