Letters to the editor for June 8
Will we kiss the earth goodbye?
I attended a climate protest in late May organized by local young people. Many of us older people turned out to support the action of these young people who will be experiencing the worst of the climate crisis.
This newspaper printed a picture of the group performing a die-in at the Olympia City Council during the comment period. They were showing us (available on video of the City Council meeting) what this future will be like for them. This is their future: dying early, drought, forest fires, burning heat, lack of food, and possibly more resource wars. This is not a future any of us would want for our children.
These students showed up last year and the city council declared a climate emergency. Now the students are asking, “Where are the actions that should accompany an emergency?”
Instead we read headlines like these: “The Greatest Casualty of the Ukraine War Could Be Planet Earth Itself. The world’s ruling elites have chosen to place their geopolitical rivalries above all other critical concerns, including planetary salvation.”
This is the big picture, and in our small city, what can we do? We can start implementing the climate mitigation strategies accepted already. Write letters, join the young people in calling for more action by our government representatives.
The sad part of the video of the event was our mayor asking folks to just step around the young people on the floor. In other words: no emergency, it’s business as usual.
Patricia Holm, Olympia
You CAN end gun violence
Are you tired of having children and teenagers gunned down at their schools? Of people murdered grocery shopping, at a movie theater, a night club or in a place of worship? You CAN stop this carnage. In November, vote for Democrats at all levels on the ballot.
In the 10 years since the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the NRA has bought Republicans, giving them at least $100 million to run their campaigns so they can oppose any and all anti-gun legislation. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Additional pro-gun money comes from benign sounding groups like Safari Club International, or the National Shooting Sports Foundation. It’s not “Congress” that can’t get any gun legislation passed. It’s Republicans who block all gun legislation.
Do you really want to end the slaughter? Vote blue in November. If you vote otherwise (some independents are really Republicans), don’t act surprised at the next bloodbath. Republicans know who they work for and it’s not their constituents, especially not children.
A.R. Kirschner, Tumwater
Rachel Marsden’s anti-Ukraine column lacks credibility
Rachel Marsden’s column entitled “Divisions are emerging in Europe over Ukraine conflict,” which appeared in the May 29 print edition of The Olympian, reads like a Russian propaganda piece.
She accuses European Union (EU) leaders of “aggressive rhetoric” in support of Ukraine. She accuses the U.S. of “the most aggressive behavior in the western world” for its $40 billion aid package for Ukraine — calling it an “investment in promoting instability.”
The one country she fails to criticize is Russia, the actual aggressor. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and Georgia cannot be justified or excused, nor should it be tolerated. The extreme bias in Rachel Marsden’s column is consistent with her work for the Russian-owned Sputnik News, and it further weakens her credibility.
Mike Olson, Lacey