 Major sponsors for Ableton on Air include Washington County Mental Health, where hope and support come together. Media sponsors for Ableton on Air include Park Chester Times, Muslim Community Report, www, this is the Bronx.info, Associated Press Media Editors, New York Powered Online Newspaper, U.S. Press Corps Domestic and International, Anchor FM, and Spotify. Partners for Ableton on Air include the HOD of New York and New England, where everyone belongs, the Orthodox Union, the Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired of Vermont, the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity, Montefiore Medical Center of the Bronx, Rose of Kennedy Center of Bronx, New York, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of the Bronx. Ableton on Air has been seen in the following publications. Park Chester Times, www, this is the Bronx.com, New York Powered Online Newspaper, Muslim Community Report, www.h.com, and the Montpelier Bridge. Ableton on Air is part of the following organizations, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Boston, New England Chapter, and the Society of Professional Journalists. Welcome to this edition of Ableton on Air, the one and only program that focuses on the needs, concerns, and achievements of the different label. You've always been your host, Lawrence Silo. Arlene is not here today due to being in the hospital, but we wish her speedy recovery. With us today, we would like to say welcome to Senator Ann Watson, who believes in the environment that the environment should be cleaner for people with special needs. Welcome, and Senator Ann Watson to Ableton on Air. Well, thank you so much for having me. Okay. Let's start here. What is your platform in the environment when it comes to, in general, you know, Vermonters as well as people with special needs? Let's start there. Yeah, sure. Well, thank you. Yeah. So as far as policy around the environment, I believe that, first of all, we need to do the hard but right thing upfront so that in the long term, we can set ourselves up for healthy living and it'll save us money in the long run. And so I know sometimes it can be hard to do the right thing upfront, especially if it's more costly, but if it is an investment and saves us down the road, then that is the direction that we got to go and keep that end goal in mind. And I think that is going to be really important, not just for, you know, just the population in general, but I would say especially for folks who are differently abled because they may be more vulnerable or more sensitive to environmental factors. So. Exactly. Do you mean by environmental factors? Yeah, sure. So, you know, thinking about, well, just as an example, like the smoke that we've been experiencing from the wildfires in Canada, you know, folks with asthma or breathing difficulties or, you know, folks who are more dependent on oxygen, that kind of thing. You know, they're going to be more sensitive to particulates in the air. And so, you know, we've got to be doing our part to fight against climate change to make sure that these wildfires don't happen. So that's just one example. But, you know, also thinking about, you know, those who might be immunocompromised. Exactly. Do you mean by immunocompromised? So folks who have immune systems, who that maybe have a difficult time fighting off diseases, that kind of thing. You know, as viruses spread, as the climate changes, we might see the spread of more and different kinds of spread of disease. So again, all of these factors are going to impact folks with more vulnerabilities harder. And so it's really important that we are taking care of our environment. Our environment trickles down to, you know, because certain chemicals have, in the past, especially in the 70s, you know, I don't know when you were born, but during the 70s and 80s, lead-based paint, kids used to bite their pencils and eat them. All kinds of, you're a teacher so you should know about that. But what can we do to change the environment when it comes to that stuff? Yeah, fair enough. Well, especially about the chemicals that you're talking about. So this last session, we actually had a bill that centered around PFAS or PFOAs. Well, that's a good question. I think it's like perfluoral alkaloids or something. It's something like that. But these are a class of chemicals that don't degrade in the environment. They don't just decompose like a lot of other more naturally occurring chemicals do. And the thing is there are also cancer-causing and they can cause just a range of health impacts for people even at low quantities. So anyway, we just had a bill about banning PFOAs in cosmetics and personal care products this last session. I think it's interesting to think about where we might see these kinds of chemicals because they are meant to keep things like stain resistant or non-stick or water repellent. So you might see them in rugs or in furniture or on any kind of clothing that's water resistant, that kind of thing. And so it turns out that there are PFOAs in some cosmetics. And so especially as they are applied to a person and that we might have a lot of interaction with those chemicals, if we can keep those free of PFOAs, that'll be a really good thing. Okay. In terms, what is your stance with how people especially need to take care of themselves and the environment if we can be around that question? Sure. Yeah. Well, as far as folks with special needs taking care of themselves with the environment, as much as those folks as well as anyone can be doing the right thing by the environment, that benefits all of us. So just thinking about how we are using energy in our homes or how we are recycling materials. Using a home. Yeah. Air conditioners, computers, plugs. Montpelier is known and Vermont is known for a lot of power outages, especially certain times of the year. And he thought on that because that moves the environment too with too many people used. Yeah. No, that's a good question. And especially this last winter, we had multiple power outages that lasted a really long time, which was I know really hard for a lot of folks. So one of the things that I am looking into, well, not just myself, but the legislature is looking into the use of battery storage to potentially extend the supply of power, even when power outages happen. And we also made it easier this last session for electric utilities to bury power lines by giving them some exemptions to Act 250 to get their power lines closer to the road, so out of the forests, out of the wilder lands. And so on to the road. Act 250. So Act 250 is a permitting process that gets triggered for certain types of development. And like if a development is too big or again, if it's certain types of activities, then you'd have to get an Act 250 permit. And so we've modified those regulations to make it easier for utility companies to get those lines closer to the road and to bury them so they should be less affected by severe weather events, which I think will be a really good thing. One of the things that we heard from electric companies was that of the most damaging storms that they've had to deal with, they had multiple just in this last season, and that is not normal. Some of the worst storms they've had in the last 10 years occurred this last year. So we see climate change happening, we see it getting worse and making our weather events more extreme. And so as much as we can be preparing for that future as well as trying to reduce our contribution to it in terms of reducing our carbon, the better. Reducing carbon, explain? Yeah, sure. So when we burn fuels like oil or propane or natural gas and even wood, that fuel itself is a form of carbon and when you burn it, it releases that carbon into the atmosphere. And carbon acts like a blanket, you know, like you're cold at night and you want more blankets to keep you warm. Carbon acts like a blanket for the atmosphere and so heat can come in through, you know, solar rays, but then it sort of gets trapped here. And so it ultimately raises the temperature of the earth on a global scale. Not as much heat can escape. And so that's one of the reasons why we talk about global warming or climate change is a result pretty directly of the additional carbon in the atmosphere that has not been in the atmosphere for millions of years in some cases. So if you look at the trend of carbon in the atmosphere over time, it's shot up in the last 100 years. And so we've talked about flattening the curve with COVID and we've got to not just flatten the curve but get it to bend downwards as well with carbon. You think COVID had too much to do with the environment messing up. Example, well, environmentally, you know, when services close, okay, medical services close, things happen, hospitals congregate people. I think I'm saying it right. They congregate people in one ward or two wards or sometimes years ago, institutions for people with disabilities used to do that. Beds, one on top of another, people get sick. That messes up the environment also. Explain. Well, that's that's an interesting... I don't mean to bring up years ago, but it's... No, no, fair enough. Well, I don't know much about that particular situation because it sounds like, you know, if they were trying to... If they had reduced staff and so they were, you know, bringing folks together to make it easier. But I can see that that would ultimately, you know, be worse for the patients. That would be really tough. Well, I love staff to go around. Exactly. Yeah, for sure. And we're certainly seeing that in industries around the state in a variety of sectors. Unfortunately, there's just a huge need for more people. But it's interesting you bring up, you know, the connection between COVID and the environment because... Am I wrong for bringing it up? Oh, no, not at all. No, it's because it's super, I think it's super interesting, actually. One of the effects that we saw is that because a lot of people were staying home, basically, driving dropped, right? And so transportation has been one of the... Has been the biggest single polluting sector in terms of carbon in Vermont. And we actually saw a huge dip in that. The data just came out about our carbon emissions through the last... Like myself, when people ride bikes, and like, I'm learning to ride a bike again. So when people ride bikes and they don't get in a car, then... Yeah, right, exactly. Yeah, so the carbon related to or coming from transportation has dropped in Vermont since COVID, which I think is super interesting. And we're not sure now that COVID is winding down... Is it really? Well, it's less than it was, I suppose. Maybe we're just testing less where people are certainly treating it like it's winding down anyways. It'll be interesting to see if any of the effects from the reduced carbon from transportation is... If that reduction is sticking around at all. Now, I suspect it will come back up a little bit, but I don't know. It may not go back up to the level that it was before COVID. We'll just have to see. Yeah. Let's see. Well, littering trash is part of the environment. Has it gotten better in Vermont? Has it not gotten better? Well, that's a good question. I don't know data around littering, but we did this session pass a revised version of what's called the Bottle Bill. You might be familiar that people can... Five cents. Yes, get your five cents by taking your bottle back. But I think it's... It up to ten cents or something? Well, it kept it at five cents, but you might... Or a lot of Vermonters might know that you can get five cents back for your soda or for a beer can, but not for like a bottle of water. That there's... Change that? Well, so the Bottle Bill that passed the legislature would have expanded the eligible kinds of bottles. It would have included wine bottles, water bottles, and other kinds of juice. And I know people that have paid their rent just on bottle recycling. Well, so I need to say though that the governor just vetoed that bill, which I think is unfortunate because those are... I think that would have helped motivate folks to keep those bottles out of the streams and sides of the roads and whatnot. Those might be some of the kinds of bottles that we're seeing. In addition to beer cans for sure, other kinds of bottles, but it would have been an additional motivator to help bring that material back. And what we have... What we heard in testimony was that places that have redemption, bottle redemption for things like wine bottles and other kinds of glass, that glass has a higher likelihood of getting to be recycled back into glass for a higher purpose. It's just a higher quality product. Glass bottles such as wine bottles are 15 cents from what I heard. I'd have to go back and look, but yeah, this would have... Because I know liquor bottles are 15 cents, but I'm not sure about wine. Now, learning disabilities and other challenges, years ago they had something called... What is that sludge or other chemicals that come out of the environment? Because if you like lakes and different things, if you don't clean it up, it gets all... Yeah. How are we doing as Vermonters with that part of the environment, really cleaning up chemicals? Has Vermont ever had a chemicals bill that really messed up the environment? Yeah, well actually, that's a good question. I'm trying to think of which organization had this map, but I remember seeing a map that had all of the sites in Vermont that there had been some kind of a spill or was it a toxic spill? Yeah, right. I think I'm saying a sludge, oil sludge-y mess. Yeah, well I know there's been a lot of contamination, like with PFA's down in Bennington County, from a company that used to be there. And there's a bunch of different sites all around Vermont so I'd be happy to send you a link to that map if I can recall what organization had it. But the other thing that might be worth mentioning is right now, I know this is not quite your question, but one of the effects of a lot of, I should say too much phosphorus going into our waterways ends up creating bacteria blooms. Sometimes the beach, some of the beaches in Lake Champlain get closed because of contamination with bacteria as a result of either too much nitrogen or too much phosphorus going into the lake. And so we are continually looking to put money into helping both point source and farms clean up that kind of contamination. What do you mean by clean up exactly? Yeah, so being able to contain runoff. So just as an example, there are, in the city of Montpelier there are places where, have you rainstorm events? That big huge rainstorm we had the other day. Well, so sure like that. I'm not sure there was much contamination specifically from that, but sometimes there are rain events where, because we have a combined sewer and water overflow system, sometimes if the volume of water is too much, the sewer can sometimes overflow into the river. And so those come from specific points, so those might be considered point sources. And so the city of Montpelier as well as the legislature have tried to put money towards cleaning up those particular sites where that is a kind of contamination. But also farms often if they have manure that is running off into the streams, then that is also a kind of an additional phosphorus source. So what you're saying is we don't have enough sewers? Well, what I'm saying is that in some cases particularly where the sewer systems might be combined with our stormwater systems, they just need to be redesigned and rebuilt. Not necessarily more, but these connection points changed. Yeah. But I'm not exactly understanding, but the connection points are. Oh, sure. Well, so, no, you're fine. It's actually not super easy to explain necessarily, but there are points where the storm drains that you might see that collect water from the road might be connected to the sewer system that goes to a wastewater treatment plant. But if that gets, if that sewer gets so full of rainwater that it can't handle the volume of rainwater, then it might come out those storm drains. Does that make sense? Yes, right. I know we talked about learning disabilities, but in years past people with birth defects, I mean severe birth defects, you know, because let me see if I can rephrase this. When you live in a place that doesn't have running water, or doesn't have proper sewer system, or shall we say, I think I'm saying it right, food deprived, or full desert. Food deserts, yes, right. That really messes up the environment. How are we really caring about the environment if these things do exist? Can we really change the environment before it's too late? Well, that's a great question. Is it long winded? No, it's fine. You know, I feel like your question is like a philosophical one as well as a scientific one, and I mean I certainly live my life in a way that I always will choose to hope. You're vegetarian, correct. You know, I should be probably, but I am not a vegetarian. But if I were, I would probably have less of a carbon footprint myself. So probably a direction that I probably should go. But you know, that's one of the things like if people can eat, they don't necessarily need to eat meat every day, but protein is really important. So making sure that... No, but the environment, food, desert... Yeah, for sure. Well, so, you know, when we think about how we need to be changing our relationship with the land to have a healthy habitat for species beyond just humans, I mean that affects how we're using land. It also affects how we are feeding ourselves and certainly our relationships with each other and our relationships with food, right? So I realize I just said a whole lot of things, but in order to have a healthy relationship with the environment we need to be taking care of each other as well. And that means having healthy food systems because if we are feeding, if we are doing wrong by our own bodies then that is also going to harm the environment as well and vice versa. The practices of like industrialized agriculture like burning out the soil with too much fertilizer, that's an unsustainable practice and so we need to have more whole foods, more organic foods in our diet which is going to take care of our bodies better and it will take care of the environment better as well. But that doesn't address the issue that you're speaking about in terms of food deserts. In order... I've actually heard that per acre, organic farms that have a high diversity of products can actually be more... can have a higher yield per acre than just regular conventional industrialized agriculture. What exactly do you mean about that? Yeah, so monocultures or growing just one thing for multiple acres. That is... it's bad for habitats, it's bad for pollinators, it's bad for resilience, it's bad for the soil. But that is how a lot of our food is grown in monocultures which really just... just in terms of the words, I mean mono just means one, so it's like growing one thing in a large space. So as much as we can be buying local whole foods, not necessarily the chain, but like local, more just fundamental ingredients, really the better. And we need to make sure that those are available to people in all places, especially in every town or in every city. Yeah. So in terms of the environment and like I said the food desert, do you think Vermont has enough food pantries or do we need more? How would that play into the environment? Yeah, that's a good question. So it certainly seems to me that we could have more food pantries and certainly food security is an issue for a lot of folks certainly and as we also certainly saw during the pandemic. And so as much as we can be ensuring that people are getting enough food and enough nutritious food, that I think is going to be really important for having a healthy society. So yeah, we could absolutely use more food pantries. Yeah, go ahead. You're using this term food desert and I wonder if folks know what a food desert is. Okay, so what is a food desert? Sure, so I would say it is an area where there's probably a technical definition that I don't know, but it's an area where it's not easy to get to a grocery store. Yeah, does Vermont have, like I know some people in our state don't have access to a phone, don't have access to a computer, don't even have access to code GMDA. Yeah. In a rural part of Vermont. Yeah. I know Cabot has like one grocery store. Yeah. Sure. Well, I also want to speak to the Meals on Wheels program. I know a lot of folks depend on the Meals on Wheels or benefit from the Meals on Wheels program. And I have so much respect for all of the organizations and volunteers that provide that service, which I know is really valuable to a lot of folks. And so as much as we can be supporting those groups and volunteers, I think the better, I was actually really disheartened to hear that in this last legislative budget, the Meals on Wheels program amount of funding was reduced. And so, yes, yeah, so I would actually, so I'll be looking to see that in the next budget that we restore funding for the Meals on Wheels program. So in the meanwhile, yeah. Well, now I know, for example, speaking about food desert, free reduced lunch. Yeah. Well, you're a teacher. Some kids don't have the means to pay for lunch. Yeah, right, right. Free lunches, well, some of them you have to pay. How can we change that as a food situation? Well, I've actually got some good news on that front, which is that this last session, well, actually, let's back up. During COVID, there was a program for schools that students didn't have to pay for meals, regardless of like proving that they had an income hardship in their homes. So meals were free for all kids, which was great. And so that program was sort of ending. And I think one of the great successes of this last legislative session was that we passed a universal school meals program. So that it makes that program permanent moving forward, which I think makes a lot of sense. When kids are in school and they have to go to the nurse, right? We don't charge them to go to the nurse. Oh, no, no, no. I'm certainly not suggesting that. But the good thing is that that is a service that's available to kids because we understand that being well is a prerequisite for their ability to learn, right? So that they are ready to learn when they are back in the classroom and really eating is a part of wellness. And so if kids are going hungry at lunchtime or if they haven't had breakfast, then their ability to learn is going to be reduced. And so this eliminates that as a barrier for kids being ready and able to learn, which I think is going to be really wonderful. So let's talk about quickly because we have some couple of minutes. The recent legislative session. Yes. I know it's not open to the public, but what important things are important to the monsters that you... That we passed. Well, first of all, I do want to make sure that folks know that it is available to the public. Well, you can't go... I was told that the state house during legislative session, we can't go listen to stuff. Oh, no, you totally can. So you can come sit in on any of the meetings and sit in the back on the floor. Like when we're on the floor, you can sit in the back. I think if you wanted to... You can't speak. Right, unless you are called on to speak, but generally it doesn't happen on the floor. And it's up to the chair if we're talking about committee. And if you wanted to film, I think you probably just have to get some kind of special arrangement to record. What did you talk about this important? Thank you, yes. Well, so we've talked a lot about the environment on the show so far. We did pass something called the Clean Heat Standard or the Affordable Heat Act this past session that designs a program but doesn't move forward with it until we have more information. But that program will help make it easier for folks to get off of carbon. It will significantly reduce the cost of non-fossil fuel heating systems, which I think is going to be really helpful for us to reduce our statewide carbon footprint. So that's one thing that I think is really important. Another... Did you want to say something about that? Well, so another thing that I know had come up, especially recently, was the ending of the Motel voucher program that had been in place through COVID. Now to be fair, the Motel program had existed prior to that. It was just not open to everyone and COVID opened it to everyone. And so one of the things... There was actually a bill this past session about adult protective services. And attached to that, we were able... With disabilities or...? Yeah, for folks with... Actually, I think it calls out a vulnerable Vermonters. So that includes folks with disabilities, but it also includes folks that are receiving some kind of services like health services in their home or if they are in a residential care facility, that kind of thing. But attached to that, we were able to extend the Motel program for those who were still there until they were able to find a more permanent place to live, which I think is really helpful and important. And I think has set us up to look at homelessness in a higher priority way for the next session to hopefully come up with some more long-term solutions. We did also pass the Homes bill, the housing opportunities made for everyone, which we believe will help reduce some of the regulatory barriers to building more housing, which we know is a crisis in Vermont for sure. And we were also able to pass some significant gun legislation, including a 72-hour waiting period and extending... Really quick. Not too long ago, I had Senator Rebecca Ballant before she became House of Representatives. We talked about the gun legislation. That, in a sense, messes up the environment in terms of people with special needs having access to guns. Because President Obama, before he left Washington, a past part of a bill where if your social security or your government benefit is used for mental health situations, you can't get a gun. So if you're mentally challenged, you shouldn't have a gun in any way. So we talked about how to make it more harder for someone getting a firearm. Is that one of the things in the legislation that you're dealing with as far as people getting firearms? I mentioned we did pass a 72-hour waiting period. This was really a part of a suicide prevention package, so that was just one aspect of it. Another aspect was extending to families the ability to get a... I'm forgetting the phrase, like an extended protective order or something like that, where it would help prevent folks that are perhaps at higher risk of suicide from accessing guns. So that I think will be good as well. So there were a number of pieces that were, I think, helpful to reduce gun violence, because Vermont has a high suicide rate. Does that... how are you dealing with the environment with that? Is that a different topic altogether, but does that deal with the environment in some way? Well, that's a good question. I guess I think of it usually as a separate issue, but I certainly could see it as related in that. I've had students who were depressed, basically, in large part because of all of the difficulties that we're having with the environment. I know I could see a connection in that way, but hoping that we still have time to turn things around and that we're going to do our best to do right by the environment. Okay. I would like to thank you for joining us on this edition of Ableton On Air. For more information, where should people contact you? So my email is probably the best way for folks to get in touch with me, and that is available on the state's website. I could also just tell folks right now, it's awatsonatledge.state.vt.us. Okay. Well, thank you for joining me on this edition of Ableton On Air. And for more information also on Ableton On Air, you can go to www.Orchimedia.net. For any topics that we've discussed today or in the future, you can go to www.Orchimedia.net. I'm Lauren Seiler on Lean It's Not Here. We wish you a speedy recovery. We thank our sponsors Washington County Mental Health and many others that have supported Ableton On Air. I'm Lauren Seiler. See you next time. Major sponsors for Ableton On Air include Washington County Mental Health, where hope and support come together. Media sponsors for Ableton On Air include Park Chester Times, Muslim Community Report, www.ThisIsTheBronx.info, Associated Press Media Editors, New York Power Online Newspaper, U.S. Press Corps, Domestic and International, Anchor FM, and Spotify. Partners for Ableton On Air include Yehad of New York and New England, where everyone belongs, the Orthodox Union, the Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired of Vermont, the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Center Vermont Habitat for Humanity, Montefiore Medical Center of the Bronx, Rose of Kennedy Center of Bronx, New York, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of the Bronx. Ableton On Air has been seen in the following publications. Park Chester Times, www.ThisIsTheBronx.com, New York Power Online Newspaper, Muslim Community Report, www.H.com, and the Montpelier Bridge. Ableton On Air is part of the following organizations. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Boston, New England Chapter, and the Society of Professional Journalists.