Working toward a quality life
While I empathize with the loss of jobs, pensions and families that have been left wanting, I firmly believe that what happens to planet Earth affects its occupants. This is why the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund and other environmental groups are all so important to our civilization.
The Environmental Protection Agency protects our land and water. Without clean water, human beings are subject to viruses and disease. That is why American Indians are fighting so hard to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline. They have the vision to see what can happen when humans disrupt the environment.
In a modern society, we have the capacity to change and better our existence. Unlike the Mayans, who may well have been driven to near-extinction by overpopulation, unproductive wars, and overexploitation of natural resources, we still have the ability to control the number of children we have, and to get an education and find jobs that do not exploit the environment. We also have the ability to unite and come to civil agreements that will limit wars. However, we now have an administration in Washington, D.C., that welcomes war and dissension and cares nothing for the environment. They would also allow the population to grow out of control with few ways to feed it.
There are a lot of jobs in clean energy, recycling and working to save the oceans that could put people to work. Dirty factories that polluted the air in Donora and coal mining jobs that scar lungs are enemies of the population and the planet. Progress means working toward a quality life for humans, animals and the planet.
Is saving a tree important? Yes, it is. The future of our civilization rests on the future of our planet. We have nowhere else to go.
Anita L. Biers
Washington