You don’t – or at least I don’t – think of Florida as a state on the cutting edge of environmental consciousness. If ever there was a state where suburban sprawl was considered a good thing, it’s Florida. Progress seems to be measured in number of traffic lights installed.

Nonetheless, there on the front page of my parents’ newspaper while I was visiting was a story titled "Legislators warm to energy, climate challenges." The Florida Legislature is talking wind and solar incentives, net metering, alternative energy research funds. The very same topics the Vermont Legislature is mulling.

Taking notice of their ample sunshine, Florida lawmakers are thinking they could become leaders in solar energy. That, perhaps, does not bode well for Vermont becoming a solar leader as some legislators have proposed, but the fact that Florida is thinking about global warming does suggest that Vermont would not be tilting alone like Don Quixote at windmills.

As the story acknowledges, Florida "sits in mediocre ranks nationally with its energy and climate policies," yet as the fourth largest state has the potential to wield some power.

Another un-Florida-like sign of change I saw: traffic circles along some new roads where there might otherwise have been traffic lights.

Now, that's climate change.

- Terri Hallenbeck