Once again, Vermont’s future is the topic of an initiative by a high-powered collection of partners, this time under the auspices of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce.

A good case can be made that today is an apt time for another Futures report, hopefully free from interest group agendas. That’s because demographic trends, the COVID pandemic, a crippling flood, billions of federal dollars, a soaring homelessness problem, and the belief in a global climate emergency have put a lot of forces into motion to seek the driver’s seat for the state’s future.

In the wake of American Independence, the 13 former colonies set out to fashion constitutions for their new states. So, too, did the freemen of the New Hampshire Grants, the Republic of Vermont.

At the founding convention in Windsor in 1777, the most popular constitutional model was that of Pennsylvania, adopted the preceding year. Historians refer to Pennsylvania’s as the most radical of the First Wave of constitutions, because it championed democratic rule by the people, exalted legislative power, and gave short shrift to separation of powers and checks and balances.

Last week Gov. Scott held a news conference where he announced several steps he’s taking to assist Vermonters who have lost their vehicles to flood damage and presumably didn’t have insurance protection for the loss.

The Wall Street Journal reports that “The press is cheering a group of Montana children who prevailed this week in state court with a radical new legal theory on climate change.”

This story from Bloomberg News came as no great surprise when it appeared last week:

“New York City is at risk of power outages by 2025 as rising demand amid intense heat and the push toward electrification outpace the grid’s capacity.”

Last week my wife and I took a vacation to stay with long-time friends in Rangeley Lake, Maine. They insisted we go with them to a place called Quill Hill, which offered a panoramic view of the northern Maine landscape. It did, of course, but more important to me was the explanatory panels placed around the summit viewing area.

I have long preached that one of mankind’s biggest issues is protecting our planet from an asteroid impact. Last month the Hawaii-based Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System detected an overlooked 600-foot-long “potentially hazardous” asteroid with the help of new software technology.

Last week John Stossel interviewed Dr. Judith Curry, who until recently was the chair of the climate department at Georgia Tech

Stossel said “We are told climate change is a crisis, and that there is an "overwhelming scientific consensus. "Bu tit's a manufactured consensus," says climate scientist Judith Curry.  She says scientists have an incentive to exaggerate risk to pursue "fame and fortune."

I rarely watch a television set during a weekday, but last Tuesday I did, and the program was Will Mikell’s Across the Fence show on WCAX. The subject was a young farm couple, Jimmy and Sarah Ackermann, of Hardwick.

Vermont has just gone through another major flood, with widespread damage in Addison County and the central section from Montpelier and Hardwick down to Londonderry.