Opinion

Guest columnist Barry Hirsch: Palestinians should turn to Israel for real path to peace

By BARRY HIRSCH

Last month, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Mohammad Mustafa to be the new prime minister. Here is the speech I would love to hear him give: It is time that we admit that we made a mistake in 1948 when we decided that Israel...

Patricia Crosby: Meeting of Friends call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza

By PATRICIA CROSBY

 As Friends (Quakers), we respect the humanity of all people, which is why we have sought nonviolent responses to conflict anywhere. Our experience teaches us that violence only creates hatred, fear, hopelessness, and endless new cycles of war and...

Columnist Richard Fein: National debt — A threat to our nation’s future

By RICHARD FEIN

This is an update on a column I wrote last year about a threat to our future well-being: the national debt. To summarize, unless the debt crisis is brought under control soon the future will be much more difficult for you, your children, grandchildren...

My Turn: The pecking order revolution: Massachusetts’ fight for animal rights

By ROB MOIR and MIKE SALGUERO

 Massachusetts residents care about the living conditions of egg-laying hens, veal calves, and pigs. In November 2016, voters passed Ballot Question 3, the Massachusetts Minimum Size Requirements for Farm Animal Containment. With a sweeping majority...

Kate Hamel: We need grassroots democracy

We need grassroots democracyThe current emphasis on federal politics over state politics is slowly killing the nation and its people. The Founding Fathers believed in a union of states, each with its own governing body and unified by a shared...

Adam Siegel: For Lease

We had a pretty little gift shop in Amherst, briefly. Botanica, open for about six months, attracted a lot of business … on the day it closed. When everything went on sale. Let's do better Amherst.Adam SiegelAmherst

Columnist Andrea Ayvazian: Standing as witness to Armenian martyrs

By THE REV. ANDREA AYVAZIAN

My sister Gina had the proclamation framed and she displays it prominently on her wall. It means so much to our family. The Proclamation of the City of Northampton marking Armenian Martyrs’ Day, dated April 24, 2018, is signed by then-Mayor David...

Taylor Guss: Northampton's zoning should align with its climate goals

Humanity is currently facing the crisis of a generation with climate change. We exceeded 1.3 degrees Celsius of warming in 2023, just shy of 1.5 degrees, the threshold scientists warn could have catastrophic consequences for the planet. Northampton...

Guest columnist Bill Dwight: How to make sense of Northampton’s school budget dilemma

By BILL DWIGHT

 Before 2013, our school budget process was an annual exercise in misery. Then it wasn’t. Now it is again. A review of the history can help get us back on track.Proposition 2½ limits to 2.5% how much Massachusetts cities can annually increase their...

Columnist Russ Vernon-Jones: Climate solutions tough, but can be done

By RUSS VERNON-JONES

My column last month, “Solving humanity’s shared climate crisis” noted that greenhouse gas emissions anywhere, cause climate change everywhere. I explained the importance of the countries that have gotten rich burning fossil fuels providing funds to...

Bridget Miller: Why walkability is the pathway to a healthy Amherst community

By BRIDGET MILLER

Picture a quiet rural town where the charm of winding roads and open spaces should invite pleasant walks and friendly encounters. Yet, instead of a stroll, residents navigate treacherous paths and dodge traffic on roads devoid of sidewalks or safe...

Ben Tobin: Another educational song and dance

As a kid growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s in western Massachusetts, watching Malcolm in the Middle — the saga of a fourth-wall busting child prodigy and his family — was a staple of post-school hours. Jumping forward to present times, and my...

David Sloviter: The ghosts of Warsaw don't really speak

It’s not really fair to use conversations with ghosts and other dead people to justify one’s personal opinion. Guest columnist Richard Bogartz admitted that he does not believe in ghosts but then uses what he believes he hears them say [“What the...

Guest columnist Mariel E. Addis: Under seige from all sides

By MARIEL E. ADDIS

 When I first heard John Lennon’s masterpiece “Imagine,” and heard the line “imagine no religion,” I thought, “How awful is that; religion is a good thing!” Probably in junior high at the time, I couldn’t understand the significance of the line. I do...

Columnist Johanna Neumann: Reaping the rewards of rooftop solar

By JOHANNA NEUMANN

This week my boys and I are visiting my mom and stepdad for April break. Shortly after we arrived, they proudly gave us a tour of their new PV solar array, which they had installed on the south face of their home earlier this year. My stepdad, Rick,...

Julia Riseman: Join Friends of Northampton Trails

It's spring! I can't wait to pump up my bike tires and get back on the rail trails. We are so lucky. Northampton enjoys extensive, beautiful, and accessible trails that knit our community together. I feel so grateful for the Friends of Northampton...

Justine McCarthy and Ed Lamoureux: Political will needed to benefit from new power line technology

Political will needed to benefit from new power line technologyRecent news articles about upgrading power lines with new, lighter, higher-capacity wiring have us feeling hopeful. We’d like the Gazette to report on this process, called advanced...

Shelly Berkowitz: More examples of corporate greed

Many kudos to Olin Rose-Bardawil for writing a column in which he (sadly) documents many excellent examples showing how corporate financial interests hijack and seriously undermine the very necessary regulatory functions of our government agencies,...

Guest columnist Jim Palermo: Beware the zeitgeist! It’s bad for our kids

By JIM PALERMO

 I ran into a friend who asked why I had not for a long while submitted columns to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. I responded that I had not written because I was overwhelmed by the myriad issues that threaten out great country; that gnaw at the very...