Letters from Our Readers: Summer 2007

Building a Movement

In urging us to take action to stop global warming, Bill McKibben "Get Up! Stand Up!" (Spring 2007) cites climate expert James Hansen, who said in 2005 that we have ten years to reverse the flow of carbon into the atmosphere before we cross certain thresholds that commit us to an endless cycle of self-reinforcing feedback loops. Why are we asking Congress for only an 80 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2050 -- isn't more necessary? I hiked a mountain in the Catskills on April 14 for stepitup07, and I'll be gone by 2050. I only hope the polar bear won't be.
Mary Ann Profilio
Jefferson, New York

Bill McKibben's moving article brought me to tears. I am doing my part to extend the global warming movement started on April 14 by urging city officials where I live to invest in alternative energy, green roofing, and electric vehicles. Once I am done, I'm going to move on to a new city and do it all again.
Rhonda Mumphrey
Los Angeles, California

Many thanks for Bill McKibben's call to action on global warming. The movement is clearly beginning to perk up, but it needs massive support -- time to rally the seniors! I, along with others, have written to AARP, a lobbying group for older persons, encouraging them to take up the banner.
Bob Smucker
Falls Church, Virginia

Sound Waves
Peter Canby's otherwise fine article "Deadly Sonar," (Spring 2007) contains a couple of errors and one unfortunate impression -- that we do not wish to be seen as "poster children for the navy sonar issue." In fact, we have repeatedly shown our willingness to stick our necks out in the fight against ocean noise. The vast majority of the work has been done by Lindy Weilgart, not her husband, Hal Whitehead. Also, Rear Admiral James Symonds is correct in saying that the lack of consensus among the advisory committee on acoustic impacts was not due to the navy alone. Other noise producers, such as the oil and gas industry, also blocked consensus (see Nature, Vol. 439, 2006, pp. 376-77).
Lindy Weilgart and Hal Whitehead
Department of Biology, Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada

I suffer from tinnitus, or a constant ringing in my ears, from exposure to excessively loud sounds. It's a nuisance, but not incapacitating. Whales depend on their specialized hearing as their primary sense, so if a whale suffers from constant loud sounds, I can only imagine how that might affect its ability to function. For a person, it would be like trying to live life looking through a clouded lens. That would truly be incapacitating.
David Caccia
Honokaa, Hawaii

Editor's note: In the article "Get Up! Stand Up!" in the Spring 2007 issue, Bill McKibben says on page 23 that carbon monoxide helps turn urban air brown. Carbon monoxide plays a role in the formation of smog by accelerating the chemical conversion of nitric oxide (NO) to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a reddish brown gas that is a primary component of smog. Carbon monoxide itself is not a major component of smog.

Errata: In the article "Get Up! Stand Up!" (Spring 2007) there is a reference on page 25 to the capital of Vermont, which is Montpelier, not Burlington. In Wade Graham's "Dark Side of the New Economy," reference is made on page 17 to the river that runs alongside Southern California's Long Beach Freeway, I-710. It is the Los Angeles River, not the San Gabriel.