Thursday 3 April, 2014
Letter # 351
Dear President Obama,
I read with interest Thomas Friedman’s column yesterday about how important the “petro-money” is to the Russian economy, and I agree with much of what he says.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/opinion/friedman-follow-the-money.html
Where we disagree is the extent to which the US is also a petro-economy. The US State Dept. is rushing to sell Europe and the Ukraine LNG through the Bureau of Energy Resources! We just want the petro-money to flow here. Friedman wears rose-colored glasses through which he sees us “safely expanding natural gas and renewable energy” and thereby containing the “Putin threat.” But time is running out for the world and carbon emissions continue to mount. Switching from coal to gas makes them mount more slowly! But that’s not enough. We continue in the thrall of petro-money! Gas is not a clean bridge to the future, it is still CARBON! So please STOP the Keystone XL pipeline TODAY! We need to tax carbon and develop renewables. It’s the only sensible thing to do. As long as we let the oil companies run the global economy, we are all in big trouble. Let’s turn this train around and avoid a huge wreck! Please do your part.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Petro-Economy is Dangerous
Thursday 3 April, 2014
Letter # 352 (2nd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
Well the Supreme Court just ruled that people can spend as much money on political donations as long as they spread it around.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/03/us/politics/supreme-court-ruling-on-campaign-contributions.html
Chief Justice Roberts says the ruling upholds the basic “right to participate in electing our political leaders.” Participate? I thought you did that by voting!! Roberts claims my $10 and someone’s $1 Million are both just participation! Clearly not! Didn’t Orwell tell us that “All pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal than others.” This is a black day for American democracy. I am ashamed that the highest court in our land refuses to admit the corrosive power of money. Maybe our slowness in developing renewable energy is because no one owns the sun and the wind – so there’s not as much money to be made as in fossil fuels! So please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline and put more money into renewable energy. That’s the direction we need to head.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Supreme Court is Wrong
Friday 4 April, 2014
Letter # 353
Dear President Obama,
The IPCC came out with their starkest language on climate change this week.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/science/earth/climate.html
For the first time they mentioned crop failures so huge as to put the world’s food supply at considerable risk! We’re not talking a local drought, but disruptions much larger and more severe! And for all this talk, carbon emissions are continuing to rise! Meanwhile the level of denial is still so high in the US that Congress still blocks regulations on coal and the New York Times devotes its lead editorial to “Climate Signals Growing Louder.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/opinion/climate-signals-growing-louder.html
Eduardo Porter correctly emphasizes the chaotic and disruptive weather problems that we can expect.
We are in for trouble! It’s going to be grim before a lot of people get the message!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/world/climate-study-puts-diplomatic-pressure-on-obama.html
But for those of us who understand how much human suffering these severe disruptions will cause, the path is clear! We must all do what we can to reduce carbon emissions as quickly as possible. Please pick up your pen and stop the Keystone XL Pipeline today! It’s a really important step down the road to a livable climate for the future.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, IPCC Predicts More World HUNGER
another article on IPCC report:
Saturday 5 April, 2014
Letter # 354
Dear President Obama,
Charles Keating died this week, a man who caused the savings and loan crisis in the 80’s, claimed doggedly that he had done nothing wrong, but caused huge losses of life savings for thousands of small customers.
He was already a millionaire when he started his junk bond spree in 1984 and by 1987 the Fed. Home Loan Bank Board was so alarmed they tried to rein him in and investigate. Keating turned to 5 influential senators to pressure the Bank Board to back off, which bought him 2 more years of reckless greedy speculation. Three senators, all Democrats, were eventually “rebuked” by the Senate Ethics committee: Alan Cranston, Donald Riegle and Dennis DeConcini. Until then I had thought that Alan Cranston was a good guy, but greed and power and crony-ism led him to aid and abet Keating! Don’t close yourself up in the rarefied realms of Washington. Keep your moral compass. Stay grounded. The health and welfare of millions are in your hands. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline. Stop it RIGHT NOW! Don’t let Canadian greed sway you to put off rapid carbon reductions! It’s only one piece of the problem, but it does matter. Please do the right thing for us all.
Thank you.
Susan Ringler, Say NO to Greed
Sunday 6 April 2014
Letter # 355
Dear President Obama,
On Tuesday 1 April a number of US Catholic bishops held outdoor masses to call for immigration reform and to honor those who have died trying to cross into the United States. Samantha Sais took a powerful photo of Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tuscon offering communion through the bars of a border fence near Nogales, AZ.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2014/04/02/us/NOGALESFLOATER.html
As the world experiences more severe and frequent climate disruptions, richer countries will first resort to more fences, as around the Spanish enclave of Melilla . But I hope we learn quickly that cooperation and respect for nature and our planet are where the true solutions to climate change lie. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline as one step along the way to a more healthy and equitable world. Social justice and climate justice issues are connected. The poor and disenfranchised will suffer most. I encourage you to act boldly on climate change and immigration reform. But ultimately climate change will kill more people if we are too slow to act – a sobering statement, but necessary. So please stop KXL. It is very important.
Thank you.
Susan Ringler, Honoring Dead Border Crossers
Monday 7 April 2014
Letter # 356
Dear President Obama,
The other day a friend asked me about my letters to you and I sighed and said I was still writing but getting a bit disheartened. My trust in you, that you will do the right thing and stop the Keystone XL Pipeline is wavering. But my friend is even more solidly a genetic Democrat than I am, and is sure you are only waiting for the midterm elections to be over! We bet $20 on it – and I would dearly love to lose that bet! So until then I will keep writing! Someone has to keep the pressure up on this issue. Someone has to keep KXL on the radar screen of easily avoidable bad ideas! So hats off to my friend Jim Silva who remains a staunch supporter of yours. In his honor and in honor of other hard working Americans who don’t have time to write to you, I ask you to please stop the KXL!! It’s a terrible idea, a pipeline we just don’t need.
Thank you.
Susan Ringler, Hope to Lose a Bet
Monday 7 April 2014
Letter # 357 (2nd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
Huipil, Comalapa Guatemala
I send you this PINK huipil because I need a shot of bright colors after a spate of sobering letters. Humans need art and love and joy and so when they need clothes they sometimes make them creative statements. I don’t actually like the color sensibility of this one – but I sure hope the person who wove it did! Weaving takes a long time! Huipils make me think of edges – of balance and imbalance – they embody community, each village with its own colors and patterns. But community can devolve into tribalism where we fight each other. Some color combinations I find more harmonious, and others jarring. But I try not to be too prejudiced! Colors are great. I can’t imagine the world without them. So I send you this huipil as a reminder that communities include and tribes exclude. So please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline, and the whole human community will thank you someday. I thank you today.
Susan Ringler, Love Huipils
Sat. 12 April 2014
Letter # 358
Dear President Obama,
I was happy to read that Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald have received the Polk journalism award for national security reporting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/business/media/polk-award-winners-to-accept-in-person.html?
They are accepting the award in person in NYC and it is their first visit since last June when they worked with Edward Snowden to publicize documents concerning vast and illegal NSA surveillance programs. How sad that Mr. Snowden cannot join the festivities. He is a man of principle and much to be admired for his actions on behalf of free speech rights. Speech is not free under sweeping government surveillance. We should be ashamed of our government’s attempt to label him a traitor. The NSA really needs to be reined-in! Please slash their budget and invest the money in renewable energy. In the long run it will serve our national security much better. Please say NO TODAY to the Keystone XL Pipeline. Let’s get going on quickly reducing our dependency on fossil fuels! Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Respect Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald
Sunday 13 April 2014
Letter # 359
Dear President Obama,
Yesterday I spent much of the day outside in the sun working on a mosaic mirror. It feels great to work with color and listen to the birds and feel the breeze blow. I’ve been wondering a lot lately if I have been covering the important topics in these letters, or whether I have missed some things. This has led to a spate of serious letters and so I need to swing the pendulum back and play up creativity and grace and plenty. Spring is a time of renewal, of springing forth again, of burgeoning plenitude. We don’t need greed to be happy. We don’t need to risk trashing the climate to have plenty. So please STOP the Keystone XL Pipeline. We don’t need it. Let’s put our energies behind shifting the balance from fossil fuels to renewables. Let’s spring into action! Yes we can make changes to our environmental and energy policies. So please lead the way!
Thank you.
Susan Ringler, Springtime Fosters Creativity
Tuesday 15 April 2014
Letter # 360
Dear President Obama,
Last week President Faust of Harvard explained her feeble reasons for not divesting Harvard’s portfolio from Big Oil.
http://www.harvard.edu/president/news/2014/confronting-climate-change
As I was composing a reply to her letter, I was thrilled to read the retort by almost 100 Harvard Faculty members.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/4/10/faculty-letter-divestment/
This is inspiring! Harvard faculty is what makes Harvard Harvard! Many stay for decades. They are pillars of the intellectual community of our country. They wield way more clout than current students or alumni , both of whom have been waging
DIVEST campaigns. Hooray to be joined by a significant faculty group. There is a voice she must take more seriously! So please step up and do your part. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline TODAY! We need to quickly reduce carbon emissions. Help cut through the stalling and start the action. This is important. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Admire Harvard Faculty for Divestment
