Thanks from the Bread Riot

Our heart-felt thanks to the many audience members who donated generously to the Bread Riot during the recent Men’s Christmas Concert at St. John’s.

The Bread Riot is a non-profit organization, advocating for local farmers and for local food for our local community.

— Dottie Hoy

Hoy is president of the Bread Riot board of directors.

 

Not so fast on Antarctica’s ice

In the Post’s December 15 edition, a reader challenged some statements I made in a columns the recent loss of ice in the South Pole and its impact on climate change .

At the end of his criticism he said: “Somewhere out there among our young people are the future engineers who will improve our quality of life in an environmentally responsible way, but only if we stop lying to them, …They deserve better. They deserve the truth.”

I love the concept of “The Truth” – particularly as it is used in court: “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

The reader then went on and supported his point of view by quoting an article published by NASA several years ago: “From the start of satellite observations in 1979 to 2014, total Antarctic ice increased by about 1 percent per decade…”. What he reported was an accurate quote – as far as it went.

The problem is that it is not “the whole truth”. The rest of the paragraph (which he did not copy) said: “The climb came to an end in 2015, and significant decreases in sea ice around Antarctica started to occur in 2016.”[i] It continues today.

The NASA study I quoted was from August of 2022, and involved many more satellite and on-the-ground radar readings than prior work. A summary of the new research published in says “Two studies ….reveal unexpected new data about how the Antarctic Ice Sheet has been losing mass in recent decades.[ii] The updated science now says “Antarctica’s largest ice shelves all appear to be headed for major calving events in the next 10 to 20 years.[iii]

Sometimes the truth hurts.

 ^{Francis Koster lives in Kannapolis.}

[i] https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/sea-ice-antarctic second paragraph under second image.

[ii] https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-studies-find-previously-unknown-loss-of-antarctic-ice

[iii] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05037-w

 

Every generation has crisis to deal with

This is in response to Bruce LaRue’s My Turn column on Dec. 15, in which he talks about today’s young adults suffering from depression.  Every generation has its crisis (or crises).  My mother’s generation lived through the Great Depression and World War II.  My generation saw the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King.  We were warned about possible nuclear attacks and maybe even the destruction of large portions of the earth’s population.

Some people hoped to save their families by building fallout shelters to protect them if the bombs did come.  My home economics class (Concord High School, class of 1964) set up a model fallout shelter and opened it to the public to demonstrate how to stock such a shelter with non-perishable food, bottled water, batteries for flashlights, a battery radio, etc.

In spite of the Cold War and possible “mutually assured destruction,” I don’t recall any of my friends and classmates suffering from depression.  Maybe the difference is that in spite of the world situation, we were taught that we live in a great nation, the envy of the whole world.  We had opportunities ahead of us.  We were idealistic and thought we could change the world.  I hope we did some good.  Most of us also believed in a God who loved us and that He was in control of this world.  I still do in spite of all the troubles I see.

The Great Depression and World War II ended.  Nuclear war didn’t come.  Don’t let the fear-mongers control your life. Look for the good in the world. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Love your neighbor and do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  That’s old advice but still the best.

— Pat Watson

Rockwell

Reagan barking up wrong tree

Michael Reagan’s “Big media overdue for a colonoscopy” (Dec. 11) barks up the wrong tree.    

He started out talking about the colonoscopy of trump and his many misdeeds, but a majority of his too long dissertation was about Hunter Biden’s laptop.  To begin with, Hunter Biden is not a part of the Biden administration, while Ivanka and hubby Jared Kushner were a part of the troubled trump regime. Where was the more adequate coverage of the suspicious $2 Billion Kushner received from Saudi Arabia. And I saw little coverage of the pilfering of funds from cancerous kids and other Foundations by trump and his kids.

Far right extremists covered up and lied about the twice impeached former presidents failed Coup Attempt Jan. 6, 2021.

Far right extremists media continue to lie and mislead     And where is the coverage about how far right extremists have lobbied the Supreme Court of the US to support their far right extremists agenda denying rights to American citizens supported by a good majority of Americans.

No, it is the far right extremist and their media that should have been exorcised long ago. The fragile US democratic republic remains in peril, primarily because of them and their anti=democratic agenda, furthered by putin and autocratic  loving DJT. Michael Reagan should return to their fold and stop his misleading.

—Pat Safrit Bullard

China Grove