Letters to the Editor (5/3/23)

Twitter Replacement

[Re From the Deputy Publisher: “RIP, Twitter?” April 26]: I empathize with Cathy Resmer’s search for a new Twitter since the ownership change, and I’m happy to report that I think I just found it.

Substack has a ton of writers, researchers, thinkers, former tweeters and otherwise interesting people who produce on its platform. A lot of the names are recognizable. The platform allows them to gain paid subscribers, and a lot of them are apparently making a living providing newsletters that their fans find valuable.

Substack has reacted to Twitter’s changes by adding a Notes feature. I recently downloaded the Substack app, started following some writers I either know or who cover topics I’m interested in, then hit the Notes tab. There I’ve found a steady feed of short posts, comments, links and photos in a Twitter-like infinite scroll. I’ve already discovered excellent new podcasts and news sources. Most people on Notes are posting short bits or previews from their newsletters. That the platform enables its creators to actually get paid by their audience makes it a more honest-feeling place than Twitter, with its ad-based business model where all revenue presumably goes to one controversial owner.

Substack’s users can view the Notes feed for free, but it allows creators to promote their work in a way that builds their own base of paying subscribers. Since there is no obligation to become a paid subscriber of anyone, the Notes feed feels a lot like the Twitter feed.

It just needs more adopters. I, for one, would certainly follow Seven Days‘ ‘Stacks.

Jason Starr

Essex Junction

Who’s the ‘Big F*****g Hypocrite?’

I found Kevin McCallum’s cover story [“Electric Avenues,” April 12] to be informative and well written. Of all the interviews and conversations, I was particularly struck by what Renewable Energy Vermont president Peter Sterling said about those who disagree with the aggressive green-energy strategy for Vermont.

As a 20-year environmental activist, Sterling surely knows that this drive for wind and solar technologies, in place of fossil fuels, will never produce enough electricity to run our modern economy. After all, they produce electricity less than half of the time. He must also surely know that batteries are unbelievably expensive and getting more expensive. To believe otherwise is fantasy. China already has infrastructure in place and owns rare earth mineral mines in Africa and South America that control lithium needed for batteries. In addition, China manufactures a large majority of solar panels sold in America.

Finally, Sterling surely knows our national grid is sick and getting sicker, becoming more unreliable as a result. But he will never tell you that.

Sterling suggests that unwilling Vermonters should fall in line with the disastrous renewable energy projects on the table or they are “big f*****g hypocrites.” Perhaps Sterling should look in the mirror.

Dave Spaulding

Montpelier

Whither VTC?

[Re “Vermont State University President Resigns; Library Plan Shelved,” April 14, online]: When I returned home to Vermont to teach at Vermont Technical College in the 1970s, it had six high-quality, two-year technology programs: architectural and building engineering, civil engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, mechanical engineering, surveying, and agriculture. My typical class size was 30 to 40 students.

These two-year technical programs attracted students who thrived in the hands-on learning environment of classroom interaction combined with work- and math-related real-world laboratory assignments and weekly quizzes. The new computerized online learning may work for courses like history and literature, and perhaps for highly motivated students, but most engineering technology students need the hands-on, work-related learning environment.

There are several ways for the Vermont State Colleges System to save money, rather than gutting the libraries and the students’ intercollegiate sports programs [“Vermont State Colleges Staff, Students Protest the Plan to Eliminate Librarians, Books,” February 22]. It seemed clear during the pandemic that many students do not do well with online and Zoom courses. Does the VSC board truly believe it is providing Vermont students with “the quality education they deserve, and the state of Vermont needs,” as stated on March 23 by the chair, et al.?

Or is the goal of the board and Deloitte Consulting to offer technical college courses online and to ultimately sell off the several hundred acres of campus real estate to cover the deficit and the cost of Deloitte’s “hybrid” VSC conversion? If so, then this new Vermont State University/Deloitte conversion will likely be the demise of Vermont Technical College, once one of the finest two-year technical colleges in the country.

William Rice

Randolph Center

S.100 Will Ruin Vermont

Some in Montpelier are vigorously pushing that we pave over paradise to build tens of thousands more houses [“Site Work,” March 8]. They tell us that we need to build, build, build — even if it causes the destruction of our natural environment and changes the look, feel and character of Vermont. The mountains and meadows, forests and fields, wildlife and waters are part of who we are. Yet we are being told that sacrificing them is worth it for more houses. Those of us who cherish our majestic open lands are shamed for not being OK with destroying them for housing.

S.100 will override municipal environmental protections and force dense housing over the rural lands in some towns. At the same time, it will remove some of the environmental protections put into place through Act 250 decades ago. Vermont would look very different were it not for Act 250 and other local environmental protections.

Housing advocates talk as if nothing is more important than building more houses. All other problems, including the existential threat of climate change made worse by the loss of our natural environment, take a back seat to housing, if they get a seat at all.

Vermont is blessed with magnificently beautiful and priceless natural resource lands. Vermonters have long had a reputation for cherishing and protecting the natural world. Let’s not stop now. Please tell your legislators to scrap this developers’ dream bill.

Rosanne Greco

South Burlington