Friday 13 June 2014
Letter # 401
Dear President Obama,
There’s a huge migration problem in Europe that will only grow exponentially worse in years to come. Already more than 40,000 migrants – mostly from Africa – have reached Italy this year by boat. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/world/europe/italians-rescue-migrants-who-left-north-african-shores-on-boats.html
This is more than the total for 2013! Desertification and other effects of climate change are at work! https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/19/opinion/europes-migration-emergency.html
Italy says as many as 800,000 are massing in Libya trying to reach Europe! Not only do other European countries need to help Italy with the cost of this migration, but rich nations who are the biggest emitters of CARBON pollution need to change their ways very quickly! The US needs to quickly renounce fossil fuels. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline Right Away! Show you care about the huge social injustice of climate change. We need to do our part. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Climate Refugees are Increasing
Tuesday 17 June 2014
Letter # 402
Dear President Obama,
I was interested last week to read about Japan’s ultra-small KEI cars and trucks. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/business/international/japan-seeks-to-squelch-its-tiny-cars.html
They have only a 0.66 liter engine and so have great fuel economy. Unfortunately both Japanese industry and government are moving to squelch these little cars. Industry I can understand – since the profit margins are low. But government should encourage these small practical vehicles. We all need to be thinking SMALLER! Smaller carbon footprint, only using what we need – using as little fossil fuel as possible. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline Right Now! Show your support for curbing carbon emissions QUICKLY. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Fan of Japan’s KEI Car
Thursday 19 June 2014
Letter # 403
Dear President Obama,
Your new EPA regulations sparked an interesting response from Mark Hertsgaard in Harper’s. http://harpers.org/blog/2014/06/a-top-obama-aide-says-history-wont-applaud-the-presidents-climate-policy/
He correctly points out that by using 2005 as your baseline for change (a high point in emissions), you make very modest reductions look larger. Your cuts do NOT put us on a path to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius and your small steps are completely insufficient! History will not judge you as a hero, but as a small incrementalist. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline now to demonstrate that you know how important immediate change is!! We must act decisively NOW. This is no time to wait. Picking numbers to make a tiny change look better may be politically expedient NOW, but they will be harshly and correctly judged by history. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, History Won’t Applaud You
Saturday 21 June 2014
Letter # 404
Dear President Obama,
Although I mentioned the refugee crisis in the Spanish enclave of Melilla in letter #355 in April, I didn’t really talk about it. A chilling group of photos recently compels me to return to the topic. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/30/world/africa/storming-a-spanish-border-in-north-africa.html
Melilla is a duty free port completely surrounded by Tunisia, and it is a part of Spain. Because of enormous desertification and horrific wars, more and more Africans are climate refugees. Melilla is surrounded by a barbed wire fence and on 28 May over a thousand stormed the fence at night and about half made it across! We are going to see enormous refugee pressure on Europe in the coming decade. But the problem belongs to us all. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline RIGHT now! We are causing great damage to the planet and although the poor are the first to suffer, we will all suffer in the end. The fence in Melilla will continue to get over-run by increasingly desperate climate refugees. Please make big changes now! Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Pity Melilla Fence-Stormers
Monday 23 June 2014
Letter #405
Dear President Obama,
One of my early letters to you (#25) was about the Dutch town of Loppersum which, after 50 years of natural gas pumping, is experiencing more and more earthquakes. Loppersum hit the news again on 5 June because the Dutch government wants gas production to SLOW! https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/05/business/international/europes-big-gas-cache-is-on-shakier-ground.html
More than 20 medieval churches now need REPAIR. There are costs of fossil fuels that we once ignored. I also wrote to you about earthquakes in Oklahoma (#260). By the time we add in all the horrific costs of carbon pollution, the costs of fossil fuels are way too high. How long will it be before we realize this? Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline today to show that you know fossil fuels come with huge price tags: damage to the environment, more earthquakes, the climate changing at an unprecedented pace. We cannot ignore these signs any more. Please say NO to KXL. It is urgent we make huge changes right away. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Loppersum Earthquakes are a Warning
Monday 23 June 2014
Letter # 406 (2nd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
I went to a meeting at the Mass. State House in downtown Boston today to hear a report from the MA Dept of Transportation on their “GreenDOT” program which intends to “integrate sustainability elements into all aspects of MassDOT.” The meeting was called by the MA House Comm. On Global Warming and Climate Change to get an update on GreenDOT progress. But the progress is very slow because there is no money and no push from the Governor and other top officials. All electric buses are available, but they cost 2.5 to 3 times as much as other buses, so the MBTA is not buying them. We could be doing much more, much faster. We are pushing the climate change catastrophe further down the road rather than facing it now. If you add in the price of carbon pollution, those buses are NOT expensive. We need leadership at the top to get this message out. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline TODAY! Please give us strong leadership from the top that climate change is here NOW and we need to act quickly to get off fossil fuels. Thank you.
Susan Ringler, Disappointed in GreenDOT
PS. I do NOT recommend the 136 page GreenDOT 2014 Status report, http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Portals/0/docs/GreenDOT/GreenDOT_Report2014/statusReport_GreenDOT2014.pdf a waste of time to produce and to read.
Tuesday 24 June 2014
Letter # 407
Dear President Obama,
I am pleased that your office finally released the 2010 memo explaining the legality of drone strikes against US citizens, albeit with about 12 pages redacted out of a 41 page document. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/opinion/a-thin-rationale-for-drone-killings.html
But I am dismayed that the justification is largely that “the realities of combat” meant that no serious due process was possible. This is a chilling disregard of fundamental rights. I applaud the NY Times for quickly voicing their dismay that the memo is a “slapdash pastiche of legal theories.” We must set ourselves a higher standard, or we will lose all international respect.
Due process rights are about fairness and this memo is quick to abandon fairness. We also abandon fairness when we emit huge amounts of carbon pollution and don’t take enough responsibility for the damage we cause. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline TODAY! Pick up your pen and do it! Since we have emitted a big portion of the carbon, it is only fair that we quickly agree to dramatically cut our emissions. If the US wants to be known as a place where people are fairly treated under the law, we need to act FAIRLY. Thank you.
Susan Ringler, Drone Strikes are not Fair
PS. Letter #379 asked for the release of this document, so I’m glad we got to see it.
Tuesday 24 June 2014
Letter # 408 (2nd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
I am pleased to read that the Supreme Court upholds the EPA’s authority to regulate GHG emissions from large industrial polluters such as power plants and oil refineries. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/us/justices-with-limits-let-epa-curb-power-plant-gases.html
This demonstrates that even our pro-business Supreme Court recognizes the danger of carbon pollution! But unfortunately the EPA proposal earlier this month is not strong enough. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/business/energy-environment/new-carbon-rules-unlikely-to-start-energy-revolution.html
Because the target is to reduce carbon emissions 25 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, we have already achieved OVER HALF of that goal through the recession and efficiency. This means that utilities will use LESS coal and MORE natural gas, but will still be burning coal, by many estimates, in 2030 or 2040! This is unconscionable and very irresponsible. We need MUCH steeper reductions in carbon emissions much faster is we are to avoid the very worst effects of climate change! If we can’t even get rid of coal in the US by 2030, we are NOT serious about the HUGE problem of climate change. Your paltry measures to try and appease everyone are NOT ENOUGH. Please immediately stop the Keystone XL pipeline to show you really ARE serious about combatting climate change. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, We Need to Get Off COAL
Wednesday 25 June 2014
Letter # 409
Dear President Obama,
Earthquakes are happening and getting larger and more frequent in places we don’t usually think are susceptible. In April a small article reported that state geologists in Ohio linked earthquakes in the Youngstown area to FRACKING itself, not just to the waste water injection from fracking. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/us/ohio-geologists-link-earthquakes-to-gas-drilling.html
Now government officials in Texas, Colorado and elsewhere are looking at the earthquake risks of fracking, and regulation and law suits could well follow. Maybe the Golden days of fracking are coming to a close! That would be great! Fracking was not sufficiently studied or regulated because it was profitable. Now risks are appearing, and it is clear that the environmental costs of this “cheap” fuel will be HUGE. Let’s not delude ourselves that fracked gas is “cheap.” It is NOT. The evidence is mounting. When will we put the TRUE price on carbon?
Let’s start NOW. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline NOW and stop pretending that fossil fuels are “cheap.” We are already paying the price in climate disruption and it will get much worse. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Time to Stop Fracking
Thursday 10 July 2014
Letter # 410
Dear President Obama,
I read recently of flooding in Minnesota “as swollen rivers overflow.” https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/25/us/much-of-minnesota-is-flooded-as-swollen-rivers-overflow.html
The headline sounds benign, but as I read further, I realized that the extraordinarily widespread flooding was caused by what I’ll call “A TRIPLE CENTENARY”: 3 100-year weather events on top of one another! First Minnesota had a very heavy snowfall this winter (event 1), then it had an unusually wet spring (event 2) and then it got hit with 6 inches of rain in a day – another very unusual event! This sort of triple whammy is what we need to be preparing for everywhere. Climate disruption is here NOW – and not only do we have frequent 100-year events, but we can get several AT ONCE. That really causes havoc. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline TODAY! We need to send a strong message that the US understands the ENORMOUS problem carbon pollution is already causing – and that we are ready to give up fossil fuels as quickly as possible. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Alarmed at Minnesota Flooding
