Seeing the federal government as the "hired hand" of Wall Street, some Vermonters want to secceed from the US. The Vermont Manifesto includes calls for environmental integrity, sustainable development & agriculture, rail revitalization and quality education.

Internationally-renown clergyman and peace activist Coffin lived in Strafford, VT.

This documentary on the fossil fuel industry's efforts to control perceptions on climate change features efforts by Vermonters to build a sustainable society.

Goddard grad David Helvarg has done very important work on the devastation of life in the oceans, and how we can turn it around.

Vermont Senator Jeffords left the Republican Party, became an Independent and worked with the Democrats.

Kincaid lives in Burlington. Her book "Autobiography of My Mother" explores colonialism.

Philosopher John Dewey was born in Burlington and graduated from the University of Vermont. He helped to found the teachers' union that the corporatists and privatizers are trying to destroy.

Author and Air America radio host Thom Hartmann lived for several years in Vermont. He speaks with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders every Friday.

Revolutionary feminist Eve Ensler graduated from Middlebury College.

In the 1999 case "Baker v. Vermont", the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that the state must allow same-sex marriage or provide a separate but equal status. Vermont ended up creating civil unions.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams has been a key figure in the movement to ban landmines. She was born in Brattleboro.

Decorated Vietnam vet and political cartoonist Jeff Danziger once taught English in Montpelier.

Ben Affleck, who co-starred in "Good Will Hunting," went to the University of Vermont for two semesters. He has campaigned for Democrats in various elections.

When author Naomi Wolf couldn't get her usual publishers to publish "The End of America," she turned to Chelsea Green of White River Junction, VT. It has since become a best-seller.

Vermont's Shelburne Farms is working to recreate local food webs of farmers, consumers and children. For over 3 decades, they have been educating people about sustainability and land restoration.

Recipes from Montpelier's renown vegetarian restaurant.

The people of Vermont have succeeded in keeping McDonalds outside of the city limits of their capital, Montpelier.

Wessels is a professor of English and Environmental Studies at Middlebury College.