Letters 471-480

Friday 10 October 2014

Letter #471

Dear President Obama,

Several recent articles have described GM’s faulty ignition switch, causing them to recall 2.6 million cars. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/business/after-a-gm-recall-a-fiery-crash-and-a-payout.html

Lara Gass died last March in one of those cars, but what I find really unconscionable is GM’s claim (then and now) that the cars are “safe to drive if all objects are removed from the key chain”!! Are you kidding me? Anyone with more than one key puts them together – so as not to lose them – house keys, office keys, car keys – that’s what a key ring IS! It is completely irresponsible for GM to claim safety for its product if used in a way NO ONE DOES! It is also completely irresponsible to pretend that baby step reductions of GHG will be enough to limit climate change sufficiently. Please STOP the Keystone XL Pipeline right NOW. We cannot afford more delays. The climate crisis is urgent. We need swift action now. History will judge GM harshly for their safety record. Please act swiftly so history does not judge YOU harshly for your climate record! Do what you can IMMEDIATELY. Thank you.

Susan J. Ringler, GM is Irresponsible

Saturday 11 Oct 2014

Letter #472

Dear President Obama,

I write to you today about “synthetic biology.” I’m not sure if it’s any different from “bio-engineering” – just a different name. Solazyme changed the DNA of an algae – and made it produce oil – lots of it. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/business/biofuel-tools-applied-to-household-soaps.html

Unilever is buying 3 million gallons for soaps and lotions. Solazyme and Unilever both position themselves as rain forest protectors because the oil replaces palm oil. You have to feed the algae to make it produce oil, so Unilever is partnering with a huge Brazilian sugar cane grower. But are huge tracts of sugar cane to feed algae, to make oil, any more ecological than huge tracts of palm for palm oil? There are lots of natural oils in the world. They vary in price. The companies are doing this for profit – not to benefit the environment. They are not telling the consumers the whole story. I don’t think they are reducing greenhouse gases, or helping the climate. Profit, profit, profit! Greed, greed, greed! Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline NOW! There’s a direct action which WILL have a good effect on our climate – yes a small one – but at least unambiguous!!! We need to respect nature and the incredible biodiversity of our fertile planet. Huge monoculture tracts do not respect biodiversity. Thank you.

Susan J. Ringler, Oppose Monoculture

Sunday 12 Oct 2014

Letter #473

Dear President Obama,

I return today to the Uighers, for whom my heart goes out. Perhaps it is my favorite childhood book, Big Tiger and Christian (about which I wrote in letter #84) that gives me such sympathy for them. These nomadic people lived on land we would consider harsh and did not destroy it. But China does not appreciate their stubborn resilience. Five years ago China started “modernizing” old Kashgar

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/06/world/asia/china-remodels-an-ancient-silk-road-city-and-an-ethnic-rift-widens.html – they tore down 65,000 homes and forcibly resettled 220,000 Uighers. The houses have been replaced with “new buildings made to look old” – only wealthier Uighers can afford to live here now. The new Chinese “zero-tolerance” policy allows police to use deadly force against protesters. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/world/asia/chinas-leader-lays-out-plan-to-pacify-restive-region.html

No wonder violence is escalating. In September, 3 Uighers were sentenced to DEATH for the March attack in Kumming train station where 29 were killed. Also in September, a crowd in Bugur raided a local police station complaining of forced evictions, lobbing some Molotov cocktails. 50 people are dead. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/world/asia/death-toll-in-xinjiang-violence-may-be-higher-than-reported.html

No doubt more Uighers will pay heavily. Over and over again we see INDIGINEOUS peoples are better stewards of Nature than Colonizers! Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline NOW! Show that the US can respect the environment and is serious about reducing GHG emissions! Thank you.

Susan J. Ringler, Sad that Kashgar was “Modernized”

Sunday 12 Oct 2014

Letter #474 (2^nd letter today)

Dear President Obama,

I read a lovely obituary of Alastair Reid recently. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/arts/alastair-reid-a-restless-poet-and-essayist-is-dead-at-88.html

I love his book Ounce, Dice, Trice full of wonderful words to say out loud and clever sly illustrations by Ben Shahn. I send you here page 7, one of my favorites. The pictures and the words complement each other, each page is carefully laid out. This is truly a multi-media project. Too bad someone didn’t make a video of this book last year where we could hear Alastair Reid speaking each word. Now he has died. Wonderful things happen when creative and caring people come together. Climate change is a huge challenge but we can change to a non-fossil-fuel economy and continue with great resilience. Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline as a first important step away from carbon pollution. Let’s find inspiration and hope in the best creative minds of our times. Just as the words and pictures on these pages interact, so we need to build economic and social systems where humans and nature can interact to the detriment of neither. Thank you.

Susan J. Ringler, Love Alastair Reid and Ben Shahn

Monday 13 October 2014

Letter #475

Dear President Obama,

I marched in the Somerville “HONK” parade yesterday – a parade for activist marching bands and their friends. There were lots of people with banners about climate change: Palestine Needs Water, Save the Silver Maple Floodplain Forest, Mothers Out Front for a sustainable future for our kids … and many others. This movement is growing and widening across the country. More and more different people are understanding that climate change is HUGE and we need to all pull together to SLOW DOWN our carbon emissions oh so QUICKLY! You really need to listen to us. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline TODAY because you can with the stroke of a pen. Please please. It’s really important for the country and the planet. Thank you.

Susan J. Ringler, Love Activists

Wm Morris, Honeysuckle 1883

Sunday 26 Oct 2014

Letter # 476

Dear President Obama,

Oiiiii!! I slipped on some wet leaves and fell and broke my right wrist in 3 places. Am in a splint and am scheduled for surgery on 29 October – will need one titanium plate, maybe 2, and will be in a cast for at least a month. So I will be unable to send you hand-written letters for a while. But I will continue writing. Today I want to mention the terrific news that the Pentagon considers climate change a CURRENT “threat demanding immediate action.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/us/pentagon-says-global-warming-presents-immediate-security-threat.html?

This is a big change from a very conservative organization and I welcome their considerable influence in dealing with the mounting problems caused by our failure to confront climate change! Let’s hope we stop using fossil fuels very soon.

So please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline right now. Show you’re as conservative as the Pentagon!! The truly conservative response to climate change is to try and stop carbon emissions very rapidly. Stopping KXL is a small step in the right direction. Do it NOW.

Thank you.

Susan J. Ringler, The Pentagon says climate threat is Immediate

Monday 3 Nov 2014

Letter # 477

Dear President Obama,

One-finger typing stinks. Surgery went well, but took several hours and left me wiped out. Am in a splint and off the prescription pain medicine, so doing better. I don’t do pain well. happy I needed only one titanium plate, but it will be an awkward month. Today I handed out flyers at a subway stop for 2 questions on the Mass ballot:

NO on 1, so we can leave the gas tax indexed to inflation and get money fot fixing bridges and better public transit.

YES on 2, so we can charge 5 cent deposit on water and juice bottles (not just carbonated drinks) and recycle more of them.

It’s amazing how many people avoid looking at you when you say “Are you voting?” and offer a small flyer. But I handed out 100 in an hour this evening – with one hand in a sling – and went home tired, but happy to have tried to get information to people. Both of these issues are important for our fight to limit climate change, but the local TV news had no info on them today. That covered only the MA governor race which they say is close, and the NH senate race – also close. But democracy is bigger than that. And money from special interests pours in and spreads mis-information. Free and fair elections? I’m not so sure.

This article today worries me – the IPCC summary says “governments are spending another $600 billion or so directly subsidizing the consumption of fossil fuels. By contrast, the report found, less than $400 billion a year is being spent around the world to reduce emissions or otherwise cope with climate change.” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/03/world/europe/global-warming-un-intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change.html?

So please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline right now. Show you know how stark our future looks if we don’t sharply reduce carbon emissions. Do it NOW.

Thank you.

Susan J. Ringler, Flyering with One Hand

Wm Morris, Rose 1883

Tuesday 4 Nov 2014

Letter # 478

Dear President Obama,

Today I flyered for 2 ballot measures for 4 hours. Asked people: are you voting? People who most studiously ignored me were young white males. Were they embarrassed because I reminded them that their mother votes and they don’t???

Most memorable reply was 30-ish white male who said: “felon can’t.” I replied sorry – and he said “and it was for dui a long time ago.” Really made me think – do we really want to disenfranchise so many people? does it make democracy work better? Probably not.

On the up side many people said “already did” – and I thanked them. I thanked a lot of people today. Some thanked me. The election results don’t look good, but at least I did what I could.

So please do what you can and stop the Keystone XL Pipeline right now.

Thank you.

Susan J. Ringler, Wish more people would Vote.

Wednesday 5 Nov 2014

Letter # 479 (2^nd letter today)

Dear President Obama,

The Dalai Lama spoke at MIT this week. He especially addressed climate change and equitable solutions and he hosted a panel of young people (in line with his program to train ethical and resilient young leaders).

http://thecenter.mit.edu/cent_press_room/change-makers-better-world/

I was particularly struck by the comment of ten-year-old Vivienne Harr who said that as far as she was concerned compassion isn’t compassion without action. His Holiness’s concluding advice was:

“We cannot change the past, but you can shape the future.”

And so President Obama, I ask you to act with compassion for our planet and our children. So please hurry up and stop the Keystone XL Pipeline right now.

Thank you.

Susan J. Ringler, Compassion Requires Action

[note: in my 2-finger typing with left hand, I lost this whole letter by not saving it to a new name. I was so frustrated and in pain that I gave up writing to you for months. But I did not stop thinking about the dangers of carbon pollution!!

I just re-created the letter. Hooray my wrist is improving.]