The actions of a few men

Fascinating how the entire world is potential collateral damage resulting from the actions of a few men. I mean, it’s chilling to sit here and watch Vlad Putin whip his followers up into a murderous frenzy. How many thousands have died in that war? And lest you think we’re clean in all of this, it’s entirely fair to argue that there have been American leaders whose lies and manipulations have compelled us to commit equivalent atrocities (Vietnam and Iraq come to mind). In the end, it’s incumbent upon us, the people, to recognize when we are being manipulated and propagandized and duped into action — and then to stand up and resist. Not sure we’re capable, unfortunately. I mean, our last president nearly ended democracy single-handedly with lies and disinformation as his primary tool. And so, as we drift what feels like inexorably toward some manner of conflict with Russia and China, will we make decisions based upon truth, or will we fall lockstep into line as the propagandists do their very best work? Time will tell, I suppose.

Dan Weintraub

Quechee and Boston

Cutting our national forest: What you can do?

In January, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) proposed a plan for Telephone Gap, a beautiful area in central Vermont and a source for watersheds, including the White River. Most of Telephone Gap is remote, mature forest. The USFS is intending to cut nearly 12,000 acres. Additionally, new roads could be carved out. This adds to 43,000 acres already approved for logging, according to savepublicforests.org.

Among the reasons the USFS should not carry through with their plan:

1. 92% of the area proposed for cutting include areas with old and mature forests.

2. This plan threatens the endangered northern long-eared bat.

3. It threatens the headwaters of the Otter Creek and the White River, and risks exacerbating flooding in downstream communities.

4. It targets one of the largest roadless areas in Vermont.

5. President Biden’s 2022 executive order directed the USFS to protect mature forests for the benefit of the climate and biodiversity. (Source: savepublicforests.org)

The proposal to cut Telephone Gap is based on a 2006 management plan. That plan and the Telephone Gap proposal hardly mention the newest science, which shows Vermont forests have the capacity to hold two to four times more carbon (UVM study), to help with the climate crisis if we don’t cut them. Allowing at least the public forests to be wild gives Vermont the chance to increase our old growth forests and therefore our carbon storage ability.

Do we want our Forest Service to use science that calls for increasing forest protections to help mitigate the climate crisis, or use old science, weakening the forest’s ability to store carbon and support biodiversity?

Information on how to get involved, including how to write public comments to USFS, can be found at https://www.savepublicforests.org/take-action.

Laura Simon

Wilder

Homework on lawmaker who backs VSU library plan

State Rep. Eileen “Lynn” Dickinson is chair of the Vermont State Colleges/Vermont State University (VSC/VSU) Board of Trustees. I was dismayed to read portions of her statement following faculty unions representing about 1,000 members voting “No confidence” in the VSC/VSU administration and Board of Trustees.

Ms. Dickinson says she supports the plan to remove books, eliminate positions of current reference librarians and staff, and make libraries at Castleton, Johnson, Lyndon and Vermont Technical College “all-digital” effective July 1. There has been a well-deserved firestorm of opposition to this dreadful plan.

Ms. Dickinson’s statement sent me looking at her legislator’s biography. I read that she “was educated” at Manhattanville College. On its website, this college proudly boasts that its library provides students with access to “a large and diverse physical collection with nearly a quarter million books, journals, and magazines at your fingertips and many more digitally delivered through the library web site.” The specific number of printed books is 206,00-plus.

It’s hypocritical to support action as though students in rural Vermont deserve less than students in an urban area. I urge Ms. Dickinson to rethink her stance so that Vermont’s students will have access to a proper college/university education, one that includes libraries providing not only the best digital resources but also just as important, if not more so, thousands of books. Our Vermont college libraries already have a finely-tuned interlibrary loan system in place. Let’s not destroy it!

Charlotte Bill

Enosburg Falls, Vt.

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