Several readers wrote to us this week, calling for officials to act on measures to slow climate change:
To the Editor,
Climate change is happening here and now — and as a young person building a life for myself, it is overwhelming to see too many of our leaders failing to act to keep our communities safe from climate disaster in the future.
The latest climate report from the United Nations says we have only 12 years to transform our economy to preserve the stable climate human civilization has depended on for millennia. We need a massive mobilization of every sector of society on par with what science and justice demand.
A Green New Deal will keep Americans safe from climate change and create millions of green jobs. It is common sense policy that is overwhelmingly popular with American people, regardless of political party or where they live.
There is a Green New Deal on the table at every level of government in New York — at the city level, at the state level, and at the federal level. It’s time that our leaders take it up and act to save lives and the future now.Dana Affleck
Clinton Hill
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To the Editor,
Thank you for reading this! This letter is me saying, let’s get behind the Green New Deal. I am 37-years-old and have been frightened and paralyzed about climate change for so long. Ever since Sunrise Movement and the Green New Deal resolution, I’ve been so inspired and ready to participate in our democratic process.
A Green New Deal will keep Americans safe from climate change and create millions of good jobs, too. I’ve been calling my representatives every week to thank them for co-sponsoring this amazing resolution or encourage them to do so.
What a hopeful approach we have found in this resolution. We can squelch our climate change fears by getting behind this bold movement and getting the Green New Deal into law.Brooke LaGrand
Kensington
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To the Editor,
The UN’s latest climate report states that in order to limit global average temperature rise to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures, we, as a planet, need to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. Currently, global average temperature is 1 degree Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, and we have already seen firsthand the negative effects it has had on our lives through increased weather intensity and global sea-level rise.
Humanity has 11 more years to limit global-average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and begin to reverse the horrible effects of climate change. The Green New Deal is the first step to making positive climate action in the U.S. Any political candidate, regardless of party affiliation, will not earn youth support unless they have the courage and common sense to back the Green New Deal. This is not the time to sit idly by, this is the time for action.Padriac Nugent
Clinton Hill
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To the Editor,
Since I was 8-years-old, I was told that the world was ending around me. I was told that my grandchildren would live to see the actual apocolypse if we didn’t do anything to stop it.
Now I’m 22-years-old and I have seen no progress. I have seen no responsibility from politicians. I have seen no accountability from corporations. And now I am told that I may live to see the end of the world. This global crisis demands drastic action immediately, which is why I see the Green New Deal as a glimmer of hope in a world growing darker by the day. It is our duty to our planet to make up for our wrongs, define where we stand, and create the legislature to save not only our species but all the inhabitants on Earth. Emma Witmer
Bushwick
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To the Editor,
The truth is there whether we acknowledge it or not. That’s comforting in the days of Trumpism, but also deeply concerning at a time of increasing calamity from human-caused climate change. Many (including even leaders in the Democratic Party and strong environmental advocates such as Michael Bloomberg) have taken initial steps to paint the Green New Deal as “pie-in-the-sky” and unreasonable.
Besides using metaphors, which were already cliche when my grandparents were kids, they fail to acknowledge the exciting truth directly before us: there has never been a proposal to halt climate change that has been more reasonable than the Green New Deal. Why? Because the Green New Deal is the only major proposal we’ve seen to date that actually meets this colossal challenge with a plan bold enough to overcome it.
The plans that have been proposed so far, while well-intentioned and a good start, have been unreasonable in that they will not actually solve the tremendous problems we face. The latest climate report from the UN says we have only 12 years to transform our economy to preserve the stable climate human civilization has depended on for millennia. It is unreasonable to think that any plan short of a massive mobilization of every sector of society will solve this crisis. The good news? The Green New Deal will unleash prosperity and justice the likes of which the country, and this world, have ever seen.
We have been given an unimaginable gift to be conscious human beings on this earth and right now we’re blowing it. We owe it to ourselves to acknowledge this truth and act boldly to our potential before it’s too late. Will Blomker
Prospect Heights
We need truth
The protection of executive privilege is a path that allows professional politicians to legally lie. Withholding information is not in the public interest; the truth is what is needed to protect our democracy.
Release the complete Mueller report and everything else we have every right to know, because we are the people; and you work for us, are paid by us, and report to us!
The current POTUS is a shame; has been accused of divulging state secrets in the past, and lies 24-seven. This is not how our system of governance has been before, nor should be again in the future; assuming there is a future.
And that is my two-cents.Barry Brothers
Homecrest
Media apology
To the Editor,
The media is now reporting that actor Jussie Smollett, who is black and gay, was arrested after finally coming clean about his staged homophobic, anti-Trump, and anti-black noose attack.
After weeks of media hype, the actor and media have a tremendous amount of damage control to perform. In addition, they should approach the black community, in fact all of America, and make public apologies for what was almost done.
Sadly, today, we live in a racially charged society, much of it brought to fruition by the media. All it takes to set off this tinderbox in certain cities is false reporting, and the bloodshed begins.
May the Chicago police throw the book at Jussie, though, watch and see the liberal slap on the hands he gets. Robert W. Lobenstein
Sheepshead Bay
Drug addition
To the Editor,
I strongly agree with Nicole Malliotakis that any facilities where drug addicts can legally inject themselves with heroin or other addictive drugs should be illegal (“She’s sticking it to him” by Colin Mixson, Bay News, Feb. 22–28). I think the mayor should use the money he would allocate to these clinics to provide addicts with rehabilitation programs and to get drug dealers off the streets.
I wonder if the mayor is aware that providing clinics where addicts can legally and supposedly safely take illegal and addictive drugs would encourage more teenagers and others to try these drugs. It seems like the city is sanctioning the use of illegal drugs while, at the same time, trying to prevent or save users from overdosing. Does this make sense?
Is the mayor aware that these clinics would create two new serious problems? One would be the drug dealers waiting outside the clinics to sell addicts more drugs before or after they shoot up. The second would be the addicts who drive to the clinics, take their drugs, and then attempt to drive home.
Mr. DeBlasio, please use this money to rehabilitate drug addicts instead, and to prevent those not yet addicted from ever starting on drugs.
Elaine Kirsch
Gravesend
