In Keene, workers are building a bridge over a busy highway. The bridge will be for the exclusive use of people walking or riding a bicycle. Near Brattleboro, electricity will soon be generated by a long-standing dam on the West River. A similar project is bring proposed in Keene.

Activists from the Valley traveled by bus and carpool to Albany, New York on May 14. About 2,000 people marched; five people were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience. The people who marched, and those who were arrested, were calling on politicians to stop climate change.

The protesters sat on train tracks to block trains carrying oil. The action's organizers have a web site at www.350.org. To enlarge a photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "see full size image." photos by Eesha Williams

On May 14 in Albany, New York, activists will use non-violent civil disobedience to take a stand against climate change. Bus rides from the Valley are available. Climate change is a major threat to earth's ability to support human life, according to the world's leading scientists. The Albany action has been endorsed by www.350.org and other groups. The web site for the action is www.albany2016.org.

In Keene, a group of people are lobbying for the city to ban plastic bags. A plastic bag ban was enacted in Northampton in January. Danielle Baudrand lives in Keene and is leading the effort there. “We need more people to help,” she told the Valley Post in a phone interview March 9. “The law says the city can't ban plastic bags unless the state says it's OK.”

A Walmart store less than a mile from Brattleboro has been vacant since 2009. The enormous store and its acres of parking lots were built in Hinsdale, New Hampshire on acres of land that were once pristine wilderness. The Brattleboro Home Depot and its acres of parking lots have been vacant since 2008. It was built on acres of prime farmland.

To stop a proposed fracked gas pipeline in the Valley, activists will march about 40 miles over three days starting January 16. The march is in honor of Martin Luther King, whose federal holiday is January 18. The marchers will pass through the Massachusetts towns of Northfield, Erving, Montague, Greenfield, Deerfield, Conway, Ashfield, and Plainfield.

Fracked gas causes climate change, which the world's leading scientists say is a major threat to earth's ability to support human life.

Plastic bags will be banned in Northampton starting January 1. “There was overwhelming public support for this,” city council member Paul Spector told the Valley Post in a telephone interview December 21. “Almost the only ones who opposed it were national chain stores. Most of the local business owners supported it.” Dozens of people spoke in favor of the ban at public hearings, he said.

This year, stores in Northampton gave out about 10 million plastic bags. That's according to:

http://northamptonma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4653

A list of places that have banned plastic bags is at:

Ten Valley residents were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience at a protest against fossil fuels in Boston October 22. “It went really well,” Gabriel Shapiro told the Valley Post in a telephone interview. He lives in Amherst and was one of the people who were arrested.

Rallies for the environment and equality are planned. On October 15 in Springfield, there will be a 4 p.m. rally outside a Price Rite store that is paying its workers low wages while the chain's owner gets rich. On October 18 in Plainfield, Massachusetts, near Northampton, there will be a noon rally against a proposed fracked gas pipeline. Fracked gas causes climate change.

There is a Facebook event page for the Springfield event, which will be at 633 Boston Road:

www.facebook.com/events/1623745281223305

Amtrak will soon be getting faster between the Valley and New York City. The trip between Brattleboro and New York City (via stops in Greenfield, Northampton, Holyoke, and Springfield) will be about 30 minutes faster, almost certainly this year. Next year, the trip will get even faster, with trains between Springfield, Massachusetts and New Haven, Connecticut approximately doubling in speed. The New Haven to New York City trip is on the nation's fastest Amtrak route, the Acela line between Boston and Washington, DC. Trains on that route go over 100 mph.