Raw Milk Conversion
Thank you for your recent coverage of the raw milk issue. I grew up reading about the horrors of bacteria in milk through advertisements akin to the “Reefer Madness” videos of the ’60s. However, I am now a firm believer in raw milk handled by responsible local farmers and informed consumers.
This may sound mean, but after switching to raw milk, I consistently find pasteurized milk to taste like a mummified, Splenda-sweetened, thirst-inducing, stomach-aggravating, flatulence-promoting version of real milk. Seriously, I could not switch back at this point.
I’ve been ordering and picking up my raw milk weekly at Cook Farm in Hadley for nearly a year now, with not even an upset tummy to complain of. Plus I still get a unique sense of satisfaction from petting the cows that filled my jar and exchanging pleasantries with farm staff I’m familiar with.
Roberto E. Olivares
via email
Shrink the Garbage
I commend the Northampton City Council for moving to protect the Barnes Aquifer by closing the Northampton regional landfill on schedule. Now the drinking water source for 60,000 Western Massachusetts residents will be protected. The city should focus resources on reducing, reusing, recycling and composting, instead of the costly landfill expansion.
The state has also committed to move away from burning and burying of waste with the release on July 1 of a draft solid waste plan that is called A Pathway to Zero Waste.
It adopts a long-term goal of reducing waste by 80 percent, a goal that would extend the life of existing landfills and help us conserve resources and protect public health and the environment. But the plan takes too long for us to get there—about 20 years too long—and it allows loopholes in a statewide ban on new incineration that permits certain types of waste burning.
I urge Governor Patrick and the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection to walk the walk when it comes to zero waste and strengthen the plan when the final version is released next year. Concerned residents can find more information about the plan and how to submit public comments by going to www.dontwastemassachusetts.org.
Kristen Magnuson
Toxics Action Center
Amherst
More Trains Needed for Commuters
High speed rail is an issue that we should all seriously consider as a commuter alternative. Many argue that a high-speed classification would be almost impossible to achieve using our current tracks because they could only achieve speeds close to 60 to 70 mph. While it’s true that trains may fall short of the required 110 mph to reach “high-speed” classification, they would still make a immense difference.
Currently, the state of Massachusetts faces problems with heavy traffic congestion and an 8.8 percent unemployment rate. More commuter train travel will alleviate these problems and help to spur greater economic activity while simultaneously creating more jobs in Massachusetts. As we strive to cut our dependence on oil and continue to run short on space and funding for new highways, it only makes sense that we reallocate new highway funding and instead look to utilize the systems we already have in place.
Jordan Schlenker
via email
Immigration and Arizona’s Law: Readers’ Views
This country has surely come to a sad point in its history when folks want to boycott a state for trying to enforce federal immigration laws already on the books [“Is Northampton Next?“, Advocate on line, July 29, 2010] even as they sing songs of praise for cities and towns that openly break federal immigration laws by declaring themselves “sanctuary cities.” It’s yet another example of how liberals routinely excuse themselves and those they support from having to obey laws they don’t agree with while at the same time vehemently insisting everyone else adhere to and respect the laws or cultural beliefs they do happen to agree with.
Bill Dusty
www.springfieldintruder.com
via Online Comments
Mexicans are not taking our jobs. People from other countries such as India and China are taking the jobs we go to school to learn how to do. Why do we have Americans skilled at high-tech jobs out of work when these other nationalities are taking the jobs? Look around. We make these workers legal and allow them to become citizens easily. Why not Mexicans?
I think it is a smoke screen. Look at Buffalo, N.Y. Half the Americans are out of work and half the people who are working are from India. Either there is room for everybody or room for none. This is not even to mention the millions of jobs that have gone out of the country. Couldn’t those jobs stay here and be done by Americans?
Ann Parker
via Online Comments
We Americans and our government are all guilty. Millions of Americans, I mean millions, must stand up and harshly penalize all our companies for moving overseas to keep more money for the few CEOs who believe they should be making millions upon millions for making a few calls about the company they hold the reins of. Didn’t Obama say something in his campaign about penalizing companies for moving our jobs overseas? I believe we should close our borders like so many countries have.
Eric Nichols
via Online Comments
Going Public With Secret Selves
I traveled up from New Jersey to take part in [Leonard Nimoy’s Secret Selves project; see “Nimoy’s Lens,” August 5, 2010], taking a day off from my work at Tenafly [N.J.] High School, where I head the school’s library media center. I had a video camera with me. Mr. Nimoy asked that I turn this camera upon myself and lift it up in the air; he then took the shot and said it was a good one. His instruction seemed quick and spontaneous.
I said to Mr. Nimoy that I learned through the philosophy of Aesthetic Realism that art can answer questions; he responded by saying that art can ask questions. Later I asked if he would be so kind to record a message to our students and he generously agreed.
I hope for his next project Mr. Nimoy will involve himself in education by perhaps taking a small group of students on a journey through a philosophical concept and photographic project similar to this one—accompanied with rich discussion, questions, answers, and wonder!
David Di Gregorio
via Online Comments
