Page 5 - Sonoma County Gazette December 2017

LETTERS cont’d from page 3
CHRISTMAS TREES
Cut for Christmas
piled three deep
leaning against each other the back row on the concrete in the Rite Aid parking lot
How they loved their roots in the earth
their branches reaching
Now here they are
doling old songs of green wind
Don’t Cut Those Oak Trees!
waiting
their next world -- glittering ropes of plastic and glass balls
then the green bin
the grind into compost
And they’re still alive you can see that
in their soft needles and the sap bleeding out
the cut butt ends of their small trunks
The thing is I love them –
As described in local newspapers, our ecologists have seen trees felled
in Sonoma Valley that were still alive. People may assume those trees are dead, because the fire scorched their leaves and bark. But as UC experts make clear, California trees – particu- larly native oaks – have evolved with wildfire and will likely regenerate themselves in the spring. The same goes for native chaparral such as man- zanita, toyon and coyote brush – let them be!
As a college student who wants to secure a safe and livable climate for future generations, I am angered that the Trump administration is moving to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Not only would doing so violate the habitat of countless wild species like caribou and migrating birds (who depend on the refuge as a safe place to raise their young), it also threatens our shared right to a healthy future climate. We must decrease our dependence upon outdated and polluting fossil fuels like oil, which are exacerbating climate change thanks to their greenhouse gas emissions. And transitioning
Sonoma Ecology Center
Elizabeth Carothers Herron
The Trump Administration is Leaking Oil
to renewable energy will provide a clean, climate-friendly alternative that creates thousands of jobs in the energy sector and moves us closer to clean energy independence. Believe it or not, a dollar invested in the solar power industry creates about 3 times the jobs that a dollar invested in oil does. I urge our legislators to stand up for the breathtaking Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by opposing oil drilling exploration and instead supporting the transition
to a sane and beneficial alternative, renewable energy. The fate of future generations rests here, now, in our hands. ~ Rebecca Canright
as I love the child on the scooter just crossed
in front of my car
her thin leg a blur
as she pushes for speed
her pink parka flying open
hair a tassel of brown ribbons behind her
all her world in the sheer joy of being
LETTERS can be emailed to vesta@sonic.net
or Snail-mailed to Sonoma County Gazette, 6490 Front St #300, Forestville, CA 95436
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