Springfield and Arise were blessed once again with the presence of the
Walk for a New Spring: Remember Fukushima. We had a wonderful potluck supper on Friday and learned much about nuclear power, including the beginning of the process, uranium mining in
Australia, the
United States and
Canada, and its impact on indigenous peoples. From us, the walkers learned about our struggles in Springfield to improve our environment and end homelessness and police brutality.
On Saturday morning, we walked to the Connecticut River and had a speaker from the
Connecticut River Watershed Council, President Chelsea Gwyther, where we learned that the thermal pollution from Vermont Yankee has reduced the shad population of the river by 99%! You can sign a petition asking Vermont Yankee to use its cooling towers
here.
At Arise, in preparation for our river ceremony, we had written haikus, and at the river we passed them out and we each read one. The haiku I was handed was one I had written:
Broken symmetry
yet the tree still live. This spring,
green will bind her wounds.
Arise member Bill Gibson led us in some songs and finally we each drew a stone from a bag, imbued it with our best hopes for the river, and threw them in. Then the Walk for a New Spring headed to its next destination in Holyoke. Some Arise members walked with them for a while.
I want to thank Ellen Graves, our Peace and Anti-Violence organizer. I finally understood, emotionally as well as intellectually, why she and other members of the
SAGE Alliance are willing to be arrested again and again to shut Vermont Yankee down.
March 24th is a Day of Action to close Vermont Yankee. Call Ellen at Arise for more information.
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