Letters to the Editor for Oct.1

With three open seats on City Council, we have a unique opportunity to create a safer, more resilient, and more prosperous community now and for future generations.

I am a mother, family business owner and environmental activist. I cherish my community and believe in the power of local leadership to enact significant change. Becky Brun, Tim Counihan and Peter Cornelison care about and are qualified to impact the issues that are vital to me: Farmers and food, neighborhood safety, clean rivers and air, climate change, and support of small businesses that stimulate a vibrant local economy. All three are very active community members and have years of experience in their fields and vast knowledge of the needs of locally owned businesses, the environmental concerns facing our community, and solutions that can create a more livable city.

I applaud their choice to begin working together now, before they are even in office! We will all be served by this level of cooperation and collaboration. This is sustainability in action. I’m inspired! Join me to vote for a sustainable Hood River.

Vote Brun, Counihan and Cornelison!

Suzanne Wright Baumhackl

Hood River

Climate change is real

In response to “Global warning refuted” by Donald Rose,MD (Sept. 24).

Global warming is no longer debated in scientific circles. It is a fact (just like the fact that the Earth is round and it travels around the sun). Temperature readings are immune to political/religious/personal objections and simply show a study increase starting from 1900. No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view; also academic papers almost never dispute that global warming is caused by “human activities” — there are only few peer reviewed studies that question its scale or effects.

n Although I understand one’s need to question everything (including all those pesky scientists that have nothing better to do than studying and analyzing data and are experts in their fields).

n I can comprehend how some groups with clear interests (oil and coal industry, high pollutants) may blatantly stage campaign to create “global warning controversies.”

n I try to be compassionate and understand personal paranoia of mistrusting IPCC (group of thousands of not affiliated, uncompensated scientists and experts from over 120 countries — because hey, you never know they may indeed all conspire together).

The only thing I absolutely don’t understand is how anybody would critique a march for cleaner Earth, less pollution, renewable energy and less dependency on oil. Is breathing fresh air and swimming in clean water so terrifying for you Mr. Rose?

Monika Brink

Hood River

Ostrye works hard

It is important that our judge be experienced, respected and fair, that is why we are voting to retain Judge Karen Ostrye. We have known Karen and her family for more than 20 years. We watched Karen complete her business degree while raising two little boys.

When she entered law school, our sons were all still in elementary school. She commuted to Lewis and Clark in Portland every morning and arranged her schedule so that she could be home in the afternoons to meet their school bus. She did this while continuing to be an active community volunteer!

Karen has a strong belief that people are capable of doing what they set their mind to doing. She also has no problem holding people accountable. Karen is fair and treats people with dignity and respect.

She also has tons of energy and is not afraid of hard work.

We will vote to retain Karen Ostrye as our Circuit Court Judge and encourage you to do the same!

Jane, Tom and Eli Camero

Hood River

Vote for Nystrom

Stephanie Nystrom is the Democratic Party candidate running for House District 52 State Representative. She has lived in the district for over 20 years. She embraces many of the ideals of the Democratic Party and will carry these progressive ideals with her if we elect her to represent us in Salem. These values include protecting women’s choice, tax fairness and stable funding for public education.

While in Salem her opponent has supported limiting a woman’s right to choose. As for tax reform, he seems to believe in the failed “trickle down” concept and sees reduction in corporate taxes as the way to achieve tax fairness.

Past letters to the editor have promoted Stephanie’s opponent because he attends local events. Attendance is not enough. Stephanie will attend and learn what needs to be done. Ultimately her record will be one of achievement, not just attendance.

Please support Stephanie Nystrom. Stephanie will work hard in Salem supporting and promoting local solutions that are progressive; solutions that reflect the ideals and meet the needs of residents of House District 52.

Dennis Ghelfi

Rhododendron

Keep Johnson

As a long time, active resident of Hood River as well as someone who considers themselves a liberal Democrat, I can say without hesitation that I support our State Rep. Mark Johnson. Mark has served us successfully for the past two terms and managed to do so in a respectable and bipartisan fashion. He has always made himself available to speak with on any number of issues, a quality I find invaluable in my local politicians. I encourage the residents of Hood River to vote to continue that relationship and elect someone who understands the needs of this area.

Gary Gorman

Hood River

‘Refuted’ rebuttal

Rebuttal to “Global Warming Refuted” (Sept. 27).

A. “Global Warming stopped 16 years ago.” Where is your evidence?

B. “CO2 levels have increased, but moved up and down AFTER the temperatures do ...” Again, what is your source? A basic Wikipedia search clearly summarizes the increase of carbon dioxide since 1750 (roughly the dawn of the Industrial Revolution) due to human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Such an increase of carbon dioxide is obviously not the “result of global warming” as you stated.

C. “CO2 is not the most common greenhouse gas” — I’m not sure that’s relevant here, but rather the potency of any particular gas would be the more persuasive argument. For instance, the movie “Disruption,“ which is viewable from 350.org, describes the risk of massive amounts of methane being released, which is currently frozen in the northern tundra. As the atmosphere warms, that methane will begin to be released. Methane apparently carries much more potency as a greenhouse gas when contrasted with carbon dioxide. So, in that sense you would be more correct to say that carbon dioxide is not the most potent instead of referring to what is the most prevalent.

It is really difficult to talk about this issue without also mentioning the fact that we are now at human population levels never witnessed before on our planet. According to a recent TED talk on this issue, China burns roughly half the world’s coal, which again obviously is pumping unprecedented amounts of carbon into our planet’s atmosphere due to human activities.

I will leave with this thought. Even if it could be determined that global warming had NOTHING to do with human activity and was entirely due to natural causes within our own planet (which I don’t believe to be totally true, but likely partly true), then it would still be in our species’ interest to curb our deforestation and carbon burning ways for a variety of human health reasons and habitat loss for countless other species. The greatest challenge for us as a species is to overcome our tendency to seek out short-term gain over sustainable long term solutions that will lead to a better future.

Nathan Smith

Hood River

‘Ice bucket’ for the planet

Ice bucket challenge for the planet, anyone? The planet has a rising fever and now, more than ever, we need to make choices that will slow the rise in global temperatures. The doctors (Ph.D. climate scientists) are telling us that we need to “stop smoking” and keep our remaining fossil fuels in the ground. This past weekend, I marched with roughly two hundred others locally and hundreds of thousands nationally to demand that our political leaders divest from and end subsidies to the oil and gas industry. People in over 160 countries across the globe also marched in solidarity as international leaders gathered in New York City for the UN Climate Summit.

I challenge you to join us, get involved, speak out at public hearings, have an uncomfortable conversation with your conservative uncle or dad, walk or bike to work, because the reality of climate change is shocking, much like dumping a bucket of ice water over your head. We’ve got to do whatever it takes to quit our addiction to fossil fuels. The health of this planet and future generations depends upon it.

Gwen Thomas

Hood River