Salon | Letters to the editor

_______________CAN THIS PLANET BE SAVED? BY DON GEORGE (01/21/99)

I too can make predictions. And what I am predicting is that Mark Hertsgaard will be proven to be 100 percent wrong about global warming. I predict that, now that the El Niño event is over, we will actually see a slight cooling trend over the next 10 years.
When this comes to pass, one might expect Hertsgaard to be horribly embarrassed. However, just like the well-intentioned but foolish people that were claiming 10-15 years ago that global cooling was the big problem humans were causing, I'm sure he'll conveniently "forget" that he ever said such a thing, and move on to the next scare du jour. Remember when Paul Erlich was telling us that we'd be totally out of resources by 1985? Or that there would be widespread famine by 1990/2000? That's all forgotten now. Mr. Erlich took, and lost, a bet about the resources issue. I'd like to see more purveyors of "ecological disaster" also put their money where their mouths are.
We should not destroy our economy by creating permanent government policies based on unproven, pseudo-scientific fads.
-- Tom Biggs

_______________THE WAR AGAINST SPRAWL, I BY ROB GURWITT (01/21/99)

I am continually amazed that anyone can discuss sprawl without mentioning, much less analyzing, the root cause of the problem: U.S. population growth run amok.
The United States is the fastest-growing industrialized country on earth and will double in just 50 years, unlike some European countries, which have achieved steady-state population. California is projected to double to 60 million in just 45 years, which surely portends a horrific future, if current trends continue. These rates of growth rival many third world countries -- fecundity which routinely appalls educated Americans when observed occurring elsewhere.
Perhaps it is the cause of this growth that gives political analysts and editors the cold shakes. The U.S. is growing by more than 3 million people every year, 60 percent of which is driven by immigration -- legal, illegal and the children born to immigrants. Political correctness makes many observers wish to hide, but numerical facts remain. Sprawl and gridlock are clear evidence that the physical carrying capacity and infrastructure have been breached by the overload of too many people.
Bottom line: "Smart growth" is a symptomatic approach and can only slow the slide toward a society too crowded to function. The only solution is to block the human onramp by Congress reducing immigration to sustainable levels. (This was the historical norm until legislative change in 1965.) Otherwise we are just stacking the deck chairs on the Titanic.
-- Brenda Walker
Berkeley, Calif.

_______________THE WAR AGAINST SPRAWL, II BY SUSAN ZAKIN (01/21/99)

What purpose did quoting Esther Underwood calling Nancy Young Wright a "bad mother" have to do with the article about the battle taking place in the Oro Valley? Why give that kind of vindictive remark space except possibly to show how desperate the pro-development folks are?
Young Wright is fighting the battle in Amphi because she is a good mother, because she cares about this community. When there was not equipment at her neighborhood park for her children to play on, she went to work, not criticizing folks, but to find the money to make the equipment available. She pulled people together and got it done. The equipment at Dennis Weaver park is a tribute to her ability to make positive things happen. She's organized field trips for her children to numerous places across Pima County and invited friends to take part in these enrichment activities. She has been active in her daughter's scout troop from day one. She set up an author/book event at her children's elementary school that continues to this day.
She models to her children that if something is wrong, you work to right it. If something is right, you nurture it. If that's being a bad parent, we need more bad parents like her.
-- Marge Pellegrino
N E X T+P A G E+| Have members of Congress violated their oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States"?

_______________CAN THIS PLANET BE SAVED? BY DON GEORGE (01/21/99)
	I too can make predictions. And what I am predicting is that Mark Hertsgaard will be proven to be 100 percent wrong about global warming. I predict that, now that the El Niño event is over, we will actually see a slight cooling trend over the next 10 years. When this comes to pass, one might expect Hertsgaard to be horribly embarrassed. However, just like the well-intentioned but foolish people that were claiming 10-15 years ago that global cooling was the big problem humans were causing, I'm sure he'll conveniently "forget" that he ever said such a thing, and move on to the next scare du jour. Remember when Paul Erlich was telling us that we'd be totally out of resources by 1985? Or that there would be widespread famine by 1990/2000? That's all forgotten now. Mr. Erlich took, and lost, a bet about the resources issue. I'd like to see more purveyors of "ecological disaster" also put their money where their mouths are. We should not destroy our economy by creating permanent government policies based on unproven, pseudo-scientific fads. -- Tom Biggs
_______________THE WAR AGAINST SPRAWL, I BY ROB GURWITT (01/21/99)
	I am continually amazed that anyone can discuss sprawl without mentioning, much less analyzing, the root cause of the problem: U.S. population growth run amok. The United States is the fastest-growing industrialized country on earth and will double in just 50 years, unlike some European countries, which have achieved steady-state population. California is projected to double to 60 million in just 45 years, which surely portends a horrific future, if current trends continue. These rates of growth rival many third world countries -- fecundity which routinely appalls educated Americans when observed occurring elsewhere. Perhaps it is the cause of this growth that gives political analysts and editors the cold shakes. The U.S. is growing by more than 3 million people every year, 60 percent of which is driven by immigration -- legal, illegal and the children born to immigrants. Political correctness makes many observers wish to hide, but numerical facts remain. Sprawl and gridlock are clear evidence that the physical carrying capacity and infrastructure have been breached by the overload of too many people. Bottom line: "Smart growth" is a symptomatic approach and can only slow the slide toward a society too crowded to function. The only solution is to block the human onramp by Congress reducing immigration to sustainable levels. (This was the historical norm until legislative change in 1965.) Otherwise we are just stacking the deck chairs on the Titanic. -- Brenda Walker Berkeley, Calif.
_______________THE WAR AGAINST SPRAWL, II BY SUSAN ZAKIN (01/21/99)
	What purpose did quoting Esther Underwood calling Nancy Young Wright a "bad mother" have to do with the article about the battle taking place in the Oro Valley? Why give that kind of vindictive remark space except possibly to show how desperate the pro-development folks are? Young Wright is fighting the battle in Amphi because she is a good mother, because she cares about this community. When there was not equipment at her neighborhood park for her children to play on, she went to work, not criticizing folks, but to find the money to make the equipment available. She pulled people together and got it done. The equipment at Dennis Weaver park is a tribute to her ability to make positive things happen. She's organized field trips for her children to numerous places across Pima County and invited friends to take part in these enrichment activities. She has been active in her daughter's scout troop from day one. She set up an author/book event at her children's elementary school that continues to this day. She models to her children that if something is wrong, you work to right it. If something is right, you nurture it. If that's being a bad parent, we need more bad parents like her. -- Marge Pellegrino N E X T+P A G E+\| Have members of Congress violated their oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States"?