Letters to the editor on climate change, teachers and the Keystone Pipeline

Climate change

On Monday, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest climate assessment report, which Secretary-General António Guterres framed as an “atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership.” Every day of inaction accelerates the pace of climate change, thus compounding its future costs and impacts. To avoid catastrophic and irreversible changes in the climate system we must rapidly break our fossil fuel dependence.

This dependence links the Russia-Ukraine and climate crises. Although austere economic sanctions have been levied upon Russia, its energy exports are currently sanction exempted. Why? Russia is the world’s largest exporter of fossil fuels. Although it is only 7% of U.S. fossil fuel imports, Russia is the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe.

Failing to understand the increasing folly of our fossil fuel dependence, U.S. conservative lawmakers are grasping at the invasion as an excuse to ratchet up domestic drilling. As appalling as the Ukrainian situation is, we can’t use it as justification to further entrench our fossil fuel dependence. A rapid transition to renewable energy sources and away from fossil fuels is the only way to avoid catastrophic climate change and stop the cash flowing to petro-autocrats like Putin.

Richard Cowlishaw, Winfield

Teachers

First, thank you, teachers! These past years you have made heroic efforts to continue educating students throughout the pandemic.

Second, I am sorry that political opportunists will cause additional work for you in the coming years. House Bill 2662 requires you to enter data and upload your lesson plans in a public website, called a transparency portal. I know that you will continue to teach well, despite the extra work. You always step up – but that doesn’t make it right.

Third, I am sorry that it is almost too late to stop this bad legislation. Despite hearing from parents, faith leaders, teachers, future teachers and students in testimony against it, the chairwoman of the House K-12 Budget Committee intends to include it in the bill that also includes school funding. To fund public schools, lawmakers may have to accept it.

You teach to the needs of the students. You change your plans to help them understand when they don’t. Will you now be held accountable when you adapt plans?

Demand that your legislators keep this bad legislation out of the school funding bill.

Kathy Swenson, Manhattan

Keystone, Putin

The voters are angry and want change. Maybe the Democrats will wake up and open the Keystone XL pipeline again. This would keep gas from going to $5 a gallon and give Americans jobs. The democrats hated Trump so much and because they wanted to punish him so much …… now they are punishing the citizens of the United States even more! We are not energy independent!

Putin didn’t do anything bad while Trump was president and now in one year the U.S. has become weak. It’s all a big mess! The Democrats are getting into sanctions when really it’s Europe’s problem and we should be protecting our own borders instead. It’s time to be proactive before Putin takes all the billions of dollars of weapons we gave the Ukraine ….they may fall into his hands. Liberty, Freedom, and Democracy scare Putin — sanctions only hurt Americans. We have failed to get Putin scared of anything!!

China couldn’t be happier…..one year of Biden and everything is falling apart!

May God bless and save America.

Pat McKenzie, St. Marys