Mountain Times - Vol. 49, No. 53 - Dec. 30, 2020 - Jan 2, 2021

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Opinion 16 • The Mountain Times • Dec. 30, 2020 - Jan. 5, 2021 OP-ED A hunch and a New Year’s wish By Angelo Lynn With the New Year upon us, let’s look for silver linings. Nine months into this pandemic, for instance, we have fine-tuned the art of looking at bleakness and coming up with ways to smile. We’ve turned panic of the unknown into a calm resignation of semi-isolation. We are learning how to infuse those longer stretches of isolation — particularly from family and close friends — with outdoor activities, masked up and social distanced, accepting close proximity in abeyance of hugs. We gladly accept bike rides, runs, hiking in the woods with friends instead of a beer-laden barbecue in a neighbor’s backyard. Vermonters have learned the art of socially distanced engagement well. And, bless this little state for its good nature, Vermonters have been among the most diligent at safeguarding those around them; their friends and neighbors, their town’s folk — who, even if they don’t know them personally, still care enough to be respectful of their health. These are small sacrifices for big returns. And it has been so refreshing to watch as most Vermonters Vermonters have been among the most diligent at safeguarding those around them... These are small sacrifices for big returns. reject the insensitive idea that it was their right to inflict harm on their neighbors in order to protect their own warped vision of individual freedoms and rights. A year ago that would not seem like such a huge distinction, but in light of this past year, it is. The silver lining is realizing how special this Vermont community truly is. When times are tough, Vermonters have each other’s backs simply because they care about their neighbors, and they intuitively know that’s far more important than this nation’s politics when it’s caught up in a stormy web of deceit, unhinged egos and personal fortunes. The fog on the national scale is not always easy to see through. Priorities get confused, messages are easily twisted and contorted; the allure of rhetorical frenzy can be mesmerizing. Lemmings can follow leaders in dangerous directions — including off the proverbial cliff. Politically, this is a year in which we have truly seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Trump and many of his supporters were in rare form all year — first in denying the virus, rejecting science and common sense, and insisting on individual freedoms that caused deadly harm to friends and neighbors. That same kind of destructive ignorance was later manifested in their refusal to believe election results, swearing allegiance to a would-be tyrant with shouts of 12 more years, ranting at court decisions and Republicans state officials who wouldn’t overturn what those in office knew was the correct election outcome. It was ugly. Too frequently those caught up in the thrall of righteousness showed their hatefulness and spite toward other Americans, yelling, ranting, harassing and spreading false information as if it were their own gospel to the darker side of the human spirit. In that darkness, Trump’s lies, conspiracies and temptations captured the souls of 70 million Americans, each fueled by a willingness to believe in false promise, and for those in leadership, a willingness to bear false witness. New Year's > 18 LETTERS Covid-19 is winding down Dear Editor, As 2020 comes to an end (and no one is sad to see it go), the Woodstock Area Relief Fund (WARF) is winding down Covid-19 relief activities. The fund was established as a shortterm measure to get folks through these economic challenges until they could get back on their feet. It is the intent of WARF to fill the gaps of these other programs, and to provide more immediate and timely assistance specifically to individuals and families in the Windsor Central Supervisory Union (Barnard, Bridgewater, Killington, Plymouth, Pomfret, Reading, and Woodstock) for food, medicine, shelter, and childcare. For some, that hasn’t happened quite yet, but WARF volunteers are diligently guiding every applicant to the many longer-term resources that are better equipped than WARF to provide ongoing support. Although WARF has ceased fundraising efforts, a number of generous endof-year donations allows WARF to maintain our current commitments and still help some more families with basic household needs while funds remain. Please apply if you’ve been impacted by the Covid crisis and are still struggling financially. Looking ahead, we’re ensuring that the organization can be quickly revived in response to future community-wide crises, and we are initiating conversations with local financialrelief organizations about Please apply if you’ve been impacted by the Covid crisis and are still struggling financially. a coordinated approach to providing needed support during “normal” times with initial goals of simplifying access and using community resources efficiently. In the meantime, we’d like to thank the many WARF donors and volunteers (especially the caseworkers) who so generously donated their time, effort, and money to help neighbors in need. It’s a different holiday season for sure but we wish you much joy as the year comes to the close and best wishes for a healthy New Year! The WARF Volunteers 2020 hindsight by Dave Whamond, Canada, PoliticalCartoons.com Red Crossers shine bright Dear Editor, As one of the longest and most challenging years of our lives draws to a close — with the promise of a vaccine offset by the gravity of staggering infection rates and devastating loss of loved ones — I would like to take a moment to reflect on the amazing resilience of our Red Cross partners. The Red Cross, born of a desire to bring assistance without discrimination to the wounded on the battlefield, endeavors to prevent and alleviate human suffering on a global scale. As all of us can attest, there has been no shortage of human suffering in 2020. However, it is in these dark times that the passion and tenacity of Red Crossers shine the brightest. To this end, I want to acknowledge all who have enabled the continuance of our mission this year. Thank you to the staff who have risen to every challenge that Covid has presented — from creating physically distanced emergency shelters and delivering nocontact meals, to developing nationwide antibody testing and producing an entirely new blood product in convalescent plasma. Thank you to our amazing Vermont volunteers who have — throughout the pandemic — deployed to areas ravaged by hurricanes and wildfires, staffed blood drives, responded to house fires, and supported veterans. Thank you to our corporate partners and financial supporters, who continued to acknowledge the value of supporting the Red Cross. And of course, thank you to our blood donors and blood drive sponsors who helped us to secure the nation’s blood supply and recover from critical shortages experienced in the spring. Indeed, as we reflect on 2020, it is important to look beyond tragedy and hardship and to recognize the tremendous resilience displayed by our state. This was evidenced by the leadership of our governor and public health officials, and by all government workers who continued to execute the business of governing amid numerous challenges. It was exemplified by our healthcare workers, who unflinchingly stepped into the breach to combat this novel virus, and our educators and students who met the challenges of remote, hybrid and in-person learning. So too, by our essential workers who made Red Cross > 17
The Mountain Times • Dec. 30, 2020 - Jan. 5, 2021 OPINION• 17 CAPITOL QUOTES On the end of 2020 and hopes for 2021... “This year has been tough, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel. It’s more important than ever to be careful to get there safely,” said Gov. Phil Scott “From Covid-19 and the economy to climate change and racial justice — our nation is facing four historic crises at once. And come January, there will be no time to waste. That’s why my team and I are hard at work preparing to take action on day one,” said President-Elect Joe Biden “In this dangerous moment – Covid, oligarchy, economic desperation, climate change, a dysfunctional health care system, systemic racism, etc. – we must continue fighting for a political revolution and transformative change. Nothing less than the future of the world is at stake,” said Congressman Bernie Sanders “Under Operation Warp Speed, we’re on track to vaccinate 20M before years end. We’re at the beginning of the end of the Coronavirus pandemic!” said VP Mike Pence “The Biden administration can solve the challenge of hunger in America and improve our capacity to take on other big fights — climate, healthcare, justice. Hard to do big things on an empty stomach,” said Senator Beto O’Rourke “Goodbye and good riddance, Betsy Devos. Can’t wait to see our schools flourish under an Education Secretary who cares more about thriving students than a thriving bank account,” said Congresswoman Ilhan Omar COMMENTARY The tip of the iceberg: Nature and the pandemic How our disregard for nature is making us sick By Tom Rogers On a warm summer evening this past July, I arrived home feeling unusually worn down. I’d been exhausted all day, and I was soon overcome with waves of crippling chills, my fever spiked, and I spent the night sweating through my sheets. I drove to the clinic the next morning thinking I would be added to the growing number of Covid-19 cases in the state. Instead, the doctor examined me and quickly came to another conclusion. “It’s Lyme disease,” she said with confidence, “or a similar tick-borne illness.” I was not alone in contracting Lyme disease this summer. Most years, Vermont is either first or second in the nation in per capita cases of Lyme, and prior to the pandemic, Lyme was the fastest growing infectious disease outbreak in the country. This growth in Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses is a result of development patterns that have created the ideal conditions for ticks to thrive. As sprawl has taken over the eastern United States in recent decades, and native plants have been crowded out by tangled mats of invasive weeds like barberry and honeysuckle, tick numbers have exploded. Worse still, climate change is pushing black-legged ticks northward, with projections for their range to double in the next fifty years. Ticks are increasingly spreading nasty diseases, with symptoms ranging from the life-threatening (babesiosis) to the weird (alpha-gal syndrome causes an allergy to red meat). Forest fragmentation, and the resulting wildlife that are pushed into recently deforested areas, make it easier for many infectious diseases to spread to humans. In the Iceberg > 18 Earth rising in 2021? It’s up to us By Michael J. Caduto It was one of our country’s most turbulent years. Demonstrations and riots demanding equality were staged nationwide. Gunshots rang out. World leaders threatened military force to control protesters while millions of sympathizers joined demonstrators on the front lines. A foreign war dragged on, seemingly with no end. Daily news reports shared heart-rending stories of thousands of people who had died. Political upheavals wracked the country as a contentious presidential election came down to the wire. This could easily describe 2020, but these events occurred more than 50 years ago. In 1968 the United States was riven by divisive nationwide protests against the Vietnam War. Our sense of civility and national security was rocked by the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. After a tumultuous year, on Dec. 24, 1968, people from across the land stared at their television screens in a rare unifying moment, mesmerized as Apollo 8 astronauts Jim Lovell, Bill Anders and Frank > Red Cross: Thank you to all who have helped ensure blood supply from page 16 quarantine living possible, and by everyone who has been negatively affected by this pandemic. We are proud of our state and our Red Cross sponsors, donors, staff and volunteers who have persevered through this pandemic. While it may be far from over, the end is in sight, and we have demonstrated that we have the determination and fortitude to see this through. As we navigate a physically distant holiday season, please be safe and well, and appreciate all that we have accomplished and Borman became the first humans to leave low Earth orbit and circle the moon. During this flight, Anders took several now-famous photographs of Earth rising above the cold lifeless lunar horizon. The juxtaposition of our blue home planet next to the moon’s stark cratered surface, and surrounded by the vastness of space, presented humankind with a perspective that emblazoned in our consciousness a symbol of how finite and fragile Earth really is. Earlier in 1968 Paul Ehrlich had published “The Population Bomb,” a seminal book that warned of the environmental impacts caused by overpopulation—at a time when the global population was less than half of today’s nearly 8 billion people. Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog began publication in the autumn of 1968 and quickly became a bible for everything from green products and engineering plans to grassroots wisdom that fed a passion for taking personal control away from the establishment and going back to the land. (In contrast, 2020’s exploding interest in Earth rising > 19 endured. On behalf of the board of directors of the Vermont Red Cross, Michael Lash, Shelburne , Board Chair of VT Red Cross Kevin Mazuzan, Williston, Exec. Director of VT Red Cross
Page 1 and 2: Mou nta i n Ti m e s Vol. 49, Numbe
Page 3 and 4: The Mountain Times • Dec. 30, 202
Page 15: The Mountain Times • Dec. 30, 202
Page 29 and 30: Food Matters The Mountain Times •
Page 33 and 34: ATM The Mountain Times • Dec. 30,
Page 41 and 42: Service Directory The Mountain Time

Mountain Times - Vol. 49, No. 53 - Dec. 30, 2020 - Jan 2, 2021

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?