Don’t plan more turbine manufacturing sites along Hudson River
Building wind turbines to use for producing energy is a good thing, but not at the cost of removing hundreds of trees, habitat destruction, polluting the Hudson River and many other negative impacts to our environment.
Isn’t one offshore wind infrastructure on the Hudson River, within 10 miles, sufficient? The article “GE eyes turbine plants at port,” Jan. 27, suggests that another offshore wind infrastructure project is being considered at the Port of Coeymans.
Carver Laraway, the owner of the port, has already clear-cut the trees on a property that he purchased in Coeymans for the purpose of such a facility. We have seen this happening before in the town of Bethlehem, where the Port of Albany cut down the trees on Beacon Island before all permits were in place to build that wind turbine facility.
It seems that the cart is being put before the horse.
ZACHARY ASSAEL Coeymans
Gloomy weather may be the least of our worries
I’m of two minds about Chris Churchill’s commentary “The gray, muddy winters of my discontent,” Jan. 8.
Part of me wants to be reassuring. It’s true that our grandchildren may see less snow, but nature still has much to offer, and its resiliency can be astounding. Consider the bald eagle’s bounce back from near-extinction, made possible through a ban on DDT, reintroduction efforts and vigorous law enforcement.
But another part of me wants to remind Churchill that gray, muddy winters may soon be the least of our problems. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that global warming presents an “urgent and potentially irreversible threat” to humans and the planet.
Governments are hurtling way past the limit of a 2-degree Celsius increase in global warming, which they had agreed to in the 2015 legally binding international treaty in Paris. Such increased heat will deplete biodiversity, threaten food security, and impose severe stress on the infrastructure of most countries.
Yet scientists agree it is still possible to keep warming at 2 degrees Celsius if governments follow through on climate pledges. New York took the lead in this regard when it enacted the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2015. This law commits New York to a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.
Now it is up to our legislators to enact laws to enforce the act’s mandates. In the process, they will create a green-energy infrastructure that will benefit the economy and improve the health of citizens and the planet.
HILARY CLAUSS Old Chatham
Ban on schools’ Native mascots is long overdue
The order from the state Department of Education banning the use of Native mascots is the right call.
This ban was ordered more than 20 years ago. Then-Education Commissioner Richard Mills told schools to take measures to eliminate Native mascots. It wasn’t a suggestion; they were told to do it. He did leave it up to local authorities to develop a plan and their own timeframe to retire the offensive nicknames and imagery.
The timeline was what he left up to school administrators. He did not leave it up to them to decide whether to continue use of such a mascot.
Further, it wasn’t Mills or current Education Commissioner Betty Rosa who deemed Native mascots offensive; it was child care professionals, along with every Native nation and organization that weighed in.
Use of such mascots is offensive. This is not political correctness or “cancel culture.” Native people called for this change, and it has taken a long time to be heard.
Shame on any of the schools that decided to ignore Mills and double down on their mascot use. Cambridge Central School, which lies at the center of this recent action, is one of those. For Cambridge or any other school to now whine about the expense is absurd. Mills and the Education Department gave them ample time. Shame on any politician seeing this issue as political fodder.
Rosa and Deputy Commissioner James Baldwin should be thanked for putting education and kids first.
JOHN KANE Cattaraugus Territory of the Seneca Nation via Perrysburg The writer is a Mohawk and a 1978 graduate of Cambridge Central School.