At what price energy efficiency?
LED bulbs and solar power arrays are praised by folks who want to protect our environment. But I wonder: Are they loving the trees but ignoring the forest? These wondrous new gadgets appear magically in catalogs and stores for our convenience, and we are admired when we have them in our lamps and on our rooftops. All good things, no?
But “somewhere else” (who knows where; it isn’t here), the raw materials must be pried from Mother Earth and the waste generated by the prying and processing must be disposed of, must be lived with, must be suffered.
At what cost? Damaging whose lives? Devastating which places? Somewhere – else. Who cares?
William Laudeman
Red Bank
Frustrated? Candidate Johnson is your choice
This year’s primary season reveals deep fractures in both Democratic and Republican parties. These fractures, present for many years, now are exposed because many voters have reached intolerable levels of frustration with the establishment of their respective parties.
Disaffected voters in both parties have alternatives. Gary Johnson, who is a successful businessman and two-term conservative governor of New Mexico, is the libertarian candidate running for president. He will likely be on the ballot in all 50 states for the November election.
If you are frustrated with your preferred political party, stop signaling your approval with your vote every election cycle. Vote for alternate candidates, even if you think they can’t win. Win or lose, every vote counts and the losing vote carries more power than the winning vote. The winning vote merely says “good job” to those entrenched establishment candidates. It is the losing votes that tell them you are finished and know what they have been doing all these years. Eventually those losing votes become winning votes, but you have to fight for it.
Dan C. Johnson
Gap ad uproar has simple fix
Couldn’t resist responding to Free Press columnist Robin Smith’s commentary on Monday about the Left’s complaint to @GapKids print advertisement. Simple solution: Just have the two girls (who are sisters) switch places. Let the smaller black girl rest her arm on the head of her taller white sister. Of course the disparity in size would require the tall one to get down on her knees. Got the picture? Surely the Left would approve of that.
Marcia Biggs
Hixson
Bus route changes not rider-friendly
CARTA said that riders on bus #15 can use the #1 bus that picks up at Food City. That sounds easy except actually having to get there. Some live close while others live near the Georgia line, so it would be incredibly difficult and for many, impossible to get to the #1 bus. Many riders of the #15 are elderly and disabled and cannot possibly make it the nearly 2 miles through St. Elmo to Food City. The idea of “another option” is not an option at all, perhaps even delusional to believe people like students or grocery shoppers would be able to trek home carrying all those things.
The online petition allows for comments. I have seen multiple people saying that the infrequency and early shut off times are the reasons they cannot use the service; perhaps that is part of why ridership is down. St. Elmo is growing with more residents, businesses and events so CARTA is losing a lot of possible revenue already and will continue to do so.
Marie Tuggy