Climate change starts at grocery
With scorching heat and raging wildfires in the West and torrential downpours and massive flooding in the East, global warming is not just about a gentle sea rise anymore. These tragic consequences of dumping greenhouse gases into our atmosphere call for drastic remedies.
For starters, we should rejoin the Paris climate accords and become a world leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. One of the most effective ways is changing our diet.
Last fall, Oxford University’s prestigious Food Climate Research Network concluded that solving the global warming catastrophe requires a massive shift to a plant-based diet. A 2010 United Nations report blamed animal agriculture for 19 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, 70 percent of freshwater use and 38 percent of land use.
Carbon dioxide is emitted by burning forests to create animal pastures and by transporting animals.
The more damaging methane and nitrous oxide are released from digestive tracts of cattle and from animal waste cesspools, respectively.
In an environmentally sustainable world, we must replace meat and dairy products in our diet by vegetables, fruits and grains, just as we replace fossil fuels by wind, solar and other pollution-free energy sources.
Let’s start at the supermarket.
Tristan Bell
Bredesen broadband expansion preferred
As a telecommunications investor, I thought I would share my thoughts on the issue of rural broadband expansion in Tennessee. We have two U.S. candidates, Phil Bredesen and Marsha Blackburn, whose views comport with their respective political philosophies. Ms. Blackburn’s views on this subject would be consistent with most Tennesseans.
Yet, it is usually best to examine every issue on its merits. Candidate Blackburn advocates a private sector approach that may use 5G, fixed wireless in some form that remains largely untested and costly. This nascent 5G introduction in broadband technology is being introduced in a few urban areas. Many experts are skeptical about this technology and its efficacy in rural areas.
Since no one questions the imperatives of quality broadband expansion, why not less expensively upgrade existing wirelines (by the way, pipes work when wireless doesn’t) by way of existing public utilities? This is the Bredesen argument. This would not preclude development of new technologies, but imagine big private capital (donations) in favor of the Republican plan.
There is another lesson to be learned here. Pay less attention to those candidates who speak often in clichés, accepting big money privately while always being on God’s side.
John F. Eary
Ringgold, Ga.