4A |
SATURDAY EDITION
| FEBRUARY 16, 2019
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
The First Amendment
C
ongress shall make no law respect-
ing an establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the
press, or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble, and to petition the Govern-
ment for a redress of grievances.
“I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” —Thomas Jefferson (1800)
USPS# 497-660
Report card on planet’s environment? Not good
(Editor’s Note: Viewpoint submis-
sions on this and other topics are always
welcome as part of our goal to encourage
community discussion and exchange of
perspectives.)
T
he World Economic Forum’s Global
Risks Report for 2019 indicates
that most experts point to environmen-
tal problems as being the most serious
threats to global stability — just as they
found in the previous two years. That
report follows on one in October 2018
by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC).
It said with “high confidence” that
at the current rate of greenhouse gas
emissions, “global warming is likely to
reach 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052 if it
continues to increase at the current rate.”
Avoiding the worst-case consequences
would require measures that have “no
documented historic precedent.”
As Americans see the evidence of cli-
mate-influenced destruction, they’re on
edge: Seventy-two percent of those polled
late last year considered climate change
“important,” a 15-percentage point in-
crease over 2015 — and the news is worse
this time around.
2018 was the fourth-hottest year on re-
cord; 2015-2017 are the other three. The
Arctic experienced its second-warmest
year ever. The head of the World Mete-
orological Organization said: “The 20
warmest years on record have been in
the past 22 years. The degree of warming
during the past four years has been ex-
ceptional, both on land and in the ocean.”
Rising sea levels, according to the
IPCC, “will continue beyond 2100 even if
global warming is limited to 1.5°C in the
21st century (high confidence). Marine
ice sheet instability in Antarctica and/
or irreversible loss of the Greenland ice
sheet could result in multi-metre rise in
sea level over hundreds to thousands of
years.”
Antarctica’s enormous ice reserves
are melting six times faster now than
they were between 1979 and 1989. Gla-
cier melting in the Himalayas, on which
South Asian agriculture is heavily depen-
dent, is proceeding at a very fast pace —
so much so that by the end of this centu-
ry, two-thirds of the glaciers may be gone
at current climate change rates, and one-
third under the most optimistic climate
change scenarios.
Guest Viewpoint
By Mel Gurtov
Professor Emeritus of Political Science,
Portland State University
Deadwood resident
Ocean temperatures are the warmest
on record, and the warming is occurring
at a terrifying pace: 40 to 50 percent faster
than the United Nations had previously
estimated. That could spell trouble for
marine ecosystems, phytoplankton in
particular. These basic food organisms
sustain the underwater food chain. If
they die off or shift, as is already detect-
able in changing ocean color, the impact
on fisheries will be catastrophic.
Rising seas also threaten water supplies
and U.S. military installations. And they
can wipe countries off the map. Kiribati,
the island group in the southwest Pacific,
is a case in point. A nation disappearing
due to climate change is something that’s
never happened before and, so far, is
something people seem unable to imag-
ine.
Planet-wide environmental deteriora-
tion is happening faster — much faster —
than scientists had anticipated. The kind
of deterioration now taking place, involv-
ing oceans and glaciers in particular, tell
us that life itself is already endangered in
many parts of the globe. And some con-
sequences of climate change, such as ris-
ing seas, are irreversible.
In addition, resistance to scientif-
ic findings and their implications for
political, economic and social changes
constitutes nothing short of criminal
negligence — and people are more aware
of and concerned about climate change
than ever before.
As challenging and pessimistic as the
news is on the environment, remedies
are available now to keep climate change
at 1.5°C. In the U.S., the renowned en-
vironmentalist Bill McKibben suggests
two priority steps: switching immediately
away from fossil fuels and protecting cit-
ies and coastal areas from ocean inunda-
tion.
Strict efficiency standards for in-
dustry and autos, and a carbon tax —
such as have been enacted in Europe
— would significantly reduce carbon
emissions.
Then there’s the Green New Deal
resolution introduced in the U.S. Con-
gress by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cor-
tez and Sen. Ed Markey. The resolution,
which begins by citing the IPCC report,
calls for a “10-year national mobilization”
to bring carbon emissions down to zero
via a combination of renewable energy,
infrastructure repairs and communi-
ty-level projects.
These ideas would require a political
miracle to achieve implementing legisla-
tion in the U.S. and cause parties to the
Paris climate change accord to deepen
their commitments. As the IPCC report
makes clear, climate change mitigation
involves across-the-board and multilev-
el changes, from sustained international
cooperation, including funding the most
affected developing countries, to address-
ing poverty and health care deficits.
Political leaders, who always have ex-
cuses for ignoring problems that will out-
live them, can point to other issues that
require their immediate attention. Even
the most liberal among them hesitate
to embrace the up-front financial costs
and social challenges of a serious climate
change agenda, though they know full
well that the benefits of a green economy
— in energy and waste savings and public
health, for instance — will outweigh the
costs.
If political leaders won’t act, and in
some cases won’t even acknowledge the
problem, it is hard to imagine that all the
wonderful grassroots environmental and
energy initiatives underway around the
world will be enough to save us and fu-
ture generations.
LETTERS
Lane County continues
to get it wrong
There’s financial reasons
to avoid round buildings
There is a perception that a judges’
ruling is self-validating and beyond
reproach. Judges are people who
come to the bench with their own
biases and are often subject to ma-
nipulations by silver-tongued corpo-
rate-backed attorneys.
That’s why two judges won’t al-
ways agree and could render op-
posing decisions. As it is said in life
and with judges, “ it’s the luck of the
draw.” And the people of Lane Coun-
ty are experiencing really bad luck in
Judge Chanti’s decision (2-11-2019)
to deny ballot access to the Right of
Local Community Self-government
Charter Amendment (RLCSG),
which legally authorizes citizens to
write and pass laws.
Oh, you thought that the initiative
system already did that?
Not in Lane County.
Lincoln County’s aerial spray ban
included a RLCSG provision and
sailed onto the ballot, begging the
question, “What’s going on in Lane?”
Lane courts continue to get it
wrong and are complicit in denying
the rights of the people to our own
initiative system. These administra-
tive reviews are about procedure,
but have been used as an excuse to
deny the substance of the law.
Lane courts are blocking an
amendment that’s about our right to
be decisionmakers in “the democrat-
ic process.” Obstacles to the citizen’s
initiative process have been steadily
gaining traction ever since it became
clear that the citizens intended to
use the system to insert ourselves
into the decisionmaking process.
People must continue to fight for
justice to get this measure on the
ballot.
—Michelle Holman
Deadwood
The new city hall looks pretty
good. But is it $2.5 million pretty
good?
Besides the odd looking stone
and brick design in front, the round
curves added to the cost of the build-
ing by a tremendous amount. As a
retired general contractor, I know
that the cost of building anything
round adds tremendous labor costs.
It is pretty standard in the con-
struction industry that to figure the
labor costs to build round or curved,
the estimator has to triple the cost
of labor to build with straight lines
or diagonal lines. The front of the
building could have been built with
diagonal lines instead of round and
achieved a similar look for a lot less
cost.
I want to assume the architectural
firm would have informed the client,
City of Florence, that round adds
higher labor costs to the project.
Maybe not.
If I or any other knowledgeable
contractor had been asked to sit in
on the original design discussion,
perhaps that information could have
been brought forth.
See any round buildings out there?
I do like the city public works
building. Very nicely done and quite
simple. Of course, that design would
not necessarily fit the city hall lot
size.
—Dana Rodet
Florence
President offers false
narrative at the border
I read with interest the letter from
David Eckhardt (“Some Common
Sense,” Feb. 13). I disagree with his
premise that we need a wall at the
southern border.
I am not a “hater.” I just disagree.
In my opinion, there is no need for
a wall the entire length of our south-
ern or northern border. There is no
national emergency at the southern
border, other than the crisis manu-
factured in the mind of the current
president. He has exaggerated the
numbers and mischaracterized the
reasons for the immigrants wanting
to come to the United States and re-
peats his misrepresentations until
people begin to believe his rhetoric.
To the contrary, the majority of
immigrants seeking to enter Ameri-
ca are refugees fleeing for their lives.
They are honest, hardworking peo-
ple leaving their homes and country
due to violence and poverty.
They travel in “caravans” for safe-
ty.
The drug smugglers, criminals
and human traffickers rarely, if ever,
join the caravans of refugees by trek-
king thousands of miles on foot with
only the clothes on their backs. The
criminal element comes in to this
country through legal ports of entry,
by sea and air as often as over land.
The majority of those walking to
the border are honest, hard working
people; they are not using deception
to gain entry.
An “illegal” immigrant is one who
lives under the radar on American
soil without ever attempting to be-
come a legal citizen. The vast major-
ity of the immigrants coming from
South America through Mexico to
our southern border are immigrants,
but their status is not “illegal.”
As they set foot on American soil,
the majority request asylum, and go
through the legal process for asylum
seekers.
There is no “invasion,” no horde
of murderers, rapists and drug lords
storming our southern border.
—Marybeth Marenco
Florence
Copyright 2019 © Siuslaw News
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WHERE TO WRITE
Pres. Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD Comments:
202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, Ore. 97301-4047
Governor’s Citizens’ Rep.
Message Line:
503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office
Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
FAX: 202-228-3997
541-465-6750
www.merkley.senate.gov
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio
(4th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416
541-269-2609
541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
State Sen. Arnie Roblan
(Dist. 5)
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email: Sen.ArnieRoblan@
oregonlegislature.gov
State Rep.
Caddy McKeown
(Dist. 9)
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email: rep.caddymckeown
@oregonlegislature.gov
West Lane County
Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
FAX: 541-682-4616
Email: Jay.Bozievich@
co.lane.or.us