The challenge, Tymon says, is to offer stewardship information in "a nonpreachy way." She is more informed than most; she teaches environmental sciences at Peoples Academy, the local high school.
Such green-themed hospitality might seem unusual, but in Vermont, it is rapidly becoming the norm. As an income source, tourism is outstripping the agriculture that the state so passionately espouses. Yet with the encroachment of Wal-Marts and condominium developments, existential worries are creeping to the door of the hospitality industry. Twice since 1993 the National Trust for Historic Preservation has placed Vermont on its list of the nation's 11 Most Endangered Places. In 1998 the state struck back, launching the Green Hotels in the Green Mountain State program. So far, it has conferred green certification on 82 out of 985 establishments and designated another six as "environmental partners." Partners have met basic composting, recycling, and energy-conservation levels but have yet to draft an environmental management plan for how they will further shrink their carbon footprint.
According to Peter Crawford, one of the program's two coordinators, such plans are relatively easy for a standard B&B, but more involved for larger resorts. The Woodstocker Inn is an example of the former. Its British proprietors, David Livesley and Dora Foschi, stock their nine guest rooms with organic soaps and their breakfasts are made from organic, locally-produced ingredients. Part of the reason they chose Vermont was its green ethic, Livesley explained, "but we were going to run a green inn whether there was an organization or not." Livesley believes the state's hospitality industry is among the nation's greenest.
