Climate change policies must be equitable
I applaud State Sen. Scott Wiener’s efforts to ban fracking in California as described in J.D. Morris’ article “Wiener bill would ban fracking in state by 2027” (Bay Area, Feb. 17). In the article, Wiener states, “Communities that are already struggling with health outcomes — we’re allowing them to be poisoned, and that’s just not OK,” alluding to the negative effects of fracking on communities of color.
According to a 2016 study by the American Journal of Public Health about fracking, “disposal wells were 2.04 times as common in areas with 80% people of color or more than in majority White areas.”
The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act equitably addresses climate change by placing a price on fossil fuel production and distributing that money directly back to the American people.
Not only would this encourage energy companies to invest in renewable energy, the money collected would help strengthen the communities that fossil fuel production is harming most in the first place.
It’s a onetwo punch that already has bipartisan support. Climate change negatively affects all of us but hurts communities of color more, so we need to support equitable policy.
Dan Sulfaro, San Francisco
Maximum capacity
My mission as an educator is to help people make scientifically informed decisions. So let’s run the numbers, shall we? I am one of seven science teachers in a shiny new school with an excellent principal.
Each science classroom is equipped with 10 fixed lab benches to accommodate up to 40 students. All of us are working full time, at maximum capacity.
To provide a safe, socially distanced education, we can have only one student at each lab bench. That means we need new facilities and new teachers for threefourths of the students; that is, we need at least 20 new classrooms and 20 new teachers. Remember, this is just the science department at a single high school. To those agitating for an
“immediate, safe reopening,” I look forward to hearing your plans for funding this quadrupling of our educational capacity.
Cynthia Cudaback, Oakland
Exemplary writing
Regarding “Myanmar coup imperils couple’s reunion in S.F.” (Front Page, Feb. 17): I’m a loyal Chronicle subscriber (for years) and was so moved by Tatiana Sanchez’s story about the gay Myanmar couple.
It had all the elements of terrific storytelling: local angle, national policy, international relations, LGBTQ focus and the kind of story that I believe only The Chronicle can do well. I do hope we’ll see more stories like this. I also read the New York Times and listen to NPR, but this is a particular story specific to San Francisco and only The Chronicle can do it justice.
I hope it wins you a very prestigious award; you deserve it. Your writing is exemplary.
Please keep up the good work.
David Landis, San Francisco
Truthful leadership
The GOP is having a moral outage. The events in Texas are another reason why I appreciate Democrat leadership in California. Political views and platforms aside, Democrats at least speak the truth and let us debate the issues to move forward.