Monday 28 Sept 2015
Letter #561
Dear President Obama,
When I saw this wonderful photo of Pope Francis in the paper, I thought immediately of the almost joined hands of Michelangelo.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/28/us/pope-departs-after-showing-a-deft-touch.html
Pope Francis did much this week to remind us that we are all connected and that we must protect the Earth – our only home. Look at these two images and let them bring out the best in you! Please say NO to the Keystone XL Pipeline. Do it NOW! It’s important to show people that you are strongly committed to reducing carbon pollution so that we can enjoy another 500 wonderful years on this planet! I hope these images bring joy to your day and strengthen your resolve. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Let’s Join Hands
(Note: made simple folded card, images on front, letter inside)
Tuesday 29 Sept 2015
Letter #562
Dear President Obama,
I was dismayed to read today about police use of a surveillance device called a “Stingray” that tracks people through their cell phones.
The main reason we even KNOW this device EXISTS is due to thousands of hours of research by Daniel Rigmaiden who was caught for tax fraud by a Stingray and spent much of his 6 years in prison researching it. Thank you Mr. Rigmaiden for bringing it to public attention. Covert surveillance has no place in free societies and we must insist that such technology only be used with a warrant! We accuse the Chinese of suppressing dissent and spying on their citizens – but we do some of the same! I am ashamed that my government allows such actions. I am also ashamed of our meager progress on slowing climate change! Please act so I am less ashamed! Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline TODAY. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Thank you Daniel Rigmaiden
Tuesday 29 Sept 2015
Letter #563
(2nd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
I was so happy to read today that Shell is cancelling oil drilling in the arctic ocean! https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/business/international/royal-dutch-shell-alaska-oil-exploration-halt.html
HOORAY! Thanks to everyone who brought attention to what a bad idea it was! You could have helped out a bit more – so since you didn’t step up to that environmental challenge, please please help us out on TAR SANDS and STOP the Keystone XL Pipeline! Do it NOW! It’s the moral choice. Encourage Canada to leave that dirty oil IN THE GROUND!! Hilary Clinton finally spoke out opposing the Keystone XL Pipeline last week – another plea to KEEP IT IN THE GROUND!
Things are looking up for us climate activists – so please join us and add your powerful voice to the most important fight of this century. If we want to leave a halfway healthy planet to our kids, we need to very quickly cut back on carbon pollution. Shell just lost $6 billion on its attempt to drill in the arctic ocean. Let’s start putting way more money and actions into Renewable energy. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, SHELL NO!!! WE WON!!!
Wed 30 Sept 2015
Letter # 564
Dear President Obama,
Today I send you a letter I just wrote to the Police Chief in Carmel, California asking him to make sure that his department DOES NOT call the recent vandalism of Junipero Serra’s statue a HATE CRIME.
We need to be very careful to differentiate vandalism born of moral outrage from hatred of people for their beliefs, ethnicity, race, or gender. Although the vandals broke into the Carmel Mission, there is NO evidence of hatred of Catholics in their actions. Free speech is very important and sometimes climate activists resort to vandalism to draw attention to their words. This is NEVER based on hatred! So please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline Right Now so we can all work together to rapidly reduce our carbon emissions and improve climate and social justice throughout the world. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, That Wasn’t a Hate Crime
30 Sept 2015
Police Chief
Carmel CA 93923
Dear Police Chief,
I read with regret yesterday that the statue of Junipero Serra at the Carmel Mission was defaced. But I write you to ask you NOT to call this a hate crime, not to let anyone in your department characterize it as such, and not to let the District Attorney prosecute anyone for a hate crime in connection with this incident. The NYTimes today reported “that the police continue to investigate what they have called a hate crime.”
Hate crimes are crimes against large groups of people for their beliefs, ethnicity, gender or such. This act of vandalism demonstrates no hatred of Catholics, only a repugnance for elevating Junipero Serra to sainthood. The action was undoubtedly taken to raise awareness of the details of his life and his awful treatment of native peoples. These details are not commonly taught in history in California schools. (I lived in the SF Bay Area for over 30 years where I raised 2 children who attended public schools).
It is important that we have laws against hate crimes. But it is also important that free speech not be inappropriately labeled. When a nun breaks into a nuclear plant
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nun-84-gets-3-years-in-prison-for-breaking-in-nuclear-weapons-complex/
and defaces it because she is morally outraged, it is not a hate crime, Neither is this. Thank you very much.
Susan J. Ringler
Tuesday 19 Oct 2015
Letter # 565
Dear President Obama,
There is another drought in Ethiopia this year. The worst in a decade. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/19/world/africa/ethiopia-a-nation-of-farmers-strains-under-severe-drought.html
So if Ethiopians arrive in Europe as part of this huge influx, remember that they too are REFUGEES, climate REFUGEES and not just simple migrants looking for work. Climate disruption changes everything! I remember the tragic 1984 Ethiopian famine, intensified by government breakdown. But that was considered a single tragic periodic event! Now we know better. Our climate is increasingly and dangerously disrupted. The answer is not closing borders! We must rapidly cut carbon pollution to try and slow this worldwide disaster down. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline TODAY! Show your moral fibre. Show you understand the true costs of fossil fuels on generations to come.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, More Frequent Droughts are Coming
Tuesday 19 Oct 2015
Letter # 566
(2nd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
I’ve been kind of busy. I’m moving next weekend into a condo I bought. It’s right around the corner because I love this neighborhood and want to stay here a long time. Once I get settled I’m going to get a home energy audit and look into solar panels http://sunbugsolar.com/ and everything I can do to reduce my energy use and my reliance on fossil fuels. People here are really cautious about spending money – that Yankee frugality – and if they can’t get their investment in renewable energy back in 4 or 5 years they tend to not switch. I’m not like that. I take the long view and the community view and I have the means to invest in the future – even if it is more than 5 years out! You have the means too. And you need to take the long view! Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline today. Hilary Clinton has pledged to, and so has Bernie Sanders. You should do it now and grab the GLORY! It is the right thing to do and what the people want. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Putting Down Roots in the Neighborhood
Sunday 8 Nov 2015
Letter # 567
Dear President Obama,
Thank you so much for rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline! https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/07/us/obama-expected-to-reject-construction-of-keystone-xl-oil-pipeline.html
When the news broke Friday afternoon two of my friends left me voice messages saying I was the first person they thought of and congratulating me. But I played only a small part!
Just like this ad http://paulrecalde.com/work/tiffany-holiday/
Thank you, thank you! I hope you too feel joy for all the people you made happy. My thoughts are still whirling like these Van Gogh stars and I am a little sad that I will perhaps write you less often. But there is still much to do for our climate and our carbon pollution will be hard to rein in. But for now let’s feel a few days of JOY before Paris and much hard work to come.
Joyfully yours, Susan J. Ringler
Saturday 30 Jan 2016
Letter # 568
Dear President Obama,
I take up my pen again, after a couple of months, to thank you for halting NEW coal leases on public land. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/15/us/politics/in-climate-move-obama-to-halt-new-coal-mining-leases-on-public-lands.html
This is a small but important step. Unfortunately, as we both know, 40 % of US coal mined is on PUBLIC LAND, much of it in the Powder River Basin. And this order does nothing to curtail those shameful misuses of public land. Please increase the lease fees for all fossil fuel extraction to at least $40 per ton of carbon released. Climate change is upon us and growing ever more dangerous. Please take bold moves every day to KIITG: Keep It In The Ground (fossil fuels of course). To be remembered and honored as the Environmental President, it is not sufficient to do more than predecessors. You must act based on the Known Threat Level TODAY. The climate change threat is HUGE. You need to step up and do everything you can. Do it for your kids and grand kids. It’s the only way. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Keep It In the Ground
Sunday 31 Jan 2016
Letter # 569
Dear President Obama,
I write to you today to honor Christiane Taubira who resigned this week as France’s Justice Minister because she opposed a bill to strip dual-national terrorists of their French citizenship. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/world/europe/france-christiane-taubira-justice-minister-resigns.html
Ms. Taubira, born in French Guiana, bravely stands against two-tier systems that discriminate against more recently arrived immigrants. If you are French-born, you are not “more French.” As climate disruption grows more intense and competition for scant resources increases, we need MORE leaders like Ms. Taubira to guard against un-democratic racist policies. Climate justice issues loom ever larger as droughts and famines spread over vast areas. The best way to keep democracies healthy is to nip this climate problem in the bud! Please act again today to Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground! KIITG! Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Honoring Christiane Taubira
Monday 1 Feb 2016
Letter # 570
Dear President Obama,
I thank you for your leadership and diplomacy with world leaders that allowed us to get a climate agreement in Paris. Hooray! This is the beginning of a new era on Earth. Please watch this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugsaJgYDH9s
of a remarkable performance-art installation recently in Miami about climate change and flooding. The performance elicits a strong emotional response from the viewers who watch people trying to perform ordinary tasks while water levels rise and fall unpredictably. We are struck by human FRAILITY in the presence of water and flooding
This performance focuses our attention on how ill-prepared we are for continuous unpredictable change. It is not something humans deal well with. As the climate disruption due to carbon pollution unfolds over the next few decades, we will face many dramatic weather events that we are unprepared for – and we too will flail around helplessly. Our best defense is to reduce our carbon emissions very rapidly. Please do everything you can to keep fossil fuels IN THE GROUND.
I learned about this performance from a New York Times article
The artist is Lars Jan and the project website is: http://www.holoscen.es/aquarium-info/
Please show this video to everyone! Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Fan of Lars Jan
