GREENS RESPOND
As a Green elected official endorsed by the Sierra Club, I was disappointed by Paul Rauber’s attack on Ralph Nader, which dishonors the historic Green Party–Sierra Club teamwork ("Lay of the Land," November/December 2003). The fight to unseat Bush is not a fight against the Green Party, and we Greens are your most ardent allies. The national dialogue must be multipartisan, like the recent recall debates in California with Green gubernatorial candidate Peter Camejo.
A Green Party presence guarantees the Sierra Club’s issues will be voiced. Read our platform at www.gp.org. We cannot expect "major party" candidates to champion the environment when they depend on funding from the very corporations that despoil our forests, air, and oceans. Like your members, most Greens are motivated by passion for our planet, not by partisanship. Both groups are committed to electing progressive leaders for an environmentally sane America.
Divisive diatribes won’t defeat Bushism. Let’s instead insist on instant-runoff voting, where voters rank their choices so it takes a real majority, not just a Supreme Court majority, to win. That way, we can get environmental issues into the dialogue and environmentalists into the White House. Kevin McKeown, Mayor Pro Tempore
Santa Monica, California
Rather than pick on the few who vote Green, focus on the many who don’t vote at all. When 60 percent of the electorate choose "none of the above," it’s because of the vacuity of the two bigger parties. Want green votes? Offer a vision that reconciles economy with ecosystem. And a way to get there. Jeffery J. Smith
Portland, Oregon
As an idealist who briefly flirted with Green Party activism in 2000, I learned the hard way that we are far from ready for a three-party system, and that not accepting that reality has dire consequences. Ralph Nader continuously insinuated that Al Gore was essentially the same candidate as George Bush because both had large corporate underwriters. This claim has proven to be patently untrue. Jeff Robertson
Kettering, Ohio
Editor’s note: In December Ralph Nader announced that he will not be the Green candidate for president in 2004. He held open the possibility of running as an independent, however.
CORRECTIONS
In "Hydrogen Hype" in the November/December 2003 "Mixed Media," we should have said that if China consumed as much oil per capita as the United States, it would need 81 million (not billion) barrels a day.
In the same issue we failed to credit the Heritage Forests Campaign (www.ourforests.org) for information on the map "A United Nation."
In "Hazards of Hydration", we cited a study about single-use water bottles that appears to have been flawed. While reusing these #1 PET bottles is not a good idea because of risk of bacterial contamination, you probably needn’t worry about them releasing the chemical DEHA.
CONTACT US 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 94105-3441; fax (415) 977-5794; e-mail sierra.letters@sierraclub.org.
