Some recent Bridge coverage of local opposition to the proposed expansion of Hanscom has failed, I believe, to identify clearly the main reason why opposition to this airfield expansion is so strong. In a nutshell, it is because the volume of carbon emissions that will result from this expansion is enormous. To allow any expansion of opportunities for private jet travel, which is often for recreation only, to occur anywhere is the wrong direction, I believe, for a planet that is rapidly progressing toward a kind of irreversible and highly destructive level of climate change, fueled by carbon emissions. Let’s be really clear that many of us are not just opposed to noisy airplanes that fly over our Concord homes and conservation lands. We are opposed to super-emitting jet fuel burners that outweigh all of our municipal carbon reduction initiatives and the emissions from other modes of transportation, including cars, trucks, and commercial jet planes.
For a good, fact-loaded slide presentation about this by Neil Rasmussen of Save Our Heritage, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQWiOc_kB6M. Also see what Bill McKibben, the world’s best known climate activist, has to say in a recent newsletter:https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/two-really-dumb-things-we-might-be . Neither of these protests focuses on local noise or pollution. They are both saying that all of the great climate action that is being pursued in our local towns and throughout our state and nation may be rendered futile by proliferation anywhere of private jet travel.
Bob Andrews
Staffordshire Lane