The band Meninos de Minas performed an outstanding concert on April 28. In the audience, dozens of people danced. The concert was free, outdoors, and in Hartford. It was the second year that the band played at the annual Samba Fest in Hartford. Hartford is about 30 minutes from Springfield by train. Next month those trains will get much cheaper and much more frequent, thanks to the work of activists in Northampton who have a web site at www.TrainsInTheValley.org.

People are taking to the streets for workers' rights and for gun control. On April 27 at 3 p.m. there will be a rally for gun control outside 2100 Roosevelt Avenue in Springfield. The event is being organized by a group that has a web site at www.PioneerValleyProject.org.

On April 20 in Greenfield, about 150 people attended a rally for gun control. On the same day in Keene, about 70 people attended a rally for gun control.

In Agawam, Massachusetts at noon on January 10, there will be a rally to close a fracked gas pipeline in the Valley. Agawam borders Springfield. The rally will be at 1651 Suffield Street. The organizers have a web site at www.SugarShackAlliance.org. More information is available by calling Priscilla Lynch at (413) 522-5224.

Fracked gas causes climate change, which the world's leading scientists say is a major threat to earth's ability to support human life. One of the best ways to stop climate change is to protect open space.

In Springfield on December 21, there will be a rally calling on politicians to do more to help homeless people. The event starts at 3 p.m. and ends at 5 p.m. It will be at 310 State Street. As of December 20, more than 40 people had RSVP'd. Details are at:

www.facebook.com/events/322753608203042

In other news from the Valley, on December 19, Keene State College announced it had signed a union contract with 258 of its workers. More information is at:

www.valleypost.org/2016/04/08/300-workers-form-union

Nearly 800 acres of land will probably be protected from development, 74 workers are forming a union, and activists had at least a temporary victory stopping a billion dollar bank from evicting a poor family from its home.

In a major win for workers' rights in the Valley, 230 school bus drivers and associated workers formed a union. "I support the union. Consistency between five towns and three garages is the main issue. There are five different towns being run five different ways," Annette LeBlanc told the Valley Post. For about five years, she has been a bus driver at the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative. “I am hopeful. But we’ve got a lot of work to do before we are finished.”

War tax resisters from around the nation will host a public event in Amherst on November 3 at 7 p.m. Stopping construction of fossil fuel pipelines is the goal of a march in Northampton on November 5 at 5:30 p.m.

Sam Koplinka-Loehr will moderate a panel at the peace event. “I am a war tax resister because I believe a better world is possible,” she told the Valley Post. More information is at:

https://nwtrcc.org/programs-events/gatherings-and-events/schedule

In Springfield, 18 people were arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience on October 14. They were protesting president Trump's plan to deport Springfield resident Lucio Perez to Guatemala. Perez has lived in the USA since 1999. His wife and children live in Springfield. One of the groups that organized the protest has a web site at www.pvWorkersCenter.org.

In Northampton on August 13, hundreds of people attended a rally to protest racist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. The same day in Keene, about 60 people attended a rally for the same cause. On August 14, about 80 people attended a rally for the same cause in Greenfield. On August 15, dozens of people attended another rally for the same cause in Springfield.

Earth's population is growing fast. In the year 1700, there were about 600 million people on earth. By 1800, there were about 900 million. In 1900, there were about 1.6 billion. In 2000, there were about 6 billion. That's according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

By the year 2050, there will be about 11 billion people on earth, according to:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140918-population-global...

People are the main cause of climate change, which the world's leading scientists say is a major threat to earth's ability to support human life.