Page 4 - Sonoma County Gazette March 2018.indd

LETTERS cont’d from page 3
District of Uganda on the Congo Border famous for its Cocoa. That is the cash crop there to a people who maybe only eat 1 meal a day if they are lucky. The children cited in the article are described as captives and slaves, which may be true in some cases, but the majority are working
to try to stay alive by earning a tiny wage every day. As Americans, we cannot even identify with not eating for several days, which is common
for these African children and to portray our Ethnocentric Values on their attempts to survive is not ethical or right. If people reactions to this article cause those children to lose their meager income, then we are responsible for their deaths. When statements are made that “Hershey’s profits roll in laced with the tears of the children”, that is an inflammatory misrepresentation of the actual humanitarian situation there portrayed from our well fed American viewpoint.
~ Tom Johnson - Uganda Coalition of Northern California Churches
So we take care of children by donating to people like you so that you can do your good work. There
is a group of students - high school and college - who travel the planet to help people...Global Student Embassy - and of course - the Rotary International.
burdens”, “mobile biomass-to- electricity project”, the conversion of “dead-standing trees into green power”??
I appreciate you bringing that perspective to this article. Very similar to the concept that growing food in unhealthy ways also feeds more people. We never know where the right place is to draw the line. Help people NOW and hurt them in the future vs. Hurt people NOW and help them in the future?
if only they’d accept being second rate citizen. Instead they demanded equality and some paid an economic cost. This was also true in South Africa during the boycott there. People lost jobs or income and the white power government came down. In Palestine the people suffer so much that they want the boycott as they have nothing left to lose. I respect the writers right to his point of view, but
I don’t share it. Thanks for letting me see the letter. yours in peace through justice - Rebel
One impact of the fires has been
to lead the BOS to relax housing regulations, allowing more construction and temporary housing- -on ag-intensive parcels, for example. This is understandable but also sets
I always feel for the children who are innocent victims of what adults do
to each other and to our earth. How different our world would be if we all lived by the Golden Rule. Every living being would be cherished. But that’s not realistic.
Save Some Water for
With only 12” of rain or approximately 1/3 of the rain that we should have after one year of rain that was preceded by six years of drought brings the question of blue- green algae in the river or the drying of the river by September and the amount of water removed for alcohol production. Question: with only 1/3 the water are the alcohol producers willing to cut back on the amount
of water the grapes get so that the salmon; steelhead and river tourists have some too?
Keary Sorenson
When I read Lynda’s paragraph on taking action to reduce West County fire potential, her language was unclear and referred to undefined projects that sounded potentially out- of-keeping with the environmentally protective intent of the original LCP.
And those of us bound by work and family support our personal agendas by purchasing Fair Trade goods so that people are cared for the way
Perhaps you didn’t mean it this way but it sounds as if you have been discussing zoning variances and timber harvesting with large parcel owners in the coastal zone. Could you please clarify your thoughts and/or intentions in this regard.
we hope they can be cared for. A combination is the best we can do. ~ Vesta
My concern is contextual. The Local Coastal Plan is being revised right now, after a series of contentious public workshops in 2015. During those meetings-particularly the one in Timber Cove-a number of participants pointed out that the Ag component proposed re-write had loosened criteria for approved activities on Ag land--such as promotion of Sonoma County agricultural products, even when the products were out-sourced from the land parcel itself. Many
Vesta - Thanks for sharing the letter from the man from the Church group. He brought up a common problem with boycotts. That is that in the immediacy people get hurt for a greater gain in the future. Doubtless people lost work shifts when the Montgomery bus strike was going on. They would have kept those shifts
of us felt that, like Ratna Ling, the commercial press in Timber Cove approved by the county, this opened the door to further commercial enterprises in the coastal zone. PRMD staff did not respond then or since to address those concerns.
a precedent that will change the landscape and undermine prior zoning regulations into the future.
So some people will want to help by purchasing Fair Trade goods from people who are nurtured with decent wages and working conditions, and others won’t care because they want what they want, and people who produce what they want, will have something that is better than nothing.
Given the background concerns above, the current struggle to convince the BOS to implement basic ordinances in winery and cannabis activities instead of approving them over the protests of local residents, and the article’s leading language, there is concern that another erosion of rural and natural habitat is in progress.
So for the children who are alive and hungry NOW - they can depend upon the Walmart shoppers.
There you have it. Lynda’s article raised the red flag of fire anxiety, complete with numbers of residents at risk in West County, and followed it with inscrutably-worded proposals potentially at odds with the intent of our original LCP.
Salmon and Tourists
For the children who have parents working in Fair Trade shops who don’t hire child labor, they will have fuller bellies with happier families.
Dangerous Forests
4 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 3/18
What are you suggesting by the phrases “reducing regulatory
month in my column. The folks who work on forest and watershed policy
The Universe does the best it can to take care of everyone, but for many of us, we HAVE to nourish ALL people because it’s so unfair that we live comfortable lives on the backs of those who don’t.
Thank you for your on-going Gazette articles (Our County by Lunda Hopkins) and general accessibility.
I look forward to clarification and further dialogue.
If we could be like you and go take care of those children personally, we could do it all. But again, unrealistic.
Hi Laura,
I try to tackle new topics each
I must say I was alarmed by the call to preventive arms against West County wildfires. You did a good job in raising the spectre. However, I am confused by the terms you used in the “act now” paragraph.
Thanks for opening the door! Laura
LETTERS cont’d on page 5