TVA must do more with clean energy
It was great to read in this paper recently that the Tennessee Valley Authority, which just a decade ago burned coal for 60 percent of its electricity, will shrink that to about 18 percent by 2020.
But it was disheartening to learn TVA may still run polluting coal plants like Gallatin, Bull Run and Kingston for another 30 years or more. CEO Bill Johnson also predicted a growing reliance on gas to replace coal, which is simply shifting from one dirty fuel source to another.
TVA's 2019 energy plan is meant to map how TVA can provide low-cost, reliable electricity, support environmental stewardship and spur economic development in the valley over the next 20 years. All of these can be achieved, reliably and efficiently, with clean, cheap renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
Chattanooga is wisely making the most of renewable resources with its plans for a new solar-storage microgrid project at its municipal airport. But we should do more to tap into this abundant, free resource.
Let's seize the opportunity to achieve real energy savings, protect our natural resources and foster economic development for businesses and ratepayers across the valley for generations to come.
Barbara Kelly
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Question all your social media posts
Two decades ago, the new internet's "information highway" was to make us more informed and allow every American's voice to be heard. But we were slow to recognize privacy had been redefined. We see our online information has been exploited, endure retailers who bombard us with ads and pay to protect ourselves from cyber-thieves.
Now we learn we've been bamboozled by this snowballing technology, that our democratic process has been destabilized to the point that foreign powers and nefarious webmasters using social media have influenced elections and may continue undermining our system of government.
In all our wonder over what technology wrought, too many of us forgot (or never learned) a fundamentally held value of a mature democratic mindset: critical thinking, i.e., consider the source. Most of what people hear, read or see on their "personal device" is opinion, biased for or against a particular position or just flat-out fabricated.
To unquestionably believe and then "share" with "friends" anything one reads on Facebook, Twitter, sees on YouTube or any social media site without first knowing who originally posted it and questioning why it took the position it did is personally and democratically irresponsible.
Grady Burgner, Ooltewah
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Group opposed to guns in schools
I'm a mother and a grandmother, and I'm strongly opposed to arming our teachers in the name of school safety.
Legislation proposed as a way to keep children safe will do just the opposite, putting students at risk of unintentional shootings and escalating conflict, and without decreasing the risk of an active shooter. This legislation also will place an unnecessary financial burden on school systems.
Our representatives should listen to school safety experts, law enforcement, teachers, administrators and local families rather than letting the gun lobby put our children's lives at risk.
Our schools should be places where students can learn and teachers can nurture. During 2013-15, Everytown for Gun Safety identified 160 school shootings across 38 states. Nearly 53 percent of the identified shootings took place at K-12 schools, and 47 percent took place on college or university campuses. Of those incidents, one in five were unintentional shootings, and nearly one in six incidents began as a verbal altercation that escalated because of the presence of a gun.
It's clear we don't need to introduce more guns into such sensitive environments.
Judy Gallagher, volunteer, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America
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Return alcohol drinking age to 18
It's time to drop the drinking age back to 18. America is backward compared to the rest of the world on this. For too long, underage kids have been sneaking around and binge-drinking to the point of blacking out, or worse, dying of alcohol poisoning.
With a lower drinking age, kids would not have to sneak around. A more open drinking culture would be safer. Teens would be able to go into bars and restaurants, drink and then Uber home.
The current drinking age of 21 does not prevent minors from drinking; anyone who wants to drink can get their hands on alcohol. By lowering the age, we would see a shift in the culture around consumption. We could drink to enjoy a glass of wine with dinner, as our transatlantic cousins do, rather than drinking to get belligerent.
A compromise would be to keep the age to buy liquor at 21 and make the age to buy beer and wine 18, so kids could familiarize themselves with alcohol.
If I'm old enough to die for my country, I should be able to enjoy a beer with my buddies.
Connell Stout, Lookout Mountain, Tenn.
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How about a walk marking abortions?
I'm in my 70s. In high school, most boys had pocketknives. It was not unusual to see rifles in the gun racks of pickups. Disputes were settled with fists, usually two to three blows.
Today, young people going to school armed with the intent of killing other students at random is difficult to comprehend. I believe students themselves can be a better deterrent than gun laws. They should ask themselves, "Am I inclusive or exclusive? Do I look to help someone or look down at them? Am I friendly with everyone or just a select few? Do I bully (social media, jokingly, participate in a group bullying)?"
I think it was great students had a national walkout for the 17 students killed in Florida. According to news reports, 1,875 died in mass killings with guns over the last five years, 375 a year.
If they really want to make a difference in saving lives, they should have a walkout day for the 652,639 babies aborted in 2014, as reported by the CDC. That is 1,788 a day, yet no tears, marching or news coverage.
When it comes to saving lives, let's care about all lives.
James LaMance
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Ed Johnson story is important to all
On March 19, 1906, Ed Johnson was lynched and shot 50-plus times on the Walnut Street Bridge. The victim of fear, race and injustice, Johnson's last words were quoted as, "God bless you all, I am a innocent man." Almost 112 years after Johnson's murder, many who are born and raised in Chattanooga have never heard the story.
Thankfully, The Ed Johnson Project is getting the story out. A documentary is in the works, and a memorial is planned for the south plaza of the Walnut Street Bridge.
The Ed Johnson story is important. It is time for Chattanooga to acknowledge what happened, not so we can be ashamed but so that we can unite and move forward.
Corey Collins