Rally Day! Energy Movement Revolution!

Thanks to our involvement with Green Northampton http://www.greennorthampton.com/ we got the motivating email from David Starr to get out and put our citizenry to power with a community-wide rally to transform the deadly use of coal and start building the secure green future!http://www.securegreenfuture.org/stopcoal on Sunday, March 1st rallies met in Salem Harbor Station (Salem,) NRG & Brayton Point (Somerset) and Mt. Tom (Holyoke) The voice of a Massachusetts Green Social Democrat leads the effort in organizing http://petervickery.blogspot.com/2009/03/mount-tom-demo.html in Holyoke.

Innovator Jeff Brown (UMass) of http://www.ridebuzz.org/ weaves a web forum for carpool and ways to save while forming community coalitions! Thank you innovation! Amy Vanderlaan (pictured right) of Smith College documented the rally with fellow Amherst college Film Studies student.

Rally Day for Plowing The Norwottuck Trail 3/1 @ 2 pm!

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/central/nwrt.htm
This Trail is Shovel ready at the
Rail Rally on Damon Rd. (Damon on Right) A crowd of great vigor impressed their shovels on the icy sheets of the Norwottuck Rail Trail.
With hot chocolate and cookie tabeled signature clipboards (ala Michael Docter, family & Friends of the Norwottuck trail), people signed and made their wish known with shovels in hand! This is viable and essential to our energy evolution, what a rallyevent day! on the energy way:-)

Background Information on Plowing the Trail:

Question: Isn’t plowing the road going to be expensive?
Answer: No. The town of Arlington currently plows their 3 mile path and it costs them around $2,500 per year.
Question: Will this mean cross country Skiers will not be able to use the path
Answer: Very few skiers use the section between Northampton and Amherst for two reasons: 1) Several cross roads (plowed) and tunnels interrupt the trail and require skiers to constantly remove their skis. 2) People walk on the path and wreck the ski tracks. Even when the path is plowed, skiers will still be able to use the side of the trail as well as the un-plowed section of the trail between Belchertown and Amherst.
Question: The Rail Trail was originally built for “Recreational Use”. Wouldn’t plowing it change it to “Commuter Use”
Answer: While many commuter cyclists will use the trail in the winter to get between Northampton and Amherst, 1000’s of recreational users will also be able to access the trail who are unable to do so now.
Question: How will the plowing be impacted by the up and coming Rail Trail Resurfacing project?
Answer: Over the next 3 years, some million dollars will be spent to re-surface and widen the existing trail. Friends of the Norwottuck trail and allies are working to insure that the new surface is designed so that it can be easily plowed. (By the way, they are not going to use glass for the bike trail this time!) http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/norwottock_rail_trail_users_wa.html