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BART mask mandate
was meaningless
Re. “BART lifting its mask rule again,” Page A1, July 16:
Early nighttime on july 5, i rode bart from macarthur station to downtown berkeley. I saw, for the first time in years, several riders were now not wearing mask. Even though it turned into standing room simplest, nobody offered this eighty-12 months-old a seat.
At the return journey, at nine:30 p.M., in a vehicle with approximately a dozen riders, nobody turned into wearing a mask and one guy became blatantly smoking. We made eye contact and he stared me down.
I will not be riding bart once more.
Trish elliott
Oakland
Petroleum merchandise
Are a ‘important evil’
Re. “byproduct of the nation’s sun enterprise? Deluge of poisonous waste,” web page a1, july 15:
Whilst will the emperor (our governor and president) understand they don't have any garments? The tons touted spurning of the petroleum enterprise and coal enterprise in choose of “clean” energy appears to have its personal demons and dire warnings, possibly exceeding those of more “conventional” fuels.
Waste and byproducts from the solar enterprise at the moment are diagnosed as a full-size polluter of our land and groundwater. Biden needs the us to boom manufacturing, however with out metal, how can this arise? Seventy percentage of metal is made with coal, that’s a truth.
Petroleum merchandise are a necessary “evil,” no matter your politics. You received’t see sun-powered airliners, ships, lengthy-haul transports or agricultural equipment that is privately owned by way of “small” operators. The mining of factors required by means of the sun industry is destroying substantial quantities of our planet; that is additionally a documented fact, although hardly ever addressed.
What's the solution? All electric powered is not the most effective solution.
Patrick adams
Dublin
Freedom beneath attack,
But no longer in california
Victor davis hanson’s july 15 column “california arguably most unfree kingdom within the union,” (page a7, july 15) changed into disappointing and disingenuous. Purporting to report how california became unfree, he rather cherry-picked problems from across california which have little or nothing to do with freedom.
If he surely wanted to talk about a lack of freedom in the u.S. Nowadays, he could have mentioned new book bans in 26 states just inside the past year. Or he ought to have noted the numerous states that now restrict a female’s freedom to pick out her own reproductive health care. Or he should have referred to how florida gov. Ron desantis has penalized disney for absolutely opposing his “don’t say gay” policy – no freedom of speech there. Or how states like wisconsin just banned poll drop boxes to restriction the liberty to vote.
Hanson’s proper – freedom is under critical threat in many states, simply now not in california.
John mccormick
Lafayette
Co2 possibly to keep
Rising notwithstanding guidelines
The joke is at the woke, but all of us be afflicted by it.
The excessive fee of oil and fuel has brought on several countries to restart vintage coal-fired vegetation for power. Millions of human beings will transfer to timber or coal for warmth. Many of the petroleum byproducts like fertilizer and material use lots much less energy than the substitutes.
As a result, we will see a bounce in co2 emissions this year even above the bounce already recorded in 2021.
Robert rickman
Benicia
Letter receives it backward
On gun guidelines
To higher tell readers on the subject of don desarme’s july 12 letter (“fewer gun regulations bring safer states,” page a6), it's miles vital to word that joyce lee malcolm’s position at george mason college is totally funded by the nra, suggesting bias in her reporting.
Furthermore, all main studies in this subject matter conclude that states with weaker gun laws correlate strongly with higher gun demise fees. Please discuss with studies from rand employer, global economic forum, harvard school of public health, national library of medicine, the yank magazine of medicine, the general public cause, and demographic information.Org, amongst others.
Observe there may be a comparable correlation in different countries: the quantity of weapons per capita is a sturdy predictor of better gun deaths.
Paula predmore
Danville
We ought to do more
To cut down plastic
There are few locations on earth which might be unadulterated by way of plastic waste. Microplastics are in our bodies, our oceans and our flora and fauna. We cannot recycle our way out of this plastic apocalypse. We’re drowning in plastic, and it’s time to show off the faucet.
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In 2020, on line retailers created six hundred million pounds of plastic waste nationally. Whilst california’s passing of sb fifty four is a vital step to deal with our plastic waste disaster, california have to preserve to guide. Delivered by using california meeting members laura friedman and phil ting, meeting invoice 2026 might require on line retailers to reduce their plastic packaging. Unnecessary foam peanuts, bubble wrap and plastic envelopes clog our landfills, litter our groups and pollute our oceans. Customers can handiest do so an awful lot. On line stores have to be held chargeable for their plastic waste.
Benjamin Grundy
Environment California
Alameda