Rivers and Resistance

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A sermon by Polly Peterson during our Earth Day service

When the poet Robert Francis, wrote the poem “Like Ghosts of Eagles,” he was living here in Amherst. He spent nearly all of his life in a little house near Cushman Village that he built for himself in 1940—right here in the Connecticut River Valley. He didn’t include the Connecticut in his poem, but I wonder if he felt its spirit as he wrote—if he thought about what its name may have sounded like when spoken by indigenous peoples—the Abenaki and Nipmuc and other Algonquian-speaking peoples who defined themselves by its proximity.

Kwenitekw (KWEN- ee – took – uh) is what the Abenaki call it. The name’s meaning is generally translated as “long tidal river,” but it is much more than that. To these river-centric people, the river is a vital spirit power, a continuous, flowing, connecting force, never static, ever changing. It is sacred. To say the name is to evoke an entire worldview, not an object or a single physical entity.

The logo that Lea recently created for our congregation prominently features the Connecticut River, honoring the importance of that vital source of our valley’s identity.

Rivers are the lifeblood of our planet. We all live in watersheds. No place thrives without sources of fresh water, and if we pollute the waters, we hurt not only the rivers and streams and brooks and lakes, but also ourselves. One of the activities of our UUSA Environmental Action Circle, has been the annual Connecticut River Clean-up. It gives us a chance each year to connect with our watershed and to do our best to keep its waters and riverbanks clear of pollution and litter.

We’re fortunate that our task is not as daunting as the task that faceMarion Stoddart in Groton as she promoted the clean-up of the Nashua River*, but her success can serve as an inspiration when we think that our own small contributions will never amount to much. Environmental activism is a profound calling. It connects us with the people who came before and the people who are yet to come, and it connects us to the web of life. It is a reminder that we all depend on the Earth, and that in the face of human threats and degradation, the Earth also depends upon us.

Henry Thoreau, one of our Transcendentalist forebears, spent a good deal of time pondering the interface between humans and nature. In 1839, when he was in his early twenties, he and his brother John took a trip on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers in a boat they had built themselves. Henry, who had always been a keen observer of wild creatures, was struck by the effects of human activity along the river. He watched the migratory fishes that swim upriver from the sea to spawn, and he saw that the fish were being stymied by dams. “Poor shad!” he lamented. “Where is thy redress?” His concern led him to ask the haunting question: “Who hears the fishes when they cry?”

An encouraging feature of our time is that more and more people are hearing them. Dams affect not only migratory fishes, but whole ecosystems. Dam removal has become an environmental success story. The nonprofit organization American Rivers reported that in 2025, the efforts of environmental and safety advocates resulted in the removal of 100 outdated and unsafe dams in 30 states, reconnecting 4,893 miles of rivers, the most miles ever restored in a single year. Eleven of those dam removals were here in Massachusetts. Dam removals restore wildlife habitat, develop greenways in cities, and increase climate resilience.

Dams, of course, are built to serve humans, and they have much to offer. But their impact can be devastating. I remember going to a museum of Native American history in Tucson, Arizona some years ago, and being stunned to learn that the indigenous peoples living at the mouth of the Colorado River, whose lifeways had for centuries depended on the ecosystem of its lush and massive river delta, no longer get any water at all from the river. None. Less than a century ago, the mighty Colorado River flowed unhindered from northern Colorado to the Gulf of California in Mexico. Now eight western states divert nearly all of the water for agriculture, urban water supplies, and hydropower. One out of every 10 people living in the United States relies on the Colorado River for drinking water. We ourselves, when we eat fruits, nuts, and vegetables from California’s Central Valley, are consuming Colorado River water. Of the small fraction of the river’s flow that eventually reaches Mexico, most is used for agriculture. Satellite imagery shows us that the final trickle of that once mighty river simply disappears into desert sand before reaching the sea.

It’s easy for us to see this as a human tragedy, a violation of the rights of the downstream people who have lost the rich and complex wetlands of the Delta that had always been at the center of their lives. From our human-centric worldview, the injustice is clear. But can you as easily think of the river itself as having lost its right to flow unimpeded to the sea? Does a river have rights?

Remarkably, some now explicitly do. A few of the world’s rivers have been granted legal personhood. I was brought up with common assumptions that rivers are nonliving natural resources that provide water and power, transportation, recreation, and a place to dump waste.

But indigenous peoples throughout the world regard the life of a river as vital and sacred. People who have long regarded rivers as sacred ancestors have no difficulty accepting the concept of a river’s personhood. To them it is obvious that a river has rights.

In 2017, New Zealand’s Whanganui River became the first river to be granted legal personhood. New Zealand’s indigenous Maori people have long believed in a deep connection between humans and water. A traditional saying is, “I am the river, the river is me.” For more than 160 years, they fought for the rights of the Whanganui River in the courts of the colonial government. They finally succeeded in getting, not just legal protection for the river, but recognition of the river as a legal entity in its own right.

That recognition encouraged activists in other countries to work for the legal rights of their rivers. The success story that is closest to us is in northern Quebec. As wild rivers in Canada were being dammed and harnessed for hydropower, their loss was keenly felt by lovers of wild places and, in particular, by the indigenous Innu people. Massive dams built by Hydro-Quebec had resulted in the devastation of vast ecosystems. Activists were determined to save the Magpie River watershed from that fate, and in February 2021, the Magpie, or Muteshekau-shipu (Moo-teh-sheh-gow-shee-poo) became the first river in Canada to be granted legal personhood. It has nine specific rights, including the right to maintain its natural biodiversity, the right to maintain its integrity, and the right to be free from pollution.

Thinking of a river as a legal person is a new concept for many of us, and predictably there is lots of pushback. Unconscious cultural assumptions make it difficult for us to move outside the patterns of thought instilled in us by our language and culture—difficult for us to rethink assumptions about what entities are living and nonliving, sacred and profane, which are deserving of legal protection, and which can be bought and sold.

How different would our world be if we cared deeply about the rights of rivers and streams to flow freely, clear and unobstructed? There is so much money to be made from damming and harnessing them, there are so many ways that corporations might benefit from polluting them. And yet, as more and more people recognize our place in the interdependent web of life of which we are a part, the Rights of Nature movement is gaining ground. Altering our fundamental relationship to nature may be our best—or only—path to a sustainable future. Granting legal rights to rivers will no doubt be relentlessly opposed and ridiculed. That has been the fate of every movement that seeks to expand the definition of who has rights.

Today, in the face of governments that are causing so much hurt in the world, we often speak of ourselves as the resistance–and of course it is important to resist corrupt politicians and unjust policies. But what if we turn that paradigm on its head? Our nation was founded for the purpose of giving people in the American colonies the right to rule themselves, and throughout the history of our nation, we have seen effort after effort to expand that right to more people. Activists have dedicated their lives to ending slavery, ending child labor, advocating for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant rights, and, yes, now even for the rights of rivers. Every advance has been met with resistance. It is the instinct of those who are privileged to resist any expansion of rights for others. But the courage and persistence of people who are dedicated to freedom and justice continues to push forward against that resistance.

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s Declaration of Independence, we can look with pride and gladness on the ever-widening definition of who deserves to have full and equal rights. But in today’s political climate, we can also see that many of those rights are threatened. Battles once won may need to be refought. We may feel overwhelmed by the outrages that seem to come at us like water from a fire hose.

But take heart. When we look at the world from the perspective of expanding rights, we can see that we are not the resistance. We are the flow. We are the Revolutionary River, declaring that rights are for everyone, not just for the privileged few. It is those who want to block or reverse the expansion of rights who are damming the flow.

Water is soft and yielding, yet very powerful. A river can carve a canyon through solid rock. It can find its way through an obstacle or carve a new channel that flows around it.

So too, the quest for justice and equitable rights is powerful. It can break through resistance and find a way around the obstacles that people erect to stop it.

As we celebrate the Declaration of Independence, listen to what it has to say: tyranny must not stand in freedom’s way. Let us flow on in the spirit of our forebears, expanding their vision to an ever-widening embrace of all humankind—and perhaps we are ready to expand to an even wider embrace that acknowledges the rights of rivers and mountains, plants and animals, and all sacred beings in our more than human world.

May it be so.

 

*  The Time for All Ages story, “A River Ran Wild” by Lynne Cherry, tells the story of how Marion Stoddart led the way in the clean-up of the Nashua River, beginning in 1962. Because of her efforts, people rallied to transform the Nashua River from an industrial dumping ground (56 miles of stinking toxic sludge) to the beautiful clean recreational river it is today.

 

Seeds of Hope

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An Earth Day sermon by Polly Peterson

“Seeds carry the power of life,” wrote Carme Lemniscates to begin the story of seeds we just heard. It’s a powerful idea. In fact, it’s the idea that inspired this service. Last fall, I was in a car with Susan Rice, returning from a few days of canvassing in Pennsylvania with a group called “Seed the Vote.” Susan began to speak excitedly about how amazing seeds are, with their ability to hold all that is needed for becoming vegetables, fruits, flowers, or trees—everything that the whole organism needs to grow—all in that one tiny seed.

The moment was brief, but it stayed with me. It is such a special thing to be amazed and delighted by an everyday miracle. Seeds make Susan smile with delight, and starting seeds for her large garden is an exciting prospect for her each spring. A seed is a vision of possibility.

Most of us give little thought to the astonishing power of seeds. But even if seeds don’t inspire awe in you or make you smile with delight, you are probably aware that without them there would be no food. Seeds grow into plants that have a power we animals lack. They can convert the sun’s energy into food through the miracle of photosynthesis. A plant uses the sun’s energy to produce roots and stems, leaves, and the seeds that will become new plants. Each seed, no matter how small, contains both nutrients to feed a tiny beginning plant as it sprouts and the DNA that will tell it how to grow.

We cultivate seeds in our farms and gardens by planting them in fertile ground and making sure they have adequate sunlight and water. And they give us a tremendous return on our investment by growing into plants that provide food and flowers and so much more. We take care of seeds, and they take care of us. The relationship is a model of reciprocity—which, at its core, is what Earth Day is all about.

Earth Day was established when people began to realize that human activity was gravely harming our unique and irreplaceable planet. We know that we must give the Earth loving care, for we depend upon a healthy, living ecosystem for all of our needs.

Of course, not everybody thinks that way. Americans especially have become accustomed to seeing the world in terms of what they can take, not what they can share.

As Robin Wall Kimmerer has pointed out, commodifying nature’s gifts is a fundamental aspect of a market economy. One result of the obsessive focus on profit has been a loss of biodiversity in our agricultural sector as corporations have patented seeds and sold them widely.  Patented seeds give farmers some benefits—but at the expense of biodiversity and the freedom to save and share those seeds.

Susan Rice is a seed saver, as I imagine some others of you are, too. When you grow plants from non-patented seeds, you can save seeds from some of your favorites and plant them again next year. You can share them with your friends and neighbors. In recent decades, the idea of seed libraries has caught on to facilitate the free sharing of garden seeds. Seed libraries and exchanges are springing up everywhere.

Here in Amherst there is an especially delightful little seed library called the Mass Aggie Seed Library housed in the Science & Engineering Library at UMass. It offers lots of information and instruction, some playful activities for adults and children, and a big old-fashioned card catalog with packets of donated seeds for the taking in every drawer. It even has a program called the “common seed” inspired the “common read” programs in our local libraries. The program builds community through gardening and seed sharing. This year’s common seed is the ‘Provider’ Bean—which they say is perfect for gardeners of all levels. You can go pick up a packet if you wish. Seed sharing not only cultivates community, it is also an excellent way to cultivate biodiversity, with an emphasis on what grows well in your area’s particular soil and climate conditions.

So, yes, it’s springtime, a good time to think about cultivating our gardens. And, more than that, it’s an important time to cultivate community. Dark times have been thrust upon us suddenly, capriciously, cruelly, and none of us should try to face the challenges of this chaotic and dangerous time alone. We fear for ourselves and our loved ones, we fear for our children’s futures. We fear for the hungry and sick of this world, for the inadequacy of water and food in many places, for the return of epidemics, for our failure to stop the degradation of the environment. We feel the sting of our current leaders’ disdain for people of principle and for people whose gifts are intellectual or artistic. We see their intent to muzzle the free press. We see how they want to divide us and to make scapegoats of women, LGBTQ+ people, and people of color, especially those in leadership positions. If you are like me, you are feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the current crisis—which is why we need to cultivate community now more than ever. Many things are beyond our control, but each of us needs to do what we can where we are with what we have.

The first thing to do is to tend to the seeds within. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us that our mind is like a piece of land planted with many different kinds of seeds: seeds of joy, peace, mindfulness, understanding, and love; seeds of craving, anger, fear, hate, and revenge.

“Though we all have the fear and the seeds of anger within us, we must learn not to water those seeds and instead nourish our positive qualities – those of compassion, understanding, and loving kindness.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

As I was naming things that we all might be fearing, did it stir up feelings inside you? Did your breath feel tighter as if entangled in a dense patch of briars and weeds? Seeds of hate, anger and fear grow as thorns and brambles. They affect our bodies as well as our minds. These thoughts invade us, but they will not nourish us. Best to uproot them and plant new seeds.

If your email feed looks anything like mine, it’s easy to focus too much on fear and anger and frustration. Let’s make it a habit to shift the focus more often to soul-strengthening thoughts of loving kindness, generosity, and joy. We already have many such seeds inside us—we just need to cultivate and nourish them. Re-reading a favorite poem or quote, listening to music, dancing, making art, playing an instrument or singing—these are all time-tested tools for cultivating the inner garden. When we let our thoughts dwell on what we love rather than what we fear, on what we are grateful for rather than what makes us mad, the inner garden grows greener. It can help us find the fresh energy we need to make a difference.

This spring, as we cultivate seeds in our home gardens and support our local farms, let’s remember also to plant and water the seeds of joy, playfulness, and generosity. It’s so easy to get stuck in the briar patch of fear. Thich Nhat Hanh has given us an excellent strategy for finding our way out.

How are you preparing the soil of your mind for the future you hope to cultivate? What seeds are you planting there? The seeds you nurture within are powerful. Every action you take to make the world feel healthier, more just, and kinder is important, however small it may seem. Many small actions can add up to big changes. Your acts of kindness and your courage can fill others with hope. Together we can find a way.

Our lives and our destinies are entwined, not just with each other, but with all living things.

Outside, on this early spring morning, we are greeted by green shoots and buds, bright red maple blossoms, greening grass, crocus flowers and daffodils.

May the rebirth of life all around you—the bursting forth of green growth and blossoms and the germination of seeds—plant hope in the rich soil of your being. And may we find strength in community as we strive together for a better tomorrow.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Looking Back at 2024 with an All-Electric Car

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by Kay Flatten and Hilary Matheson

My family needed to buy a car when Kay emigrated back to the USA after 30 years in Britain.  One buys a car when they need a 2nd car, or their present car needs replacing, or maybe it is their first ever car. Those are needs, not just wants, and we were at that crossroads. If you find yourself there, then, like us, consider an all-electric car.  Here is how we did it, and what we learned.

Do your research first.  We talked to our friends and family who own all-electric cars. Our Son said he would never go back to a gasoline engine car. He lives two hours from his work and drives a Tesla there and charges. Once back home he rents a parking space with a charge station.  Kay said, “We are retired and live in a condo where there are no charging stations.  Will it work for us?” He said, “You will figure it out, go online and read blogs and YouTube. Posts by people who have all-electric cars and live in apartments.”  We did that, and those led us to apps, which we have listed in our references.   He added, “I’ve had my car for 7 years and only replaced the tires and wiper blades.” Our friends, on the other hand, were less enamored, but still positive. They had an all-electric car, but when taking journeys out of state experienced difficulty finding charge stations. Our friends owned a second gasoline car and when it died a gasket death, they bought a brand-new gasoline car. They said they couldn’t afford an all-electric second car, even though they had a home charger. We scored this as a “No” vote. Next, we visited car dealerships.

Our research led us to Hyundai, Volkswagen (we coveted an ID Buzz) and Nissan dealerships.  Salespeople were welcoming; however, it was obvious, most of them were not “up to speed” on all-electric vehicles. However, there was always one salesperson who could speak with authenticity.  They were into selling new vehicles, and we couldn’t afford that, so rather than leaving discouraged, we talked about leasing. Hyundai had a program called Evolve+.  New electric vehicle customers could lease a vehicle for 30 days to try it out.  The cost was about $900 and included 1,000-mile usage, insurance, repairs, and support.  We drove away with a 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5 SEL. We decided to not drive it on long journeys but to learn how to live daily with public charging stations. Our all-electric journey began that day.

We used the ChargePlug app to locate public charging stations.  When we didn’t have a station’s app on our phones, we downloaded it. With each company, we registered the car’s make and model.  This took time. The station let us know if our car was not supported by their software.  That never happened, but we noticed that before a charge began, the station interacted with the car in a computerish way.  The car and the station tech talked. That reminded me of our Son’s comment, “You will be driving a computer.” Kay was glad he had faith in his 78-year-old Mom.

We talked tech to the car too.  There was a feature called assisted braking, when we took a foot off the accelerator the car braked and charged while slowing.  We started with level one and moved to level three.  The higher the level, the harder the car braked, and the more charge created.  We kept assisted braking low on the Interstate because cars behind wouldn’t have expected a sudden slow down. We used assisted braking when going down very steep hills, letting the car coast and brake while charging.  We also noticed feedback display features which showed when we were economical while driving.  We chose ECO mode with moderate, not sporty acceleration.  We stayed within the green features on the speedometer which illustrated when we were using momentum for coasting. We found times when we had to push the pedal and go into the red area on the speedometer.  Those times were when merging onto a highway or passing another car. Our car knew how to teach us, and when we needed to accelerate. It had plenty of get up and go. Electric bus and train drivers are trained in efficient acceleration and braking. This was our first lesson in driving differently with electric fuel. We were liking this experience and ready to find our own car, plus venture further afield.

That Hyundai IONIQ 5 SEL taught us a great deal. Not just how to drive differently, but wisdom in buying a high end (bells and whistles) model all-electric car.  If you are going to buy a computer, don’t buy a cheap one. That is the same with an electric car. We learned to love those software features.  It was off to car dealerships to find the car for us. Like our friends, we could not afford a new EV.  So, we started searching websites for used makes and models.  These makes and models included the Hyundai Kona, Chevrolet Volt, VW Golf ID3 and the Kia Niro.  We also wanted a car that qualified for MOR-EV grant funding and a tax rebate. This meant we were better off buying from a dealership than thru a private sale.

The MOR-EV grant process works with dealerships to verify the car is eligible for funding. We visited government websites and read up on applying for these supplemental funding opportunities.  Thus, we were able to speak with sales reps and ask them if they had any used cars of our preferred models eligible for MOR-EV funding and tax rebate. The response was always, “We will check that out and call you back”.  That separated the wheat from the chaff. One did! Country Hyundai, Northampton called to tell us they were expecting to receive a 2020 Kona SEL with 22,000 miles offered for $23,000. Within a week we completed the purchase, and the grant was sent off.  It was awarded and we received a $3,500 check some months later. In February we started with an Evolve+ lease, it was now April we were ready to learn long distance EV lessons.

Where did we want to go?  I’m from Kansas and had an ailing brother and 93 yr old farmer friend to visit. We wanted to spend time with our friends in Indiana, North Carolina and experience the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We would connect these with travel through Arkansas and Tennessee. These areas were considered EV deserts even if you had a Tesla.  The challenge was on!

We started by traveling west through NY and along the Great Lakes. We stopped at Niagara Falls and found a statue of Nikola Tesla. This route gave us good urban connections with charging stations.  Even so, we adopted a daily practice of using the ChargeHub app to plan a trip of about four to six hours of driving a day.  The app was set to filter for level 3 chargers that we would use at a lunch stop. We always looked up that lunch stop charge station in the PlugShare app to read the reviews, see what company owned the station and if we could walk to lunch.  We only considered stations with PlugShare scores of 8 or more out of 10 and with positive, recent reviews. Our lunch included checking ChargeHub trip planner for our night stop.  During this portion of our trip, we used motels because it was April, and we were in the North.  Camping was going to be an additional variable added once travelling South out of Kansas. Our lunch charge gave us time to trip plan the next two to three hours of driving.  We filtered Level 2 and 3 chargers because we would be staying all night and be able to give longer charging windows. We always started the day on a battery charged to 89-90%.  Eighty percent is the recommended top charge level to ensure the life of your car’s battery; however, to this day, we override that recommendation when traveling long distances and reset to 80% when home again. Here are a few lessons/observations made on this trip.

EV deserts don’t exist if you plan your trip in advance. This picture of our car was taken on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a so-called EV desert. The Golden Rule is Don’t Go that way if you can’t find a reliable charge station and a back-up within range.  Don’t generalize about urban versus rural.  The best charge station of our trip was in Arkansas after Joplin, MO, through open country at a gas station with several level 3 chargers, hot food and drinks. They allowed dogs inside and were very kind and helpful. The worst charge experience was in Memphis TN. We assumed there would be level 3 charging in a city of that size. We wasted a lot of time searching and the next morning we charged at a Mercedes dealership and walked to a great breakfast diner. Memphis TN is an EV desert!

Here is the most important observation we made. This way of traveling is perfect for us as retirees with no urgent needs to cross multiple states in a day. We took 28 days to cover 3,000-3,500 miles including visits with friends and family leaving only 9 full  days of driving. Where possible, ChargeHub routes were off Interstates.  This was because air resistance was just that, resistance.  Speeds above 65 mph cut into the range our battery could supply. The first part of our trip went West with a 12mph headwind.  On the Interstate, going 65mph meant near 80 mph headwinds. Other cars were going 70+mph.  In a guesstimate, that kind of driving would have cut our range from 230 down to 180. Our planned lunch stop might have become out of reach, or we would drive with the battery getting down to worry level. We liked ChargeHub’s choices.  The routes often paralleled Intersates, rivers or railroads.  This meant there were fewer crossroads and thus stop lights.  There were lots of historical sites and forests or rolling hills.  These trees blocked the wind, and hills gave us the regenerative power.  I’m not sure how that works, but I suspect a car’s momentum carries it partway up a hill and the power needed to crest that hill is more than made up in the subsequent downward recharge.

A final word about our life with an EV from May to the end of 2024.  We love our car and use it to go into town where we spend hours volunteering or in workshops or at church or playing Pickleball. For those, we charge at ChargePoint stations owned by Amherst Town.  It costs $0.35 per Kilowatt hr and no parking fee! If we need a fast level 3, we go to EVgo at Campus Plaza, but usually we plan and maybe leave the car to charge at the Marriott Hotel, Flo charge station, near our condo. It really is no problem, and we even found a few free charge stations in Amherst.

Now it is Winter, and we continue to learn.  Very cold weather, of the nature where we turn on the heat in our car and the outside temperature stays under 30 degrees for days, cuts into our battery’s range even more than wind resistance.  We planned a trip to Arlington VA using ChargeHub.  Knowing full charge would give us 190 miles instead of 230, our trip plan required two days.  An overnight in a motel and Winter driving conditions made us rethink our trip.  We will do it in warmer weather. We still drive to Boston and Connecticut, using the Interstate during these Winter months, but we usually plan a charge at our destination before returning home.

One other feature of an electric car: it can warm your seat and steering wheel without using battery power needed for driving; there is a 12V battery that takes care of this, as well as keeping the main battery warm when parked in very cold temperatures. Our car does not stay in a garage. When we drive, the12V battery is charged. Using the seat and steering wheel warmers means that we don’t often need to turn on the heat.  Passengers in the back seat might disagree, but as you see, the dog never complains!

That is all from us.  If you are still unsure, lease an all-electric Evolve+ car for a month and try it out.  Experience is the best teacher.

 

Applications we used. There were others only downloaded and used when needed:

  • Evolve+ – Hyundai’s month leasing program https://www.hyundaiusa.com/us/en/electrified/evolve 
  • ChargeHub – trip planning app
  • PlugShare – app which locates, scores and posts reviews of charging stations
  • ChargePoint – town of Amherst uses this app/company and allows 4hrs parking while charging without paying for parking.
  • MOR-EV – Massachusetts offers rebates for electric vehicles https://mor-ev.org/