Press Democrat readers comment on climate change, and more.
Understanding wild weather
EDITOR: Science. Empiricism. Folks, look around you. Apart from the natural world, everything you see is the product of smart people getting their sums right. It’s everything that stands between us and sitting naked in the bush banging rocks together, because without science that’s where we would be. Now, if only we knew what could be causing all this wild weather across the planet. Oh, wait …
“But the climate has always been changeable.” Yes, it certainly has. But very seldom has it changed this fast. We know that the planet’s temperature is controlled by the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. The last time there was this much was about 3 million years ago. It was a much warmer, stormier and more extreme climate, with sea levels far higher than today. We would not like it.
Remember, Ma Nature does not care and always bats last.
LEO JONES
Santa Rosa
A pocketbook election
EDITOR: If the 2024 presidential election proved anything it is that American voters don’t vote for the best and brightest. Americans vote out of self-interest. For most voters that means which candidate will provide them and their family with the most financial well-being. Stubbornly high prices on everyday goods, high interest rates on credit cards and car loans and high mortgages and rents have undermined the financial well-being of too many Americans. To sum it up, Kamala Harris lost the election because paychecks went further under Donald Trump. In the immortal words of Democratic strategist James Carvel, “It’s the economy, stupid!”
KURT DUNPHY
Santa Rosa
Farmers market crafts
EDITOR: As a resident of Sebastopol, I’m outraged the city manager decided our beloved farmers market is somehow harming us by including crafts (“Farmers market, officials at odds,” Nov. 21). Surely he has better things to do than condemn the artisans who sell each week. Is their work worth any less than farmers who grew lettuce or pasta makers whipping out rigatoni? Yes, this is a farmers market, but look at any farmers market in any town, anywhere, they will include crafts — usually a limited number, but they all have it. Craftspeople are just as much small business owners as every other vendor. Their goods enhance the overall feel because they’re usually made from natural materials, which ties into the market ambience, and they’re great income generators for vendors and the market.
My takeaway from this decision is the city manager is so antibusiness, he can’t see the ridiculousness of it. Typical of Sebastopol’s close-mindedness when it comes to income generation, I assume he thinks doing this will make our market “purer” somehow. All it does is emphasize how little he understands about farmers markets and what makes them successful. It also blatantly highlights how cruel he is to take away a big chunk of livelihood for artisans this time of year. Shame.
JANET CIEL
Sebastopol
A Case of sour grapes
EDITOR: Weedy Tuhtanjoseph contends that Kamala Harris lost due to gender and race (“Why Harris lost,” Letters, Nov. 11). Well, we’ve already elected an African American president twice. So let’s take that off the table and move on to gender. The fact that the majority of registered voters are women, and statistically women vote more often than men, does not support that premise. Republicans now control the executive and legislative branches of government. All due to gender bias? Absolutely not.
Americans are tired of a party that is more concerned with pronouns than their welfare. That laughable stunt Democrats pulled inviting celebrity support (Oprah, Beyoncé, et.al.) was the mother of all mistakes, reeked of desperation and demonstrated how out of touch Democrats are.
Poor Harris was given the impossible task of filling in the monstrous hole Democrats spent four years digging themselves into. No one of any age, gender or ethnicity could have pulled that off. I can only refer Tuhtanjoseph to the moral of Aesop’s fable about the fox and the grapes — that being, the loser’s scorn for the award is pure sour grapes.
GREGG GRUBIN
Santa Rosa
Bathrooms in the Capitol
EDITOR: History is being made. The first openly transgender Democratic representative has been elected to serve in the House of Representatives next year. People there are expressing fear that this person will use a unisex bathroom. Looks like the Capitol will have to construct a single-use restroom for any transgender person who may visit the Capitol. Let’s hope it doesn’t cost $1 million like the single person one built for public use in San Francisco.
ELIZABETH OLSEN
Santa Rosa
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