Protect environment
The November elections are fast approaching. I intend to support Democrats in every race, and in 2020 I will support whoever runs against Donald Trump. I don't care who it is, and although I detest Trump with every cell of my body, that is not why I will support Democrats. I believe the future of our planet is at stake.
I love our natural world with its diversity of species and its splendid opportunities to feast every sense. I especially love our oceans, teeming with marine life in all of its bizarre forms.
I don't know about you, but I am claustrophobic and do not relish the idea of living underground on Mars. The Democrats respect our environment, while it seems the Republican administration in power has done nothing but serve the fossil-fuel industry as it rolls back regulations, shrinks our national parks, and serves its true god--greed. I would support a Green Party nominee, but I need someone who can win.
Don't be a slave to pettiness and greed. The elections give us an opportunity to save the only home God has given us. The generations to come are looking to us to have the wisdom to value our environment and the wonderful creatures that share our planet. Don't let them down!
CATHERINE LAMB
Little Rock
Agency must do job
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality put out a press release last month announcing that long stretches of the Buffalo River and Big Creek, one of the largest tributaries of the Buffalo, are "impaired." For those not fluent in bureaucratic language, "impaired" means polluted. The Buffalo River, Arkansas' best known scenic river and biggest tourist attraction, is polluted. In parts of the river system there is no longer enough dissolved oxygen in the water to support a healthy aquatic ecosystem (no fish) and there are so many pathogenic bacteria in the water that no one should allow their children to swim in it. The Arkansas Department of Health is now reporting that it may not be safe for my dog to swim in some sections of the river.
This information is not news to the people who live and work on the river or to the scientists who monitor its water quality. The news is that the state has finally admitted that the river is polluted, and water quality is getting worse.
Sadly, in the same press release, the agency announced that it plans to do absolutely nothing about the pollution. The excuse for doing nothing to correct this environmental and economic disaster that it allowed to happen is that there is a watershed management plan already in place for the Buffalo River. The plan is a collection of voluntary suggestions put together by a loosely organized group of volunteer landowners and non-government organizations and state and federal agencies. The Buffalo River plan specifically does not provide any way of preventing or reducing pollution of the river other than unenforceable voluntary recommendations. Cleaning up the Buffalo River is the job of the Department of Environmental Quality and so far, it is refusing to do it.
Does the agency not care enough about the Buffalo River to start working on a solution to this situation, or is it hoping the federal government will step in and do the job?
BRAD TAYLOR
Parthenon
Article was backed up
I doubt if I'm the only person who naïvely thought the National Prayer Breakfast was an annual breakfast in Washington, D.C., organized around prayer. Sunday's Democrat-Gazette editorial accusing the New York Times of religious bias and poor reporting in an article the Times published about the annual event led me to read the original article.
While the Times' statement that the National Prayer Breakfast has become an "international influence-peddling bazaar" fails to encapsulate the good that occurs at the annual event, the article clearly provides evidence that lobbyists and foreign politicians now use the event to further political agendas that are perhaps not in the best interest of the United States.
The article is well-written and backed up by named sources and documents. The editorial staff of the Democrat-Gazette provides no examples that this article is an example of reporting and religious bias, yet with the title "A bias against religion?" they embolden the people who think a free press is the enemy of the people.
Surely with all that is going on in the world, you have something better to opine about.
PAUL SWEPSTON
Hot Springs
Must not forsake her
Assistant Editor Brenda Looper's piece, "Why so angry," in the Aug. 8 edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette got me thinking about a person whose presence is long overdue in American social and political discourse. Her name is Wisdom.
She, or he if you prefer, has a style that honors a tradition of civility. She knows that incessant shouting and intransigent positioning on either side of the line achieves nothing but more intransigence. She comes to the table predisposed to listening, evaluating, weighing pros and cons, and earnestly trying to figure out a way that both sides can feel good about getting some, if not all, of what they want. More importantly, if she's an elected official, she realizes that she's there to serve the masses, many of whom have no voice. She sets an example that most on either side of the aisle are willing to acknowledge and probably follow.
Wisdom, I haven't seen her in a while. I think it's time that we all put out an "all points bulletin" for her to be located and invited to the table of important discourse in our country. Her presence is sorely needed.
HOSEA LONG
Little Rock
Editorial on 08/11/2018