LET TERS
THE BIGGEST MYSTERY
Extinction does suck [cover story,
7/16]. Editor Ted Taylor really nailed it! He
presented a breadth of scientifi c research
and opinion about the timeline/immediacy/
certainty of climate collapse and left us
with a “What Can We Do About It?” idea
feast. What none of the evidence presented
disputes is the end result of the trajectory of
the course we are on now. We are living on
a dying planet. The lack of constraints on
corporate capitalism means they — these
“corporate people” — will exploit our
habitat until it collapses. The 200 species a
day currently going extinct and the human
suffering already occurring means nothing
to these corporate capitalists.
The biggest mystery of all is why the
majority of Americans are sitting by,
allowing our elected offi cials (or are they
corporate employees?) to determine the
collapse of our civilization. Bolstered by
scientifi c predictions of “small numbers of
humans surviving” perhaps we think “mass
culling — guaranteed” is actually a good
idea and we have some magical thinking
that it won’t be me and my beloveds who
are culled.
After three days of 90-degree weather
the blossoms drop off the beans I planted.
After six days of over 90 degrees my
cherries, apples and pears stop growing
and it takes another week of cooler
weather for them to start again, but they
never catch up. There will be smaller and
smaller yields. Like Guy McPherson said,
it isn’t that humans can’t survive the 5 to
6 degree heat increase, it’s that the plants
can’t adapt quickly enough to the climate
changes to grow. No plants, no life.
Personally, I think he is right. We have
only a couple years to alter course. Just
depends on what we are willing to let go
of — and what we are willing to fi ght for
to keep. It is in our hands. What are you
doing that is more important than joining
the climate movement?
Debby McGee
Eugene
DRIVE TO DOMINATE
Guy McPherson [cover story, July 16]
joins the long list of doomsayers who
manage to miss the cardinal realities of the
impending eco-catastrophe: Civilization is
based on domestication, aka domination
of nature. This is the basic reason all
civilizations self-destruct; their defi ning
drive to control is the cause.
Global overheating is a function
of global industrialization. Full stop.
Technology is the problem, not the solution.
Never neutral, it embodies the dominant
civilizational value of domination. It
promises to fi x what it has itself caused.
Mass society has erased community,
so that the door is ever more open to
pathologies of all kinds. The individual
has virtually no operable responsibility
or accountability in mass society, where
experts rule and isolation reigns.
None of these facts are part of the
discourse of liberal superfi ciality that
guarantees a worsening reality.
John Zerzan
Eugene
4
JULY 23, 2015 • EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
who recognize that we are in the throes
of a mass extinction caused by human
activity should not be wringing our hands
and attending support groups, we should
be fi ghting for existence with all of the
passion and dedication that the living
world warrants.
It is no secret that those contributing
most to catastrophic climate change
are not omnipresent forces but material
institutions with names and addresses. Just
as the material Earth is being destroyed,
the infrastructure most responsible for
planetary destruction can be dismantled.
The time for asking nicely is long past. If
everything is at stake then we should be
resisting ongoing industrial processes like
we have nothing left to lose. If you love
something, you fi ght for it.
Sam Krop
Eugene
BIRTH AND OUR FUTURE
EMBARRASSING DESIGN
After months of waiting, we fi nally saw
in The Register-Guard the rendering of
the proposed new Eugene City Hall. The
article had quotes from some of our city
councilors who used the terms “elegant,”
“clever” and “doesn’t look like Eugene
and could be anywhere.”
I found the design very Eugene:
mediocre, not creative, without energy
and very unimaginative. It will be the
“Capstone” of Eugene for ceremonial
architecture.
Mediocre and unimaginative might
also describe the decision makers who will
allow this to represent our city.
Remove the trees, the people, the
bicycle and the imaginary future buildings
from the drawing, and this proposed
design is as “elegant” as a box of Wheaties
— or when tailored for Eugene, a tofu
cereal box. An energy effi cient building is
expected today, but that doesn’t by itself
equal great architecture.
With the talent or reputation of the
architects assembled for this project,
one would expect much more. I know
that Miller and Hull, the architects who
made the fi rm’s reputation, are no longer
engaged, but the generation of architects
who took over the fi rm should be able to
do much better.
If this is the best we can do under the
circumstances, then the design and the
resources to make it should be put into a
drawer or on a shelf to wait until we can do
much better. Embarrassed,
Otto P. Poticha, FAIA
Eugene
A BETTER OPTION
Regarding “Conifers are Better,”
George R. Hermach’s unpersuasive letter
July 9 opposing the logging of Douglas
fi rs to restore oak savannas at Buford
Park, I suggest we consider the benefi ts
of this ecosystem within a more factual
framework. Hermach apparently believes
oak savannas have little value or history
in western Oregon, that conifers are more
naturally adapted to our environment and
that Buford Park will become more wild
and diverse if left unmanaged. His view is
erroneous and shortsighted.
Oak savannas and oak woodlands have
been a vital part of the Willamette Valley
landscape for millennia, contributing
to the diverse mosaic of vegetation that
includes prairies and deciduous hardwood
forests (maples, ash) as well as conifers.
Most of our old-growth coniferous forests
have been logged, as Hermach states, but
oak savannas have also been reduced to
less than 2 percent of the land area they
historically inhabited in the Willamette
Valley.
These remnant oak savannas and
grasslands support more than 150
species of plants and wildlife in decline,
including Oregon’s state bird, the Western
meadowlark. Hermach may see a barren
environment when oaks shed their leaves,
but he overlooks the lichens and mosses
that grow thick and green on their host
trees during the fall and winter.
Hermach considers the restoration of
oak savanna “folly,” forcing nature to move
backward, but it is naïve and regressive to
think that Buford Park, situated less than 5
miles from Eugene-Springfi eld and visited
by tens of thousands of park users each
year, could be left undisturbed to evolve
into the coniferous wilderness he seeks.
The biodiversity we desire will require
active management to suppress invasive
weeds and encourage the growth of healthy
forests, prairies, savannas and wetlands.
Thinning Douglas fi rs and liberating the
oaks is a better option.
Kurt S. Kamin
Eugene
NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE
Guy McPherson’s conclusion that
humans should counsel themselves into
an acceptance of impending extinction
[cover story, 7/16] is not only irresponsible
but also reeks of privilege and a profound
lack of love for the living. Those of us
Many of us worry about the human
future. We worry about climate change,
natural disasters, war. What does the
future hold for ourselves, our families, our
cultures and our planet?
Our ways of birthing have a profound
effect on our health and happiness and the
nature of our communities and nations.
Studies have shown that the level of
militarism in a society is directly related
to the extent to which mother and baby
are separated after birth. Anthropologists
have found that nearly all of the traditional
cultures on the planet have the belief that
the colostrum, a nourishing substance that
comes before the breast milk when a baby
is newly born, is bad for the baby, thus
requiring separation of mom from baby for
a couple days until her milk comes in.
In another example of societal customs
that separate mother and baby, for most of
the 20th century in industrialized nations,
babies were taken to nurseries immediately
after birth to be cared for by nurses, and
returned to their mothers a few times a day
if that.
Recent scientifi c research shows that
the newly born baby is conscious, alert
and able to interact. The hours after birth
are part of a “primal period” in which
mom and baby are exquisitely sensitive to
learning feelings and interactions that are
imprinted for life.
Another big event at the start of life is
the seeding of the microbiome, the bacteria
and other microorganisms that live in and
on the human body. These bacteria are
mostly protective to the human host and
play a role in developing a strong immune
system. The most benefi cial bacteria for a
newly born person are thought to be those
associated with the mother. This new fi eld
of knowledge is infl uencing childbirth
practices.
One additional new fi eld of study
is epigenetics. This refers to external
modifi cations to DNA that turn genes on or
off. These modifi cations do not change the
DNA sequence. Many factors in childbirth,
such as medications given or method of
delivery might cause epigenetic changes
which would cause a gene to be expressed
or not, for better or for worse.
Do you want your children and
descendants to be alert, healthy and smart