Plus Letters to Good Times...
Meaty Matters
Overstepping It
Hate Speech?
Holiday Deadlines
This Memorial Day it’s all about the red, white and blue. But it seems the color green is just as patriotic. Sure, green building practices become more commonplace, but if we’ve learned anything over the last decade, when the push to become more environmentally aware reached a wildly high plateau, it’s that, individually, we have to take matters into our own hands. The locals spotlighted in our annual Green Issue have done just that—they took creative eco-tinged ideas and concepts and boldly ventured forth, hoping those ideas would make a difference in the environment. And they have. Meet this year’s Eco Patriots.
Speaking of thanks, log on to our website to watch the latest episode on GTv, dubbed “The Gratitude Experiment,” in which we conduct a social experiment that questions whether people can receive compliments easily. We encountered a fun group in this man-on-the-street video, which was produced by Community TV’s Jeff Dinnell (of SoWat TV). On that note, it’s time to say ciao for now to Mr. Dinnell—he’s moving to embrace “fame” in L.A. Dinnell and GT have collaborated quite a bit over the years. The man has also been a creative spark plug for Community TV and in the local theater scene. He will certainly be missed by the community. We salute you, Jeff—break a leg.
In the meantime, have a safe week—and don’t forget to get your “green” on.
More soon ...
Greg Archer | Editor-in-Chief
Letters to Good Times Editor
Meaty Matters
Regarding letter writer Billy Quealy, his argument that a meat ecomony is unsustainable is flawed. This is made evident by the simple fact that humans are not the only omnivores or carnivores on the planet. Carnivores and herbivores have coexisted in balanced healthy ecosystems for millions
of years. In fact, in modern times problems have arisen when humans have eliminated carnivores from ecosystems, throwing the systems into imbalance, with overpopulation of prey animals resulting in starvation, and devastation to plants and other dependent species.
So what's different about human meat eaters? It's our numbers. It is not eating meat that is unsustainable, it is continued population growth. We are living in an enormous Ponzi scheme in which our economy is predicated on a continuing increase in population. Growth is considered essential to survival when, in fact, it is prohibitive of survival in the long term. We are already seeing the beginnings of the Ponzi scheme crashing, particularly in regard to water.
Most of the armed conflicts in the world today, once you dig past the superficial politics and religion, come down to battles over resources, particularly water. We must develop a new paradigm that is sustainable at a balanced population much smaller than that of today's world. It is a deadly fallacy to believe that technology will find ways to support a continually growing human population. We are already seeing the unintended consequences of previous technological "fixes" in the form of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, pervasive chemicals in the environment, and increases in cancers, severe allergies, and chemical sensitivities as well as other ailments of unknown origin.
Sure, we could all stop eating meat, but that is only delaying the inevitable. We can keep giving up this and that until we run out of things we can give up, and our quality of life has diminished to mere existence. What then? Soylent green, anyone? We must stop overbreeding.
Shari Prange
Bonny Doon
Overstepping It
In response to recent stories about safety and over/under response from officials, I live near the river, and was greatly relieved last Friday to see police rousting a crowd of thrill-seekers cleaning up trash under the Soquel Avenue bridge, and trying to watch a local movie with the filmmaker. If we let people think they can just sit around after dark watching movies together outside, who knows where this refusing-to-ask-permission will end. Don’t they know that like Cinderella’s carriage, our public spaces magically transform into “not public” after dark?
Yet as glad as I am to see the city taking permit violations seriously, I don’t think we’ve gone nearly far enough. It’s one thing to go after the so-called “Guerilla Drive-in”, or the leftist mob who wants to celebrate New Year’s downtown without a permission slip, but what about the dangers of the ever-present lemonade stands? I’ve passed three in my neighborhood in the last week. Not one had a license, and I highly suspect health code and child labor violations at all of them. Let’s put our law enforcement resources where they belong.
Steve Schnaar
Santa Cruz
Hate Speech?
Two of our city council members, Ryan Coonerty and Lynn Robinson, wrote a column (GT 5/6), in which they claim that “gangs, drug dealers and the anarchists are destroying our community.”
Gang activity and drug dealing are criminal acts. Anarchy is not. Anarchy is a belief system. It is not illegal to practice anarchy. To equate anarchists with gangs and drug dealers is remarkably irresponsible. It’s like equating all Muslims with terrorism. When politicians do this it is recognized as wrong and they are asked to apologize.
We need to recognize this column for what it is. We do not support our elected officials using hate speech. Coonerty and Robinson owe not only the anarchists, but our entire community, a big apology.
Mark Peabody
Santa Cruz
Holiday Deadlines
GT offices will be closed Memorial Day. Offices will reopen at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Take note of the following holiday deadlines for the June 3 issue:
Display and Class Display advertising deadlines will be 4 p.m., Thursday, May 27.
Classified advertising deadline will be 11 a.m., Friday, May 28.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
