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Letter To The Editor

Tuesday July 11, 2006

   Why is there so little hope of slowing global warming? Why is there so little hope of averting the time when our earth's oceans will rise by from 40 to 200 feet? The answer is that very few people want to give up what each of us must give up in order to slow and stop global warming

Are you willing to give up your use of your car, home heating, electric lights, tractors, airplanes, motor boats, lawnmowers, refrigerators, freezers, water heaters, stoves, clothes, washers/dryers, fertilizers, insecticides, TV's, computers, and making of steel, concrete, lumber, asphalt, homes, etc., because every one of these processes uses petrochemicals and produces carbon dioxide, the primary gas that leads to global warming?

High levels of carbon dioxide already exist. Scientists estimate that even if we stopped all carbon dioxide production today, it would take a century to achieve the level of pre-industrial carbon dioxide.

Human beings burn petrochemicals, and consequently population growth means more burning and faster global warming. Thus, we must stop population growth in order to stop global warming, and we shall add a billion people in the next 14 years.

Americans don't want to give up what we already have, and third-world people don't want to give up the dream of achieving American living standards. The realistic conclusion is that slowing global warming is an unachievable goal, unless some worldwide, drastic measures are initiated soon, measures that could unite the planet against a common environmental enemy.

And political hopefuls in Vermont this year are ignoring the issue... while Americans debate gay marriage, special creation, and standardized testing.

David Van Vleck
Cornwall

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