Author: Michael Shank

COVID-19 and Environmental Policy

RUTLAND HERALD 4/28/20 By Michael Shank and Carter Dillard While we recognize the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in Vermont, social distancing in nature, the world made a baseline mistake in developing environmental policy decades ago. It chose to treat nature as an unlimited resource for humans. This baseline allowed […]

Virus Highlights Nature’s Right To Be Left Alone

LAW360 04/01/20 By Michael Shank Rights-based advocacy does well in the United States. The right to vote. The right to bear arms. The right to marriage. The right to choose. The right to own property. The fights and freedoms won in the last century were pitched, packaged and positioned as […]

Brandon Man Leading Way in EV Fast-Charging

VERMONT EAGLE 03/19/20 By Lou Varricchio A Brandon man is leading the way to increase awareness about electric vehicles (EVs) and to expand fast-charging stations around the area. Dr. Michael Shank is a leading advocate for EV transportation. When Green Mountain Power (GMP) announced on March 9 that it is […]

GMP Launches Expansion of Fast Charging for Electric Vehicles

VERMONT BIZ 03/09/20 More Than Doubles Availability in Vermont. Program Builds on State Grant Program and Combats Vermont’s Biggest Cause of Carbon Emissions: Transportation Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) today announced it is launching a program to expand fast charging for electric vehicles (EVs) in Vermont to directly […]

Keeping Renewable Energy Credits Local

VTDIGGER 02/25/20 By Michael Shank When it comes to green energy innovation, there are few American states that innovate like Vermont. Recently, Vermont’s biggest power utility – Green Mountain Power – launched a peer-to-peer energy sales platform that will allow businesses to buy locally generated renewable power from other Vermonters. […]

Clean Energy is Not Just Good for the Environment. It Also Prevents War

NEWSWEEK 02/12/20 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Hank Johnson Take oil out of the foreign policy picture, and American presidents would have lacked motive to preemptively attack Iraq, Libya and now Iran. There were equally authoritarian leaders of other countries at the time, operating with even greater propensity toward […]

Solar Peer-to-Peer Trading

RUTLAND HERALD 02/08/20 TIMES ARGUS 02/08/20 By Michael Shank When it comes to green energy innovation, there are few American states that innovate like Vermont. Recently, Vermont’s biggest power utility — Green Mountain Power (GMP) — launched a peer-to-peer energy sales platform that will allow businesses to buy locally generated […]

Brandon, Vermont — The Birthplace of EVs

VTDIGGER 1/23/20 By Michael Shank Editor’s note: This commentary is by Michael Shank, of Brandon, who is the communications director for the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance and adjunct faculty at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs. He is co-organizing the EV Festival on July 11 from noon-10 p.m. at […]

6 More Tips to Win Minds and Hearts for the Climate

APOLITICAL 1/21/20 By Michael Shank If you’re not sold on your climate message, the public won’t be either This article is written by Dr. Michael Shank, communications director for the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance and adjunct faculty at New York University’s Centre for Global Affairs. In my last article for […]