Letters to the Editor: We can create a better future
We can create a better future
We can either predict our future or create one. Our prediction keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees C does not avoid altogether deadly heat. This is an easy prediction to make, since we are already seeing evidence of it today. The 2003 European heat wave that saw 30,000 people perish was a sign of things to come. Recent studies suggest that we are now experiencing as many as five million deaths a year from heat stress and other dangerous weather extremes. Add in the additional 4 million deaths a year from air pollution generated by fossil fuel burning and that is nine million in one year. (Mann) Twice as many people died from human-induced climate change than from COVID-19. (Economist 2021)
We can bring about a better future if we take meaningful actions to address the climate crisis. We need to keep fossil fuels in the ground by making the producers pay for their pollution and return the fees collected to households equally in order to protect the most vulnerable. While the existing technology will take us to net zero emissions, that won’t be enough to avoid dangerous extreme weather. We need to increase investment in technology to remove carbon emissions from our atmosphere. Contact your representative to take meaningful action to stabilize our climate by implementing a carbon tax and supporting investment in carbon removal from our atmosphere.
Ronald Marshall
Petoskey
What's wrong with Congressman Jack Bergman?
What's wrong with U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman?
Lately, he's been blowing up my email inbox with crotchety press releases that make him sound like an old man who got passed over for a promotion and now he's mad at the world. Which, since he put himself up for Speaker of the House but got knocked out in the early voting, could be close to the truth.
Today he was ranting about how he would take his ball and go home — vote against any federal spending unless right-wing immigration restrictions are enacted.
He used "bipartisan" like it was a dirty word. And that is exactly why the GOP-led Congress he inhabits has done so little. They'd rather be mad and ineffective than settle for less than perfect.
I guess it's simpler that way, and old Jack Bergman (he's got five years on me) would rather keep it simple than buckle down to the hard work of compromise.
John Podulka
Wolverine
Bergman needs to get back to work
Representative Jack Bergman (R-MI District 1), who claims to be “pro-life,” recently voted to harm the lives of millions of women and young children.
He voted last week against the continuing resolution that would have kept the government funded, albeit temporarily. If he and his MAGA colleagues has prevailed, funding for many essential services would have ceased on Friday, Jan. 19.
Among those would have been the Women, Infant and Children Nutrition Program (WIC). WIC provides vouchers for high-nutrition foods for low-income pregnant and breastfeeding women and children from birth to age 4.
Nationally, over 6 million vulnerable women and children benefit from WIC annually 1. In Rep. Bergman’s First Congressional District, the number of WIC clients was 33,311 in 2023 2.
Good nutrition during pregnancy and the first years of life provides an essential foundation for health and cognitive ability. Rep. Bergman’s vote was against the interests of his constituents.
Rep Bergman says he will not vote for any federal spending unless it addresses the border, yet he has voted against increased funding for border agents and refuses to negotiate on a comprehensive immigration reform bill. He isn’t interested in actually resolving the border issue, but only wants to use it as a campaign wedge issue.
Rep. Bergman should stop posturing and pandering to his extreme supporters. We need a representative who can work across the aisle to compromise and seek bipartisan solutions to the many issues facing our nation.
By voting no on this stop-gap funding bill, refusing to negotiate on immigration, and refusing to fund Ukraine, Rep. Bergman is jeopardizing our national security and our democracy — not to mention the lives of 33,311 vulnerable women and children in the 1st District.
Mr. Bergman, please get back to work and vote for appropriations bills to fully fund the government.
Martha Lancaster
Harbor Springs
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Letters to the Editor: We can create a better future