SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
'What Would Thoreau Do?' Community Builds Replica of Walden Pond Cabin to Block Pipeline
The timber-frame cabin becomes a 'symbol of resistance' to Kinder Morgan pipeline in Massachusetts
Mar 18, 2016
"The authority of government... is still an impure one: to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed."
Inspired by such lines from Henry David Thoreau's 1849 essay "Civil Disobedience," a local timber-frame builder in Ashfield, Massachusetts, has constructed a replica of the author's Walden Pond cabin directly in the path of a proposed Kinder Morgan fracked gas pipeline, The Recorder reported this week.
"In relation to this pipeline, the will of the people is not really being listened to," explained the builder, Will Elwell, to the local newspaper. "We're just getting bombarded and railroaded through without [officials] being empathetic to our concerns."
"If you read some of Thoreau's work, some of the lines in there are pretty apropos to what's happening these days to our government."
--Will ElwellThe natural gas pipeline has been fiercely opposed by local residents of the Berkshires, a region renowned for its natural beauty. The nearly $5 billion pipeline project would run through Ashfield, Conway, Shelburne, Deerfield, Montague, Erving, Northfield, and Warwick, The Recorder reported, where "there are wetlands, rivers, springs, farms and forests."
Local citizens' concerns range from breathing air released from compressor stations to noise pollution and the potential for disastrous pipeline breakages, according to the Berkshire Eagle.
In another show of opposition, a 200-person march sponsored by the local direct action resistance campaign Sugar Shack Alliance is currently taking place along the whole 53-mile pipeline path to protest its construction. The trek began Thursday and is estimated to take four days.
One protester told The Recorder that she chose to take part in the march because "corporate takeover of land protected by the state is not inevitable. We can't continue to look at all this as inevitable; we have to take action."
Elwell finished constructing the 10-by-15-foot cabin on Wednesday. The construction was sanctioned by the town, whose selectboard members oppose the pipeline project, and even boasted a proper building permit sticker.
"We're here doing our job--to oppose the pipeline," a selectboard member told The Recorder, which also reports that "the town adopted a resolution to oppose the controversial pipeline last year."
Another selectboard member recently asked town meeting members to approve spending $10 million on a legal fight to oppose the pipeline's construction, The Recorder reported.
Elwell told the newspaper, "I feel I have to do something. Ideally, I would love to see a structure along the pipeline everywhere it intersects a road."
Across the border in Monadnock, N.H., a small town the pipeline would also pass through, local citizen Coni Porter wondered in an op-ed, "What would Thoreau think?"
"I believe he would talk about a future not dependent on fossil fuels," Porter argued, "he would speak about the power of the sun, wind, and water."
"If you read some of Thoreau's work, some of the lines in there are pretty apropos to what's happening these days to our government," Elwell told The Recorder as he worked on his post-and-beam construction.
"Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect," Thoreau declared in 1849, "and that will be one step toward obtaining it."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
"The authority of government... is still an impure one: to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed."
Inspired by such lines from Henry David Thoreau's 1849 essay "Civil Disobedience," a local timber-frame builder in Ashfield, Massachusetts, has constructed a replica of the author's Walden Pond cabin directly in the path of a proposed Kinder Morgan fracked gas pipeline, The Recorder reported this week.
"In relation to this pipeline, the will of the people is not really being listened to," explained the builder, Will Elwell, to the local newspaper. "We're just getting bombarded and railroaded through without [officials] being empathetic to our concerns."
"If you read some of Thoreau's work, some of the lines in there are pretty apropos to what's happening these days to our government."
--Will ElwellThe natural gas pipeline has been fiercely opposed by local residents of the Berkshires, a region renowned for its natural beauty. The nearly $5 billion pipeline project would run through Ashfield, Conway, Shelburne, Deerfield, Montague, Erving, Northfield, and Warwick, The Recorder reported, where "there are wetlands, rivers, springs, farms and forests."
Local citizens' concerns range from breathing air released from compressor stations to noise pollution and the potential for disastrous pipeline breakages, according to the Berkshire Eagle.
In another show of opposition, a 200-person march sponsored by the local direct action resistance campaign Sugar Shack Alliance is currently taking place along the whole 53-mile pipeline path to protest its construction. The trek began Thursday and is estimated to take four days.
One protester told The Recorder that she chose to take part in the march because "corporate takeover of land protected by the state is not inevitable. We can't continue to look at all this as inevitable; we have to take action."
Elwell finished constructing the 10-by-15-foot cabin on Wednesday. The construction was sanctioned by the town, whose selectboard members oppose the pipeline project, and even boasted a proper building permit sticker.
"We're here doing our job--to oppose the pipeline," a selectboard member told The Recorder, which also reports that "the town adopted a resolution to oppose the controversial pipeline last year."
Another selectboard member recently asked town meeting members to approve spending $10 million on a legal fight to oppose the pipeline's construction, The Recorder reported.
Elwell told the newspaper, "I feel I have to do something. Ideally, I would love to see a structure along the pipeline everywhere it intersects a road."
Across the border in Monadnock, N.H., a small town the pipeline would also pass through, local citizen Coni Porter wondered in an op-ed, "What would Thoreau think?"
"I believe he would talk about a future not dependent on fossil fuels," Porter argued, "he would speak about the power of the sun, wind, and water."
"If you read some of Thoreau's work, some of the lines in there are pretty apropos to what's happening these days to our government," Elwell told The Recorder as he worked on his post-and-beam construction.
"Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect," Thoreau declared in 1849, "and that will be one step toward obtaining it."
"The authority of government... is still an impure one: to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed."
Inspired by such lines from Henry David Thoreau's 1849 essay "Civil Disobedience," a local timber-frame builder in Ashfield, Massachusetts, has constructed a replica of the author's Walden Pond cabin directly in the path of a proposed Kinder Morgan fracked gas pipeline, The Recorder reported this week.
"In relation to this pipeline, the will of the people is not really being listened to," explained the builder, Will Elwell, to the local newspaper. "We're just getting bombarded and railroaded through without [officials] being empathetic to our concerns."
"If you read some of Thoreau's work, some of the lines in there are pretty apropos to what's happening these days to our government."
--Will ElwellThe natural gas pipeline has been fiercely opposed by local residents of the Berkshires, a region renowned for its natural beauty. The nearly $5 billion pipeline project would run through Ashfield, Conway, Shelburne, Deerfield, Montague, Erving, Northfield, and Warwick, The Recorder reported, where "there are wetlands, rivers, springs, farms and forests."
Local citizens' concerns range from breathing air released from compressor stations to noise pollution and the potential for disastrous pipeline breakages, according to the Berkshire Eagle.
In another show of opposition, a 200-person march sponsored by the local direct action resistance campaign Sugar Shack Alliance is currently taking place along the whole 53-mile pipeline path to protest its construction. The trek began Thursday and is estimated to take four days.
One protester told The Recorder that she chose to take part in the march because "corporate takeover of land protected by the state is not inevitable. We can't continue to look at all this as inevitable; we have to take action."
Elwell finished constructing the 10-by-15-foot cabin on Wednesday. The construction was sanctioned by the town, whose selectboard members oppose the pipeline project, and even boasted a proper building permit sticker.
"We're here doing our job--to oppose the pipeline," a selectboard member told The Recorder, which also reports that "the town adopted a resolution to oppose the controversial pipeline last year."
Another selectboard member recently asked town meeting members to approve spending $10 million on a legal fight to oppose the pipeline's construction, The Recorder reported.
Elwell told the newspaper, "I feel I have to do something. Ideally, I would love to see a structure along the pipeline everywhere it intersects a road."
Across the border in Monadnock, N.H., a small town the pipeline would also pass through, local citizen Coni Porter wondered in an op-ed, "What would Thoreau think?"
"I believe he would talk about a future not dependent on fossil fuels," Porter argued, "he would speak about the power of the sun, wind, and water."
"If you read some of Thoreau's work, some of the lines in there are pretty apropos to what's happening these days to our government," Elwell told The Recorder as he worked on his post-and-beam construction.
"Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect," Thoreau declared in 1849, "and that will be one step toward obtaining it."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.