Power of corporations
Private citizens use 10 percent of the nation's water while agriculture and industry use 90 percent. Individual use of energy? Twenty-five percent 25; corporations, 75 percent. Municipal waste accounts for only 3 percent of total waste in the U.S.; industry and agriculture, 97 percent.
We can certainly do our individual part by driving less, installing compact fluorescents, reusing shopping bags, refusing bottled water ... but unless we dismantle the "corporate state" and radically transform the economic structure of the industrial world, our actions will be ineffective.
Industrial civilization is functionally incompatible with life, including yours. Thirty thousand people die daily from dirty drinking water. Widespread fish samples contain mercury and Prozac. Industrial toxins are found in polar bears. Our own drinking water, tap or bottled, is full of industrial contaminants, pesticides and pharmaceuticals.
We have been taught that the natural world is supposed to conform to industrial capitalism, but that's insane. It is out of touch with reality. Don't believe for a second that human health and natural ecosystems are exploitable commodities in the name of corporate profits.
Let's not allow our personal adjustments to "save the planet" absolve us from the harder task of confronting the power of corporations.
Lisa Franseen
Traverse City
A strong public option
For months we have supported the need for comprehensive health care reform that includes a public option. As retirees with Medicare Plus Blue coverage, our health care costs have been manageable. But this week we received a shock ... the newly announced 2010 rates we received from Blue Cross Blue Shield increased 100 percent. The health care insurance companies need to be reined in, preventing outrageous premium increases. We count ourselves among the fortunate being able to "buy" additional health care coverage beyond what Medicare provides. But we will not sign up with BCBS in 2010!
We strongly believe all citizens deserve access to adequate health care. We cannot be a healthy nation if 46 million of our citizens go without health insurance. We urge Congress to pass a comprehensive health care bill that includes a strong public option.
Bob and Nancy Doughty
Traverse City
