Dear Editor:
Bravo — some of the best news I’ve heard yet. Could schools get involved with a Bucket Brigade? Especially high school chemistry or environmental science classes or environmental clubs? If every school did a bucket, maybe air quality would improve in their cities. I love the concept.
Karen Lowery
Beason, Ill.
Dear Editor:
It would have been nice if the author had discussed the costs and problems associated with getting the air samples analyzed. It wasn’t even mentioned.
Michael Harvey
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Dear Editor:
How do I get involved with a Bucket Brigade? Where do I get the supplies to build one for myself? How do I contact a responsible and enviro-friendly lab for testing?
I live in western North Carolina, which I believe to be one of the most ignored air-pollution areas in the country. I am literally “sick” of it and tired of waiting around for others to take action. I believe that if I get this started in my area, then others will follow my example.
Deanna A. Holbert
Weaverville, N.C.
Editor’s note: You can find out more about Bucket Brigades at the New Bucket Brigade website, the Refinery Reform Campaign website, and the Global Community Monitor website. You can also email Bucket Brigade activist Denny Larson at emailE=(‘dennylarson@’ + ‘earthlink.net’) document.write(‘<A href=”https://grist.org/article/letters-bucket/mailto:’ + emailE + ‘” mce_href=”https://grist.org/article/letters-bucket/mailto:’ + emailE + ‘”>’ + emailE + ‘</a>’) .
Dear Editor:
This investigative article was well-written, concise, and alarming. I am concerned that, just as I was so uninformed about the widespread problem of environmental contamination at military bases, so might the members of Congress be similarly uninformed.
The article is so compelling that I urge you to send a copy of it to each and every member of Congress and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The article should be picked up by the major news services because members of the public also ought to be aware of the problem so that the appropriate pressure may be applied to those responsible in the military and in government.
Peter Wessel
New York, N.Y.
Dear Editor:
I am new to your website, but in browsing through it, I have noticed the same absence I find in most environmental discussions and venues. Why do issues of environmental racism fall through the cracks when we talk about making the Earth a better place? Did I simply miss these articles?
This issue is really beginning to get to me. Sure, we all face the dangers of ozone depletion, smog, chemical plants, and all that. What we forget is that so often these plants are located right in the middle of communities of color. Incinerators, same thing. Native Americans are the most left out of this discussion, probably because to acknowledge native people would be to acknowledge that even if we stop littering, stop driving, and stop using cell phones, the land we occupy was stolen, and those we took it from are living with the fallout of our destruction in their backyards. This needs a front seat when we talk about environmentalism.
I want to read more about the successes of brown folks organizing against power plants, and less about electric cars. Thanks.
Mara Collins
Olympia, Wash.
Dear Editor:
Great to see the review of Andrea Peacock’s book about Libby, Mont., but you have tremendously understated the facts in this sentence: “It took dozens of painful deaths for Libby residents to admit that ‘their’ company, W.R. Grace, had knowingly allowed its mine workers, its mine managers, and their families and neighbors to be poisoned with tremolite, a particularly nasty form of asbestos contained in Libby’s vermiculite deposit.”
The deaths, in fact, do not number in the dozens — they number in the hundreds. The difference is exponential. This is not a mystery — the Seattle Post-Intelligencer articles that were referenced in the review clearly lay out the hundreds of deaths and even more hundreds of continuing illnesses that are direct results of asbestos created and released into the environment by the W.R. Grace Co.
Sorry to rag you about this, but for all the hundreds of my fellow Montanans who have paid the ultimate price for this company’s inexcusable pollution — and the even more inexcusable secrecy and lack of enforcement by the EPA, the state of Montana, and former Gov. Marc Racicot (now Bush’s campaign manager) — I feel compelled to ask that you correct the numbers in your review.
George Ochenski
Helena, Mt.
Re: A Declaration of Energy Independence
Dear Editor:
“Declaration of Energy Independence” was a very interesting and informative article.
I have one question: Why did Griscom not mention Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has been an advocate of changing the dependence on Middle East oil to green energy for some time now? Griscom erred in not pointing out Kucinich’s involvement in renewable energy concerns and creation of new jobs. The two legislators she did mention are Johnny-come-latelies. Give credit where credit is due.
Earlene King
Mantorville, Minn.
Dear Editor:
Holy smoke! Two hundred eighty-four people died last year in the U.S. from West Nile virus! Meanwhile, approximately 40,000 people died last year in motor vehicle accidents. And about 1,000 a day die from malaria. You and the rest of the conservative media need to wise up and focus on the real problems. Sheesh! Two hundred eighty-four people die and it is splashed all over TV, radio, newspapers, and now, sadly, Grist. Imagine how afraid everyone would be if you had headlines proclaiming, “Another 100 people died today in traffic accidents.”
K. H. Coe
La Grande, Ore.
Re: Over and Out
Dear Editor:
I recently subscribed to Daily Grist and then went to the website and linked up to Linda Fisher’s resignation letter. I read with anticipation of the punch line, the “had-a-great-time-but …” Only there was no “but.” Reaching the conclusion of the letter, I thought, “Well, that was a fizzler.”
Then the laughter came on and I couldn’t stop! I see what you’re doing — that someone would write a letter stating such absurdities as, “I am proud of the work this Agency has done to preserve and protect our precious natural environment and the health of the American people.” Then there’s: “America’s water will be purer. EPA’s Watershed Initiative is expanding watershed-based water protection policy across the country. “
At this point, I had to lie down I was laughing so hard. And then I read: “Our renewed focus on integrating stronger, peer-reviewed science into our decision-making will enhance the credibility not only of our decisions, but of the Agency as well.”
Gee haw widdly diddly ding dang doo! That’s pretty funny — and all written as if she really meant it. Ha! You kill me — to have “Christie Whitman” and “environmental protection” in the very same letter, as if they were even remotely related. You guys, right off the bat, are way too much.
Kevin “Proud of the Team” Caldwell
Knoxville, Md.
