Readers write: Rising to challenges, from guns to climate change
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Changing the weather
I鈥檓 disheartened by the Sept. 4 cover story, 鈥淐ruel summer.鈥� It suggests that the evil of global warming lies in 鈥減utting long-term economic growth in peril.鈥�
There seems to be deep concern for insurance companies whose response to unexpected fire and flood claims is to stop selling high-risk insurance, transferring the damage to folks who lose homes. The story highlights a company that 鈥渁ims to transform ... capital markets to reduce the economic risks of the climate crisis.鈥� It suggests that global capitalism may pressure modern economies to become 鈥渃arbon neutral,鈥� while in fact, global capitalism is the modern economy.
Will the fox that raided the henhouse last night become today鈥檚 vegetarian guard dog? Pardon my doubt. And can money measure anything when all things are in mortal peril? The article鈥檚 most discouraging thought is from a quote in its last lines: 鈥溾�業 try to just humble myself, get through it, because we鈥檙e not God. ... We can鈥檛 change the weather.鈥欌��
But we have changed it 鈥� and giving up doesn鈥檛 help at all!
Bob Weeden
Salt Spring Island, British Columbia
Can guns ever be safe?
In the article 鈥淚n Tennessee churches, a new message: Gun safety鈥� from the Aug. 21 Weekly, a Monitor source describes this as a 鈥渃omplex topic.鈥�
In fact it couldn鈥檛 be simpler. Gun safety is an oxymoron. You can have guns or you can have safety, but you certainly can鈥檛 have both. Guns kill people just as they are designed to do.
As long as people insist on retaining the Second Amendment, America must accept the consequences of using guns. I realize that this will seem judgmental to you, and we Canadians are certainly not perfect on the issue either, but perhaps it takes a different pair of eyes to see the problem in perspective.
Jim Lane
Toronto
Pride amid challenges
From a native Portlander: The Sept. 11 and 18 cover story, 鈥淥regon鈥檚 bold drug policy isn鈥檛 working, yet,鈥� made me shed tears of pride and affection for my struggling city. You have my gratitude for the time and consideration you took to examine Portland鈥檚 history, and approach our current situation from all angles. I especially loved the thoughtful photographs of thoughtful stakeholders and real, everyday people in 鈥済lasses and sensible shoes鈥� trying to understand and solve our challenges here. I wish everyone in America would read this article.
Mary K. Hayden
Portland, Oregon
The pitfalls of compassion
Compassion is good 鈥� and the loving way that they are trying to deal with drug addiction in Portland, as described in the Sept. 11 and 18 cover story, 鈥淥regon鈥檚 bold new drug policy isn鈥檛 working, yet,鈥� is to be commended. What鈥檚 not addressed are the business interests that depend on spreading drug addiction and ensuring that their consumers don鈥檛 recover.
Decriminalizing drug usage may be compassionate for victims, but it also seems to enable the success of those who supply said drugs.
Linda Foreman Rolfes
Plano, Texas
The joy of spelling
Thank you for the Home Forum essay 鈥溾�楽krzypce鈥� to 鈥榮yzygy,鈥� falling in l-o-v-e with spelling鈥� in the Sept. 4 Weekly. My family loves spelling, and it hasn鈥檛 hindered poetry or prose writing (as mentioned in this essay) since we鈥檝e seen how accuracy encourages creative endeavor rather than stifling it.
Also, in the In Pictures feature from the Aug. 28 Weekly, 鈥淲hen the journey becomes the destination,鈥� the writers said they 鈥済ained a sense of strength not by relying on a power source or our devices 鈥� but by navigating the cardinal points on a map.鈥� This was a delight to read. I learned to read maps when I was a child, and find them an accurate way of finding and remembering places.
Robin Pryor聽
Eugene, Oregon
