Letters to the editor for April 23

Trump versus science

The current COVID-19 mess is just an amplified example of President Donald Trump’s distain for science. As usual, instead of listening to the experts who know the topic, and who understand how data validates scientific hypotheses, Mr. Trump has bypassed scientists and “gone with his gut.” In a few weeks, we’ll know more about how many lives his ignorance and slow, conflicting, inadequate decision-making have cost this country. The president is playing with human lives; he’ll soon have even more blood on his hands.

The coronavirus (it’s just a hoax!) has killed more than 40,000 Americans. But Trump’s inability to understand science, and his penchant for enabling conspiracy theories to influence his decisions about steps to take will pale in comparison to his willful blindness regarding the larger, more deadly threat now unfolding: global climate change.

Folks who are convinced that climate change is a hoax, that there is disagreement among credible scientists regarding its human cause, or what might be appropriate steps to mitigate it, are delusional. In this catastrophe, it will not likely be us dying; instead, it will be our grandchildren. We will look back on this president and his disregard for science and rue the day he took office. He is unsuited to the difficult tasks now at hand. He’s “gone with his gut” regarding the virus; disaster has ensued. He’s a menace and needs to be ousted in November.

This is a dress rehearsal

As scary as this pandemic is, it is a dress rehearsal for what will happen with climate change unless we take quick and dramatic action. I do not intend to minimize the massive loss of life due to coronavirus, but the epidemic will end as previous ones have. But by the time climate change creates the same level of disruption of the economy, housing and food, it will be too late to reverse. The pandemic is an early warning alert that we must start taking action on the climate crisis. If we don’t want a permanent crisis for our offspring, we must work on climate change now.

We are fortunate that Thurston County and its cities have come together to create a climate mitigation plan which they are well on their way to completing (due out this summer). As a member of the Thurston Climate Action Team, I encourage people to join us in working on behalf of this plan. The plan addresses the huge amount of greenhouse gas emitted in our buildings and transportation as the two largest sectors of county emissions.

The good news is this plan can also create new jobs while addressing these problems. This plan will reduce our emissions from 2015 levels by 45% by 2030 and by 85% by 2050, which is what the science says is now necessary to avert a planet too hot to grow even current levels of food.

Homeless veterans need extra support now

The present situation with the coronavirus crisis means many establishments that the homeless frequent for sanitation reasons have been closed (fast food restaurants, libraries, etc.). Thus their meager existence has been made even more difficult and unhealthy. We have to remember that because of their living conditions, a homeless tent village may be a breeding ground for the virus and other health conditions.

We would like to suggest that temporarily portable toilets be placed near homeless settlements. We note that some of these portable toilets are equipped with dispensers of hand sanitizer, which would also be a help.

The national relief bill relies on income tax returns, bank accounts, social security numbers and other documentation that this population may have difficulty with, which means they may have difficulty receiving payments that would be very useful for this population. We ask that city employees and/or volunteer groups, with adequate virus protection, visit their community’s homeless sites to help with this documentation. Also helping with the U.S. Census would be valuable.

Thank you for your consideration. We realize that this is more assistance than has been offered in the past. But we ask for this to be a temporary solution, until the virus crisis is over and things can return to normal.