Musician and peace activist Michael Franti of San Francisco www.spearheadvibrations.com will play with his band at the Green River Festival www.greenriverfestival.com on July 18 at Greenfield Community College.

Franti performed live in the studio at Brattleboro Community Radio as a benefit for the station. www.wvew.org

Here are some of the lyrics to Franti’s song, “Bomb the World to Pieces.”

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We can chase down all our enemies,
bring them to their knees.

We can bomb the world to pieces
but we can’t bomb it into peace

Violence brings one thing:

As of July 8, this sign was visible to motorists heading south on the freeway in Bernardston, Mass., near Greenfield and the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The sign was put up at least a week earlier. Vermont Yankee is owned by Entergy Corp. of Louisiana. Residents of towns near the reactor have voted overwhelmingly to close Vermont Yankee. For background on this issue, please see:

http://valleypost.org/2007/11/09/what-can-history-nuclear-power-teach-us...

and click the "nuclear power" tag at the top of this article.

A recent incident on a Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus has set off a surge of advocacy efforts in support of the right of mothers to breastfeed in public places. On June 16, a PVTA driver asked a woman to stop nursing her baby daughter. When she refused, he insisted that she, the baby, and her 7-year-old son get off the bus.

More than 250 people turned out for a second public hearing on a proposed polluting power plant in Greenfield on June 25. City officials allowed only about 12 people to speak, though many more members of the public wanted to speak. Of those who spoke, only one was in favor of the proposal.

This photo, taken on June 4, shows the view looking north from Massachusetts Route 2 on the Greenfield/Gill town line. The river is tested by the state of New Hampshire and other agencies and is now safe for swimming. (For many years it was too polluted.) Please click on the photo to enlarge it. photo by Eesha Williams

A major goal of Greenfield Mayor Christine Forgey has been to build a Wal-Mart or a similar “big box” store on an area of open land that’s too far from downtown to easily reach on foot. On April 21, in a primary election, Forgey was voted out of office. In June, voters will choose from two candidates for mayor.

“I was glad the mayor was voted out,” said John Ward, co-owner of the Solar Store www.GreenfieldSolarStore.com on Fiske Avenue in downtown Greenfield. “Open space doesn’t have to be paved just because it’s open space.”

Food co-ops keep consumers’ money in the local community, unlike chain supermarkets like Stop and Shop or Price Chopper. The Greenfield food co-op opened in 1980; the Brattleboro one, also in business for decades, is the size of a small supermarket.

Greenfield activists fight to save their downtown, and wetlands along the French King Highway, from the effects of sprawl.

In Greenfield, a group of citizens is fighting plans by a Connecticut developer to build a massive store and parking lot on a piece of land that's home to several wetlands.