A Thoreauvian view of Hanscom growth?
Is it worth asking whether or not we would miss the noise that has become a part of Acton’s ecosystem?
“Now that the [rail] cars are gone by and all the restless world with them, and the fishes in the pond no longer feel their rumbling, I am more alone than ever.”
So wrote Thoreau in “Walden,” that great contradiction of a fascination for progress melding with environmentalism. Following the celebration of Artemis II’s successful splashdown, as we contemplate our culture’s reinvigorated appetite for exploration, I find myself appreciating the noise of planes overhead in a similar way perhaps that they once marveled at the roar of the locomotive.
Hanscom’s expansion attracts much derision, but especially at a time when global conflict is putting more of a spotlight not just on the carbon impact but also on the rising fuel cost of private flights, is it worth asking whether or not we would miss the noise that has become a part of Acton’s ecosystem?
As the town looks to diversify its revenues, would we want the incubator of transcendentalism to be left out on what the next stage of flying technology looks like? Be it autonomous piloting systems or new propulsion methods that lie ahead, I find myself returning to Thoreau as he found peace between worlds, enjoying the wonder of both nature and technology without fleeing the necessary compromise of interaction between the two.
Chase Cicchetti
Old Road to Nine Acre Corner
