Guest Commentary

When government fails, it’s the rare public official who says, “Oops. My fault.”

That’s human nature, particularly for officials in the public eye who may have to run for office again. No one wants to be held directly responsible for letting the public down.

Should I try and get an mRNA vaccine? They are better than the others, aren’t they? If I show up at the clinic can I choose?

 These are some of the questions that we didn’t even know we would be so lucky to ask just three months ago. 

The speed at which multiple vaccines to choose from has come about is unprecedented. 

Dear EarthTalk: What’s the latest on efforts to reintroduce Grizzly bears back to the Lower 48?

— J. Whitaker, Silver Spring, Md.

Amenia residents: Don’t miss next week’s Town Board meeting on Thursday, Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. for an Information Session presented by the town’s  Wastewater Committee. To understand why it’s so vital, please continue reading.

Dear EarthTalk: Given the economic slowdown around the world due to the coronavirus in 2020, was there a positive impact on climate change? 

— M. Stiles, Meriden, Conn.

For the first time in this 10-month-old pandemic, our quiet corner of the world feels unsafe. As of Dec. 18, 13 cases of COVID-19 are active in North East, seven of them in the Village of Millerton.

Dear EarthTalk: How will global warming change the distribution of trees across the continental U.S.? Which types of trees and forests are most at risk?     — Mike Powers, Golden, Colo.

The June 4, 2020, edition of The Millerton News ran a follow-up article by reporter Carol Kneeland to one that ran a year ago about the grave of a Black man, believed to be a former slave, named Thomas Stansbury, who was buried at the North East Center Burying Ground in 1899.