Sunday 15 March 2015
Letter # 521
Dear President Obama,
It’s snowing again – about an inch or 2. People say that this will break the previous “snowiest year” record for Boston. But at the risk of repeating myself, the significance here is that over 90% of that snow fell in about 3 weeks. That’s more snow in 3 weeks than in most whole winters. Statisticians say there is a 1 in 26,000 chance of that happening.
This is way more rare than a hundred-year event!! So pay attention! We are flooding the atmosphere with carbon pollution. We are doing very little about it, thus condemning future generations to clean up the mess – if they even CAN! Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline – today – Right NOW! Let’s turn this train around and start rapidly reducing GHG emissions. Don’t worry about the politics, or the people who say you’re wrong, or stupid, or weak, or whatever. You just need to spend your remaining time as President doing what YOU think is important! So start fighting for the planet and future generations. It’s important. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Listen to Statisticians
Monday 16 March 2015
Letter # 522
Dear President Obama,
I’ve been writing you letters for over 2 years now and so want to share some good news today! Andrew Sorkin recently wrote that PNC Financial will no longer finance coal companies that do MOUNTAIN-TOP REMOVAL!
Hooray! This is a big change for PNC and great news for mountains in coal states. GE Capital and UBS now remain the only large financial lenders in the US willing to lend to these coal companies. Cutting off financing is a great weapon. It makes this type of mining more expensive. We need to stop all coal mining and we certainly need to start by banning mountain-top removal! I’m so glad PNC is quitting because of their “risk appetite” – that means investing in coal could make them lose money! Hooray hooray! Now please, to celebrate, please STOP the Keystone XL Pipeline. No more fossil fuel infrastructure – not pipelines and not mountain-top removal.
Thank you. And thanks to PNC.
Susan J. Ringler, Funds for Mountain-Top Removal Drying Up
Tuesday 17 March 2015
Letter # 523
Dear President Obama,
The Post Office wants 180,000 new mail trucks and are asking for bids. They require air bags and back up cameras and more room for packages – because of all the stuff we order online. And they want fuel efficiency, but are not requiring non-fossil fuels. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/06/automobiles/the-mail-truck-is-a-classic-and-thats-a-problem-for-a-modern-post-office.html
This is completely unacceptable! Short distance postal trucks are perfect jobs for electric vehicles. The last time these went out to bid was 25 years ago. We need Post Ofice trucks for the FUTURE – for the next 25 years! Make them electric – plug them in at the post office at night. Do not let Detroit sell them more gas powered vehicles by saying they cost $1 less! It is critical that we get these long-term decisions right. We need to quickly get off fossil fuels. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline today to show you are serious about lowering carbon emissions. And tell the Post Office to demand electric or fuel cell vehicles for all short distance uses.
In 2014 the Post Office spent $539 Million on FUEL. Let’s make that 0, or close to it! Non-polluting, non-carbon electric trucks, fed off solar panels on Post Office roofs. That’s what we should be doing. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Want Electric Post Office Trucks
Wed 18 March 2015
Letter # 524
Dear President Obama,
Hooray for SolarCity for going into the micro-grid business.
This is exactly what we need. They can manage an electricity distribution system that is much more efficient than our existing ones. People keep saying that solar isn’t cost effective, but by taking control of the distribution system, SolarCity can make money on ALL aspects of power and delivery. Hey, if military bases want this technology, it must be able to DELIVER!
Nobody owns the sun, but we do own the grid and it’s about time we started making micro-grids particularly suited to RENEWABLE energy. So Please STOP the Keystone XL Pipeline. It is old dirty energy. Get off fossil fuels. That’s what we need to do! Solar is the energy of the future, so let’s develop appropriate ways of distributing that energy. No to pipelines. Yes to Microgrids. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Yes to Microgrids
Wed 25 March 2015
Letter # 525
Dear President Obama,
I got a little distracted because I wrote my first ever change.org petition last week based on my letter #523 to you: Require New Mail Trucks to be Electric.
I got 50 people to sign the first day, 100 people in 3 days, and 200 in a week! What’s really wonderful is that YOU are thinking right along the same track! This 19 March article reports that you want the Federal Govt to cut 40% of their carbon emissions. That’s a great idea and electric mail trucks would help! I posted the 19 March article to my petition saying “Great Minds Think Alike!” Lots of small steps to cut carbon REALLY HELP. So please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline TODAY!
By postponing this bad pipeline this long you have slowed the flow of this dirty oil. And now with crude oil prices declining, Tar Sands oil is less and less profitable. This is great news. So let’s just be done with it and cancel this pipeline! Another small step towards a resilient climate for the planet. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Great Minds Think Alike
Thurs 26 March 2015
Letter # 526
Dear President Obama,
The Supreme Court is hearing arguments this week on whether it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate mercury emissions from power plants.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/opinion/clean-air-act-and-dirty-coal-at-the-supreme-court.html
This is the 3rd set of cases against the EPA in 2 years. The lawyers have been using words like “capacious” and “capricious”, elegant complex language that comes from Latin. But the arguments are really about money and the coal industry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/us/division-seen-in-supreme-court-on-pollution-limits.html
Curbing mercury is expensive, so it’s cheaper for power plants to switch to gas than add mercury scrubbers. A few shortened lives of poor people who live near coal-fired power plants is OK. Because if we stop burning coal for electricity, coal loses most of its domestic business, and can’t survive on exports alone. Mercury accumulates in our bodies forever. It doesn’t wash away. Too much and you die. That’s why rich countries don’t burn coal in homes and cities. It’s bad for us. So why is it OK for power plants in poor neighborhoods to burn coal? Because they matter less? That’s unacceptable. If coal is too dirty for the White House fireplace, it’s too dirty for power plants.
Of course it’s appropriate for the EPA to regulate mercury. If the Supreme Court decides otherwise, they are corrupt. And while we are waiting for this decision, please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline. Do it NOW! We need to quickly get off fossil fuels – but coal first! Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Need to Regulate Mercury
Friday 27 March 2015
Letter # 527
Dear President Obama,
Yesterday US senators voted on over 700 non-binding amendments to a non-binding budget bill. Insiders call it a vote-orama, a way to put yourself and others on record for all sorts of issues – large and small. I commend Senator Bernard Sanders. Independent from Vermont, for his amendment on the LARGEST issue of our times: CLIMATE CHANGE. Senator Sanders’ amendment, stating that “climate change is caused by human activity” failed 50 to 49!
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/03/26/us/politics/26reuters-usa-budget-votearama.html?_r=0
And at least 1 of the 49 votes in favor, is a vote against any action on climate change! Senator Portman of Ohio, who is a vocal opponent of curbing emissions (as too costly, and not necessary) voted FOR the Sanders amendment because it didn’t say “significant human activity.”
So let it go on record that 51 senators are Blocking Action on Decreasing Carbon Emissions and Efforts to Reduce Climate Change. May their descendents curse them! I am mortified to be an American when I see so many leaders putting short term status and greed ahead of the health of our planet. Please STOP the Keystone XL Pipeline NOW! End this lunacy of denial. Let’s get busy replacing fossil fuels with Renewables right away.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Commend Bernard Sanders
P.S. The current Congress (114th) has 54 Republicans, 44 Democrats, and 2 Independents (pro-Dem). Sanders got 5 Republican votes, Portman and 4 others. So a few Republicans acknowledge climate change and at least 1 Democrat does not.
Saturday 28 March 2015
Letter # 528
Dear President Obama,
There is something calm and slow about this snowy Caillebotte painting, as if we have all the time in the world. I am struck at how quiet it all seems – no birds, no people, no vehicles – not even any smoke rising from chimneys. I sit with my coffee this morning and relax into the scene, delight in the delicate gradations of color, the balance of shapes.
Caillebotte made wonderful choices – each brushstroke, each color was a choice and the results are magnificent. But I also realize, as I look out on my garden (still covered with SNOW at the end of March) that the shadows have moved, just in the few minutes I have taken to write to you. We live in TIME. We lucky-ones make choices how to spend our time. So I ask you to do everything you can to LIMIT Climate CHANGE! Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline NOW! Pick up that pen. We do NOT have all the time in the world. Use your time as President well. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Admire Caillebotte
Sunday 29 March 2015
Letter # 529
Dear President Obama,
The Great Lakes are still frozen solid and it’s affecting shipping. Did you see this article? http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/24/business/deep-freeze-on-great-lakes-halts-cargo-shipments.html?_r=0
A local says: “Two especially severe winters back to back — we haven’t seen that in a long time,” Yup. I mentioned last winter’s big freeze in letter #362 in April 2014. And here we have another whopper.
Unusual weather is becoming usual all over the place. That’s climate change! Climate disruption. One way to help lower emissions is for you to use your PEN to show how serious carbon emissions ARE. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline NOW. We can’t afford to wait for another 10 or 100 really unusual weather events! Please act now. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Great Lakes Frozen Again
Monday 30 March 2015
Letter #530
Dear President Obama,
We stood out in the cold for a few hours this morning waiting for your motorcade on Morrissey Blvd. near U Mass Boston.
We waved our homemade NO KXL signs as you drove by for you to KNOW that climate change is upon us and urgent and needs immediate action. We started out about 40 strong, but our numbers dwindled to about 20 after the 2.5 hour wait. That’s OK. For those of us you SAW, there are many others behind us in SPIRIT.
I am happy that you spoke for a new era of “consensus-building,” for it is by humans coming together that we can achieve great things, and solve huge problems. So please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline as a first step toward consensus and action – that we must reduce carbon emissions! Speeches are good, actions are better. Please act NOW. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Cold Toes for NO KXL
