Los Angeles Times - 21.09.2019

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OPINION

LETTERS

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I wholeheartedly agree
with the clear indictment of
the Republican Party by the
L.A. Times Editorial Board.
Responding to climate
change even with a substan-
tial majority of Democrats
controlling all levels of gov-
ernment would be difficult;
this exigent task is impos-
sible with Republicans in
power.
Willful ignorance is a
global pandemic, as shown
by these quotes from your
article on sport utility vehi-
cles booming in Germany:
“It’s too late now. The envi-
ronment is already a mess.
What’s the point of stopping
SUVs from coming into the
city when you have delivery
trucks and 18-wheelers

everywhere as well?” and,

“Sell the monster SUVs in

the United States or Saudi

Arabia where there’s room,

but not in Europe.”

Regrettably, Republican

politicians and their facilita-

tors are not alone in the

“burning bridges behind us”

bent. “What do we do now?”

is the question of the cen-

tury.

John Gambardella

Hemet

::

Big kudos to the L.A.

Times for its excellent series

on combating climate

change.

Cutting back on meat

consumption can be one

nutritionally viable solution

for reducing carbon emis-

sions. As a practicing regis-

tered dietitian and nutri-

tionist for more than 30

years, I want to assure ev-

eryone that appropriately

planned vegetarian and

vegan diets are healthful,

nutritionally adequate and

can prevent heart disease,

diabetes, high blood pres-

sure, certain types of can-

cers and obesity.

These plant-based diets

are highly sustainable envi-

ronmentally versus diets

rich in animal products

because they use fewer

natural resources and cause

much less environmental

damage. One caveat: In

addition to a well-planned

diet, vegans also need reli-

able sources of vitamin B-12.

Geeta Sikand

Irvine

The writer, a registered

dietitian, is the director of

nutrition at the UC Irvine

Preventive Cardiology

Program.

::

The Times’ incisive

series discussed technolog-

ical advances and behavior-

al modifications needed to

combat it. But there was no

call to counter incessant

population growth.

Had the world’s popula-

tion remained constant —

instead of doubling — over

the last 50 years, this crisis

surely would have been

deferred for decades, per-

haps providing time for

technological innovations to

mitigate its dire conse-

quences.

No political leader seems

willing to concede that there

is a finite limit to the num-

ber of humans our planet

can sustain. Why? Because

the next logical step would

be to impose numerical

limits on each country’s

population, a non-starter in

the political realm.

Climate change poses

numerous hard choices that

can no longer be deferred.

Our leaders should act to

ensure the survival of future

generations and not worry

about who wins the next

election.

Devra Mindell

Santa Monica

::

The National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Adminis-

tration states that, based on

what we know about past

ice ages, a natural rise of 100

parts per million in heat-

trapping carbon dioxide in

the Earth’s atmosphere

would take thousands of

years to occur, yet we’ve

done it in about 60.

And, according to the

Fourth National Climate

Assessment, the U.S. is

experiencing increases in

heat waves, intense rainfall,

large forest fires and daily

tidal flooding.

Our common values like

concern for our children’s

future and national security

should unify Americans on

this issue. I’m encouraged

that the bipartisan Energy

Innovation and Carbon

Dividend Act has been

introduced in the House of

Representatives.

Let’s reach across di-

vides and provide U.S. lead-

ership in the fight to slow

climate change.

Terry Hansen

Hales Corner, Wis.

::

While it may be true that

the poor will suffer the most

from climate change, point-

ing out this fact is not help-

ful in moving the conversa-

tion. It pushes the problem

away from many of us.

If we continue to rely on

fossil fuels, then the future

will be a disaster movie of

unknown proportions. It’s

not just storms, fires, floods,

drought and things we think

we can escape. It’s global

food and water shortages,

an army of climate refugees,

and the loss of so many

things we take for granted.

Climate change is a

science experiment that

we’ve started, and we are

the guinea pigs.

Mark Tabbert

Irvine

Who are you

calling radical?

Re “Democratic candidates

need to get real,” Opinion,

Sept. 17

It’s hard to argue with

columnist Jonah Goldberg’s

characterization of the

upcoming Democratic

primary as “an emotive

contest to prove who cares

the most.” But Goldberg

neglects to assess his own

party’s most recent pri-

mary.

Consider how Demo-

crats and independents

typically view the 2016 GOP

primary: It amounted to a

demagogic contest to estab-

lish which candidate could

most persuasively dog-

whistle his entrenched

bigotry against ethnic and

religious minorities.

Really, is it so inexcus-

able for Democratic candi-

dates to respond to Presi-

dent Trump’s divisive white

nationalism by claiming to

care for all Americans?

Rona Dolgin

Los Angeles

::

Please consider getting

more writers like Goldberg,

one of the few in your paper

who clearly recognizes how

so many people on both the

political left and the right

are living in dangerous echo

chambers.

They are two sides of the

exact same coin, though

they do not realize it.

Larry Cahill

Irvine

::

One can feel Goldberg’s

pain in having to criticize a

Republican president while

not being able to demonize

full-time “the left,” his favor-

ite bogeyman for years.

Reading his most recent

column, you could feel him

fishing for some way to

present the Democrats as

dangerous radicals.

Still, I was surprised

when I read this statement:

“And nearly all of the radical

proposals [most of the

Democratic candidates]

support — from gun control,

to ‘Medicare for All’....”

Gun control is radical?

Wanting universal back-

ground checks and trying to

get weapons designed to kill

hundreds of people quickly

off the streets is radical?

David Saffan

Santa Barbara

Nicholas KammAFP/Getty Images

TEENAGERS AND STUDENTS take part in a climate protest outside the White House on Sept. 13.

Party of denial

Re “Climate Change” editorial series, Sept. 15, 17 and 18

T

errible and discouragingas the subject of climate change may be, the crisis can

serve an important ancillary purpose — as a political truth detector. This is possible

because this issue is based on settled science. The position that any politician takes on

climate change is a reliable indicator of one’s relationship with reality.

Despite the fact that the science of climate change has long been understood, and

despite the horrific consequences of inaction, the GOP has long refused to acknowledge the truth

and will not support significant action. If the Republican Party ignores the truth and promotes

disinformation on this greatest of all issues, doesn’t this go to its honesty generally? I raise this

question rhetorically, because we do not need more proof that the Republican Party promotes

policies that injure the health and happiness of ordinary Americans.

Not enough is made of the fact that the GOP, as an organization, is a climate change denier —

thus the existential importance of the 2020 election. There have been times in world history when

the U.S. has been the hope of the world. What are we now?

Steven Schechter, Thousand Oaks

Patricia Thomas of Santa
Monica doesn’t believe
drivers are acting more
irresponsibly:
I was surprised that not
one letter blamed pedestri-
ans for the uptick in deaths.
It seems that with every-
one’s eyes glued to their
phones, pedestrians forget
they are out in the world. I

don’t see drivers acting less

responsible.

Stephany Yablow of North

Hollywood believes smart-

phone use isn’t the only

offense:

Fascinating responses to

the report about the in-

creased number of pedestri-

an fatalities. Not a single

one of the letter writers

blamed the pedestrians.

Increasingly, and with

impunity, pedestrians enter

the cross walk after the

“don’t walk” sign flashes,

often with only a couple of

seconds left on the clock.

That countdown has two

purposes: to give people

lawfully in the cross walk a

reminder to hurry up, and to

give vehicles time to com-

plete right or left turns and

clear the intersection.

Never mind the in-

creased number of people

stepping off the curb in a

stupor with their noses in

their phones, the jaywalking

and other unsafe pedestrian

practices.

Venice resident Harris J.

Levey bemoans “dis-

tracted walking”:

The other day I watched

eight people cross the

street. Six of them were on

their devices, oblivious to

their surroundings.

Perhaps the increase in

pedestrian deaths can also

be attributed to “distracted

walking.”

Bill Spitalnik of Newport

Beach, however, kept the

blame on motorists:

The four letters in Fri-

day’s paper were excellent

and sorely needed. I have

my own theory regarding

what is happening on our

streets pertaining to the

increase in pedestrian

deaths.

People hate being told

what to do, especially in

their own cars, even if it

means putting other people

in danger.

To improve enforcement,

put red-light cameras on

every intersection, police

with radar guns on more

streets and helicopters

above the roadways. Of

course, this will never hap-

pen, so the laws are not and

probably never will be prop-

erly enforced.

People will die as long as

drivers who think they are

above the law maintain

their sick and deadly atti-

tudes.

LETTERS ON LETTERS

‘Distracted walking’

P

eople are killedbecause of driving; that fact is inar-

guable, as shown by a recent L.A. Times report on the

troubling spike in pedestrian fatalities in the United

States despite falling rates in other industrialized nations.

The simplest explanation for why people die while walking

on the sidewalks and in the streets is that they are defense-
less against thousands of pounds of swiftly moving metal

and glass, posing an exponentially greater risk of death than

if, say, a cyclist crashed into a pedestrian.

Initially, most of our letter writers blamed reckless driv-

ing and high speed limits for the increase in deaths, which

was reflected in the responses published Friday. Some read-

ers felt those letters came up short and fingered something

that gets implicated in all sorts of modern ills: smartphone

use, and in this case, only by pedestrians.

—Paul Thornton, letters editor

Irfan KhanLos Angeles Times

IN MONTCLAIR, pedestrians caught crossing the

street while using a cellphone risk being ticketed.

Numbers

and letters

A quick breakdown of

the mail we received

from readers this week:

765

Printable letters to the

editor were received

between last Friday and

this Friday.

106

Letters were written

about climate change, the

week’s most-discussed

topic.

71

Readers discussed the

homelessness crisis,

including President

Trump’s comments on it.

58

Letters mentioned the

Democratic presidential

primary, the third-most-

discussed topic.

HOW TO WRITE TO US

Please send letters to

[email protected]. For

submission guidelines, see

latimes.com/letters or call

1-800-LA TIMES, ext. 74511.

latimes.com/opinion

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