Letters to the Editor: Better alternatives needed in climate change discussion - The Morning Call

Better alternatives needed in climate change discussion

A recent article on climate change was replete with the name-calling typical for this subject but short of any realistic examination of alternatives. The temperature at Lehigh Valley International Airport as I write this letter is 87 degrees (heat index 92 degrees) and the power generation in our area (from www.pjm.com/markets-and-operations.aspx) is 48% from natural gas, 23% nuclear, 19% coal, 4% hydro, 2.6% solar, 0.5% wind, and the rest from miscellaneous sources. This isn’t because anyone is stupid, lazy or greedy, but because reality doesn’t salute.

Building 38 times the present number of solar facilities isn’t the answer; this energy source shrinks dramatically in the winter. Wind power can’t do the heavy lifting; this simply isn’t a high-wind area. All the good hydro opportunities have already been taken. Nuclear plants have no carbon emissions, but you’ll never get past the protesters. Conservation would help, but any politician proposing to make people turn down the air conditioning will be voted out of office. So what should we do, move all Pennsylvanians to Texas?

Don Lock

Bethlehem Township

Credit Trump, GOP policies for job growth

It has been argued by the Biden administration and its proponents that “Bidenomics” has resulted in job growth, with the unemployment rate dropping from 6% to 3%.

The pre-pandemic unemployment rate was 3.5% prior to the COVID pandemic. This rate rose and eventually settled at 6.7% in the fourth quarter of 2020 during COVID and COVID lockdowns. The current unemployment rate is back to the 3.5% rate — the same rate as the pre-pandemic unemployment rate. Thus, jobs have not grown because of “Bidenomics.” Instead, job growth has slowly crawled up to the pre-pandemic level. This has nothing to do with Biden or his policies. It is, instead, the result of the economy opening up to its pre-pandemic level before the COVID lockdowns.

Job growth actually occurred during the Trump administration, when the 5.3% unemployment rate was reduced to its current and pre-pandemic level of 3.5% because of Republican policies. It’s time to support Republican candidates and Republican office holders. They support real job growth policies.

Dennis Engle

Salisbury Township

Bidenomics doesn’t work for senior citizen

I keep hearing how Bidenomics is working, and when they talk about Bidenomics, they talk about unemployment numbers, but they don’t talk about seniors on a fixed income. Bidenomics brought higher gas, grocery, utility bills, lower 401(k) and IRA investment plans. As a senior voter, Bidenomics doesn’t work for me.

Ron Lauer

Whitehall Township

What if local DAs indicted Biden instead of Trump?

Partisan Democrats are cheering local district attorneys in New York and Atlanta for convening grand juries and indicting Trump like a ham sandwich for theoretical violations of extremely stretched law. This is all fun and games now because Trump is the victim, but what is to stop some district attorney in Podunk, Wyoming or Utah, likewise convening grand juries and indicting President Biden for violating his oath of office for not enforcing the laws of the nation on immigration or worse yet repeatedly violating constitutional limits not to spend unauthorized money on things like student loan forgiveness? After all, no one’s above the law.

Robert Bruce Matthews

Lynn Township

Reports on fires, weather are sensationalized

Just an observation on recent media coverage: It seems that some North American wildfires are somewhat blamed on recent global warming. Wildfires have been occurring since the beginning of time. The difference is that humanity has elected to reside in the same space that these natural fires occur. On a second note, the media has sensationalized the recent rains on the West Coast, “worst storm in 80 years.” Eighty years ago, there was no global warming from industrialization. I had to chuckle when 6 inches of rain was referred to as one-half foot of rain on a California weather site. Just saying.

John Peters

Upper Milford Township

We should worry more about warehouses, truck traffic

As a mom, gram and wife, I try to make good decisions daily regarding health and well-being. I don’t smoke. I wear my seatbelt when in the car. I try to serve balanced meals. I have yet to understand why as a nation we would worry about having electric vehicles, or even worry about wildfires in Canada when in our own backyard they want to build warehouses with increased truck traffic. The increased truck traffic with increased diesel exhaust should be concerning for every citizen. Diesel engine exhaust is a carcinogen (causes cancer). I am truly not sure what the purpose of zoning/planning commissions is. I have been to several meetings for Hanover Township, Northampton County; truly disappointing. There have been several concerns raised, none of which have been addressed. As a health care professional, maybe I don’t know too much about building/engineering, but I survived working full time through the pandemic. I kept my friends and family safe but I always feared someone would become ill. Illnesses that come from warehouse-related traffic such as asthma, cancer, heart disease and lung disease are not discriminatory. Everyone is at risk. Hope the governing bodies of the township are ready to fight.

Kimberly Lehrman

Hanover Township, Northampton County

Thanks for translating Lehigh Valley-isms

The Lehigh Valley is not my hometown but I’ve adopted it as such. I’ve been here more than 40 years and, although visiting other areas is great, I have not found a place I’d rather live.

As a newcomer to Bethlehem many years ago I was somewhat confused when told one option to go from north Bethlehem to south Bethlehem is to take “the hill-to-hill bridge.” That information didn’t seem specific enough since, by definition, isn’t every bridge a “hill-to-hill” bridge? This thought seemed to have escaped everyone else so, with time, this became just a part of my Lehigh Valley vernacular.

Thank you Bill White, for translating some of the Valley-isms we “outsiders” have come to hold dear.

Gail E. Brown

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