Friday 24 April 2015
Letter #541
Dear President Obama,
I’m just back from the Divest Tufts Rally held at noon at the President’s office. Students have occupied his office since Wed. and they are asking for a dialogue on university Divestment from Big Oil. Instead they are being denied food. Climate change is the biggest crisis of this century and as one eloquent speaker said: Demonstrating to protest the climate and reduce carbon emissions “is a movement. You can slow it down, but you cannot STOP IT.” I attended the rally as a Tufts parent. It is important that people paying tuition demand moral choices from universities. I went to this rally to support the students, to raise awareness, and to speed up the transition to renewable energy and away from fossil fuels. Please STOP the Keystone XL pipeline today. Your action will help a lot. It will show your support for climate activists, it will raise awareness, and will speed up our transition away from fossil fuels. Please do it NOW. Your actions count. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Parent
Friday 1 May 2015
Letter #542
Dear President Obama,
China is building an island at Mischief Reef in the South China sea. By dredging up sand they are creating more “territory” and so try to justify grabbing oil and gas rights to larger parts of the ocean.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry statement that they are building typhoon shelters is ludicrous.
How foolish to be so focused on finding more fossil fuels!! We can’t afford to burn more than 1/3 of what we have already found! The climate is at enormous RISK from carbon pollution. We need to stop this insanity NOW.
Please STOP the Keystone XL pipeline NOW. It is urgent! We have been ignoring the climate crisis for far too long. Please take BOLD action NOW. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Dismayed at China’s Island-Building
[Sept 2015 – It was an airstrip, not typhoon shelter!]
Thursday 14 May 2015
Letter #543
Dear President Obama,
I am deeply saddened by your decision to criticize Eliz. Warren and other Democrats who oppose fast-track for the TPP trade pact.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/us/politics/trans-pacific-partnership-obama-democrats.html
To call them “mis-informed, isolationist, and politically motivated” is mean and untrue. TPP is bad for US workers and bad for the environment. Your support for TPP is based on an outdated view of world power: US hegemony in Asia is better than Chinese hegemony! Some of us think that fewer treaties and less-consolidated power for multi-national corporations is way more likely to speed up the urgent battle against climate change. While the US and China jockey for power, carbon pollution continues to mount, and social injustice keeps pace! I am saddened that the Pentagon fear-mongers have clouded your vision! So please reassure me that you are serious about climate change and STOP the Keystone XL pipeline. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Deep Respect for Elizabeth Warren
Thursday 14 May 2015
Letter #544
(2nd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
Some say you legally had no choice but to allow Shell oil the permit to drill in arctic waters because they paid $2Billion in 2008 for it.
The better choice would have been to let them sue, drag it out until cheaper oil elsewhere makes the arctic too expensive, and buy the lease back for less than they paid. They took the risk, the world has changed a lot since 2008, they lose. It is unconscionable to write to me a few weeks ago “climate change is real and we have to act now … I refuse to condemn our children to a planet that is beyond fixing …” But that is what you are doing! Your climate action plan is a tiny step forward. Granting Shell this lease to drill in arctic waters is a big step backward. I am very disappointed in your actions to combat climate change. Please STOP the Keystone XL pipeline today and show yourself as a true leader on combating climate change. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Appalled at Arctic Ocean Drilling Permit for Shell
[hooray –Shell quit, see letter #563]
Thursday 14 May 2015
Letter #545
(3rd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
A recent op-ed column argues that we shouldn’t waste taxpayers money on revamping LaGuardia Airport, but should build housing there instead.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/08/opinion/dont-rehab-la-guardia-airport-close-it.html
The civil engineer and transportation planner makes NO mention of climate change or rising sea levels. Many transportation planners unfortunately suffer the same myopia! Thank you to the NYTimes for printing Ted Steinberg’s letter (1 of 5 they printed) who aptly responds that LaGuardia’s site is hurricane-prone, low-lying and unsuitable for both airports and housing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/13/opinion/la-guardia-airport-fix-it-or-shut-it.html
But I am deeply saddened that climate change is NOT mentioned. Our national discourse does not mention climate change and the urgency of our response nearly enough! Most of our coastal airports are at risk. We are in denial as to how much time we have to turn this calamity around. Please STOP the Keystone XL pipeline NOW to make sure everyone knows what your stance on climate change is. We cannot continue to chat about costs and benefits without addressing the enormous human cost of climate disruption.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Close LaGuardia, Move Inland!
Friday 15 May 2015
Letter #546
Dear President Obama,
Thousands of Rohinga in boats with scant water or food are turned away by Indonesia, then by Malaysia.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/15/world/asia/burmese-rohingya-bangladeshi-migrants-andaman-sea.html
People without names or faces or papers. A Malaysian official says: “What do you expect us to do? They cannot be flooding our shores like this. We have to send the right message.” The world’s poor are on the move. Climate change will only bring more refugees from war, famine, oppression. Quickly curtailing carbon emissions could really help keep this problem from growing exponentially. Can we really sit by and watch the world’s poor die in great numbers? We don’t even know how many thousands are in small boats right now. And when the next typhoon hits? We put a lot of carbon into the air. We know the dangers. We know the effects we’ve already seen. We have a responsibility to clean up the problem quickly. So please STOP the Keystone XL pipeline today! Show you are serious about the US cutting carbon. Show you know the path forward is clean energy. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Pity Rohinga Boat People
Friday 17 July 2015
Letter #547
Dear President Obama,
I’ve had a difficult summer, loss, anger, sadness … but I am finding my balance again and so want to continue writing to you. I was gladdened by Yoko Ono’s full page ad last week against fracking and specifically the “Constitution Pipeline,” a name she so aptly calls Orwellian. I love her appeal to you as a father of two beautiful daughters and urge you to act boldly to protect their futures. We are swimming in gas and don’t need to build pipelines for export. The danger to our homes and the entire planet is TOO GREAT! Yoko urges you to imagine a better world for ALL OF US! A world without fracking and without the Keystone XL pipeline. A world where we have not totally ruined the climate with CARBON POLLUTION, where your daughters can thrive. So please please listen to Yoko and please STOP the Keystone XL pipeline today. Just pick up your pen!
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Kudos to Yoko Ono
[see her website imaginepeace.com]
Sat 18 July 2015
Letter #548
Dear President Obama,
Thank you for visiting a federal prison and for saying “There but for fortune …”
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/us/obama-el-reno-oklahoma-prison.html
Our incarceration rate for non-violent crimes is way too high and for the President to advocate openly for prison reform gives hope to many. We need to give young people more good choices in their neighborhoods so they don’t land in prison. In these very difficult times of climate disruption we need everyone to pull together. What about federal grants for jobs to replace old windows and otherwise make buildings energy efficient? I know such an idea needs backing from Congress, and is unlikely to happen soon. So instead, please STOP the Keystone XL pipeline right now! You don’t need Congress to do this. Just pick up your pen! Please do it now and send a powerful message to all Americans, young and old, free and incarcerated, that we need to quickly cut our carbon emissions. Bold action NOW will save us billions. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Our Prisons are too Full
Wednesday 22 July 2015
Letter #549
Dear President Obama,
On Monday the Norwegian Refugee Council published a report detailing the 2014 numbers of people displaced by natural disasters: 19.3 MILLION mostly from weather-related (typhoons and flooding) events that are becoming more FREQUENT and more INTENSE.
These numbers should galvanize us into action! We should be redoubling our efforts to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. But instead America seems to shrug off any responsibility for a worsening climate, confident that if the sun shines tomorrow all will be well. As our leader you need to show the way. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline today and make a firm statement that fossil fuels must stay in the ground – for the safety of us all and our children. You understand the climate science – so please take urgent and definitive action. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Too Many Weather Refugees
Tuesday 28 July 2015
Letter #550
Dear President Obama,
The best climate news this year may well be Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change last month.
He not only describes our carbon emissions as posing an urgent threat to the stability of the world’s climate, he also speaks to our moral responsibility to the world’s poor, who will bear the most pain and damage from a problem they did nothing to create. It is heartening to hear one of the planet’s most prominent leaders speak so clearly to denounce greed and social injustice. So please follow the Pope’s lead and take immediate dramatic steps to cut carbon emissions. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline NOW. It will show you too are a great leader. We are counting on you. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Admire Pope Francis
