About 500 people attended a rally at the Greenfield town common on May 25. They were protesting cuts in school funding. Julie Carew was at the rally. She runs a group called Strings for Kids, which is a partnership between the Greenfield public schools and Artspace Community Arts Center in Greenfield. Carew told the Valley Post, "I was at both city council meetings... This is a slap in the face from the mayor who was 'virtually' in attendance at both meetings where it was made crystal clear that the numbers the councilors were trying to meet were counting on that $365,000 from the mayor.... There will always be people playing music in Greenfield and parents who will make sure their kids have the chance to play music, but who will be missing are the kids who don’t know they want to play music until they see it, who don’t know they can do it until they see their peers doing it in the schools. We will also miss those for whom going to an activity outside of school just isn’t feasible.”

She continued, “When we meet in the schools, even before or after school, parents can drop off the students like they would for early care, or they can have strings class and then go right to the GRASP after school program without parents having to change their schedules. When parents are having issues with transportation, we work with them to do everything we can to make it possible for their child to attend. The middle school is facing huge losses. The Spanish teacher is the only native Spanish-speaking teacher in the school.... The middle school releases at 2:10, so without sports and extra-curriculars (clubs run by staff), middle school students have very few options after school. And because our middle school starts at 5th grade, there are 10 year olds who are on their own from 2:10 until working parents can get to them.”

About 500 people were at the rally, Ginny Desorgher told the Valley Post. She is running for mayor. “I have been inspired by helping people, as an emergency room charge nurse (and) as a city councilor,” according to www.GinnyForGreenfield.com.

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About 90 people attended Black Lives Matter rallies in the county that's home to Greenfield on May 25, according to a mass email from a group that has a web site at www.traprock.org.

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The June 2 edition of the Brattleboro Reformer newspaper includes an article about U.S. senator Peter Welch of Vermont's support for a proposed $1.6 billion power line in Vermont. It would go through the Brattleboro and Keene areas. In the article, Welch says the power line would carry “clean energy” from Canada to Boston. This refers to hydro power. This map shows the route:

https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/default/files/sce/maine-chapter/NE-Mega...

Hydro power causes climate change. It floods forests, killing trees which then release their carbon into the atmosphere. Dams require lots of concrete. Details are at:

https://www.americanrivers.org/2022/08/the-impact-of-hydropower-revealed...

Rooftop solar is a better alternative. The number one cause of climate change is overpopulation.

The Valley Post emailed the Vermont group Standing Trees to ask how many trees would be cut down for the power line. The group's reply came from Zack Porter on June 2: "We do not have an estimate for what the acreage impact would be for this power line. In general, we are concerned about any proposal that erroneously assumes the climate benefits of hydropower, ignores hydro's significant impacts to Canadian First Nations, and continues the destruction of critical habitat for Atlantic salmon and other species."

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On May 28, Kestrel land trust announced it had protected about 100 acres of forestland on Mount Toby, between Greenfield and Amherst.