Gifted Man
East Hampton
January 30, 2010
Dear David,
Loren Merrill, who died recently, was an exceptionally good and gifted man. I will miss him.
RICHARD ROSENTHAL
Finest Kind
Amagansett
January 29, 2010
Dear Editor,
The phrases “rite of passage,” “earn your stripes,” “baptism under fire,” etc., are all accolades which Ruth Lester Denton acquired in a most difficult fashion — cod fishing with her father, Capt. Ted Lester, and her sister, Gloria, in a dory launched from the ocean beach during the winter cod fishing season.
The fishing season ran from December to mid-February. Ted Lester, as we all did, generally set four tubs of gear with each tub being 3,000 feet long with 600 hocks, two to three miles off the ocean beach.
The gear would be set out by hand and hand-hauled back over a wooden gear roller. One person would tend the oars or motor and the other would haul the line. All of us wore woolen mittens made in Norway.
This style of cod fishing was no different than that carried out on the Grand Banks 500 years ago.
The setting and hauling back took about four to six hours at sea. Then you had to pack the fish for Fulton Market and the tubs had to be rebaited for the next day’s fishing.
It took two bushels of skimmer clams to bait each tub.
It was well into the evening before all the gear would be set to go again, as you had to untangle snarls, replace hocks and snoods, plus open the clams.
Ruth and Gloria did all this toil of cold, hard work, no different from the rest of us who fished the ocean in the wintertime from an open dory.
They survived this rugged way of fishing, finest kind.
Thank you,
STUART VORPAHL
Fishermen’s Rights
Amagansett
January 29, 2010
Dear David,
We are writing in response to Mickey Miller’s letter last week expressing his discontent with the East Hampton Town Trustees for opposing the proposed New York State recreational saltwater fishing license. Speaking on behalf of the East Hampton Town Trustees, we are not now, nor ever have been, against obtaining accurate fish stock numbers. On the contrary, we would support programs working toward obtaining accurate data on local resources.
However, after review of the details within the legislation proposed by New York State, including the requirement of obtaining a license and paying a corresponding fee, but no mention that these funds were going to obtain “data on the local fish populations,” our board felt the need to oppose this legislation. Also, it’s important for residents to know that while the federal mandate called for states to collect data, it was New York State that decided to add a new license and fee requirement.
The East Hampton Town Trustees are not alone in our opposition to this proposal. We were originally made aware of the issue by the Southampton Town Trustees, who along with most of the East End towns have joined together in a suit to prevent the implementation of a new saltwater license.
We fear that not only does this proposal go against the public’s right to fish for free (“without let or hindrance,” as stated in the Dongan Patent of 1686), but the monies collected were not specifically to be allocated to our local fisheries or fish stock numbers. Instead, these funds are to go to New York State’s general fund!
If it had been guaranteed that the license and fee monies would go solely toward collecting crucial data, which would benefit both commercial and recreational fishermen, then we would have been considering another set of circumstances. However, we based our opposition on the detailed and lengthy description of legislation drafted by New York State.
We want you and all East Hampton’s residents to understand we are fighting for the local commercial fishermen’s rights, as well as the recreational fishermen, the shell fishers, the boaters, the bathers, and all the “freeholders and commonalty,” as we were elected to do.
Sincerely,
DIANE MCNALLY
Clerk
STEPHANIE TALMAGE
Assistant Clerk
East Hampton Town Trustees
Suzanne’s Leadership
New York City
February 1, 2010
Dear David Rattray,
I was shocked to see, in The Star’s otherwise excellent article about the 30th anniversary of the Montauk Library, no mention of the late Suzanne Koch Gosman, who was the driving force behind the existence of the library, its construction, and the completion of all three levels.
Montauk can be a spirited cooperative community, and many residents participated importantly. Some sought and obtained grants; some arranged profitable and unusual (for Montauk, anyway) fund-raising events, etc., but without Suzanne’s leadership, I believe very little of this would have happened.
The small auditorium on the library’s lower level has become Montauk’s cultural center, offering exhibits and many kinds of artistic performances year-round. In a well-deserved tribute, Suzanne’s name is carved in large letters over the auditorium’s stage. But no mention in the anniversary article about the history of the library? Really! Sic transit gloria mundi.
Sincerely,
JOANNA STEICHEN
A Quiet Place
East Hampton
February 1, 2010
Dear David:
The East Hampton Library recently hosted three after-hours midterm study nights for more than 100 local high school students. The library was open from 7 to 9 p.m., exclusively for high school students looking for a quiet place to study for their midterm exams. The study nights will be offered again during final exams in June; other programs will be planned for teenagers on a regular basis, including a short film contest as well as a poetry workshop and an unplugged Coffee House.
I would like to personally thank Dennis Fabiszak, director of the library, and my co-workers for their help and support of this event. Thank you to Eugene Colleary, coordinator of the English department at East Hampton High School, for spreading the word to teachers and students. A warm thank-you to Charlene Peele, manager of Starbucks in East Hampton, for the many gallons of hot chocolate she generously donated. And, I would like to thank the students who attended the study nights for the respect they gave to each other, the library building, and themselves. They studied (somewhat quietly!), they had fun, and they realized that the library belongs to them, too. We were very happy to have them.
Sincerely,
LISA HOUSTON
East Hampton Library
Golden Goose
Springs
February 1, 2010
Dear David:
A group of East Hampton citizens has formed to strongly urge the East Hampton Town Board to complete the restoration of the historic buildings at Town Hall and to move into them as soon as possible.
The Town Hall project demonstrates to residents and visitors that East Hampton respects and treasures its long history. The adaptive reuse of these lovely old structures meets the standards of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the secretary of the interior’s guidelines for historic preservation. East Hampton has a tradition of preserving historic structures with its many historic districts, the offices of the Incorporated Village of East Hampton, our farm and cottage museums and windmills, as well as the Montauk Lighthouse. This is a community that loves and respects its history and wants to see it preserved.
The commercial success of the town’s resort industry depends upon its beautiful beaches, charming hamlets, open farmland, and historic structures. These are the features that attract visitors and new residents every year. Collectively, these features are the commodity we “sell.” If we fail to preserve our history, we will be destroying the golden goose that assures our prosperity.
There is no doubt that the de Menil-Carpenter buildings adapted for reuse as a new Town Hall will be a fitting and appropriate way to greet visitors and residents alike.
This complex of historic structures is something of which present and future generations can be proud, and will balance the usual excessive “show biz” publicity we often see. This civic project will show an important side of East Hampton’s public spirit.
Sincerely,
RALPH CARPENTIER
Nothing Was Looted
East Hampton
January 25, 2010
To the Editor,
A recent letter to The Star commenting on the East Hampton Conservators ad “Open Letter to the Town Board” contains false statements and innuendo. It needs to be set straight. A false statement repeated unchallenged becomes accepted fact. The writer says that she was hysterical and rolling on the floor from reading the ad.
The ad recommended continuing use of the community preservation fund, “To preserve open space, particularly land that impacts the town’s aquifers, our sole source of pure drinking water.” That is “really funny,” she says alongside the “raiding of that fund to pay bills and who knows what else.” The “what else” is innuendo, suggesting money for somebody. Nobody gained from borrowing money from one of the town’s various funds to cover a shortage in another. That was neither illegal nor unusual. Such short-term borrowing is a common practice in corporate and municipal finance. The town auditors endorsed it in writing at the time. As planned, the money was returned to the C.P.F. Nothing was looted, raided, or stolen.
Incidentally, the McGintee administration was not the first to borrow from the C.P.F. That was Schneiderman with Len Bernard, now town budget officer.
Assemblyman Fred Thiele with the support of the East End Supervisors tightened the C.P.F. legislation to stop such “transfers.” We endorsed the actions taken by Thiele and the New York State Legislature.
The conservators have extended a helping hand to the new town board. We do not take that lightly or find it funny. We continue to support all who are dedicated to preserving our environment, and its historic values, to protecting our drinking water, open space, and quality of life. Altogether these characteristics create East Hampton’s unique personality, make it a sought-after place to live, and are the bases of our economy.
Sincerely,
EDWARD GORMAN
President
East Hampton Conservators
Outdoor Lighting
East Hampton
February 1, 2010
Dear David,
You drew attention to Building Department permits in your editorial last week. One problem that I have noticed over the past several years: For new construction there is no financial reason not to adhere to the new lighting code, yet, new homes are constructed in all price ranges that have illegal light fixtures (the lightbulb and all refractive lenses need to be shielded by opaque means).
The Building Department has to check only a few outdoor lights on a home. They need to refer to the town code and see the diagrams of acceptable fixtures, which they are required to attach to all building permits. I spoke to Don Sharkey about this situation several times, and he assured me he would address it, but violations continue to this day (night).
My hope is that the new town board will (as they promised in their campaigns) enforce the outdoor lighting code.
SUSAN HARDER
True Blessing
East Hampton
February 1, 2010
Dear David,
There is so much moaning and groaning about some town departments in East Hampton that I needed to write this letter abut East Hampton Town’s transportation services.
Our town provides this service to the ill and elderly that is unequaled. Sheila Carter heads up the department (where they now have more vans than drivers because of the hiring freezes), with Ollie, Jim, Amy Blanchard, Carol Sisk that I have personally dealt with — there may be more. What they do is a true blessing from the Lord.
They take you with a smile and good cheer to doctors, cardiac rehab, chemo, radiation — wherever one has to go to get treatment and lacks transportation or the ability to drive. And they bring you home, too. All done with a smile, patience (no pun intended), courtesy, and caring. Would you believe door-to-door service?
They earn $4,000 less a year than their counterparts in Southampton, where Southampton will take you only within town limits and our guys take you where you have to go no matter where.
Our town board whose hands are tied fiscally in so many ways should at the very least award these people with those recognition-of-service pieces of paper they hand out.
Folks, I, for one, literally couldn’t live without them, and they truly are what’s left — like our E.M.S. and volunteer firefighters and our police — that makes East Hampton East Hampton.
Many thanks to them,
LONA RUBENSTEIN
Raise Our Taxes
East Hampton
January 28, 2010
Dear Editor:
I attended the East Hampton School Board meeting on Tuesday evening at the bus garage. The only non-school personnel in attendance were myself and one other. This meeting involved purchasing the King Street property for a bus depot.
The district has land which could be used but the board said it would not save much money. They would rather buy the property on King Street and repair the existing building and add on to it. We still have one more year to pay off the last bus, now they want us to vote to spend $4 million and raise our taxes in this bad economy.
Come to the next school board meeting before the March vote and voice your feeling on this.
JULIA KAYSER
Poor Turnout
Bridgehampton
January 31, 2010
Dear Editor:
How disappointing it was to see such a poor turnout at the school board meeting this past Tuesday evening. Those with concerns regarding the proposed King Street purchase passed up the opportunity to have their questions answered.
Sincerely,
CHRISTINE VORPAHL
Report Sighting
Springs
February 1, 2010
To the Editor,
The Hamptons are known for their passion for animals. While walking along the shore of Lazy Point last month, I was privileged to spot a harbor seal basking in the sun. If anyone sees a sea turtle, seal, whale, or dolphin who you might think is injured or in distress, or just to report the sighting, please call this hotline: 369-9829. They are the only organization in New York that is authorized to rescue any of these mammals.
SUSAN KEHOE
Very Lucky Cat
Sag Harbor
January 31, 2010
Dear Editor,
This letter is in reply to a letter from Emily Cobb in your Jan. 28 issue. I regret that cats were not mentioned in the article to which Emily refers. However, I want to reassure her — there are currently 125 cats in residence. There are no cat rooms to be built, as they are already there! Some rooms have trees and platforms and lots of sunlight filtering through large windows. They would be the envy of any shelter, including ARF.
Another sunny cat room has a couch in it, which the cats really enjoy sitting on. What the foundation plans to build, providing permission is granted by the town, are large fenced-in outdoor porches, usable in the warm weather, where cats would be able to go in and out at leisure.
Emily, I would be delighted to take you on a personal tour, so you could be reassured that our feline friends are extremely well taken care of.
Who knows, you might even fall in love with one and take it home. That would be a very lucky cat, indeed.
Sincerely,
SONY SCHOTLAND
Southampton’s Gain
East Hampton
January 29, 2010
Dear Editor:
Southampton’s going to have some lucky dogs — and cats — thanks to Sony Schotland.
I just read the article about Sony Schotland joining the new Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation and I had to write in!
A few years ago, I found a little family of kittens outside my house in East Hampton and immediately called the Animal Rescue Fund for help. No room for kittens, I was told.
Luckily, someone connected me with Ms. Schotland, who came to the rescue and arranged for the kittens to be part of ARF’s OpCat Program, although we paid for their food and provided shelter for them.
When one of the feral cats needed veterinary care, we again turned to Ms. Schotland. And once again, she proved to be a great friend to the animals
The problem was making an appointment with a vet when you can’t make an appointment to catch a feral cat. Sony arranged for us to take the cat to ARF for the work.
Over the last few years, I have turned to Ms. Schotland several times for her aid as I was trying to help the animals. Sometimes it was rescuing cats, sometimes trying to catch a lost or abandoned dog. Whatever it was, when I could not get help anywhere else, Ms. Schotland came through with compassion and a generous heart. And, I had not yet even met her!
My experience was that East Hampton animals were lucky she existed.
And now, unfortunately, East Hampton’s animals have lost that friend. But East Hampton’s loss is Southampton’s gain.
Sincerely,
GERALDINE NEWMAN
Noble People
Bridgehampton
January 24, 2010
Dear Editor,
Thought your readers would like to read about my experience in Haiti.
The year was 1983. I was offered an exhibit of my paintings through the American cultural attaché in Port-au-Prince, Frances Switt. Ms. Switt was the cousin of my friend, Trudy Golden, a resident of Georgica, East Hampton. She was chairwoman of the Filmmakers of the Hamptons beginning in 1969.
The exhibit was to be held at the prestigious art museum, the Centre d’Art, in Port-au-Prince. The curator was Francine Murat. I flew down that winter, found a small studio by the water in a village called Carrefour. The price was $400 a month with living quarters. I moved in and started painting.
Sheila Isham (an artist) and her American ambassador husband had just left their post. The new ambassador had not arrived yet. There were many parties up in Petionville, where the privileged lived. Dallas and Jimmy Ernst visited that winter, so did Nancy Love of Sag Harbor, along with Trudy Golden. Hilva Landsman, the chairwoman of Guild Hall’s film program, arrived, so did Frances Grill of Click model agency, head hunting for new faces. There was Bobby Short, staying at the Oloffson Hotel. We had met in Sag Harbor when he played at Joan Rae’s restaurant on Main Street.
We all had drinks at the famous Oloffson bar. Elaine Benson wrote often, as did her husband, Joe. They wanted to visit, but always felt obligated to go to Joe’s house in Sintra, Portugal. Elaine showed my Haitian paintings that summer and sold 16 at the opening.
Mikio Shinagawa, who I met at the Art Students League, was one of the few who did not like it there. Coming from Kyoto, Japan, the sanitary conditions were too much for him. He left in a hurry.
Then there was, most of all, Georgette Jean-Charles, owner of the Thor guest house, where I stayed, an enormous black woman who was to become one of my very best friends. She came often to Bridgehampton to stay with me, always with a car full of her entourage. We remained friends until her death. I spent two winters in Haiti. It was an honor to experience such a noble people.
They need our help now. Please give what you can. Our prayers are with them.
Sincerely,
ROCCO LICCARDI
Political Control
East Hampton
January 27, 2010
Dear David,
A couple of days ago on the street a white woman overheard my conversation with a friend. We were outraged about the unconscionable delay in delivering water, food, medical supplies, and practitioners to thousands of women, men, and children suffering and dying after the earthquake in Haiti.
She waited until I was alone and then approached quietly, “Excuse me. I don’t understand why the Haitian government has betrayed its own people by putting up shoddy buildings. Why didn’t they establish an infrastructure that could handle this crisis? It is their fault.”
I took a breath, deep pain in my heart, and wondered, does she want to understand? She is so misinformed, yet interested enough to speak with a stranger. I asked, “Where do you get your information?”
“I watch TV news mostly,” she said.
I told her Haiti has been a longtime interest of mine. As a supporter of Partners in Health and Dr. Paul Farmer, and being affiliated with Madre, I am kept informed. Since Haiti’s 1804 revolution of independence from France as a republic of freed slaves, to the United States’ kidnap and exile of democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004, Western domination has forced 80 percent of Haiti’s citizens to live in poverty. Over the years U.S. military and economic aid to protect our interests has gone to dictators and corrupt puppet governments, not held accountable for the safety, comfort, or well-being of their citizens.
The quake is a natural disaster preceded by political control and economic devastation. In terms of safe buildings, Aristide wanted the major local industries to be Haitian-owned. The U.S. wanted them privatized. So, for instance, the cement factory Ciment d’Haiti was privatized then shut down. Now a nation of geologic limestone imports cement.
She was interested. She wanted to learn more. I referred her to CommonDreams.org and DemocracyNow.org. We will be meeting again.
Currently I am writing a play on Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and Mary White Ovington, two founders of the N.A.A.C.P. in 1909. Several of Ovington’s essays focus on the 1915 U.S. Marine invasion and subsequent occupation of Haiti for the next 19 years. The marines left after we installed the Garde d’Haiti to protect U.S. interests.
There is a fear that the marines will occupy Haiti again. There is also hope and determination to rebuild an independent and sustainable Haiti. The first step is to demand that the International Monetary Fund and other big bank creditors forgive Haiti’s debts.
Joslyn Barnes, in the Nation magazine, says misinformation about Haiti “further wounds the Haitian people in their hour of direst need and misleads the American public.”
Sincerely,
CLARE COSS
Mix of Morons
East Hampton
January 27, 2010
Dear Editor:
The Supreme Court decision giving corporations the right to spend their hearts’ desire on political advertising should be a message to the rest of us to stand down if we don’t want our butts enslaved by corporate America. By empowering corporations as individuals the court evoked the first amendment, which guarantees individuals free speech. A bizarre spin even for the court monkeys whose orthodoxy flies in the face of reality and destabilizes a system so pathetically encumbered by debts and i.o.u.s that its bowel movements are regulated by lobbyists and not by digestive callings. (We may all be speaking Mandarin in the next decade.)
Obama’s decision to pass on change and bail out the banks instead of Main Street is part of the same package. Corporate America no longer does the job of creating jobs and distributing wealth. The free market, an oxymoronic fantasy, has stopped functioning as it did prior to 1975. It has become a vehicle for creating wealth for the top 5 percent of the country at the expense of everyone else.
Change meant owning up to this problem and rectifying it by a public works program of massive proportions. Real change is not Summers and Geithner but Stiglitz. Even Volker makes a difference.
Real change is not masturbatory. Scott Brown is like ordering French toast and getting melba toast. He should have been elected compared to his opponent, but how low has the bar been set for our politicians? Coherence used to be a minimum requirement to run for office along with one positive idea. He is aggressive, attractive, and heterosexual (something new for Republicans) but does he have a clue about why we’re in the mess we’re in?
More of the same, and an absurd kicker from the Supreme Court to further solidify governmental dysfunction leaves us seriously up the creek. Our continued recession is a function of credit cards being maxed out, home equity loans used up, and stagnating wages, leaving people with more debt than income. Simply put, the middle class is broke and is no longer the demand source that generates growth in the economy.
Our politicians are a mix of morons and criminals pretending to be something else. It doesn’t matter which party runs the country because neither one represents the people. Oops, I misspoke, now that corporations are people too.
NEIL HAUSIG
Raises an Eyebrow
Wainscott
February 1, 2010
Dear Editor:
Last week’s letter by Mr. Higer and his complaint about the names used by Mr. Geeland surely raises an eyebrow as to the nature of it all. Yes, Mr. Higer writes many letters and of course some of them make his progressive stance obvious. I often wonder what orifice they originate from.
What is wrong with using the president’s complete name? Maybe, Mr. Higer should Google Barry Soetoro,
a k a Barack Hussein Obama. Then he could eliminate a middle name.
In addition, Mr. Higer is correct, all the failed social programs pour out of the progressives. The nonuse of words? Maybe he should look at the definitions of lies, C-Span, transparency, and slimebucket backroom deals.
What is your source, besides “Sesame Street”?
Get a life!
Yours truly,
ARTHUR J. FRENCH
Sound Bites
East Hampton
January 30, 2010
Dear Dave,
For your readers who are independent minded and would care to see what wonderful bipartisan spirit the Republicans offer the president, much of which is echoed in repetitive sound bites on Fox network and elsewhere, by the Republican leadership and elected officials, here are some examples:
Limbaugh’s Web site claims of Obama: “His education plan is Maoist . . . and he is otherwise a Bolshevik. . . . [H]e would be a Stalinist if he thought he could get away with it”
Beck on O’Reilly Factor: “We are really truly stepping beyond socialism and starting to look at fascism”; compares proposals to Nazi Germany.
Limbaugh orders that there be no compromise on health reform: “You don’t compromise with socialists.”
Hannity: Obama’s administration is pushing “the single biggest power grab and move toward socialism in the history of the country.”
Limbaugh compares Obama’s health care plan to Nazi policies.
Beck: “I was wrong. Our government is not marching down the road toward communism or socialism . . . they’re marching us to a brand of nonviolent fascism, toward 1984.”
Limbaugh: “Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate.”
Beck says Obama can be considered a socialist, because Marxism and progressivism are “the same thing.”
Dick Morris’s self-confessed conspiracy theory: Obama “wants his plan to fail . . . so that he can make the case for bank nationalization and vindicate his dream of a socialist economy.”
Days after decrying those who say Democrats are “trying to turn us into Communist Russia,” Beck claimed Obama “has Marxist tendencies.”
In a column criticizing health care reform, Cal Thomas invokes the Holocaust: “Great horrors don’t begin in gas chambers.”
Limbaugh fear-mongers about health-care reform: you will be sent to “some re-education camp if you don’t lose weight.”
Pat Robertson declares health reform bills “dangerous,” “rushed through” by a president “with a socialist bent.”
Williams: Health reform proponents may not support Mao’s murders, but they support that “level of government control.”
Limbaugh wants to be precise: “Fascism is a more apt illustration of what Obama is establishing.”
In CNBC host Cramer’s “U.S.S.A.”: “Comrade Obama is a Bolshevik who is taking cues from Lenin.”
NRO’s Geraghty: Obama’s health care plan is “really more Trotskyite in nature.”
Washington Times invokes Nazism, publishes Hitler photo while criticizing health-care provisions in stimulus.
“Mr. Independent” Lou Dobbs repeatedly smears Obama and progressives as “socialists.”
Quinn agrees with caller that Democrats “took over the country without firing a shot,” adds “so did Hitler.”
Savage: Obama “is a neo-Marxist fascist dictator in the making.”
Quinn attacks “our undocumented president” who is “a communist.”
Updated Report: Conservative media push 75-year-old “socialized medicine” smear against health care reform, and so on and so on.
Over-the-top rhetoric picked up and repeated by Republicans up for election in order to play to their right-wing base.
Come on righties, deny any of the above.
RICHARD HIGER
Total Energy Plan
East Hampton
January 19, 2010
Dear Editor:
Continuing with our new year’s musings, we next have global warming drawing everyone’s attention and few can agree whether it is of mankind’s doing or just another cyclical event in the earth’s life cycle. Huge efforts are made to debunk the other’s point of view and, indeed, even manipulate data to prove one’s own point of view.
The recent climategate scandal coming from England’s University of East Anglia is a disgrace to science. Evidently, it seems, the answer has to be an either-or situation for both camps in order to persuade action or no action at all. It seems obvious to me that global warming is a combination of both and that something should still be done about it. It simply makes good sense to not turn your home into a sewer. We do not have an infinite supply of our most commonly used energy resources and prudent husbandry should prevail, so wouldn’t it make sense to start sooner rather than later?
When computers first came out all the Chicken Littles came out of the woodwork and said it would destroy our work force and unemployment would be rampant since machines would soon replace human hands. Nothing could have been further from the truth and the computer has created far more jobs than it ever took away. That same benefit would apply with improving our energy grid, reliance on wind and solar and tidal power, which are all renewable resources and much cleaner than coal and oil. We need a total energy plan, which also includes nuclear, that will wean us off our present system.
Theoretically, this national plan is exactly what the Waxman-Markey proposal for cap and trade, which just recently passed Congress on a very narrow vote, is trying to address. However, whenever I read about its ultimate goal in carbon emissions reduction I find it to be absurd and virtually unachievable, never mind its being a lobbyist’s dream come true. It proposes to limit us to just slightly more than one billion tons of greenhouse-gas emissions in 2050. Their goal is to meet an 83-percent reduction target by 2050 in the United States from its present levels.
According to George Will in a recent Newsweek article, we will have a projected national population of about 420 million, so this projected limit in carbon emissions puts it at a per capita carbon emissions rate of 25 percent of what it was in about 1910. Stated another way, it is about what it was in 1875 when our population was 45 million people. And this doesn’t include the rest of the world!
While it is good to have a plan, let’s start with one that is credible and at least achievable rather than pie in the sky. Yes, global warming is cyclical, that is not in dispute. It seems totally irrational to blame the entire recent warming event (now turned to cooling) on mankind. Nevertheless, something needs to be done and hiding your head in the sand and saying everything is just as it should be is less than commendable as well.
What is at stake here is what limits can the earth handle and no one has an answer to that and we will eventually run out of the resources we are presently using if we do not develop alternate means. It is said that just by stopping deforestation of our world’s rain forests we could cut our carbon dioxide levels by 20 percent. That seems like a pretty simple start right there, if only we could get everyone to agree on something.
Now there is the rub. Beside our own dysfunctional government, we have in the general public the science naysayers who will debunk any evidence, shrinking polar ice for example, and the environmental green Nazis who have somehow decided carbon dioxide is now a deadly poison. After climategate these naysayers are grinning like Sylvester had he ever actually caught Tweety Bird and the green Nazis have even decided cow flatulence is a biohazard.
According to a recent study, obesity is now being blamed for global warming because of the extra carbon dioxide created in the respirations of the obese and the additional carbon costs expended in growing and transporting their feedstock. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, yes, England again, made this observation. While Chemistry 101 will support this statement, let’s get a grip on reality here before a circus mentality prevails; otherwise we will all have to start eating our food raw so we don’t disturb Earth’s balance, and in addition to cap and trade, we’ll need a fat and fart tax.
Somehow we need to have reason prevail in this debate before we really do turn our planet into a sewer and expend our natural resources. I believe it was Chief Joseph who opined that the white man will drown in his own garbage. Surely we must not allow this prophecy to become true.
Sincerely,
JOHN PORTA