Welp, gonna make some people unhappy here.
I know that many in the GMD community (including my valued colleague Sue Prent) are appalled by yesterday’s Air Force decision to site F-35s at BTV.
I’m sorry, but I’m just not that upset. I agree with our Congressional delegation and our Governor: there are pluses and minuses to the decision, and the minuses can be managed through diligent oversight and cooperation among all involved parties. Two subsidiary thoughts:
— The best argument I’ve heard against the F-35 is that it’s a waste of money. Unnecessary, and mechanically problematic. But that’s an argument for a whole different arena. We can’t stop construction of the F-35 by opposing its presence at our airport.
— The real problem isn’t the F-35 or F-16. It’s the location of the airport. It’s too close to developed areas and housing. In the absence of a radical solution — like, oh, moving the whole shebang to South Hero or maybe Charlotte — the airport’s operation is inevitably going to require diligent oversight and cooperation. Maybe the pending arrival of the F-35 will lead to a better system for handling the inherent conflict between airport and neighborhood.
There was another item in yesterday’s news that was more upsetting than the F-35 decision:
Vermont’s bumble bees are in serious peril, according to a new study by the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. Three of the 15 bumble bee species found in Vermont are thought to be extinct and at least one other species is in decline. Bumble bees pollinate crops such as apples, blueberries and tomatoes, making them critical to Vermont’s agricultural economy.
… Native bumble bees are more important than honeybees for crop pollination. Leif Richardson, an entomologist at Dartmouth College, said in a VCE news release that “Wild bees perform the majority of all pollination on Vermont farms, whether or not the managed honeybee is present.”
This truly scares me, much more than the arrival of a new fighter plane. Aside from the real threat to agriculture, it’s another signpost on the road to a very different, less hospitable, planet Earth. And state of Vermont.
We spend a lot of time fighting change, especially the big identifiable items like F-35s or natural gas pipelines, but we don’t seem to focus on the much more fundamental, but less visible, threats to the Vermont way of life.
And no, I’m not all that worked up about the gas pipeline either. The real issue isn’t whether Vermont remains untainted by the presence of Evil Fracked Gas; it’s whether we can find alternatives to hydrofracking and tar sands extraction and (Lord help us) exploitation of polar resources made accessible by climate change. The best way to do that is by developing viable and, dare I say it, profitable, renewable energy industries.
I’m a huge fan of Governor Shumlin’s plan to transition Vermont to single-payer health care. I really, really hope it works, so Vermont can be a model for the rest of the nation. Similarly, I want Vermont to become a leader and a model in creating a green economy, through energy efficiency and development of low-carbon or carbon-free energy sources. Including, yes, ridgeline wind and utility-scale solar farms and hydropower. And biofuels, if they make economic and environmental sense.
Back to the bees. There are many causes for their decline, almost all having to do with human impact. Invasive pathogens brought here from Europe with imported bees; changes in land use patterns; and, worst of all, pesticides commonly available at lawn and garden stores. Yeah, we’re killing the bees for the sake of greener grass.
There are fixes to the bumble bee crisis. But I suspect that this alarming story will soon slip away*, even as copious amounts of time, energy, and attention continue to be spent on the F-35. And the pipeline. And opposition to wind and solar development.
*Kudos to VTDigger and VPR for actually covering it. As far as I can tell, our print media judged it unworthy of attention.
I know that concern about bumble bees and F-35s is not mutually exclusive. But our time and energy is finite, and far too much of it is being spent on things that, in the grand scheme of things, simply don’t matter that much.
We need to rethink our priorities and focus our energies on the most crucial issues we face. The F-35 just isn’t one of those.
The noise problem, is a real problem for those in Burlington. BUT, for the rest of the country there is also an issue with one more redundant weapon system that is destroying the economy.
The # 1 issue is that the F-35 is a weapon of mass destruction, designed to kill fellow human beings.
My concern for the bees continues, but it is not incompatible with other concerns.
I suspect that if any of us lived in the neighborhood surrounding the airport, we’d consider it an important issue, too.
While impacts on human health and safety continue to form the focal point of arguments against the siting, one cannot dismiss potential impacts on local wildlife, including waterfowl, bats and bees as beyond the realm of possibility.
Rather conveniently, there is no data available on any of these impacts because, in practical fact, siting the planes in the midst of a population center is a completely novel experiment. And South Burlington is the test lab.
In fact there are many different reasons to object to the siting, but I can think of only two arguments in support: economics and mission insurance for the Vermont Air National Guard.
As has been demonstrated time and again, the simple economics referenced in claims to generate or protect jobs does not take into consideration subtle economic impacts of bad environmental decisions. So forgive me if I remain skeptical of those arguments.
– Siting the F-35 in a densely populated area,
– killing off our pollinators,
– expecting industrial wind to save us from ourselves, etc, etc..
I see these as all of the same piece – humans aren’t going to put the brakes on our way of life and demand that profits not come before people (and bees). We mouth such priorities and rethink them – even focus on them – but I don’t believe we are capable of pulling ourselves out of the stew we’ve cooked. With any luck some of those creatures going about their business will inherit what’s left of the earth. Meek creatures, bumblebees.
I live knowing that bees matter – I mow little and grow food sources for pollinators and fashion nests for those above ground. I offer pollen from tree fruits, bush fruit, ground fruits, flowers, weeds, wildflowers, vegetables and hayfields in abundance. I consume relatively little and use no chemicals or gas-spewing aids in my yard and garden. Scythes, arms, backs and hands do the work.
But while my priorities favor the lives of the innocents – be they bees, black rhinos or children living in military/industrial/energy ghettos – I am what’s known as collapse aware and don’t expect a rabbit to be pulled from a hat and life to go on as we now know it. I am rooting for those creatures tenacious enough to survive our folly. I have accepted what I see coming and I’ll live as mindfully as I can until I cannot. There’s a clear peace to coming to this understanding..perhaps things are sorting out as they should.
The smaller is to the greater as the greater is to the whole. That whole butterfly flapping its wings thing? Yeah. That. No, the F35 isn’t going to kill off the rest of the pollinators. But if we can’t agree to limit the basing of an untested machine designed to kill people – I don’t see how we can agree to work on climate, energy, or even honeybees. For me, the decision to base in Burlington (where the wife and I already have to pause conversations when commercial airliners fly over – and wait out the house shaking when the F16s take off to keep those pesky Canadians in line) – is an exclamation point on the type of society we’ve decided to become.