More Than Glaciers Are on Thin Ice

Re “Glacier Park on Thin Ice,” Nov. 18: So the glaciers in Glacier National Park will be history within 30 years. It boggles the mind. How can the Bush administration arrogantly strip away so many hard-won environmental protections when “most scientists agree the recent warming is mainly a product of industrial activity.” Surely it must filter up to President Bush, Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Vice President Dick Cheney that global warming is endangering humanity.

Between reading in last week’s Times the pope’s exhortations to his flock to exponentially increase breeding (Nov. 15) and this administration’s emphasis on frantically developing ever more oilfields and coal mines to the serious detriment of the environment, one has to wonder how long life itself can be sustained on planet Earth.

Sara Bell Drescher

Los Angeles

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Your article illustrated the shocking reality of climate change. While much of the debate in the U.S. continues to center on whether climate change is indeed happening, much less attention is given to potential solutions. As a society we simply must begin a transition away from dependence on the fossil fuels that cause global warming. While the rapid onset of glacial melting is distressing, the activities of college students around the state of California this past fall have been inspirational. Students on every UC campus have formed a coalition to support investment in clean-energy solutions like wind and solar for their campuses. Their passion and willingness to act may yet lead us away from ecological disaster.

Byron Kahr

Field Organizer

Greenpeace, Venice