Thursday 24 July 2014
Letter # 421
Dear President Obama,
I love the Justin Gillis headline from 29 April: “What does Today Owe Tomorrow?” https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/29/science/what-does-today-owe-tomorrow.html
His article is mostly about economists and the different amounts they are willing to spend to head off climate damage: from nothing to a great deal. Not surprisingly most economists come down somewhere in the middle, sort of like buying a mid-range insurance policy. But the question is philosophic and cultural. As corporations have gained power in the last decades in the US, so too has net worth TODAY become the Holy Grail of this hyper-capitalism. There is no room in quarterly profit statements, in split-second derivatives trading, and in one-click internet shopping for thoughts of tomorrow. But I personally feel I owe tomorrow a great deal. I do what I can to goad you and others into action to lessen climate change due to CARBON EMISSIONS! And I will keep speaking out. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline as a first small step to limit climate change. I see myself as part of a long chain of humans – a chain I would like to see continue and flourish. We stand on the shoulders of many. The future health of the planet is worth fighting for.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Today Owes Tomorrow a Lot
Thursday 24 July 2014
Letter # 422 (2nd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
Last month Paul Krugman wrote a column supporting your new EPA rules on carbon emissions and stating that this US policy would have a positive effect on China, encouraging them to cut emissions too. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/opinion/krugman-the-climate-domino.html
Nice happy talk – good for dispelling doom and gloom – but frankly over-stating the importance of these paltry new rules. Today just the opposite seems to be happening: China is planning 50 coal gasification plants by 2030. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/world/asia/greenpeace-says-chinas-energy-plans-exacerbate-climate-change.html
These water-intensive plants will be built in the deserts of Xinjiang increasing coal use and carbon emissions there, in order to reduce them in Beijing and Tianjin. Beijing gets cleaner air at the expense of the air and water of Xinjiang! The net result is MORE CARBON EMISSIONS. These plans are detailed in a recent report by Greenpeace East Asia. I thank them for reporting. I can’t do much to change China’s misguided energy plans, but that is all the more reason to ask YOU to please stop the Keystone XL pipeline NOW! Remember we need to cut our carbon emissions by 4% this year!! How are we going to do it?
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Against Coal-Gasification
Monday 28 July 2014
Letter # 423
Dear President Obama,
I send you a wonderful Van Gogh painting to thank you for your 2 July letter responding to my many letters. I had not heard from you in almost a year and I am VERY GLAD that this letter speaks in detail about climate change, mentions carbon pollution 7 times and calls for my continued ACTION educating people about the urgency of the climate crisis. Compared to your 2013 bland letter (see my letter #96), this is a huge improvement.
I love the orange and blue dynamics of this painting, Tanguy sold art supplies and I am so glad for these vibrant and energizing colors. I also truly LOVE the way Mt. Fuji rises volcanically from Tanguy’s simple hat! He sits there in Buddha-like calm with the power of a volcano over him.
Please find strength in this painting, the strength to stop the Keystone XL pipeline! Please stop it NOW. Your pen stroke can start a VOLCANO of popular support to combat climate change!
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Energized by a Masterful Painting
Tuesday 29 July 2014
Letter # 424
Dear President Obama,
Thank you to Julia Baird for her opinion-piece on Australia and the REPEAL of their Carbon TAX. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/25/opinion/julia-baird-why-tony-abbott-axed-australias-carbon-tax.html
It staggered along for 8 years – but under the combined vitriol of mining companies (Australia is one of the world’s biggest producers), Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers (82% of news articles on the tax were NEGATIVE) and conservative politicians (funded by the first two!) it died on July 17th. The old argument of the economy over the environment triumphed in spite of the facts. To me, particularly chilling is the role the newspapers played. People are fickle – public opinion acts a bit like a breeze blowing around in a wheat-field – tossing the plants this way and that. Murdoch was like a steady chilling wind from one direction – a voice full of lies and fear-mongering. So hooray to the USA where the press is more free and more than one voice can be heard. But we can’t congratulate ourselves too much. We’ve never had a carbon “emissions trading scheme.” Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline TODAY. Send a strong message. Give the press some good news to report: that the US President ACTS on the urgency of climate change!
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Support a Free Press
Wednesday 30 July 2014
Letter # 425
Dear President Obama,
I am deeply saddened at how little Europe is willing to do to sanction Russia for over-running the Ukraine. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/23/world/europe/europeans-to-debate-tougher-sanctions-on-russia.html
Russia has been supporting the break-away rebels in Ukraine for at least 5 months, and Flight 17 was shot down 2 weeks ago, killing 200 Dutch. Because Europe needs Russian gas and oil, they are loath to act. Shell is one of Russia’s largest foreign investors and Shell is the largest company in the Netherlands. If Shell loses money, every pension fund in the Netherlands loses money. France sells arms to Russia, so doesn’t want sanctions in that sector. So today we read that sanctions against bank loans are starting “to curb Russia’s long term ability to develop new oil resources”!! https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/world/europe/european-sanctions-russia.html
So GOLLY GEE – we won’t lend them any more money, but they can still fund their future fossil fuel projects with money Europe PAYS for oil and gas. We won’t lend money for more lemons, but we will keep buying the lemonade! This is really disappointing. The real solution here is to let Shell lose some money and to quickly get Europe and the US off fossil fuels. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline. The world petro-economy is making us make terrible decisions EVERYWHERE.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Russian Sanctions Too Puny
Friday 1 August 2014
Letter # 426
Dear President Obama,
Wednesday I went to a city council hearing on a petition asking the City of Cambridge to have the City Council vote on each building permit for LARGE buildings for the next two years. The city is growing rapidly and is working on a master plan to define how and where big developments should be happening. But meanwhile each building is getting approved without looking at it in the context of the whole city. Developers are rushing ahead helter-skelter!! The public comment (overwhelmingly in favor of City
Council controlling building permits), went on so long there will be another meeting to continue deliberation in September. Let’s hope the City Council steps up to their civic responsibility to take control of the process. And I ask you to STEP UP to your national responsibility to take control of our energy future. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline NOW! and put lots more money into renewables. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Step Up to Responsibility
Saturday 2 August 2014
Letter # 427
Dear President Obama,
I write today to honor Dr. Sheik Umar Khan of Sierra Leone. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/world/africa/sierra-leone-leading-doctor-dies-of-ebola.html
He was the head doctor in charge of the Ebola outbreak there and lost his life in trying to save others. There is so much fear that many nurses are running away, leaving just a handful of doctors and others to care for many. When countries get gripped by terrible diseases, officials have no time to consider climate change. That makes is all the more important for us fortunate ones to do what we can NOW to lessen the terrible future impact of climate change on us all. So please please stop the Keystone XL pipeline and take that first small step towards climate responsibility. You really need to do what you can to make sure the earth has a flourishing climate 50 and 100 years from now. We know the science, so please act quickly on that science. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Honoring Dr. Sheik Umar Khan
Sunday 3 August 2014
Letter # 428
Dear President Obama,
Last night I went to a superb student production of Ionesco’s Rhinoceros at the Loeb Theater.
The principal role Berenger was played by David Sheynberg and I hope that he goes on to a career of great success. He certainly deserves to. The play, a classic of Theater of the Absurd, chronicles the transformation, one by one, of the townspeople into rhinoceros who thunder off in a herd. The first to succumb is the most self-righteous and egotistical and at the end only Berenger remains: empathetic, questioning, full of self-doubt. So maybe I’m wrong about climate change – maybe it won’t be as catastrophic as I fear. There is never certainty about the future. But so few people are willing to tackle long term problems, that I’ll just keep reminding you of how URGENT climate change is, until I can figure out something more important to do. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline! Stop it NOW! Show empathy for future generations and show the courage to not follow the herd. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Learn from Ionesco
Monday 4 August 2014
Letter # 429
Dear President Obama,
Severe weather has hit South Asia this past week with a deadly mudslide in Malin India and another a few days later in Nepal. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/world/asia/otherworldly-downpour-preceded-landslide-in-india.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/world/asia/landslide-in-nepal.html
The Malin storm was particularly terrifying. Villages reported heavier rain than they had ever seen followed by a crash and less than a minute of “a downpour so heavy it could not be called rain.” Then most of the houses were gone. One can only say once again: severe weather disruption!! How many more freak storms before people realize the role of CARBON EMISSIONS on the world’s weather patterns? We need immediate action to curb carbon emissions. Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline to show you care. Typhoon Haiyan, a half-year of rain in Sardinia in a single day, and now this! How many will there be next year? and the year after? Please act quickly now. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Malin Storm Unprecedented
Tuesday 5 August 2014
Letter # 430
Dear President Obama,
Thank you to Carlotta Gall and Raphael Minder for putting a human face on the fence-scaling migrants at Melilla. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/world/europe/migrants-say-storming-of-spanish-border-fences-is-carefully-coordinated.html
(In the photo in letter #404 they look like insects.) The risks they are willing to take demonstrate their desperation to improve their lives. The largest groups are from Mali and Cameroon and they stage coordinated assaults on the fences – many trying again and again. One man tried 10 times in 3 years and finally made it into Europe on May 28th. I wish him well. Climate change and desertification are exacerbating problems all across Africa and things will only get more unstable.
Please stop the Keystone XL pipeline RIGHT NOW and start a major assault on carbon emissions! We are causing havoc with the climate and we need to quickly get off of fossil fuels. What could we do in 3 years if we really tried to reduce US carbon emissions? We’ll never know unless we try. Let’s show some determination and not take NO for an answer from Climate
Deniers. We know we are right – so just have to keep trying! Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Africans Show Determination
