A recent story by the Associated Press highlights the dilemma of Alaskan villages that are being destroyed by climate change: flooding from rising seas, land erosion.

Inhabitants face the choice of strengthening their defenses – difficult – or moving an entire village – maybe even more difficult.

The Pioneer Valley is relatively landlocked. But much of Massachusetts, and the United States, is not. Cape Cod, are you listening? Boston’s Seaport District?

And even here, we get floods from local rivers. There’s a limit to how long we can pretend that climate change is coming for someone else, far away, in a small village.

It’s coming for all of us, soon. And the current administration continues to push for more fossil fuel use.

Apparently we need to yell louder.

SUSAN DONALDSON, Northampton

Alaskan villages feel climate change effects

An oft-repeated conservative trope is the notion that the very best of America is to be found in its small towns and villages, far from the “woke” influence of cities. But the Trump administration’s policies and actions are devastating rural life in countless ways, with some of the greatest damage unsurprisingly falling on native populations in places like Kwigillingok and Kipnuk.

Intensifying storms, unseasonal temperature extremes and softening permafrost are making daily life in these remote outposts increasingly unpredictable and dangerous. While the president and his enablers decry planetary climate change as a “hoax,” the villagers of Alaska’s West coast don’t have the luxury of science denial.

If America’s cardinal virtues are exemplified by small towns, then the White House and the GOP are degrading these selfsame qualities through their ignorance and venality. As their lands literally melt away, residents of Kwigillingok and Kipnuk deserve better than bureaucratic inaction and indifference.

WARREN SENDERS, Medford

A tally of anti-democratic Trump actions

A submission (“Not persuaded by recent essay,” Oct. 26) chided another contributor for not presenting evidence of how President Trump violated the “rules of democracy,” including the rule of law, due process, fair elections, checks and balances and free speech and free press. Trump’s violations of the rules of democracy are legion, but here are a few:

RULE OF LAW:

Weaponizing the Justice Department to wreak retribution on his perceived enemies through vindictive and selective prosecutions. Authorizing attacks on alleged drug boats that have resulted in extrajudicial killings without evidence and without legal justification.

DUE PROCESS:

Detaining American citizens and sending them to detention centers for extended periods of time without identification checks, attorney access, or judge appearance.Detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants that he deems to be dangerous criminals without evidence and without prosecution.

FAIR ELECTIONS:

Claiming the 2020 election was stolen and fomenting an attack on the Capitol to prevent the certification of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021.Calling and pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger to “find 11,780 votes” to overturn the result of the 2020 election.

CHECKS AND BALANCES:

Freezing or rescinding funds appropriated by Congress in violation of Article I of the Constitution. Imposing tariffs unilaterally and capriciously without congressional approval in violation of Article I of the Constitution.

FREE SPEECH AND FREE PRESS:

Attacking the press as the “enemy of the people.”Initiating lawsuits against news outlets, including ABC and CBS, and weaponizing the FCC’s licensing authority.

No evidence will persuade or change the mind of a Trump true believer. Philosopher Eric Hoffer observed: “It is the true believer’s ability to shut his eyes and stop his ears to facts that do not deserve to be either seen or heard. He cannot be frightened by danger nor disheartened by obstacles nor baffled by contradictions because he denies their existence.”

MICHAEL CAMEROTA, Westfield

You too can climb ladder of financial literacy

In a recent letter to the editor of The Republican, the writers were critical of capitalism simply because it spawned several bad egg capitalists. Unfortunately, many people, especially bad egg capitalists, lost sight of the fact that “money is like manure. It does the most good spread around, least good piled up in a corner!”

Legendary investor Warren Buffett agrees with that statement. In Robert Kiyosaki’s book “Increase Your Financial IQ,” he wrote that Buffett was at an event with 400 uber-wealthy people and was quoted as saying that he thought it was ridiculous that he and the others present paid a lower percentage of their income in taxes than their receptionists did.

Buffett also said that if you were in the top 1%, you owed it to humanity to help the other 99%. Petitioning elected officials and bureaucrats on this would, at best, be glacially slow.

So why not adopt a mindset of “if you can’t beat them, join them.”

How do you join them? Develop the financial literacy required to move up the scale. That can be done by reading books by such authors as Kiyosaki (his first book is “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”).

If you have children, so much the better. Parents and children can read and learn together. Local school committees might want to take note and offer financial literacy as an elective. Even though Kiyosaki’s father was a highly educated career bureaucrat (study hard, get good grades, pursue your education so you can get a good secure job), he was a Poor Dad! Going back to “Increase Your Financial IQ,” Rich Dad stated that “the rich get richer by solving financial problems. The more proficient they are at solving these problems, the more money they make.”

Ayn Rand, author of “Atlas Shrugged,” stated that “Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think.”

All we have to do to create wealth is copy “Rich Dad” thinking.

JEFF TEDEN, Springfield

Thunderbirds help enliven Springfield’s downtown

I am writing to express my wholehearted support for the Springfield Thunderbirds and to highlight the tremendous value they bring to our community.

The Thunderbirds aren’t just a hockey team. They are a vital part of the cultural and economic fabric of the city of Springfield. Their games offer family-friendly entertainment that draws fans from across the region to our downtown area, creating a positive ripple effect for local businesses.

Establishments like White Lion Brewery in Tower Square, Nadim’s Restaurant on Main Street and our L&A Men’s Store, known for its fine suits, all benefit from the influx of visitors that Thunderbirds games attract.

The energy and foot traffic they generate are crucial to the vibrancy of our downtown area and to the economic growth of Hampden County as a whole.

I encourage everyone in our community to rally behind the Thunderbirds. Their presence here is more than just a point of local pride — it’s a boost for our businesses and a beacon of community spirit.

MARK DORSEY, Springfield

Losing free speech should scare us all

Last week, a group of lawmakers, most of whom are veterans, exercised their Constitutional right to free speech by releasing a video that reminded members of the military that they do not have to follow illegal orders. In the video, they said, “You all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.’

Trump’s response? He called the actions of those who made the video “seditious behavior, punishable by death.”

My concern is not whether illegal orders are being given by the president or the Secretary of Defense. My concern is Trump’s response. Do we have to fear that if we say something that goes against the administration’s policies we will be accused of seditious behavior and threatened with execution?

Are we in danger of experiencing serious repercussions if we say something the administration doesn’t agree with? Are we at risk in this country of losing our freedom to speak our minds? This should frighten all of us.

TRUDY KNOWLES, Westfield

Why a battery storage site poses a threat

Mission Clean Energy seeks to install a 200-megawatt lithium battery storage facility in Blandford, within the Cobble Mountain Reservoir watershed. The reservoir supplies drinking water to 250,000 residents in Springfield, Ludlow, Agawam, East Longmeadow and Longmeadow.

This new technology has the potential of fires that cannot be extinguished. In 2023, four out of eight battery energy storage systems (BESS) in New York experienced fires. A fire in January 2025 at the Moss Plant in California burned for five days, releasing toxic smoke containing heavy metals. Local residents reported a range of health issues. Scientists from San Jose State University found toxic heavy metals in the soil hundreds to thousands of times higher than before the fire. The fire forced evacuations, shelter in place orders and road closings. Orange County supervisors passed a moratorium on BESS facilities to give them more time to consider the risks posed.

On Nov. 17, Blandford residents voted for a six-month moratorium at a special town meeting. This moratorium will be sent to the State Attorney General for review.

The risk to drinking water is not the only threat the region faces. The surrounding towns in the lower Connecticut Valley River basin are connected by extreme low elevations, ranging from 54 to 248 feet above sea level, and surrounded by mountains. Portions of the Amherst area are only 125 feet above sea level.

Toxic smoke, poisonous gases and heavy metals from a fire lasting two to five days would not be confined to the proposed site. Fumes could travel 35 to 50 miles. These low-lying areas trap air, which can worsen air quality. This is one reason the Springfield area ranks among the highest in the nation for asthma and other respiratory conditions. Westfield State University is a short distance from the base of the mountain.

When these pollutants come in contact with water, humidity or rainfall the molecular structure changes and is toxic to all forms of life.

Due to the valley’s topography, pollution from a fire could spread to Southampton, Easthampton, Northampton, Amherst, West Springfield, Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, South Hadley, Agawam, Southwick, Barnes Aquifer, Tighe-Carmody and Quabbin reservoirs, Boston’s drinking water supply.

The Westfield City Council passed a resolution that led to state Rep. Kelly Pease filing bills HD 4556, 4557 and 4558 to pause the siting of lithium battery storage facilities, require buffer zones between battery storage sites and communities or ecologically fragile areas, and mandate local engagement in permitting, rather than allow state agencies to approve on their own.

“Clean energy” technology should not pose a risk to our first responders, communities, the environment or our drinking water. Massachusetts should be proactive and learn from other states. We all want safe, reliable, efficient and affordable energy. We have a right to clean air, water and soil. We cannot take the risk that nothing bad will ever happen.

DAN ALLIE, Westfield

Dan Allie is a city councilor in Westfield.

We can’t allow an end run on nuclear power

Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. It is a basic tenet of our democracy.

In 1982, voters in Massachusetts expressed their desire clearly in a citizens’ petition that requires a statewide vote before any further development of nuclear power or nuclear waste can happen in this state. That measure was approved by a 2-1 margin – in spite of a reluctant Legislature – and that law remains in force.

Now, the governor and certain legislators are attempting to quietly usurp the rights of the people to make an informed decision about nuclear power. A very short provision hidden in a long, complicated “energy affordability bill” now being considered in both houses of our Legislature, would repeal that law. (H.4744)

Whether or not you believe that nuclear power has a place in this state’s energy mix, every person should be outraged at the prospect of this government’s actions. If the governor’s plan to bring nuclear power back to Massachusetts is viable, then it is the voters who should decide. She needs the consent of the governed.

That citizens’ petition was not designed for 44 years ago, it was designed for exactly this moment, when a small cabal of legislators, or the nuclear industry, should attempt to take it upon themselves to determine Massachusetts’ nuclear future. The people clearly stated that this was an issue they wanted to determine for themselves. Shame on this governor and her enablers in the legislature for trying to take that right away.

CLIFF McCARTHY, Belchertown

Cliff McCarthy works with the Commonwealth Coalition for Democracy and Safe Energy.

Today’s climate change agenda

I write in response to Susan Brown’s “Climate Matter: as year’s end approaches, it’s time for reflection.”

There are three separate areas in which climate activists must focus their efforts to secure a sustainable future for our civilization and our species. We need to change our conversation, our consumption and our politics.

The first requires us all to keep talking about climate change, to normalize discussion of such arcana as CO2 measurements, biodiversity loss and the connection of extreme weather to the greenhouse effect.

The second requires us to understand where our money goes, and work to keep our investments and purchases from contributing to the problem.

And the third requires us to vote in every election, with science-based climate policy as an important litmus test for candidates (regardless of party). And, post-election, concerned voters then have to sustain pressure on their representatives to do the right thing (the recent failure of Mark Cusack’s cuts to the popular MassSave program shows our collective power).

There is always hope, of course. But without action, hope is just hot air, and we’ve already got enough of that.

WARREN SENDERS, Medford

Mass. should replace lost US backing for climate research

I am one of the many research scientists affected by the disappearance of federal funding for science. I co-direct the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (NE CASC), which develops science solutions for effective, climate-smart management of our natural resources.

Erasing federal funding for climate and ecosystem science threatens to also erase a generation of young scientists – the very people who are discovering environmental solutions in an increasingly vulnerable world. Massachusetts can stem these losses by passing the DRIVE Act (HB 4375). This landmark legislation strategically deploys $200 million raised by the Fair Share funding to protect scientific research jobs across the Commonwealth.

My research team – composed of undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral scientists – studies how climate change interacts with invasive species. These introduced pests harm our natural ecosystems, crops and working forests. Examples include the spotted lanternfly, which gloops all over our orchards, and bittersweet vine, which strangles our forests. Invasive species cost the U.S. economy $10 billion per year. Climate change is making their impacts worse.

Massachusetts is a hotspot of future invasion risk due to climate change, meaning hundreds of new pests are headed our way. The people who manage our natural resources, public lands and recreation areas need to know when species like kudzu – the vine that ate the south – will start smothering our trees, too. My research team has modeled the climate-driven spread of invasive species and created watch lists of high-impact emerging plant pests.

Through NE CASC, my team has been trained to develop long-term partnerships with practitioners – like the volunteers on the Massachusetts Invasive Plant Advisory Group. These partnerships ensure that our science is useful, usable and directly informs climate-smart invasive plant management.

The CASCs have bipartisan support in Congress, but Trump appointees have blocked appropriated funds for the U.S. Geological Survey. As of Oct. 1, the center is unfunded and our research is stalled. The Massachusetts legislature has a unique opportunity to re-open research centers, like mine at UMass Amherst, by passing the DRIVE Act. We’re ready to get back to work and we want to keep fighting for the health of our lands and waters. Our climate resiliency depends on it.

BETHANY BRADLEY, Amherst

Bethany Bradley is a professor of environmental conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Caribbean attacks are not the answer to drug problem

This administration’s policy of blowing up “suspected” drug vessels in the Caribbean, along with the human beings aboard, is not only murder, it is detrimental to stopping the influx of drugs into the United States .

I served aboard several United States Coast Guard ships from 1970 to 1974. Our policy at the time was to fire a warning shot over the bow of suspected criminals’ vessels and then board them to determine whether they were up to no good. This policy many times served to ferret out additional information about where and from whom the contraband was going or coming. Blowing up minor drug players at sea does little to solve this country’s drug problem.

In addition, the investigations found that drug cartels force many people to be “mules” – innocent carriers of illegal drugs who are operating under the threat of harm to their relatives.

The Coast Guard used the same procedure of firing warning shots to stop Chinese fishing boats in Vietnam that were carrying weapons to the North Vietnamese. This policy, in conjunction with the United States Navy, was very successful and that was in wartime.

As far I know, we are not at war with any South or Central American country!

ROBERT PECK, Agawam

Congress must find its conscience

Conservative Republicans are so desperate to retain their hold on the federal government that they are willing to ignore the deplorable actions of a despot.

When President Trump is not dismantling the White House, subverting the Constitution, threatening Democratic lawmakers with executions and depriving taxpayers of food and fuel, he is throwing lavish parties and state dinners for his billionaire backers and murderous dictators.

In the meantime, ordinary Americans are trying to scrape together enough money to buy a week’s worth of groceries and praying they don’t get ill, because they may have no medical insurance.

This would be the time for Congress to listen to their consciences. That is, if they still have them.

MARILYN SHINE, Springfield

Capitalism failing to serve public

For weeks we have been receiving phone calls asking if we want to sell our home. When we ask who is calling, they vaguely say they are representing buyers. Well, thanks to investigative journalism, we now know what they are up to.

Apparently, wealthy investors nationwide are buying up starter homes in order to control the supply and housing market. Their plan is to sell high, making it even harder for people to afford to buy a home.

We saw this type of exploitation in our area when investors bought apartment buildings only to double and triple the rent, often without addressing maintenance issues (“Ex-Springfield Gardens tenants share living experiences with AG Campbell,” Wednesday).

This is just one example of how U.S. capitalism has been exploited by the top 10%. Decisions are made without input from below and based solely on profitability for themselves and their investors. There is no consideration for employees or what is best for society.

As a result, money flows upwards to those who have more than they can possibly spend, while the rest of us get scraps and struggle.

Richard J. Murphy is a political economist and author of “Funding the Future” blog. He writes, “The goal of society is for all to live well. Profit, if used for social purposes, is beneficial to society. Profit in this context is a fair rate of return for people who invested in businesses created by entrepreneurs to reward them for the risk that they take by creating products and services that literally meet peoples’ needs …. The job of businesses is to supply goods and services at prices that people can afford so that people can have a better life than would otherwise be possible.”

But Murphy insists that profit for the common good is “not the way most big businesses are organized in our society. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. If you look at what most big businesses are obsessed with, it is how they can extract money from people rather than how they can make things. … Profit has become totally detached from responsibility.”

Another economist, Richard Wolff, reports that capitalism took a dark turn in the 1970s when advances in technology and transportation allowed businesses to consider moving out of the country for cheaper labor. And move they did, solely for profitability. Wolff doubts manufacturers will return voluntarily.

Even worse, we cannot depend on politicians swooping in to save us, because so many from both parties govern at the behest of their large donors. Even the Supreme Court has allowed big money to have more power.

Therefore, it must be “We the People” who must insist that capitalism become more democratic. It doesn’t have to be violent, but we must be strong, firm and have enough of us in the fight.

So many of us are already activated on all sides of the political spectrum. Wouldn’t it be great if we could put our differences aside and work together to make capitalism beneficial for us all.

Do you see any other alternative?

DAVID and EILEEN PRATT, Springfield

Lawmakers were paid to do nothing

Am I the only one who sees the irony in this? Some who receive their pay from the federal government were working without checks through the shutdown, for example air traffic controllers, while others, including members of the House of Representatives, were not working but did get paid, thanks to Speaker Johnson.

Just wondering about the fairness of that.

WALLACE ANNE STARKE, Chicopee

IRS long reach felled a famous gangster

There was once a gangster named Al Capone. No matter what the local and federal law enforcers tried in order to get him on criminal charges, they couldn’t.

Then came the IRS, which proved what was what about Capone’s finances. He spent many years in the slammer.

So when you are whacking Mr. Trump, remember that the IRS might be right behind you.

Oh, and by the way, where is the president going to park the 500 or so cars for guests of his new ballroom?

BILLY BYRNES, Holyoke

Lawless attacks in Caribbean

According to PBS Newshour and several other news sources, President Trump has bombed at least 19 small boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific near Venezuela and killed 75 people onboard those boats.

This has occurred with no due process, no examination of the boats or interrogation of the sailors. Trump has decided without evidence or inspection that these boats are bringing drugs to the U.S.

Some of these boats do not appear to have the engine capacity or sufficient fuel on board to reach the U.S. Three survivors of the boat attacks have not been questioned. They were just whisked away, maybe to keep them quiet. If such boats entered U.S. territorial waters, the Coast Guard could intercept and search them. That’s why we have a Coast Guard. That would be the legal process. But Trump is lawless.

And since when does Trump care about drugs coming into the U.S.? In 2018, he pardoned 11 convicted criminals, two of them drug kingpins, because they were his friends. These people were tracked, investigated, brought to trial and convicted by juries. That took a lot of police work and our public tax money.

Getting drugs (narcotics, fentanyl) into the U.S. requires cooperation from inside. If Trump would give pardons to these proven drug kingpins, then he cannot care that much about drugs entering the US. All 11 were personal friends of Trump.

It is more likely that he just wants to bully Venezuela and show the world his bravado as a strongman. Some of those at sea might have been fishermen, like the ones killed off North Korea, or even tourists.

We will never know. We have laws against this sort of thing, international laws as well. It appears that he wants to start a war with Venezuela, Colombia and Nicaragua. His campaign promise about keeping us out of wars? Just another lie.

MALITA BROWN, Wilbraham

$85M pipeline project wrong priority

A Nov. 15 article in The Republican describes legislation introduced by Massachusetts legislators, including state Sen. Adam Gomez and state Rep. Bud Williams, to ban the expansion of gas pipelines in environmental justice communities, except where it is necessary for public safety.

They are doing the right thing for public safety. The thing is, we have choices now that are better, cleaner and cheaper than natural gas. I remember the day a few years ago when a gas company employee knocked on my door. He told me that road work was about to begin on my street and they couldn’t find the gas pipe to my house. He reminded me of the gas explosions in Lawrence and Springfield that destroyed homes and killed an 18-year-old.

Thankfully, he was able to snake a camera through my home’s pipes and mark the pipe.

But I resolved that day to do what I can to get off gas in my home, moving toward a heat pump and an induction stove. It’s a big investment, though, and not everyone can afford it.

The $85 million Eversource wants to spend for 5.3 miles of new gas lines in Longmeadow and Springfield could go a long way toward helping folks who want to move to cleaner energy to do that, too.

MARY JANE ELSE, South Hadley

Contrasting two presidents

The new president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, paid a visit to the White House Nov. 10. A week or two previously, he closed down his brother’s business, and he warned the rest of his family not to try to cash in on the family name.

So this man, a former jihadist linked to al-Qaida, is less corrupt than the man masquerading as president of the United States of America.

Let that sink in.

DANA VICALVI, Hampden

What happened to common sense?

“We are a nation of laws not men.” This principle, shaped by John Adams over 250 years ago, remains as relevant today as it did at the founding of our nation. Today that foundational idea is under assault by a convicted felon. Donald Trump has corrupted and desecrated the heart of what made America exceptional in the eyes of the world.

He has twisted the Department of Justice into his own tool for retribution. Along with this, Trump has besmirched and crippled the FBI, ICE, DEA and ATF (America’s top law enforcement agencies) into pathetic shells of what they once were.

Officials at these agencies are reduced to being hapless shrills of a vain and pathological liar.

Trump, a would-be king, sits in the White House untouchable and immune to the consequences of his lawlessness. For all this we can thank the Supreme Court, which inexplicably and senselessly gave the president complete immunity from his lawlessness.

These inept jurists created a new monarch.

In the last year, I have tried, as have others, to use truth and facts to reach readers of The Republican who still support Trump and alert them to the danger this man poses to our democracy.

After months of reading submissions to the newspaper praising Trump, it is obvious I have failed. I believe now that only pain will get through.

I mean the pain of when a young couple can no longer hope to purchase a home, when grocery prices become crippling, when health costs spiral out of reach for the average family and when people start dying from diseases that were once eradicated.

When our air and water become befouled, when the purity and safety of our food becomes compromised, when brutal and masked agents of the government drag you off the streets and “disappear” you without due process and when you can no longer vote in a free and fair election.

And when the color of your skin makes you a target of the intolerant and when the last vestiges of a free democracy are shattered – will this be the time that people wake up?

Civility and common sense must come to the forefront again. We need to break from our tribal positions and end the crippling polarization that has gripped our nation.

Truth, honor, courage, faith, integrity and character are missing today. We, as a nation, must find these attributes again. One of the wisest of our nation’s founders, Thomas Paine, said it best: “The true greatness of a nation is founded on the principle of humanity.”

KEN CHAPIN, Westfield

On those who back pedophiles

I guess defending pedophiles is the natural progression for people who don’t care if kids get shot in school.

DAN GALLAGHER, Springfield

What voters must remember

Now that the government shutdown has come to a close, achieving little of what Democrats sought, many Democrats, particularly those in the more progressive wing, are upset about the outcome.

I, however, am not quite as upset.

Just as it is difficult to view starvation in Gaza, or in Sudan, or in Haiti, it is unconscionable to allow starvation to occur in the wealthiest country in the world. I fully understand the urgent need for affordable health insurance.

If one were dealing with a rational, compassionate president and a Republican Party capable of taking a breath without the blessing of their leader, it might have been possible to negotiate both a government shutdown and insurance premiums at the same time.

Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Despite the message that Trump and the Republican Party should have taken from recent election results, Trump has made it clear he is willing to use starvation as a weapon and as a negotiating tool (to the point of appealing court decisions and opposing states that would have the audacity to attempt to feed the hungry).

It would have been cruel to have allowed this to continue much longer.

Hopefully Senate Majority Leader John Thune will keep his word and negotiate the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits in good faith once the government is open. I wouldn’t count on it.

But in the meantime, the message should be loud and clear that only one party cares about feeding those who are hungry and providing affordable health care for all. Voters must remember this a year from now.

RON BERGER, East Longmeadow