Letters: Vote climate-denying politicians out of office; Taking mental illness seriously

Vote climate-denying politicians out of office

A recent letter pointed out that for the past 50 years, oil and gas companies have spent a small fortune spreading misinformation to the public about climate change. Not surprisingly, the Republican Party is the only political organization to swallow their lies.

In fact, they are the only governing body in the world that disputes climate change is happening. Islands going under water, glaciers around the world melting, unprecedented catastrophic weather events ... nothing seems to register with them.

Every scientific organization in the world that conducts climate research has determined the planet is heating up and fossil fuels are the cause. This includes our nation’s premier scientific organizations such as the American Meteorological Association, American Geophysical Union, National Academy of Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In fact, every nation in the world, and every National Science Academy in the world, accepts that global warming threatens our world — except the Republican Party.

Nothing seems to faze them because the Republican Party gets massive contributions from their benefactors in the oil and gas industry. A peer-reviewed study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that in 2018, 88% of oil and gas contributions went to the Republican Party.

To paraphrase Upton Sinclair, it is difficult for politicians to understand something when their political donations depend on them not understanding it.

The only way things will change is if we vote every single one of these climate-denying politicians out of office.

Taking mental illness seriously

Who, what, when, where, why, how will our country understand the relationship between the core issue of mental illness as it relates to shootings and suicides? In light of the most recent mass shooting at MSU, I have felt compelled to write about some of my journey with three mental illnesses which I have battled for more than 40 years. As I have learned, mental illness doesn’t go away; one must learn to manage it.

I attempted suicide 6 years ago. This happened when I was battling clinical depression for almost a year, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. Sidelong negative glances, avoidance, dismissive comments, etc., finally took their toll on me.

I hope that our country at least takes a look at what the Royals (especially William, Harry, Katherine and Meghan) have successfully done to educate their citizens about mental illness in Great Britain. Their program is entitled “Heads Together,” and it has been flourishing since these Royals started the program in May 2016.

My goal is to try to somehow enlighten those who are puzzled about mental illness that this is a very, very serious issue, especially when decisions are being made about gun control; to me, there is an obvious relationship. I encourage government officials or anyone else who can help with this extremely major issue to truly get involved and take action to tackle this menacing endangerment to our society.

Grateful for letter writer

I have always been a huge fan of the Centre Daily Times letters to the editor. One of my favorite authors is John Harris. He is very knowledgeable and is always making us contemplate current events. Each word he writes has a distinct meaning and at the end his words become very poetic . Thank you, John.