FROM OTHER SOURCES: NEWS AND FEATURES FOR AND ABOUT AMHERST (#14).
Editor’s Note: “From Other Sources” offers links to articles that may be of interest to Amherst readers. We will update this section every other week, emphasizing different timely topics. We have now added a tag called “From Other Sources” so that you can easily find previous editions/links. Simply click the “From Other Sources” tag on the tag menu, found in the right-hand sidebar on any open article.
CLIMATE/ENERGY
Amherst Mulls Green Energy Program. By Scott Merzbach. (12/18/19). A community choice energy aggregation program for customers in Amherst, Northampton and Pelham, which would rely on green energy sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, could launch as early as 2021.With a report from the Inter-Municipal Task Force on Community Choice Aggregation complete following 18 months of study, an affirmative decision from Amherst Town Council, which may come at its Jan. 6 meeting, would set in motion the process of establishing the program. (from The Daily Hampshire Gazette).
Netherlands Supreme Court Rules That Radical Emissions Reductions — 25% by the End of 2020 — “Are “Mandatory. by I. Lester Feder. (12/20/19).A landmark court ruling says international human rights law obligates the Netherlands to reduce emissions, “because of the risk of a dangerous climate change that can also seriously affect the residents of the Netherlands in their right to life and well-being.” The Dutch Supreme Court’s decision could have huge repercussions for how other countries tackle rising emissions. (from Buzzfeed News).
We Could Have Had 100% Renewable Electricity if We Had Invested in Wind and Solar Instead of War in the Middle East. by Paul Gipe. 12/19/19). This is, after all, not rocket science. Money spent on war–anywhere–is money lost. It’s not an investment in the future. It’s money quite literally that goes up in smoke. In contrast, money spent on building wind and solar farms or putting solar systems on rooftops is money invested in the future that will be earning returns–in the form of electricity–for 20 to 30 years. (from Renewable Energy World).
Taking Action to Fight Climate Crisis Can Improve Your Mental Health. Five Ways that Climate Activism Could Make You Happier. by Julia Fine. (12/4/19). Surveys show that young people are feeling stressed about this, and more stressed than older people. For most people, climate change can just be an additional source of stress or worry, but for some people it is a significant enough problem to lead to things like trouble sleeping, interfering with work or family time, nightmares. … There’s not a lot of data, but more than 50% of younger American adults are worried, and possibly 20-30% are feeling some level of this kind of impact.” (from Teen Vogue).
Earth’s Hottest Decade on Record Marked by Extreme Storms, Deadly Wildfires. by Bob Berwyn (12/1919). Deadly heat waves, wildfires and widespread flooding punctuated a decade of climate extremes that, by many scientific accounts, show global warming kicking into overdrive. As the year drew to a close, scientists were confidently saying 2019 was Earth’s second-warmest recorded year on record, capping the warmest decade. Eight of the 10 warmest years since measurements began occurred this decade, and the other two were only a few years earlier. (from Inside Climate News).
DEFERRED MUNICIPAL MAINTENANCE
Best of 2019. If We’re Not Going To Maintain What We Have, What’s the Point of Building Anything New? by Charles Marohn. (12/10/19). Local governments suffer from a dual set of challenges when it comes to maintenance. The first is that most of what we’ve built is not lovable, at least not broadly lovable. The asphalt cul-de-sac has some functional appeal to the people who live on it, but the broader community is not going to demand it be maintained. The same with those DOT-specified streetlights the city purchased in bulk. The plastic park equipment may be sanitized and safe, but even it is unlikely to endear. For the most part, the Growth Ponzi Scheme has put our cities on a path of quantity over quality. We build a lot of stuff, all of it to a finished state. That stuff then sits and rots—perhaps with some nominal maintenance from time to time—until it falls apart, at which point we put together a huge project to replace it with something new built to a finished state. (from Strong Towns).
IMPEACHMENT
Watch Amherst’s John Bonifaz on Democracy Now, Discuss the House Vote to Impeach Donald Trump . Following the House vote to impeach Donald J. Trump, in a discussion with host Amy Goodman, John Bonifaz outlined the implications of failing to hold Trump fully accountable. “We are facing a dangerous moment right now where we have a lawless President who is so willing to rig the next election, to trample on our Constitution, that we all have to be vigilant and that starts with demanding that there be a full and fair trial and conviction and removal of this President,” said Bonifaz. (from Democracy Now).
LITERATURE (SOME END-OF-YEAR/BEST-OF-YEAR BOOK LISTS)
UMass Professor Ocean Voung’s Debut Novel Listed on Several Best of 2019 Book Lists. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, has been selected by a range of publications as one of the best books of the year. including “The Washington Post,” “Variety” and “GQ” magazine’s “Best Books of 2019” lists. “Time” and “The Guardian” featured the book as one of the top fiction choices of the year. CNN listed the best-seller as one of Amazon’s picks for the year and it has appeared on lists from “The Times,” “The Register Guard,” and boston.com, among others. “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” was long-listed for the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction. (from Inside UMass).
The Ultimate Best Books of 2019. by Emily Temple (12/11/19). This year, I counted lists (often multiple lists) from 37 sources, tracking a total of 749 books. I’m sure I didn’t get every single list that’s out there, and more come every day. But for what it’s worth, my findings are below—and you’ll find the list of the sites I consulted at the very end. (from lithub.com)
Some of Our Favorite Writers and the Best Books That They Read in 2019. by Freeman’s. (12/20/19). Lydia Davis, Barry Lopez Tommy Orange, Valeria Luiselli and Other Freeman’s contributors share highlights from their year in reading. (from Lithub.com).
The Oddest Books That I Read This Year: Rabih Alameddine, Author of the Angel of History, Offers an Alternative to Year-End Best-of-Lists. By Rabih Alemmadine. These books can’t be easily described. They resist genres, and they certainly do not wish to be pigeon-holed. (from lithub.com).
100 Notable Books of 2019. by The Editors of The New York Times.(12/8/19). The year’s notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction. (from The New York Times).
The 10 Best Literary TV Adaptations of the Decade. by Emily Temple. (12/10/19). Take note that we attempted to judge the shows in question on their own independent merits; while many of us have read the books these shows are based on, we didn’t base our decisions on fidelity to, or creativity of departure from, the original text. We just wanted to pick the best television experiences. (from lithub.com)
MEDIA
Another Local Newspaper Closure in the Valley. Athol Daily News Shuts Down Athol Office. by Sarah Robertson (12/15/19). Two years after acquiring the Athol Daily News, the regional newspaper chain Newspapers of New England announced on Tuesday that it is closing the paper’s downtown office and laying off more staff members at two other daily newspapers in the region. “We spend every day working hard to be innovative to create a sustainable business model,” publisher Michael Moses told the Reporter. “We’re living in some strange times, and I don’t think hyperlocal news and community dailies have ever been more important. So that’s our mission: to sustain those products.” (from The Shoestring).
SCHOOLS
$1.8M Granted to 20 Massachusetts School Districts (Including Amherst) for ‘Teacher Diversification’. by Jim Russell. (12/9/19). Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday announced $1.8 million in grants for 20 school districts, including Amherst, Holyoke and Springfield, to support the administration’s Teacher Diversification Pilot Program. Holyoke received the largest share of the funds, $367,283. The program “is designed to support local school district efforts to strengthen and diversify existing teacher recruitment and retention programs,” according to the state. (from Masslive.com).
Bringing Diversity to the Local Teaching Workforce. by Greta Jochem. (12/18/19). Paradigm Shift, run out of the Five College Consortium, works with paraeducators in Amherst-Pelham Regional, Holyoke and Springfield public schools who are getting their master’s degrees at Mount Holyoke College or Springfield College.“In our region, those three districts are the ones where there is the biggest mismatch between who the kids who are in the schools and who the teachers are,” said Marla Solomon, director of Partnership Programs at the Five College Consortium and Paradigm Shift project director. (from The Daily Hampshire Gazette).