The Traprock Blog
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- Planet health and human health intertwinedby Traprock Web ManagerCOLUMN, Greenfield Recorder, June 2, 2025 A postcard I use as a bookmarker contains a set of principles for gardening in urban soils for minimizing risks to human health from exposure to lead and other contaminants. Developed many years ago for Boston Natural Areas Network by Dr. Wendy Heiger-Bernays, a toxicologist, and myself, I now… Read more: Planet health and human health intertwined
- NONVIOLENCE AND DE-ESCALATION RESOURCES by Traprock Web Manager1) SAFETY AND DE-ESCALATION, 2) NONVIOLENCE and DIRECT ACTION 3) LEGAL, 4) ORGANIZING METHODS, 5) ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Active Nonviolence definitions WALLY NELSON: Nonviolence is the constant awareness of the dignity and humanity of oneself and others; it seeks truth and justice; it renounces violence both in method and in attitude; it is a courageous acceptance… Read more: NONVIOLENCE AND DE-ESCALATION RESOURCES
- Pair of events center on promoting peace, dialogueby Traprock Web ManagerOriginally published in the Greenfield Recorder SARAH PIRTLE Published: 05-12-2025 1:01 PM “Weaving Circles of Peace: What Dialogue Looks Like” will be offered in two locations in Franklin County this month. Both events, which are free and open to the public, begin with the showing of a short film about young people’s peace discoveries at… Read more: Pair of events center on promoting peace, dialogue
- Natural world’s gift economy has lessons for allby Traprock Web ManagerCOLUMN H. PATRICIA HYNES FROM GLOBAL TO LOCAL No one wrote more powerfully about humans’ poisoning the Earth and its consequences than biologist Rachel Carson — with a focus on one contaminant, the pesticide DDT. She traced its toxicity through the food chain of nature and the loss of beneficial insects and birds, and then… Read more: Natural world’s gift economy has lessons for all
- NATO: What You Need To Knowby Traprock Web ManagerA book by Medea Benjamin and David Swanson (2024) REVIEW Parke Burgess- Board Member of Traprock January 11, 2025 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) tends to get deferential treatment from the mainstream media and, consequently, the majority of people in the United States. In the popular imagination, NATO is simply an extension of the… Read more: NATO: What You Need To Know
- A Sign of Hopeby Traprock Web ManagerLast Saturday morning, April 12, I co-led with Court Dorsey a mini-nonviolence training in Montague. If you remember that morning you woke to cold weather, snow or rain, a most unappealing day! Despite the weather about 100 people came to the meeting hall. They came, some said because they wanted to stand with our neighbors,… Read more: A Sign of Hope
- 350 People and a Brass Band Attend Hands Off! Conway Stands for Democracy Event on April 5by Traprock Web ManagerHands Off! Conway Stands for Democracy crowds and Conway Town Hall Expandable Brass Band plays for the crowds at Hands Off! Conway Stands for Democracy Looking north toward downtown Conway at Hands Off! Conway Stands for Democracy crowds Despite cold, rainy weather, 350 people and a brass band showed up in downtown Conway on April… Read more: 350 People and a Brass Band Attend Hands Off! Conway Stands for Democracy Event on April 5
- Resistance is alive and wellby Traprock Web ManagerCOLUMN, Greenfield Recorder, April 2, 2025 The Republican administration’s edicts — imposed by broligarchs President Trump and Elon Musk — are with us for the next two to four years. Who or what will defeat them? Not the inside-the-Beltway Democratic politicians. Most are supine and silent, or cautious and cowardly, or helping to advance certain… Read more: Resistance is alive and well
- On Int’l Women’s Day: Women’s Equality: What will it Take, What will it Yield?by Traprock Web ManagerBy H. Patricia Hynes Greenfield, Mass. – International Women’s Day (now March 8) had its origins in great social unrest, turbulence and critical debate among women in Western countries regarding their oppressive working conditions in factories and their lack of voting rights. Marching through New York City in 1908, 15,000 women demanded shorter hours, better… Read more: On Int’l Women’s Day: Women’s Equality: What will it Take, What will it Yield?
- Gen Z workers driving unions’ comebackby Traprock Web ManagerCOLUMN My father was a family doctor in the mid 20th century whose main political issue was socialized medicine, which he preached against to his “large, poor family,” as he liked to describe us. Dad never turned away a patient who couldn’t pay and brought in indigent patients from his office to have dinner with… Read more: Gen Z workers driving unions’ comeback