Children are not only victims of our polluted planet—they are
a primary cause of our environmental predicament. Your November/December issue
not only fails to point this out, but even shows a lovely cover photograph that
appears to be a mom and her three children! The three-child family is the largest
source of U.S. population growth. Certainly we need to recycle and reduce
consumption, but our environmental problems cannot be solved while we are still
adding 2.5 million people to our population every year, of which 1.7 million come
from natural increase (births minus deaths). Jerome Shedd
Woodbury, New York
"Class Acts," Club President Adam Werbach's piece about young
environmentalists, should be a regular feature. There is no shortage of examples.
I keep a file of them to sustain the spark they kindle in me. We are all allies
in a war against our own entrenched values. Most of what the movement has
accomplished so far requires unremitting holding action against the opposition to
keep progress from being undone. It is here, behind the lines, that the
experience and plodding of us old hands can be most effective, provided our spark
remains. But only our blessed youth have the inspiration and stamina to sustain
the charge, breach the line, and bring the big gains. Charles Thomas
Anacortes, Washington
"Child's Plague" was an alarming synopsis of the detrimental health effects
of pollution to which children as well as adults are exposed. Air-quality
problems are rampant in my community, Houston, where we have the nation's
largest concentration of chemical plants and petroleum refineries. The city is poised to
overtake Los Angeles for the most highly polluted air, based on ozone levels, and
the surrounding county, Harris, often leads the nation in the amount of hazardous
chemicals released into the air.
Luckily, the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter has
initiated the Citizens Clean Air Program, involving a coalition of several
community groups. The CCAP campaign will include clean-air billboards designed by
local artists, notices of ozone and particulate levels on the front page of the
Houston Chronicle, and organizing in the most polluted communities.
On the
legislative side, we are working to get the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission to bring old polluting facilities in compliance with air-quality
regulations. It is our sincere hope that CCAP will not only reduce haze in our
area, but also significantly improve the health and lives of millions of people.
Kel Rynnagh
Houston, Texas
e-mail lorax@satan.rice.edu
"Child's Plague" touched on the issues that caused Sierra Club California to
sponsor one of the first—if not the first—children's environmental-health bills
in the nation to be considered by a state legislature. The bill, A.B. 278, was
authored by Martha Escutia, a member of the California Assembly from the greater
Los Angeles area. It would have improved air-monitoring for polluting facilities
near schools and day-care centers. Our office was assisted with the bill by the
California League of Conservation Voters and the American Lung Association. The
bill was strongly opposed by Governor Pete Wilson and industry, including oil
companies, manufacturers, and chemical companies.
Versions of the bill initially
passed in both the Assembly and the Senate. It was only because of a last-ditch
industry misinformation campaign that the effort to get the Assembly to concur
with the Senate version of the bill failed by a very narrow margin. A top
priority for Sierra Club California in 1998 is to continue to work on this issue,
and I'm hopeful legislators from other states will take notice.
William Craven
Sierra Club California
Sacramento, California
e-mail bill.craven@sierraclub.org
GALVANIC GLOOM?
Ann Throckmorton's letter in your November/December issue
spurred me to action. I wholeheartedly support her opinion that the atmosphere in
Sierra is one of gloom and doom. The cover headlines illustrate my view: "Growing
Up on a Polluted Planet," and "Kids Who Won't Wait to Agitate." Your tone
precisely echoes the sort of doomsday prediction that my generation was fed in
elementary school 30 years ago, when we were supposed to protect ourselves from
evil Russian atomic attacks by hiding under our desks. Isn't it your duty to
fairly present the next generation with both the positives and the negatives out
there in our natural world? Gwen Serrière
Murphys, California
I must disagree with the November/December letter portraying the magazine as
a "concerted effort to purvey doom and gloom." I count on Sierra to keep me
informed of environmental issues. That this information can be depressing is
simply a reflection of the state of affairs. Besides, it can be galvanizing or
inspiring, depending upon how you receive it. The world is a glorious place to be
celebrated and cherished. But it also needs protection and action from informed
people. I don't need or want Sierra to be a palliative. Michael Orr
Boise, Idaho
THE VIEW FROM QUINCY
During the final hours of the 1997 session of Congress,
the Quincy Library Group bill came unnervingly close to passing. In his November/
December "Lay of the Land" article, Reed McManus warned of political fashion
statements that place national forests at risk. It's fortunate for our forests
that lawmakers will now have time to reconsider how far adrift such legislation
has come from the moorings of sound ecosystem management. B. Delbert Williams
Quincy, California
OOPS
Bruce Selcraig's otherwise enjoyable piece on Big Bend National Park
("Way to Go," November/December) contains an unfortunate error: it's not true
that the Colima warbler is "found nowhere but here." In fact Colima warblers have
a considerable breeding range in the mountains of northeast Mexico. Selcraig,
perpetuating a U.S. tendency to ignore what goes on south of the border, must
have meant they are found nowhere else in the United States. Appreciating
artificial political boundaries is important when we discuss land management, but
let's not allow them to falsely color our understanding of larger ecological
truths. Peter Friederici
Flagstaff, Arizona
Sierra welcomes letters from readers in response to recently published articles.
Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Write to us at 85 Second St.,
2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105-3441; fax (415) 977-5794;
or you can e-mail us at:sierra.letters@sierraclub.org
