Greetings from Houston
To the Editor,
For those of you who have never been in a hurricane, you are blessed. Even though you get a warning, there is no reassurance that you will be safe. I was born and raised in Houston but have lived in Santa Cruz County for 28 years. My husband and I came to California on Oct. 12, 1989. That’s right,
five days before the 1989 earthquake.
Here we are today, five months in Houston (moved from Watsonville here in March 2017) and Hurricane Harvey hits this area. Having been raised in the Houston area gives me a great respect for floods, tornadoes and hurricanes. You learn to hunker down and get all your supplies: water, batteries, canned food, your medicine, paper goods (toilet paper, paper plates, plastic utensils), clothes, so many things we take for granted.
Now imagine waking up and water has come into your home. You must evacuate and leave immediately. Now the nightmare starts. Will help come? Where will we go? What about the pets?
This happened in Houston, Texas this weekend and we are still experiencing the effects of Harvey. People that have never had any flooding before had to leave their homes that are all or partially under water.
The devastation here is unimaginable! Everywhere you look there is a need, people are hurting. Out of this tragedy comes compassion from neighbors, strangers and even people from out of state.
The volunteers and first responders are the real heroic ones in all this. They have worked tirelessly since Hurricane Harvey landed. Thousands have been rescued by volunteers … strangers and emergency crews, every person working together for the same cause. All color and economic lines are blurred when people face an emergency together.
Know this about Houstonians, we are resilient in the wake of disasters and always bounce back. Try standing in line with 50 other persons to buy groceries two hours before the store opens. You get to know your fellow man. Everyone has a story. The more we think we are different from one another, the more we are the same.
Right now, we are waiting to see if the flooding will continue. We are 2.8 miles from another flooded area called Champions Forest. By the Grace of God, our subdivision has been spared most of the ravages of the hurricane. We still have electricity and cable for now.
Jane Chapman-Brough and Bruce Brough
Houston, Texas
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Harvey shows the importance of action
To the Editor,
Three years after it began, a bipartisan effort to enact climate change solutions in Congress has grown to 52 members (26 Republicans and 26 Democrats). It is called the Climate Solutions Caucus and was started by a couple of House Representatives from Florida.
Hurricane Harvey has demonstrated again that, as predicted, more extreme weather events are already occurring due to climate change. The rigorous science that brought us our amazing technologies (i.e. smartphones) is the same science that has been used to predict consequences of climate change.
Action is crucial to minimizing the catastrophic consequences of climate change already underway and to help people suffering from its effects. That includes those who do not have the means to evacuate from floods or another place to go.
One practical way to help with this effort is to advocate for a fee on the extraction and import of fossil fuels, with 100 percent of revenue returned to households (aka “carbon fee and dividend”).
Please contact your House Representative and encourage them to advocate for carbon fee and dividend through their participation in the Climate Solutions Caucus.
Together we can help preserve our planet for our children, grandchildren and future generations.
David Bornstein
Santa Cruz
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Why can’t California stand up to Trump and ban chlorpyrifos?
To the Editor,
I can’t be silent when children’s brains are on the line, and that’s why I cannot accept the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s failure to protect communities from the brain-harming insecticide chlorpyrifos.
Science has found this chemical to be harmful to developing brains, so when the U.S. EPA found unsafe levels of chlorpyrifos in our air and on our food, they moved to ban the chemical from agriculture. When Trump’s new administrator, Scott Pruitt, reversed this decision, we asked California to step in and ban it. Their response was to continue delaying this necessary protection.
The EPA’s findings mean that students may be exposed to a neurotoxin whenever they eat and breathe! Scott Pruitt’s decision and California’s subsequent inaction mean that the health of children and families in farming communities will continue to be threatened by harmful pesticides. We don’t need more scientific studies – we need immediate action!
Melissa Dennis
Third grade teacher, Ohlone Elementary School
