A Historic Stand Against Private Jet Expansion
Event sponsored by:
Save Our Heritage
The Walden Woods Project
National Trust for Historic Preservation
National Parks Conservation Association
WGBH – Emerson and Thoreau’s descendants urge for grounding of Hanscom airport
April 1, 2025
Leading historians, scientists and environmentalists are calling on Gov. Maura Healey to stop the expansion of private jet service at Hanscom Field in Bedford.
State House News – Airfield Expansion Opponents Urge Healey to Halt Project
April 2, 2025
The Healey administration last year rejected a draft environmental impact report to expand the largest private jet airfield in New England, and activists now want the governor to wield her power to completely halt the project.
Descendents of Thoreau and Emerson Deliver Letter
to the Governor’s Office on April 1st
Signed by Over 40 Leading Historians, Scientists, and Climate and Environmental Advocates
Scroll through the PDF below to read the whole letter to Gov. Healey and see all 40+ signatures.
Descendants of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson made history at the Massachusetts State House on April 1st, 2025, delivering a powerful appeal signed by over 40 leading historians and environmental experts urging Governor Healey to halt the massive private jet expansion at Hanscom Field. The unprecedented coalition, representing 18,300 concerned citizens through petitions, stood in defense of both climate action and sacred American historical sites including Walden Pond and Minute Man National Historical Park—birthplaces of the environmental movement and American democracy. Their emotional gathering echoed Emerson’s warning that “Nature pardons no mistakes” as they fought to protect these irreplaceable landscapes from luxury development with the highest per-passenger carbon footprint on Earth.
Signers
Bill McKibben
Don Henley
Naomi Oreskes
Annie Leibovitz
Ed Begley, Jr.
Jeff Corwin
Susan Solomon, Ph.D.
Sy Montgomery
William R. Moomaw, Ph.D.
Ken Burns
Terry Tempest Williams
David Gessner
Roger Christie
Michael E. Mann, Ph.D.
Richard Wrangham, Ph.D.
Paula J. Ehrlich, DVM, Ph.D.
The Rev. Dr. Jim Antal
Robert D. van der Hilst, Ph.D.
James Gustave Speth
Elizabeth Turnbull Henry
Robert A. Gross
Kathleen Fahey
Richard D. Brown, Ph.D.
Ashley Judd
Abigail Disney
James Taylor
Lyle Lovett
Paula Poundstone
Gregory Maguire
Douglas Brinkley, Ph.D.
John DeVillars
Kathrine Switzer
Mark Thoreau
John J. Kucich, Ph.D.
Ellen Emerson
Michael Muir
George Beals Schaller, Ph.D.
Katherine Lee Goyette
Kristen Sykes
J. Drew Lanham
Robert M. Thorson
Sara Seager, Ph.D.
Dorie McCullough Lawson
David N. Duncan
John M. Fowler
Jan Turnquist
Photos by Mariyln Humphries
“Most men, it seems to me, do not care for Nature and would sell their share in all her beauty, as long as they may live, for a stated sum… Thank God, men cannot as yet fly, and lay waste to the sky as well as the earth… It is for the very reason that some do not care for those things that we need to combine to protect all from the vandalism of a few.”
– Henry David Thoreau, January 3rd 1861“As leaders of the commonwealth, you are being asked to write a new story, a story in which the richest people in the world are denied permission to ruin the most renowned, and I might say, sacred natural wonders in the commonwealth, all so that the elite one-percenters may gain a tiny increment of personal convenience”
– Rev. Jim Antal, Special Advisor on Climate Justice, United Church of Christ, April 1st 2025
April 1st Event Information
- 10 – 11 AM Speakers Remarks in the Senate Reading Room featuring:
- Welcome & Closing: Anna West Winter, Save Our Heritage
- Sen. Mike Barrett, for the 3rd Middlesex District, MA
- Rep. Simon Cataldo, for the 14th Middlesex District, MA
- Betsy Merritt, National Trust for Historic Preservation
- Kristen Sykes, National Parks Conservation Association
- Daniel Emerson, descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Rev. Jim Antal (virtual), Special Advisor on Climate Justice, UCC
- Mark Thoreau, family descendant of Henry David Thoreau
- 11:30 AM – Letter & Petition Delivery, Governor’s Executive Office
- 12:00 PM – Volunteers distribute handouts with the event’s message to all legislators
Photos, Videos, and Speaker Remarks
News Coverage
- WGBH: Emerson & Thoreau’s Descendants urge for grounding of Hanscom airport
- Boston Statehouse: Airfield expansion opponents urge Healey to halt project
- Boston.com: Private jet owners want 6,000 new flights over Lexington and Concord. History buffs say no way.
Additional Information
Press Release
Quotations from leading voices re: Historic Impacts
Quotations from Legislators & leading voices re: Climate Impacts