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The Greening of Social Capital: An Examination of Land‐Based Groups in Two Vermont Counties *
Author(s) -
Savage Andrew,
Isham Jonathan,
Klyza Christopher McGrory
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
rural sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.083
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1549-0831
pISSN - 0036-0112
DOI - 10.1526/0036011053294619
Subject(s) - grassroots , census , greening , recreation , internal revenue , social capital , service (business) , agriculture , local government , social group , capital city , geography , economic growth , socioeconomics , political science , sociology , economics , social science , economy , demography , economic geography , archaeology , law , population , politics
By undertaking a census of all agricultural, outdoor recreational, and environmental groups (land‐based groups) in two adjacent counties in Vermont, we demonstrate the dramatic increase of local environmental groups in the last 15 years. Building on the methodologies of Kempton et al. (2001), we first show that official lists of nonprofit groups‐from the Vermont Secretary of State, the Internal Revenue Service, and local grassroots directories—significantly undercount local environmental groups. Second, we show that since the mid‐1980s, the number and membership roles of local autonomous environmental groups have grown rapidly relative to all other types of local and nonlocal land‐based groups in these counties. This article provides preliminary evidence of the recent “greening of social capital.”