Letters to the editor: Climate change, public lands
Letters to the editor: Climate change, public lands
Letters to the Editor | South Bend Tribune
Catastrophic climate change
CNN recently reported that the ocean circulation may stop this century, resulting in catastrophic climate change, including the possibility of a new glacial period. This is not a new theory. I actually attended the seminar more than two decades ago where this theory was first introduced. I am convinced the circulation could stop, but I do not see a glacial period as inevitable. Ocean currents transfer heat from equatorial regions to the poles. This role could, for example, be taken over by the jet stream, which has become wavier in recent years, perhaps in response to a weakening ocean circulation.
We do not need to see the ocean currents stop to see what might happen. The Labrador Current flows south along the east coast, in the past even reaching Long Island Sound. Now it stops at Cape Cod. A result: no more lobsters south of Cape Cod. The waters off Maine are getting so warm the codfish have moved north, and the lobsters will move if water temperatures rise much further.
Cold water from Alaska no long reaches California, resulting in the closure of salmon fishing for the last three years.
Norm Holly, Bloomington
Public lands at stake
The Land and Water Conservation Fund was established in 1964. It was created to promote recreational opportunities and protect natural areas, water resources and cultural sites in the United States. Funding comes from offshore oil and gas revenues, not from taxpayers. It was established with the majority of support from both political parties to support all of our public lands — our national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges and other public lands. After 50 years of supporting our public lands, the LWCF was renewed under the Great American Outdoor Act in 2020. This act also had bipartisan support.
President Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposes to divert nearly 90% of LWCF’s conservation funding to unrelated uses. This would gut the core of the Great American Outdoors Act and deny our public lands the life support that they must have to survive. It would be the death of our public lands as we now know them.
Indiana is a state of good people, as is our country. It is time for those good people to stand up and speak out for all our public lands. I urge you to call our senators and tell them not to support a budget that puts our public lands at risk and that diverts the LWCF from its intended sources.
We can no longer sit back and do nothing. Our public lands are at stake.
Nancy Gehlhausen, Oakland City