Looking beyond oil dependence
Thank you to Lynnette Zelezny and Madison Harris (“Symposium highlights local opportunities, challenges of carbon storage,” April 30) for looking beyond Kern County’s dependence on oil and gas production to a sustainable future where former workers in polluting energy sources are retrained to develop and manage wind and solar — perhaps geothermal — and where Kern County is on the cutting edge of carbon sequestration technological development.
A national price on the carbon emissions of fossil fuels would greatly level the playing field with these hazardous sources of energy, further stimulating investment in renewable technologies, and thereby stimulating Kern County’s blossoming into a sustainability hub of innovation. — Judith Trumbo, La Canada-Flintridge
A MOTHER’S DAY MEMORY
Here’s a Mother’s Day memory. One day my Mom handed me a new pair of Levi’s. Times were tough back then. Said she was sorry for forgetting my birthday had been several days ago. She had gone out to get a small box of plain cake mix. No icing. No candles. Best I ever tasted. — Pete Carton, Bakersfield
VLADDIE, GO TO YOUR ROOM!
I have always detested the notion of sanctioning. This misuse of a word connoting “blessing” ties into a kind of social engineering that says we can control people by controlling their pocketbook, or depriving them of their supper. This is a social algebra of positive and negative rewards. Think of Pavlov’s dogs.
By negatively sanctioning a country, we express our displeasure with the ruler, but punish the people, who probably hate the ruler as much as we do.
Therefore, all we are doing is putting extreme pressure on the people to depose their ruler, because we don’t feel that we ought to do it ourselves.
In Sunday’s paper I read about Madeleine Albright and her “cojones.” Those who use the concept of sanctioning would have to say: Cojones? No tenemos nada de eso. We don’t have any of that.
When I hear the bloodless reasoning of those who fear World War 3, I remember the warning that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand around and do nothing. Nothing except manipulate the banking system, energy sourcing, and so on, to put financial pressure on the bad guy.
While Putin was getting his war machine in place, all the talk about sanctioning was going on, and increasing day by day. I told myself that all that was like saying “Vladdie, go to your room!” We can see how effective that was.
Let’s hope the sanctioning works. I don’t want to fight Putin either. But more and more I’m asking myself, Why is it better to fight him next year than to fight him now?
— Larry Dunn, Bakersfield
RISE IN INFECTIOUS DISEASE
Associated Press journalist Drew Costly’s scientifically solid and non-politicized article about the impact of climate change on newly emerging infections and the geographic spread of old ones, should trigger recognition of the local form of this phenomenon: increased valley fever.
Climate change creates perfect conditions for growth and dissemination of coccidioides immitis, as outlined in the LA Times on April 4. Viruses and other microorganisms ignore borders. The numerous, currently available solutions to climate change will languish unused unless the citizens who are alarmed about global warming become activists and send the clear message to political leaders that they have no future unless they enact carbon pricing legislation, aggressively pursue 100 percent clean energy, and get ambitious in creating a climate-wise and livable world. Malaria is creeping north. My son had malaria in the Peace Corps in Guinea, Africa — believe me, you do not want malaria. — Gary Stewart, Bakersfield