Unfettered Letters

Going ‘green’ leads to lean times

The front-page article “EPA ready to control greenhouse emissions; Proposed finding could widen regulatory agency’s reach, a move opposed by industry” (3/24, A-1) is alarming, to say the least. President Obama’s EPA is ready to say that carbon dioxide is basically poisonous, and all “greenhouse gas” emissions should be and will be regulated. Congress will also get involved with actual legislation. This is all in response to the Bush administration, which “sidestepped” the issue.

The problem is, it’s all a hoax. Carbon dioxide is a fraction of a fraction of all the elements in the atmosphere. Our activities on Earth cannot, and have not, affected its temperature. We all breathe in, and when we breathe out, it’s carbon dioxide. So our government is basically saying that humans poison the Earth by existence.

Make no mistake about the purpose of these rulings however. It’s about forcing “green” energy. But when the marketplace has no say in energy use, going “green” will only lead to lean times.

Dyrk Dugan
Overland Park

No need for coal plants

Natural gas and wind are two abundant resources found in western Kansas. Why not use these resources to generate power and create jobs in Holcomb, Kan.? (2/27, Local, “Kansas House renews support for coal plants”)http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/1018062.html Why are some Kansas legislators promoting the importation of coal from other states?

Western Kansas already has the clean resources it needs to generate electricity.

Dave Peterson
Lenexa

Energy tax credits for homeowners

Are you a responsible homeowner who invested in replacement windows and doors last year? This is a call to all who did to lobby your senators and representatives in Congress. We have been denied the energy tax credit that was allowed for 2005-2007 and renewed for 2009.

The only way to win back this valuable tax credit and stimulate our personal, local and national economies is to make our collective voices heard so that our representatives and senators are armed with our petitions for fiscal tax equity to take to their respective bodies of Congress.

As the old saying goes, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

A.J. Cameron
Roeland Park

Simple ways to breathe easier

The article “Cleaner air worth five more months” (A-1, 1/22) revealing the correlation between cleaner air and increased life expectancy makes an important connection between our actions and our quality of life.

Although air quality regulations are an important piece of reducing air pollution, individuals can take simple, everyday steps to make our air cleaner. Habits that are seemingly small — stopping at the click when refueling, carpooling, refueling in the evening and not idling — can cumulatively have a positive impact on our region’s air. You can find more tips that help make our air cleaner at www.marc.org/airQ

Amanda Graor
Senior Air Quality Planner, Mid-America Regional Council
Kansas City

A national sprinkler system?

Each year the government spends billions on saving lives and property damage due to the spring thaw, which causes floods along the banks of our major rivers and tributaries. This grief, expense and loss of life could be abated if we put the Army Corp of Engineers to work designing and constructing holding ponds, aquifers and a pipe line system that could transport excess water to areas of the U.S. that need it.

Imagine a sprinkler system, much like the ones we have in our yards, only on a national scale. Water to wet areas of the country could be controlled, and dry areas supplemented. Droughts and floods could become a thing of the past.

The benefits of such a program would be enormous in terms of stimulating the economy, saving FEMA billions annually, putting people to work and enhancing our infrastructure long term.

Think about it. A national sprinkler system for the U.S. makes sense. Talk about going “green.” The whole country would look like a garden.

If we can pump oil and natural gas to every corner of our country, a national sprinkler system that puts water where we need it shouldn’t be that difficult.

Paul Styers
Leawood

Kudos to MDC

The Missouri Department of Conservation has issued its 2008 annual report.

The MDC has done its job, stayed within its budget and has friendly and knowledgeable employees. The MDC does this every year. It is a well-run organization.

Thank you, MDC.

George Fowler
Kansas City

Autumn yard waste

Jerry McDonald (12/27 Letters) wrote that fall mowing of leaves is a good thing and he hasn’t placed a single leaf bag at his curb in five years.

Well, Jerry, I’m glad you don’t have leaf bags. I have spiny ball bags. Seems that back in the ’70s, Kansas City decided to plant sweet gum trees throughout the city because they were fast growing and provide shade. Unfortunately the sweet gum trees drop not only their leaves but those nasty little spiny balls. They litter not only the yards, but the roadway as well.

In the cul-de-sac where I live, we rake the street and our yards. Why? Because you can’t walk barefoot in the yard, and the balls clog the sewer openings. They don’t decompose. Sometimes the city sends out a street-cleaning truck to sweep up the mess, but there is no regular schedule for this. If there were, we would surely rake them into the street and let the city clean up the mess they created.

Evelyn M. Cochran
Kansas City

Joe Virgo (12/27, Letters) doesn’t rake his yard. Aren’t you the good citizen?

I am able to get out and mow my leaves when they fall off my trees. However, being a senior citizen, when winter comes and “your leaves” blow into my yard, I can’t get out and mow them. If you would take care of your trees and leaves, even though you work 10 hours a day, then I wouldn’t have to worry about what to do in my yard.

Since you work 10 hours a day, how about hiring someone to do your yard maintenance? I’m sure your neighbors would certainly appreciate it. I certainly would appreciate my neighbors doing the same.

K.C. Gregory
Grandview

Preserve KC’s historic buildings

I’m a photographer, and I’ve been in the vacant Imperial brewery near Cambridge Circle dozens of times over the past seven years, so Mike Hendricks’ column (12/24, Local, “Plans drafted for old brewery”) jumped out at me immediately. I just wanted to pose the other side of this argument.

Kansas City is great because it has old buildings. Union Station, the New York Life Building, Mainstreet Theater, Fidelity National Bank Building, the TWA Building and the Freight House Building, among others, were vacant for years, even decades, before they were rehabilitated. I would encourage those who rush to condemn these places as a “five-story heap of bricks” to curb the harsh language.

This city has the character it does because we chose to save the buildings that have shaped our history. We need to err on the side of preservation instead of demolition, eyesore or not.

Ted Caster
Kansas City

Thrift stores save money, landfill space

The Star’s article “Green execs sprout up,” (12/23, Business) did a great job reporting on organizations increasingly realizing the importance of “going green.” Chief sustainability officers will continue to play a vital role not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it can be profitable as well.

One vital avenue that was not mentioned, however, was the ultimate green opportunity to donate usable items to organizations that operate thrift stores. For instance, Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas TurnStyles thrift store receives more than 12,000 loads a year of unwanted but usable, good-quality items, while serving more than 3,000 customers per week.

Organizations, including UPS, Sprint, Embarq, Marriott Downtown, Costco, Wal-Mart, Target and LabOne, regularly provide good-quality items that are resold or given to clients in need, saving consumers millions of dollars and providing much-needed revenue to help financially support numerous charitable programs in our community.

Companies are able to reduce landfill expenses, save people money and receive recognition in the marketplace. In this tough economic period, that just makes perfect sense.

Doug Clopton
Director of in-kind donations, Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas
Overland Park

For Democrats, it’s not so easy being green

When Democrats were out of power, expedience demanded that they concentrate on issues they agreed on and work together to win the next election. Being in power, however, is already a different story.

Take the radical environmentalists, for example. They assumed, with their candidate in office, that the Democrats would continue to be the “clean, green party.” But they underestimated the economic crisis facing the new president-elect. With the massive stimulus plan and the $1 trillion infrastructure program, the Green lobby is beginning to fuss.

Colin Peppard of Friends of the Earth said, “More roads mean more pollution and more dependence on oil, hurting our economy, security and climate.”

Democratic discord certainly makes the news worth watching again.

Susan Phillips
Kansas City