Spotlight

We are on for today! SATURDAY

(Dress for a damp start.)

Please fill out the online contact/pledge form for the Solar Rollers Earth Day River Ride here! (Printer friendly version here) Pledges will support the important work of the Connecticut River Defenders,  NAB United – No Assault & Batteries in Wendell MA  and Smart Solar Shutesbury. An anonymous Solar Roller matched the first $1,200, so now there is $2,400 pledged! Please pledge generously!

“Northfield Mountain went on-line in 1972 to utilize the off-peak power of the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor in Vernon, VT,” said David Detmold, of Montague, one of the original members of the Solar Rollers. “We finally succeeded in shutting down Vermont Yankee in 2014, but Northfield Mountain keeps on pumping the river backwards, pumping millions of dollars a year out of our economy and into the portfolio of Canadian investment giant Public Sector Pension Investments, killing millions of fish, and consuming more power than it produces day after day, year after year. For the health of our river, it’s time for this environmental zombie to die.”

The Solar Rollers, who rode from Greenfield to Vernon in 1979 demanding the shut-down of Vermont Yankee, invite everyone who cares about the well-being of the Connecticut River and its watershed to join them to gather and rally on the Greenfield Town Common at 9:00 am on April 20. Following the rally, the Rollers invite all cyclists in the area to join them for a 13-mile ride to Northfield in the defense of the Connecticut River. There will be a stop and rally along the way at Unity Park in Great Falls (aka Turners Falls) and an early afternoon picnic and 1:00 pm rally at the Riverview Picnic Area. April 21 is the rain date.
The Earth Day ride is co-sponsored by Connecticut River Defenders, a local activist group formed nearly 2 years ago to shut down this same river killing machine. “The Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station’s huge turbines suck the river backwards and forwards killing all life caught in its process. In addition these man-made undulations cause unnatural erosion of riverbanks,” said Priscilla Lynch of Conway, a member of the Connecticut River Defenders. “This is all in direct violation of the 1972 Clean Water Act. The facility uses fossil fuels and nuclear energy to do so, consuming more energy than is produced and creating huge profits for its owner in a ‘buy low, sell high’ scenario. Our public officials view this facility as an acceptable solution to combating the Climate Emergency we are experiencing. The Connecticut River Ecosystem is not a commodity to be exploited for financial gain and false climate solutions.” The Connecticut River Defenders call for Land Back and believe that the Connecticut River Ecosystem would be better protected by native governance in which mutuality with nature is valued and respected and in which there is hope for survival.

No Assault & Batteries (NAB) is a citizens group formed last year to protect Wendell and the surrounding region by fighting the construction of a lithium battery energy storage project, proposed by the corporation New Leaf Energy. NAB raises concerns for the health and safety of this industrial project which proposes to clearcut 11 acres of forest on a 50-acre parcel and install concrete pads and lithium batteries adjacent to wetlands and on the site of a town aquifer. NAB United – No Assault & Batteries in Wendell MA

Smart Solar Shutesbury, like many towns across western Mass, has a high percentage of forested land, both publicly and privately owned. Industrial-scale ground-mounted solar projects that have been proposed require clear-cutting four times the acreage needed for the actual solar arrays. Even more than the loss of carbon sequestration, clear-cutting of this magnitude fragments the forests, disrupts wildlife and plant habitats, can cause erosion of streams and threatens wetlands and aquifers—our water supply, none of which is good for the environment. Smart Solar Shutesbury

The event will culminate with a picnic and a rally upon the arrival of the Walkers and Solar Rollers near the Pumped Storage intake at the Riverview Picnic area in Northfield. River Rider Tips & Info here and Walker Tips & Info here.

Please come to any or all of our rallies!

If you’d like to sit down, please bring yourself a chair, maybe another to share. (There are some public restrooms near Greenfield Common, a porta potty at Unity Park, but none at Riverview Picnic Area.)

A Brief History of the Solar Rollers

CHECK BACK FOR MORE UPDATES  and check our Facebook page, “Solar Roller Earth Day River Ride”

Past Events

Connecticut River Defenders Present:  A Public Hearing

Saturday November 18 3:00 -5:00 pm

Shea Theater, 71 Avenue A, Great Falls MA 01376

Join with others from our community to hear testimony about the way the rights of nature with respect to the Connecticut River are being violated. We will hear from some of those most knowledgeable about and most affected by the operation of the Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station and its harmful and deadly effects on the Connecticut River  ecosystem. This testimony will be heard by a panel of respected “judges” who will render findings and remedies based upon the testimony given.  A short entertainment program will take place during the judges’ deliberations, after which the judges’ findings will be shared with those in attendance.

Special Guest: Liz ColdWind Santana Kiser, Elder, Council Woman and Tribal Historical Preservation Officer for the Chaubunagungamaug Band of the Nipmuc Indians

Climate Action Now Coordinator, Susan Theberge will be the Prosecutor

Testimony will be presented by:

• Glen Ayers, Retired Public Health Official, Co-Host of The Enviro Show

• Annette Spaulding, Master Connecticut River Diver

• Bill Stubblefield PhD, Ecologist and Evolutionary Biologist, Wendell State Forest Alliance

• Local Children concerned about the environment

• Quinn Bernard Morrow, Sophomore Franklin County Technical School 

Serving as Judges will be:

• Joel Kupferman, National Lawyers Guild

• Nathan Phillips PhD, Consumer Liason Group to ISO New England

• Naia Tenerowitz, Springfield Climate Justice Coalition        

         Adabu Brownhill Jefwa, Youth Representative, National Farmer’s Union, La Via Campesina, Canada & US.   

         Kate O’Conner, Musician, Trees as a Public Good 

Entertainment will include:

• Nnimmo Bassey, Poet and Co-recipient of the Right Livelihood Award

• Ben Grosscup, Singer/Songwriter

• Annie Patterson, Singer/Songwriter

• Local children performing poems and songs

Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station, operated by FirstLight Power, creates and maintains a dead river, while at the  same time using primarily fossil fuels to do so, never creating a bit of virgin energy. FirstLight buys low and sells high, thereby making huge profits for a foreign conglomerate at ratepayers expense.  This event will allow the public to decide for themselves whether the Connecticut River and its ecosystem have the “Right” to live and thrive and whether FirstLight will be granted a “Social License” to operate. 

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The music is by Raye Zaragoza Titled: In The River (A Protest Song) September 15, 2016

Local Bias with Guest Karl Meyer, 9-27-23 – Greenfield Community Television