Traverse City Record-Eagle

Opinion

February 18, 2013

Letters to the Editor: 02/18/2013

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Won't change its stripes

After President Obama was so handily re-elected, the Republican Party saw the writing on the wall and has started to make a concerted effort to become more attractive to our Black and burgeoning Hispanic populace.

It should be fun to watch how the party of the rich and white does this. They don't actually want these minority types in their tent, they just want their votes. The voter fraud scam to keep minorities from exercising their right to vote in several states did not work in this past election. So, in future, look for sweet talk and hollow promises.

That zebra ain't gonna change it's stripes.

John Billette

Traverse City

It's not for sale

Money is a human construct, a systemic token. It's objectively meaningless. The natural world is, quite literally, our life force. It's the only thing capable of sustaining life. It's one thing we require, absolutely, to live.

Why, then, do we continually compromise biological vitality in money's name? How myopic. How tragic. SB78, currently under state Senate consideration, is the latest in a long line of bills that seek to open up natural lands for economic exploitation. Sen. Walker is a sponsor. This bill eliminates Department of Natural Resources authority in designating land for biodiversity restoration. It redefines conservation to not include restorative natural biodiversity and deletes legislative findings that human activity is the main cause of lost biodiversity.

We've reached a tipping point. Human activity isn't innocuous. We can no longer act as though there aren't lasting consequences. We're all culpable. The time of free consumption and expansion must be over. We are disrupting delicate balances that won't endure. Think to the future. What will be left? Write Sen. Walker. Write our governor. Tell them you don't agree. Remind them this Earth is our only one. Remind them it's in our interest to preserve it. And it's not for sale.

Taylor Nash

Traverse City

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