Letters: Ohio bill labels climate change 'politically controversial.' Columbus is a pigsty
Climate change is a physical fact
Senate Bill 83 seeks to ban university courses focused on 'politically controversial' topics, such as climate change. The political majority can declare any topic to be "controversial," and therefore they would be able to ban the teaching of any course.
YWCA: Ohio's chilling new pro-ignorance bill a threat that will drive off students
The example of climate change is most striking, since climate change is a physical fact.
Furthermore, virtually every climate scientist on the planet has determined that (unless we decarbonize our economies with incredible speed) climate change will soon cause mind-boggling levels of damage to nature, to our built environments, to agriculture, to our water supplies, to the U.S. and the global economies, and to our national security.
Apparently, extremists in the Ohio GOP are prepared to destroy the very broad U.S. economy in order to serve the short-term interests of the fossil fuel industry. This is in no meaningful sense 'pro-business' or 'conservative.'
It seems to me that it is manifestly corrupt.
Anyone can deny the laws of physics, but no one can change them. Including the state legislature.
Michael Bevis, Professor of Geodesy and Geodynamics, The Ohio State University
Frank LaRose and his hypocrisy
The Dispatch has been carefully tracking the Republican Party's latest attempt to manipulate and control the election process. In the March 29 Dispatch.com article "Ohio secretary of state defends possible August election after pushing to limit them," the hypocrisy of Frank LaRose, Ohio’s Secretary of State, screams out at the electorate as if he is trying to fool someone.
More: Ohio secretary of state defends possible August election after pushing to limit them
His attempt is a thinly veiled exercise to try to get in front of a potential November ballot initiative regarding abortion rights. Republicans in the Statehouse support legislation that would require a 60% positive vote to amend the Ohio Constitution and make it that much more difficult for voters to pass any legislation amending the Ohio Constitution.
It seems reasonable to me then that if his idea is such a good one, the legislation he wants to put on the ballot in August should carry its own self implementing rule that it would require 60% of the voters approval for his amendment to the Constitution to pass.Richard S. Donahey, Columbus
Get ready for real electrical shortages
I can easily understand if you are dismayed because of the pending price increase in your electric bill.
However, if you were surprised, you haven’t been paying attention. When you take dependable, economical coal generators offline, and reduce the fuel supply for natural gas generators you are driving up the cost of producing electricity, as well as reducing the stability of the electrical grid.
Letters: We didn't fight for slap in the face Ohio Republicans doling out with power grab
It won’t take much more of this action to force shortages and rolling blackouts.
All the wind and solar that you can produce will be woefully insufficient to supply any significant amount of electricity, compared to total demand. If you insist on reducing your dependence on coal and natural gas for power generation, we will soon experience real electrical shortages, at which point a price increase in our electric bill will be among the least of our worries.
Darryl Hiestand, Lancaster
Buckeyes will lose
When I taught Human Biology to non-science majors, I encouraged the students to identify specific human biology topics/questions of interest.
As my Ohio State University colleague Steve Rissing pointed out in the March 26 Dispatch "Bill would result in more boring classes," this helped avoid boredom while providing factual information of interest and relevant to classes of predominantly young adults.
Professor: Higher ed bill might as well be called 'Make College Courses Boring Act.'
However, if the “Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act” Senate Bill 83 is passed that would require faculty to “allow and encourage students to reach their own conclusions about all controversial issues” it seems some questions I was asked would now have to be ignored.
There is a factual explanation for: Why does the world spin when you’re drunk?
There are scientific data that address: Does genetics determine intelligence? But only limited data for: Is there a benefit from circumcision, elective surgery/mutilation performed without the patient’s consent? and no definitive answer to: Is the morning after pill abortion or contraception?
Maybe I’m wrong, but won’t OSU students lose if such “controversial issues” must be avoided?
Professor: 'We can’t take this lying down.' Draconian bill aimed at OSU, other colleges
John Reeve, Ohio State University Emeritus Professor of Microbiology, Powell
Climate change is a physical fact
Senate Bill 83 seeks to ban university courses focused on 'politically controversial' topics, such as climate change. The political majority can declare any topic to be "controversial," and therefore they would be able to ban the teaching of any course.
YWCA: Ohio's chilling new pro-ignorance bill a threat that will drive off students
The example of climate change is most striking, since climate change is a physical fact.
Furthermore, virtually every climate scientist on the planet has determined that (unless we decarbonize our economies with incredible speed) climate change will soon cause mind-boggling levels of damage to nature, to our built environments, to agriculture, to our water supplies, to the U.S. and the global economies, and to our national security.
Apparently, extremists in the Ohio GOP are prepared to destroy the very broad U.S. economy in order to serve the short-term interests of the fossil fuel industry. This is in no meaningful sense 'pro-business' or 'conservative.'
It seems to me that it is manifestly corrupt.
Anyone can deny the laws of physics, but no one can change them. Including the state legislature.
Michael Bevis, Professor of Geodesy and Geodynamics, The Ohio State University
Ideas are scary
Republican-dominated legislatures around the country, and here in Ohio, continue to raise culture war issues rather than work to solve actual problems (like Ohio’s shameful maternal death rate). A current thrust is “Anti-woke” legislation. The term “woke, "of course, means being awake to, and aware of the reality around us.
The reality that human-caused global warming has created a climate crisis that threatens human civilization.
The reality of unequal access to health care between urban and rural communities. The reality that banning books is what the Nazis did in the run-up to World War II.
Ideas scared them. The reality that U.S. history is more complex than most of us ever learned in school. The reality that the legacy of slavery is still with us in our economic and governmental systems. The reality that gender is not binary – and never has been. The list goes on.
By saying they are “anti-woke,” what these legislators are really saying is that they are opposed to reality – not a good position to be in to move the country forward.
Tom Baillieul, Columbus
More: How to submit a letter to the editor for The Columbus Dispatch
Require a 'radon-resistant” requirement
With environmental health concerns making headlines related to the recent disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, we should also be paying attention to an environmental health issue impacting residents right here in central Ohio.
Radon, a naturally occurring colorless, odorless gas released from the ground, seeps into buildings and causes lung cancer.
In fact, according to the Ohio Department of Health, radon is the “leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers and the second leading cause among individuals who smoke.”
Ohio Department of Health data shows that Columbus has an “average radon concentration greater than the EPA action level.”
In Ohio, radon testing is encouraged but not required.
Opinion: Trust eroded by East Palestine disaster. Independent investigation needed.
Schools are not even required to be tested. This means that tens of thousands of central Ohioans are being exposed to radon in their homes and businesses every day. While the EPA recommends testing and mitigation to reduce exposure, a best practice is to use “radon-resistant” techniques when building new construction.
These techniques use common materials and do not require “special skills” to add radon-resistant features to new homes and buildings. With an unknown number of residents at risk for radon exposure and booming construction in Columbus, now is the time for policymakers to mandate these common sense, affordable construction techniques.
By adding “radon-resistant” requirements to city building codes, radon exposure would be reduced, and lives would be saved.
Elizabeth Fries, Dublin
I am ashamed to live in this pigsty
I get around a bit.
Nowhere in the United States, Canada or elsewhere, have I seen a city that was even close to as trashed out with so much utter waste — debris, auto bumpers and litter — as is Columbus and the surrounding areas.
It is appalling that any government could allow this. Columbus has absolutely no pride in its appearance. The fences around our freeways are covered with yards of billowing plastic, there are couches, mattresses and just plain trash everywhere.
There must be 1,000 abandoned orange and white barrels and cones on roadsides around our city. And at every exit and intersection are hundreds of cigarette butts, plastic bottles and cans. I see trucks hauling construction debris, dumpsters hauling trash, and their loads are never covered with tarps as required by law.
Plastic and papers fly out like confetti. When visitors land at John Glenn International Airport for a visit, on their ride downtown on I-670 they must wonder what on Earth such a filthy, trashy city could have to offer.
Great for economic development.
Once a year clean-ups obviously don't cut it. We need daily trash patrols everywhere. And, since the police are no longer enforcing traffic laws, namely running red lights and speeding, they should have time to hand out littering citations.
Mayor Andrew Ginther: in the last year, how many citations for littering or illegal dumping were issued in Columbus? It looks like the answer is zero. Maybe we could pay the homeless panhandlers at every exit and intersection to pick up the trash.
I am ashamed to live in this pigsty. The city administration, Ohio Department of Transportation and Franklin County commissioners should be ashamed of themselves. Hundreds of thousands of us work our butts off to make Columbus a great city and this is what we have to show for it.
Jerome N. Smith, Columbus
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Letters: Senate Bill 83 labels climate change a politically controversial topic
