In the Valley every January for the past four years, hundreds – and in most cases thousands – of people attended the Women's March, first in Northampton then Springfield. “We are having conversations about what and how we might do it considering the pandemic but nothing is set in stone yet,” Gladys Franco told the Valley Post on November 28. She is the board chair at the Resistance Center, which is the “fiscal sponsor” of the Pioneer Valley Women's March. “I should be able to share more in a couple of weeks,” Franco said.
The relevant web sites are:
and
www.PioneerValleyWomensMarch.org.
The most frequently seen signs at the marches opposed Trump's policies and supported peace, justice, and environmental protection. Photos of the 2020 march in Springfield, which about 500 people attended, are at:
www.valleypost.org/2020/01/18/photos-womens-march
To enlarge a photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "see full size image." To zoom in more, click on the image again.
Photos of the 2019 march in Northampton, which thousands of people attended, are at:
www.valleypost.org/2019/01/19/photos-northampton-womens-march
2018 photos are at:
www.valleypost.org/2018/01/20/photos-thousands-march
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In Holyoke, union workers are fighting their boss's plan to cut their wages. They work at the community college. “We're asking our members to contact their bosses and ask them to not cut pay,” Philip Mahler told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on December 1. He works for the union. It has a web site at www.mccc-union.org. Unions reduce inequality and increase democracy.
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People in Brattleboro who are “on the grid” get their electricity from Green Mountain Power (GMP) Corporation, which is owned by a Canadian fossil fuel company. GMP supplies 70 percent of the electricity used in Vermont. Just 2 percent of the state's power comes from solar. Even less comes from wind. Sixty-two percent of GMP's power comes from dams, mainly in Canada.
Native Americans are trying to stop a plan to send hydro-power from Canada to Massachusetts. They have a web site at www.NorthEastMegaDamResistance.org.
Bill Bender runs a Vermont solar company that has a web site at www.solaflect.com. On November 30 in a voice phone interview he told the Valley Post, “Vermont is the only state in New England that gives renewable energy credits for Canadian hydro power.”
Thirty percent of GMP's power comes from nuclear. Nuclear power is so dangerous that no private insurance company will cover a nuclear power plant. People who own a car are required to buy private insurance. The nuke industry gets it insurance free from the government. Nuclear waste is the deadliest material on earth. Nuclear power causes climate change. Details are available from the Valley-based group that has a web site at www.NukeBusters.org.
Since GMP is a monopoly, politicians can tell it where to buy its power. A group that is trying to fix GMP has a web site at www.350Vermont.org. Part of the solution is putting solar panels on rooftops. None of the “big box” stores in Brattleboro have solar on their roofs.
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