Wed 10 Sep 2014
Letter #451
Dear President Obama,
Activist Edwin Chota with his son
I write today to honor rain forest activist Edwin Chota and his 3 colleagues who were brutally murdered last week near Saweto, Peru while returning home. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/world/americas/peru-4-opponents-of-illegal-logging-are-found-dead.html
Chota has been active and vocal for years against illegal logging and has received many death threats from loggers. I guess this time they got him. The Ashaninka people along the Tamaya River have been working for YEARS to obtain title to their lands, to protect them for all of us and for the planet. But corruption and greed give the loggers the upper hand. Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline in honor of these brave environmentalists. Let’s shift the balance – leave the oil in the ground and let the rainforest thrive. With wise choices, we can avoid tremendous climate disruption – but we need BOLD ACTION Right NOW.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Honoring the Ashaninka People and Edwin Chota
Friday 12 Sep 2014
Letter #452
Dear President Obama,
This week in the Primary election I voted for Don Berwick for Governor. He didn’t win and I will vote democratic in November, but I’m very glad I voted for him. He cares about poverty and hunger and children and would have made a great Governor. Maybe next time. I find myself frequently wondering how to get people to understand the connection between social justice and climate justice. When disasters strike it is always the poor, the old, the infirm who bear the greatest burden. You could set us on a path to fewer climate disasters Right NOW! Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline. It is your moment to do this. Why not pick up your pen during the Climate March 21 Sept!? That would be great.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Climate Justice is Social Justice
Sat 13 Sep 2014
Letter #453
Dear President Obama,
This week I was part of a delegation from 350MA (Massachusetts) to a meeting with State Rep. Denise Provost on ways to support her in her efforts to speed reductions in GHG. One big stumbling block is the power of lobbyists for Big Oil. Rep. Provost showed Gasland II at lunch at the State House and then Steve Dodge of the American Petroleum Institute sent this letter to all her colleagues. Rep. Provost called him twice and asked for his “independently verified information” but she is still waiting to receive it! He has no such info. He is blowing smoke. But is paid plenty to work this State House as are others in every other state. So put your pen on the side of a healthy climate for our planet. Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline NOW. Don’t let paid lobbyists skew the conversation. You know how important it is for us to quickly stop using fossil fuels. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Admire Rep. Denise Provost
Sat 20 Sep 2014
Letter #454
Dear President Obama,
Yesterday was PARK(ing) Day and once again we took over a parking space in front of Cambridge City Hall to promote GreenCambridge. Last year I did the same and wrote you letter #175 about it. Here we are again. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had 3 solar cookers to show people (in addition to cardboard furniture). We cooked choc. chip cookies and rice (took over 3 hours) and heated water for tea. Lots of people stopped by to talk to us. It was great how much interest there is in solar power. There is so much we can do if we only set our minds to it. Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline right NOW! It’s an important moment for our Planet, The UN is meeting in New York on Tuesday. Wow it would be great to show them your signature stopping that dirty pipeline.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Solar Cook and PARK-ing Day
Tuesday 23 Sep 2014
Letter #455
Dear President Obama,
I left my house at 5:30 am on Sunday morning to catch a bus to New York for the People’s Climate March. https://www.nytimes.com/video/multimedia/100000003131524/climate-change-protesters-march-in-new-yorks-financial-district.html
It was amazing to be in a crowd of over 300,000 people who are all passionate enough about the need for immediate action to actually go to New York.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/humanitys-long-climate-and-energy-march/
People came from Vermont, Michigan, Colorado, Tennessee, Virginia and so many came from Massachusetts that I was told the state ran out of charter buses! I send you here my favorite picture from the day – our FUTURE just dripping away. Nothing dramatic, but INEXORABLE! Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline because you CAN! Do it right now – for your children and their children and theirs and theirs. One poignant sign from the day read: “There is no Planet-B” Let’s not mess this one up. We need rapid change starting right now. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Let’s Not DRIP Away the Future
Thurs 25 Sep 2014
Letter #456
Dear President Obama,
As I was marching in New York on Sunday, Turkey was closing its border with Syria. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/world/europe/over-130000-flee-syria-for-turkey-in-wake-of-isis-raids.html
The US attacks on ISIS inside Syria has sent at least 150,000 Kurds streaming towards the Turkish border in hopes of safety. The Turks responded by closing border crossings. Refugees lined up near the fence, some with their goats and sheep, who they said, would die of thirst if left behind. This is a long drawn-out conflict exacerbated by years of drought and climate disruption. The Turkish side of the border also suffers from years of drought – so the Turks try to keep scarce resources (ie. WATER) for themselves. This picture of human misery is not just about religious fanaticism, but also climate disruption. Can’t you see the connection? Too many people in too harsh a climate. We are going to see more and more of this misery as we continue to pump GHG into our atmosphere. Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline RIGHT NOW to send a strong message that we must stop carbon emissions as quickly as we can.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Climate Disruption Knows NO Borders
Fri 26 Sep 2014
Letter #457
Dear President Obama,
40 companies signed a Palm Oil Pact this weekend at the UN. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/business/energy-environment/passing-the-baton-in-climate-change-efforts.html
I didn’t know much about palm oil, except no one used it 20 years ago or 30, so I went to the Union of Concerned Scientists website https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/global_warming/palm-oil-and-global-warming.pdf
and learned:
- we have doubled world production of palm oil since 2000 to 500 million metric tons
- growth is largely driven by increased demand for vegetable oil, Westerners wanting to avoid trans-fat, cheap labor and land
- Indonesia is second in deforestation – right behind Brazil
- Indonesia plans to double palm oil production by 2020.
So the UN decision to NOT increase deforestation is TOO WEAK.
https://mashable.com/2014/09/27/united-nations-climate-summit-deforestation/#aQ0VK6Dp9Oqx
We have already deforested too much. Palm oil is NOT CHEAP if you count the environmental damage, the carbon emissions from burning peat bogs, and the social and health costs to Indonesia and Malaysia! Here again we see a commodity price that is too low for a healthy planet. Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline. Show you are serious about the COST of carbon pollution and want a healthy and sustainable climate for all. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Palm Oil Pact Too Weak
Fri 26 Sep 2014
Letter #458 (2nd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
It’s been a long week. I was so energized by going to the NYC climate march that on Monday I went to the Cambridge City Council meeting to tell them about it and urge them to take swift local action. I showed them the dripping FUTURE picture I sent you (letter #455) and a few others. I showed them the crowds of people in the streets, a dinosaur sculpture made from old car parts, 2 Lorax Girls, some Transit Union Workers, and a sign that said:
“I used to say someone should do something about it. Then I realized I AM SOMEONE!”
I urged the Mayor and City councilors to action here in our CITY, specifically in buildings and transportation. We all need to do what we CAN in our particular CAPACITY. So Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline because you CAN and it will send a message that you want to do something to reduce our carbon emissions. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Energized by People’s Climate March
Sat 27 Sep 2014
Letter #459
Dear President Obama,
I went to a vigil for the Silver Maple Forest last evening because I believe we should try to protect our local natural resources. https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2014/10/25/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-alewifes-silver-maple-forest
These 7 acres of upland woods lie right up against the Alewife Wetlands and between the towns of Cambridge and Belmont. A developer is going to put up 200 units of housing. He has owned the land a long time, but if the towns could rezone it today, they wouldn’t let anything be built there. We now know that we need this land for flood protection from storms that are going to get worse. But we didn’t know it back when it was zoned. Maybe if enough people demonstrate we can pressure the owner to sell. It’s unlikely, but at least worth a try. So we held a vigil on the side of a busy road in the gloaming, as cars went by. Trees are easy to cut down and take a long time to grow. Habitats and ecosystems are complex and we destroy too many of them and then spend millions on wetlands restoration and such. Sheer FOLLY! So Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline. We don’t need it, it will leak and pollute aquifers. Just say NO to it NOW. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Appreciate the Silver Maple Forest
Sat 27 Sep 2014
Letter #460 (2nd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
I’m just home from volunteering at Cambridge’s first Repair Cafe. https://repaircafe.org/en/repair-cafes-are-conquering-the-world/
I was a “fixer” and brought my sewing machine and repaired 6 pieces of clothing and 2 cloth shopping bags. https://www.cambridgema.gov/citycalendar/view.aspx?guid=%7BD04BE70B-8374-4D4F-BE9C-5C08CB2A9973%7D&start=20140927T100000&end=20140927T230000
I also made a cloth quiver for a boy who had made some arrows. It was really fun. Other people fixed bicycles and lamps and an iron, a bench with a wobbly leg and a clock. I hope we do it again. We throw out way too much stuff and not enough people know how to fix things. We could use our resources much more wisely. Let’s scale back our consumption and learn to enjoy life with less endlessly new stuff! The myth of cheap fuel has led us to make more and more stuff – but now we know that fossil fuels are polluting our atmosphere and ruining our climate. We need to change our habits SOON! So Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline. Stop it TODAY. Show you value our hospitable climate and want to protect it. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Re-Use Maven
