ArcaMax

In May, my son and I gathered with hundreds of our neighbors at a community meeting to protest a pickleball and tennis complex planned for our local park. We're not against the sports. My son likes to play tennis with his dad. What we objected to was clearing trees and utilizing green space for a bricks-and-mortar complex. Fortunately, our mayor listened to the public outcry and reassessed the project's location.

It was my son's first protest and an excellent way to show him the power of the people. I did, however, have to temper his expectations. Protesting doesn't guarantee you'll win. My warning came into play last month when our local utility company, Louisville Gas and Electric, began construction on a 12-mile pipeline across natural lands in Bullitt County, Kentucky, just to our south. The path of the pipeline includes a 1-mile section of Bernheim Forest and Arboretum.

Our family supports Bernheim with an annual membership. We enjoy hiking the trails, and we believe in their conservation efforts. My husband even volunteered this spring to construct beaver dam analogs at Bernheim, which help support beaver habitat.

We've watched the battle over this pipeline unfold since 2019 with yard signs and public outcry of "Save Bernheim Forest." The most disturbing part of this loss is that Bernheim is supposed to be protected land. Turns out eminent domain trumps conservation easements when it comes to economic growth in the eyes of the law.

LG&E said it is working near capacity and won't be able to supply new businesses or residential homes with natural gas if the pipeline doesn't happen. That feels shortsighted to me in the face of climate change. Instead of seeing this max capacity as an opportunity to phase out our reliance on natural gas and lean into more renewable resources, LG&E chose to plow ahead with the same old protocols that damage the Earth, further threatening fragile ecosystems and polluting water sources.

Sure, the utility company is required to minimize the impacts and restore areas post-construction, but to think restoration of a disrupted ecosystem is a matter of planting a few trees is incredibly naive. Trees, such as the 90-foot oaks cleared for this project, take decades to reach maturity and by then the species that relied on them are gone.

Can utility companies bring back protected species pushed to the brink of extinction? If their skill set is extracting natural resources in the name of economic development, do they really have the desire to do so? Or will LG&E exploit Bernheim's passionate conservationists, knowing they are the ones who will follow through to restore habitat from the muddy mess the pipeline project leaves behind?

I know this 12-mile stretch of land is just one project of many across this country where people stood up to fight for the natural spaces this country has left.

As pipeline construction began at Bernheim Forest, I picked up the newly released book "Holler: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance" by Denali Sai Nalamalapu. It tells the story of seven individuals who fought against the Mountain Valley Pipeline which stretches across three states. They, too, did not succeed in stopping construction. The pipeline cut across private land, gouging through the precious mountainsides of Appalachia. It started pumping gas in June 2024, a devastating loss for the conservationists who spent more than a decade fighting against it.

Watching this smaller pipeline proceed near my home, I felt a kinship with the MVP resisters. Nalamalapu said it best when she wrote: "There's something so magical about that... Ordinary people traversing the ground they love to gather this evidence needed to keep their neighbors safe. Can you imagine if more people turned their love of the land into action?"

I can imagine it and it's why I love to write about such people. They give me hope while showing my son that there's nothing more powerful than standing with your neighbors to fight for the land we all share. We have to take care of the Earth so the Earth can continue to take care of us.

I'm reminded of Margaret Mead's famous quote, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Do you know anyone who's doing cool things to make the world a better place? I want to know. Send me an email at Bonnie@WriterBonnie.com. Also, stay in the loop by signing up for her weekly newsletter at WriterBonnie.com. To find out more about Bonnie Jean Feldkamp and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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