Letters: Connections between humanity’s greatest threats; Change needed in defense spending

Connections between humanity’s greatest threats

As people nationwide protest in defense of Black lives, the Sierra Club recognizes the need to dismantle systemic racism, which is destroying individuals, communities and the planet. Environmentally, minority communities — Black, Latino and Native American — along with low-income whites, still bear a disproportionate burden of the nation’s toxic pollution.

The Sierra Club must do more to actively and thoughtfully eradicate racism and related injustice in all its forms, and to combat exclusion wherever it occurs, whether in parks and wilderness areas, our communities, the halls of power, or, especially, in our organization. Addressing the climate crisis requires deep probing the roots of such environmental wrongs. As Sierra Club writer Hop Hopkins has noted: ”You can’t have climate change without sacrifice zones, and you can’t have sacrifice zones without disposable people, and you can’t have disposable people without racism.”

In the interest of propelling such discussion, the Sierra Club is inviting the public to a virtual seminar entitled “The Intersections of Climate, Health & Racism“ at 8 p.m. on Aug. 13. Among other questions, we’ll be asking how the global climate emergency interacts with the global COVID-19 crisis. Dr. Mark Sentesy, a Penn State philosophy professor, will reveal the deep connections between humanity’s three greatest threats in a presentation moderated by Dr. Karen Keifer-Boyd, an EcoJustice Arts Educator. It is free but registration is required: https://act:sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q000001axNoAAI&mapLinkHref

Change needed in defense spending

I applaud Eric Stoner for his op-ed in today’s CDT, where he points out that violence in the cities is just part of the pattern of violence in our country.

Did anyone notice in this year of the pandemic and political fighting, that the Democrats and Republicans combined to grant a whopping $740.5 billion for defense on July 23? According to the writer, the Pentagon’s budget could be lopped in half, and the USA would still have by far the largest military in the world. And police officers kill roughly 1,000 people every year, but at least 800,000 people have died directly from violence in U.S.-led wars since 9/11, and tens of millions have been displaced — virtually all of them people of color.

Who will change this state of affairs? We must find new, visionary leaders.

Let’s get real

It’s unreal.

Donald Trump became a household name from his “reality” TV show. Americans knew it was “fake reality,” but it did provide mindless entertainment for millions.

Now he’s President Trump and he doesn’t understand the reality of his own actions — or, in many cases, negligent inaction.

The coronavirus, which so far has prematurely taken the lives of more than 150,000 Americans, is painfully real. U.S. job losses have surpassed 40 million, and the fallout for American families is excruciatingly real.

Trump touts an economic recovery, ignoring the very real fact that the U.S. economy is inextricably tied to COVID-19 infections and deaths, both of which are not only surging, but are linked to the rush to reopen businesses before meeting CDC guidelines.

America is on the ropes: Our economy is in tatters and there’s growing awareness of economic and environmental injustice across the land.

It’s unreal that we have a president who won’t acknowledge that any of this is happening.

That’s why it’s imperative that we get real! As a former Republican, it’s real clear that to reclaim America’s promise, and future, we must vote out Donald Trump and his Republican enablers this November.

This story was originally published August 2, 2020 at 8:00 AM.