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  Sierra Magazine
  July/August 2004
Table of Contents
 
  FEATURES:
When Aliens Attack
Neighbor to Neighbor
Interview: Ecologist Gretchen Daily
The Green Old Party
Winning Words
 
  DEPARTMENTS:
Ways & Means
One Small Step
Letters
Let's Talk
Food for Thought
Lay of the Land
Profile
Good Going
Hidden Life
Sierra Club Bulletin
Mixed Media
Last Words
 
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Corrections
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Letters

OUR GREAT ESTATE
It’s more than discouraging to read about the Bush administration’s assault on the entire spectrum of the environment, as outlined in the March/April issue. It’s hard to imagine we could do worse with whoever might replace President Bush. It’s also frightening to read about polls that show almost 50 percent of the voters approve of his performance.
S. R. Hirsch
Kingston, New York

Most Americans agree that prominent wilderness areas like those featured in the March/April issue should be protected. I do not feel that there is the same concern for less exotic habitats. I live in the south Puget Sound region of Washington State. In the past 30 years, rapid development has decimated forests near Seattle and other large cities. This spring, woodlands I explored when I was a boy were being cleared for new homes. These woodlands are not unique or exotic, but they do have value and should not be so casually destroyed.
Craig Zimmerman
Federal Way, Washington

UNRULY IN MIAMI
Reflecting on Paul Rauber’s article "Miami Vise" ("Lay of the Land," March/April), it must be noted that a city has to protect its residents and their property. A resident of Miami, I observed TV coverage of the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit and saw "peaceful demonstrators" throwing rocks and bottles at the police. Others carrying containers with incendiary fluids barricaded themselves behind trash bins they pushed out on the streets. This was perhaps the work of violent anarchists who infiltrated the peaceful demonstrators, but Rauber fails to mention it. Maybe next time we can find a way to discredit the agitators and keep them from infiltrating other groups.
Ana C. Portela
Coconut Grove, Florida

REDROCK RANGER
Thank you for your thought-provoking article on Utah’s Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument ("Profile," March/April). The local hostility this monument has engendered is a symptom of a much larger problem: The concept of lands that belong to everyone is repugnant to a conservative nation set uncompromisingly against all forms of socialism. This basic underlying ideology–as well as corporate greed–is at the root of assaults on public lands all across the country. Unless conservatives are able to face up to this, our public treasures will continue to be at risk. Elissa L. Engelbourg
Rocky Mount, North Carolina

CORRECTIONS
In his March/April "Ways & Means" column, Carl Pope said that no nuclear power plant had been built in the United States since the Three Mile Island accident. He should have said no new ones had been ordered since that time. Our illustration of the same issue should have stated that only 11.3 percent of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management roadless lands of 1,000 acres or more are protected as wilderness. Smaller roadless lands, and those managed by other agencies, were not included in the calculation.


We welcome letters in response to recent articles. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Write to us at 85 Second St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105-3459; fax (415) 977-5794; e-mail sierra.letters@sierraclub.org.

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