On June 8, a local land trust announced it had permanently protected 222 acres of forestland on the Massachusetts border in Rindge, New Hampshire. In Rindge, streams flow to the Connecticut river. Rindge is 19 miles from Vermont. The land trust is the Monadnock Conservancy.
Land trusts get a lot of their funding from the government. Politicians decide how much to invest in protecting open space versus war and tax cuts for rich people.
About 200 people attended a rally in Springfield on April 9. The goal was to stop a proposed fossil fuel pipeline that would go about six miles from Springfield to Longmeadow, Massachusetts. The pipeline would cost around $35 million.
One of the speakers at the rally was Jake Oliveira. He represents Springfield in the Massachusetts state legislature. On April 11, Oliveira told the Valley Post the event was organized by a group that has a web site at www.StopTheToxicPipeline.org.
On May 25 in the Valley about 200 people marched and rallied in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The march was in the neighboring Massachusetts towns of Deerfield and Sunderland. Sunderland borders Amherst. Deerfield borders Greenfield. About 75 people marched, organizer Lu Vincent told the Valley Post. “We walked along the (Connecticut river) bridge in commemoration of the one year anniversary of George Floyd's murder, and to take notice of many many lives of people of color who have died at the hands of police,” she said. “It was a peaceful, powerful gathering.”
In Brattleboro on May 18 at 7 p.m., there will be a rally calling on local, state, and federal politicians to do more to address the series of murders and assaults against Asian Americans that have occurred around the USA in the past few months. The rally will be at Plaza park, 1 Main Street, between the food co-op and the art museum. One of the speakers is Emma Allen. She is from the Brattleboro area and is a University of Vermont student. A photo of Allen is below. Another speaker is Lisa Chen. She is on the board of the group that has a web site at www.sevca.org.
On January 25 at 11 a.m. in Holyoke there will be a climate rally. The rally on the steps of city hall calls on Holyoke-based ISO New England to stop using the public's money to burn coal to generate electricity. Last year, ISO New England had $547 million in assets, according to its tax filings. More information about the rally is available from organizer Elizabeth Caretti Ramírez by phone at (215) 355-2145 or by e-mail at caretti.ramirez@gmail.com.
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On August 6, two women were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience to stop logging at Wendell State Forest in Massachusetts, near Greenfield. State police took them to Athol, Massachusetts, where they were released with court dates. The two women are Pioneer Valley residents Gia Neswald and Priscilla Lynch. In a phone interview on August 7, Neswald told the Valley Post, “We were arrested for peacefully protesting on public land. The state police told the loggers to drive a huge logging truck toward us. The truck stopped about 10 feet from us.”
The U.S. is losing 6,000 acres of open space to development every day, according to the Trust for Public Land. The Vermont Land Trust (VLT) is working to protect open space, which is one of the best ways to stop climate change. A Valley Post special investigation reveals that, over the past decade, VLT -- which gets most of its funding from taxpayers all over Vermont -- has focused its efforts much more heavily in the northern part of the state, versus the four southern counties of Vermont.
In Springfield on June 5 there will be a rally to protest a plan by the governor to make more electricity by burning trees. "Burning trees to produce electricity is dirty and destructive. It creates more carbon pollution than coal, gas, and oil. It destroys forests and our heritage along with them." That's according to:
www.nrdc.org/resources/our-forests-arent-fuel
The rally will start at 5:45 p.m. outside 1015 Wilbraham Road. Details are at:
Local activists are praising a proposal by a state senator to create a passenger train line between Greenfield and Boston. “It would parallel Route 2,” Jared Freedman told the Valley Post in a phone interview on January 28. He is a spokesman for Senator Jo Comerford, who made the proposal.
Critical Mass bicycle rides started in 1992 in California and have since spread around the world. Hundreds of people ride together in a group on roads, forcing cars to go at bicycle speed. They often chant, “Critical Mass, don't use gas!”