Save the Earth, save us money
A spaceship may be defined as a physical entity that serves to protect and support life as it moves through space. Forty years ago, Apollo 8 made its Christmas journey around the moon.
And on that journey, the crew of the tiny spaceship took photographs of the stunningly beautiful mother spaceship that they had embarked from just a few days earlier: Earth.
As Buckminster Fuller said, "We are on a spaceship, and it is a very beautiful spaceship. And we had better take good care of it because we are not going to get another one."
For our own good and that of our children and their children, we need, most urgently, to wake up. Acknowledge where we are: on Spaceship Earth.
Realize that environmental degradation is nothing less than the sabotaging of our life-support systems.
The good news is that we as a human civilization have been doing so many things so wrong for so long that there is vast room for improvement.
Another piece of good news is that much of what needs to be done can be done at a profit. It costs less to heat efficient buildings. It costs less to make our factories more efficient. It costs less to refrain from dumping poisons into the environment than it does to clean them up or cure the damage they cause.
Another piece of good news is that many of the things we need to do to reduce greenhouse gases also make us less dependent on foreign energy, create jobs and improve our international trade balance among other bonuses.
The need is crystal clear, the scientific data abundant, and the remedies are proven and at hand.
Further delay is no less than the most egregious malfeasance.
Richard Weeks
Cooperstown
Repeal exemption for gas drilling
I am responding to Dick Downey's guest commentary on horizontal gas drilling published on Jan 17. This way of thinking is a huge mistake.
Watchdogs have great value to society, but they must have the law on their side.
Unfortunately, the laws protecting our water have been compromised. In 2004, the EPA stripped the protections of the Clean Water Act from all aspects of horizontal drilling. In September, H.R. 7231 was introduced by Diana DeGette, co-sponsored by John Salazar and Maurice Hinchey, and would have repealed the exemption for hydraulic fracturing to the Safe Drinking Water Act. This repeal would have given watchdogs some teeth.
Until this repeal can come up for a vote, there is not protection for our drinking water.
This is bound to come up for review again in the 111th Congress. Please let your congressmen know that we need to protect our drinking water supply. We are very fortunate to have great drinking water, and we should all work to keep it safe and clean.
Mike Mitchell
Otego
