Climate questions
Re “Brown backs pope on climate,” July 22, and “Pope, Brown parting ways,” Column, July 20
It’s encouraging to read about the many angles from which California, under Gov. Jerry Brown’s leadership, is working to chip away at climate change. But let’s not fool ourselves: California cannot call itself a climate leader when it is the third-largest producer of oil in the United States — the country that tops the list globally.
Environmental experts and affected communities for years have been calling on Brown to curtail the expansion of oil development and protect our health, water and farms. Instead, we’ve seen our drinking water, air quality and food safety compromised as fracking and other dangerous extraction methods continue unabated.
I’d like to see Brown try to explain that to others looking for guidance at the Vatican.
Arlo Bender-Simon
Goleta, Calif.
The writer is a field organizer for the California Student Sustainability Coalition.
The pope and Brown agree that climate change is a serious problem, and I would wager they agree on the solutions. The difference is that Brown has to work through the political system, where enormous sums of money from the carbon-based energy industries stymie efforts to address this problem.
A carbon “tax-and-dividend” solution exists, but the dirty energy money buys enough votes to keep it from passing — so far.
Paul Scott Santa Monica
The cap-and-trade issue is a political microcosm of our democracy. All of our political parties have members who reflect the pope’s thinking. It is wrong to pollute, and it cannot be tolerated.
But Pope Francis either doesn’t understand or disregards the effect of a stop-polluting mandate when thousands of industries are closed and millions of dependent lives are devastated.
Yes, we should not pollute the air we breathe, but our attempts to achieve that goal should be incremental.
David N. Hartman Santa Ana