Vote in climate champions
Three of my friends already know they lost their homes in the CZU Lightning Complex fires. This is terrible, and this is climate change. Other factors including resource and personnel shortages and COVID19 devastation, but the breadth of the horrifying infernos we now face is clearly driven by climate change. The good news is we know what we need to do. Unlike COVID19, which came out of the blue with scientists scrambling to catch up, the science of climate change has been clear for decades, and the raft of solutions keeps improving. The implication is that we have to implement them.
In order to stop everworse fires like the ones currently ravaging California, those that devastated Australia less than a year ago, and those that pushed people in Greece into the sea to drown in 2018, we need to act now to get a handle on evermorewidespread hurricanes, floods and sea level rise and preserve a livable future. We can start by voting for climate champions up and down the ballot, and, if we have the means, volunteering our time and money to facilitate systemic and equitable solutions.
Helena Birecki, San Francisco
Invest in solutions instead
Regarding “Fiberfree convention” and “Nary a mention” (Letters, Aug. 22): Democrats have chosen as their vice presidential candidate a woman who was the district attorney of San Francisco and the attorney general of California, so lawandorder issues would automatically be front and center in a BidenHarris administration.
However, there seems to be some misunderstanding about the role of the federal government with respect to lawandorder issues. Except in the case of a national emergency, the federal government has a very limited role to play when it comes to the enforcement of state laws, as police powers are reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.
The primary role of the federal government is not enforcement but in trying to resolve the kinds of social problems that lead to violence, which is why Democrats focused on those issues at their national convention.
Given the high cost of incarceration, locking people up is a shortterm solution to a longterm problem. We need to invest in solutions that reduce violence and provide incentives to stay out of jail. That’s the job of the federal government.
Holly Kraemer, Alameda
Time to be selfless
Today I read an article written by a man who lived for years in a refugee camp. I compared the privations he suffered with some U.S. citizens who are so enraged about lines at the grocery store and the dreadful inconvenience of wearing a small cotton mask that they go so far as to point loaded weapons at legislators and peaceful protesters to make their point. Is this adult behavior?
Is this rational? Is this unselfish? I think not. I think how nice it would be if all our citizens cared as much for their fellow citizens as they do for themselves and for their perceived loss of freedom. If only our fellow human beings here and everywhere accepted that we are all in this together and joined the effort to keep COVID19 from spreading. How lucky we are that we don’t have bombs dropping on us year after year, making our lives nothing but endless terror and grief. If only we helped our fellow humans who’ve lost jobs and homes and food and health care. If only we all did what we can to help our brothers and sisters who are caught in the same web. If only.
Carol Douglass, San Francisco
Fearandsmear strategy
Regarding “‘Uplifting’ tenor of GOP gathering lasts a few hours” (Aug. 25): When Donald Trump spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention, he proclaimed “I alone can fix it” when referring to the socioeconomic problems facing our country. Now, at the 2020 Republican National Convention, after having stated, “I don’t take responsibility at all,” or his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump is using a fearandsmear strategy.
The fear part is his untruthful accusations that Democrats will rig the November election, take away the rights of gun owners, and plunge our country into endless lawlessness. The smear part is his typical (and childish) namecalling of opponents, such as labeling the Biden/Harris ticket as radical left. Meanwhile, millions of voters across the country who are unemployed due to an outofcontrol pandemic, frustrated by ongoing racial injustice, and weary of Trump’s daily divisive rhetoric and lies, want to ask him this question: What is it, exactly, that you have fixed during your almost four years in office?
Esteban Hernandez, San Francisco
Keep the dams in place
Regarding “Remove the dams” (Aug. 23): Removing the dams on the Columbia River would create an environmental disaster. Those dams provide clean, carbonfree electricity to millions in Seattle, Portland and other western cities.
Millions of tons of additional natural gas would be burned each year to replace the lost hydropower. More global warming to “save the salmon.” Pacific Coast salmon are doing well. There’s plenty in British Columbia and Alaska. Due to global warming, wild salmon’s southern range is contracting — the streams are too warm for successful spawning and maturation. But the northern range is expanding — salmon are now colonizing streams in Alaska that used to be too cold for spawning.
Richard Covert, San Francisco
Fighting for freedom
President Trump said, “I’m the only thing standing between the American dream and total anarchy, madness and chaos.” The amended truth, in my opinion, is that the freedoms we all cherish, the love we have of country, the freedom of the press, our democracy, in short, are the only things that keep him from his dream of being the anarchist in chief.
Walt Watman, Emeryville