New Year’s resolution: Reduce use of fossil fuels
The No. 1 New Year’s resolution for every man, woman and child in the developed and developing world should be to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels. The living systems on this planet will be destroyed unless we slow the consumption of coal, gas and oil that began with the advent of industrialization and the widespread use of the internal combustion engine.
Motor vehicles should be used only for the greater good. Use transportation systems already in place. Drive a high-mileage car for errands and car pool to work.
Drives in the country are out. Drives across town to a movie are out. Take a walk in your own neighborhood. Sit on your front porch and read a book. Learn about the people and the systems around you, and if you don’t like them, fix them. Help them to be the people you do want to live next to and the systems that support your needs. We are all in this together.
What we are experiencing with the use of resources today is the tragedy of the commons. The earth, the sky, the water belong to everyone, but no single person’s best interest results in their wisest use. We must outsmart our natural predilections and band together as the human race has done before in times of great threat.
We can commit to future generations that their world will include polar bears, migratory birds, pollinating insects, green forests, diverse deserts, bustling cities, towns nestled within open-space landscapes, and vital nurturing social networks and opportunities for entertainment, learning, personal growth and successful careers.
Embrace alternative technologies. Question the status quo. Support leaders who will create systems for us to make our collective New Year’s resolution easier to implement.
Timmie Ann Schramm, Durango
Use of earmarks in the U.S. Congress
Re: “‘Earmarks’ for ’07 projects erased,” Dec. 26 news story.
I wouldn’t mind giving $500,000 to the National Sports Center for the Disabled, but it shouldn’t be sneaked into an enormous pile of bills I’m paying with one check at the 11th hour.
The congressional earmark game is just plain underhanded, back-scratching skulduggery that robs one group of taxpayers to bribe another.
This incentive to buy votes is not just wasteful. It also teaches new members of Congress that crime does pay and can be made legal.
“I think the incentive to use earmarks is still there because it’s one of the few tools a member of Congress can use” to win re-election, says political science professor James D. Savage in a New York Times article on the subject.
We need to take that evil tool away and require our representatives to use the tools of integrity, principle and a voting record that puts the nation’s interests above the personal ambitions of themselves and their constituents.
Voters rejected pork-barrel politics in November, ousting many incumbents despite their tax-funded brag sheets of federal dollars snagged for constituents. We’re not as fat, dumb and selfish as we used to be.
David Hakala, Denver
Labor and the Dems
Re: “Labor looks to Dems for more,” Dec. 25 news story.
I enjoyed your article, but it was a little short on specifics. If you’re truly interested in union influence on the Democratic Party, check out Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s HR 1696, the Employee Free Choice Act. The Senate version (S 842) is sponsored by Ken Salazar, and Pelosi has promised to fast-track her bill through the House. This legislation amends the National Labor Relations Act so that union representation is decided by signed petition rather than secret ballot. Amazingly, Salazar and Pelosi have the audacity to claim that eliminating a secret ballot in favor of a method emphasizing union strong-arm tactics actually promotes “free choice.” Do they really think the majority of American voters are this stupid?
If this is the sort of disingenuous, hypocritical union pandering we can expect from the Democrats, we’re no better off than we were when Republicans were pandering to the religious right (but the First Amendment protected us from a lot of their ayatollah-like social engineering). I’m a registered Republican, but voted for Salazar because he claimed to be a moderate. This odious piece of un-American legislation creates doubt about his integrity.
Clarence “Sonny” Williams, Monument
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