Opinion

Columnist Russ Vernon-Jones: Not giving up on the climate

By RUSS VERNON-JONES

The election of Donald Trump is catastrophic in so many ways. It will mean untold suffering for many people and for our country as a whole. It also will be disastrous for the global climate crisis.We are at a moment in history when the entire world...

Guest columnist Tim Nixon: Let’s stop getting gaslit by the right

By TIM NIXON

If Kamala Harris had won the 2024 election, the next months would have been filled with a cycle of headlines about voter fraud. They would have stemmed from complaints from Republican leadership and lawsuits backed by powerful donors (along with a...

Guest columnist Henry Lappen: How are trees lining the streets of Amherst?

By HENRY LAPPEN

 How many trees grow along the streets of Amherst? What’s the most common species? Are our street trees healthy, and how does the climate crisis affect them?The town of Amherst recently attempted to answer these questions and more. With funding from...

Columnist Johanna Neumann: Rush for energy-hungry data centers is folly

By JOHANNA NEUMANN

For the past two decades, America has accomplished a minor miracle. Despite a growing population, ballooning home sizes, a spike in the number of electronic devices we own, and more, electricity demand has remained largely stable. That’s a testament...

Bailey Richard and Isabel N. Grace: All things must pass

We wholeheartedly support Amherst-Pelham Regional School District Superintendent Xiamara Herman’s proposal to close the middle school and have the district’s seventh and eighth graders taught in the high school building.We have it on excellent...

Meg Hart: Heartfelt thank you for supporting the ABC Fall Foliage & Cider Run

The Amherst Committee for A Better Chance (ABC) would like to express profound gratitude to the community for their overwhelming support of our traditional annual fundraising event, the Fall Foliage & Cider Run, held on Oct. 19. With almost 500...

Sanford Lewis and Jody Shapiro: ‘Quabbin: The next generation’?

The Quabbin Reservoir was built from decisions in Boston that led to the literal destruction of four western Massachusetts towns. The benefit to thirsty eastern Massachusetts was at the expense of those western Mass. communities.Today Massachusetts is...

Columnist Russ Vernon-Jones: Incredible benefits of cleaner air under threat with Trump

By RUSS VERNON-JONES

When we think about the climate crisis our minds often, quite rightly, go to how greenhouse gas emissions are causing the global temperature to rise, causing catastrophic storms, floods, fires, and hunger. What we sometimes forget is that burning...

Nina M. Scott: Wisdom on values

I wanted go congratulate the Gazette on the splendid editorial cartoon in the Oct. 22 edition, “Would you like lies with that?”Our tense pre-election time is not easy to live through. I was a child in Nazi Germany. My father, an American citizen,...

Annette Pfannebecker and Rick Last: Healey opposes Question 2 — Why?

Gov. Maura Healey publicly opposes Ballot Question 2, and we are asking: Why? Her stance aligns with the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, which also opposes the question. But why does she believe their perspective outweighs that of...

Dillon Maxfield: Server opposed to Question 5

I work as a server at Notch 8 in Northampton, and I, like all of the servers I know, oppose Question 5.When you walk into a restaurant, you’re greeted by the host. This is typically a young person working their first restaurant job. Hosts make minimum...

Lois Barber: What a Trump presidency would mean for the environment

Project 2025 provides a detailed description of what a Donald Trump presidency would mean for environmental concerns. Although not yet official policy, Project 2025, put together by the right-wing Heritage Foundation with authors including former...

David Gilbert Keith: No time machines

I watched the “Back to the Future” movies with my son many times because he really liked them. For those unfamiliar with the trilogy, “Doc” Brown has made a DeLorean car into a time machine.In “Back to the Future II,” we go to a future America where...

Jones Library campaign: ‘Amherst’s Living Room’ well worth support

Public support is strong for Jones Library renovation and expansion project. Here’s why.The project remains a singular opportunity to provide the library and community center that area residents want and need. With new bids due at the end of October,...

Guest columnist Matteo Pangallo: MCAS testing requirement imposes constraints, not standards

By MATTEO PANGALLO

 It is difficult to imagine a more condescending and erroneous take on Question 2 than the one Ed Lambert of the Boston-based pro-business group Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education attempts to articulate in his Oct. 5 letter [“Weakening...

Guest columnist Joseph Levine: Will brutal campaign to remake Mideast work this time?

By JOSEPH LEVINE

 After a year of a genocidal campaign in Gaza in response to the Al Aqsa Flood attacks of Oct. 7 and the recent escalation in Lebanon and beyond, it’s a good time to assess where we’re at, how we got here, and where we’re going.Immediately before the...

Courtney Cullen: Ditch trunk or treat

Trunk or treat ruins Halloween, and I’ve come prepared to back that up. As a child of the ‘80s, there was nothing more exciting than Halloween night. I grew up in a mid-size neighborhood in Appalachia full of a community of ghoulish enthusiasts. I’m...

Guest columnist Robin Goldstein: Listen to our restaurant workers and save their livelihoods by voting ‘no’ on Ballot Question 5

By ROBIN GOLDSTEIN

 Imagine this: a high-paid, Ivy League-educated lawyer and nonprofit executive from Los Angeles shows up in Massachusetts and claims that our restaurant workers are being paid a “sub-minimum wage” that’s below the state minimum wage. To solve this...

Brooks Ballenger and Josna Rege: Support the Haitian Bridge Alliance as it fights a racist disinformation campaign

J.D. Vance and Donald Trump have been traveling the United States attacking Haitian American immigrants with disinformation and racist fantasies. According to the nonprofit Haitian Bridge Alliance, a grassroots immigrant advocacy group that has filed...

Darcy Dumont: What sustainable downtown Amherst design can be

By DARCY DUMONT

 In the last month, Amherst officials have been inviting the public to weigh in on downtown design standards.Listening and visioning sessions were held and a survey was made available to residents. Because an Amherst downtown of the future will have...