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MORE EARTHY BOOKS
Great article and great list of books-good job [Cover story, May 2: "
"]! For your readers who like novels (some of which I am glad you included), I have some to recommend about climate change and what the world might be like as we deal with the impacts.
Kim Stanley Robinson, who writes alternative history that's often stuck in science fiction, is a terrific writer who does great research so you get lots of history, science, politics, economics, etc., in his fiction. He just completed a trilogy on climate change that ought to be required reading for every high school student because it does a great job of putting the science and the predictions into understandable scenarios. The books are
Forty Signs of Rain
,
Fifty Degrees Below
and
Sixty Days and Counting
.
His trilogy on the colonization of Mars (
Red Mars
,
Green Mars
,
Blue Mars
) also is fabulous-great on the technology now being developed for colonization and also on the politics of multinational and now galactic corporate rampaging. Also great environmental books!
Anne Watkins
Albuquerque
EATING GREEN
I applaud your piece "
" and the books you recommend to help your readers to "understand and save the environment." But I was disappointed that the books selected did not include at least one of the many that explore vegetarianism as a powerful tool to save the environment. Many of your readers may not be aware of the devastating impact that eating meat has on the planet.
Water resources. Nearly half of all the water consumed in the US is used to raise animals for food. A totally vegetarian diet for one adult requires 300 gallons of water per day to produce the food, while a meat-based diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day.
Global warming. Eating meat contributes to global warming. The massive amount of animal feces produced in factory farms is the largest source of airborne methane. According to the EPA, methane is more than 20 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, causing warming.
Pollution. Farmed animals produce about 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population of the US. According to the EPA, the runoff from factory farms pollutes our rivers and lakes more than all other industrial sources combined.
Energy. Of all the raw materials and fossil fuels used in the US, more than one-third is used to raise animals for food.
The single most effective way an individual can help save the planet is to choose vegetarianism. You could help your readers to make an informed choice by encouraging them to Google "vegetarianism and the environment" or adding to your list books like Jeremy Rifkin's
Beyond Beef
, Lynn Jacob's
Waste of the West
, Jon Robbins'
The Food Revolution
or
Diet for a New America
and Howard Lyman's
Mad Cowboy
.
Rick Minor
Santa Fe
UNASKED QUESTION
Ooh, way to ask the tough questions to Her Honor [SFR Talk, May 2: "
"]. Way to play hardball. Why didn't you ask her favorite color? Or if she likes cats or dogs?
Does anyone remember the circumstances surrounding Ms. Vázquez' appointment to the federal bench? Around that time, it seems she had a brother who was up on federal drug charges. Said brother was duly convicted and sentenced to a mandatory 10-year bid. I don't believe Ms. Vázquez had the ignominy of sentencing her own brother to a "dime," but what if she had? Did anyone think of asking her about the ramifications of federal sentencing guidelines? I would be most curious to hear her take on that.
In future, please take the puff out of your rag. There's already one toady-ass paper in this town. Don't be the second one.
David Franke
Santa Fe
NEEDED ATTENTION
David Alire Garcia is to be commended for shedding light on this often overlooked, urgent public health matter [Cover story, April 25: "
"]. Kudos to the Santa Fe Reporter and Mr. Garcia for helping to educate not only the general public about this dire need, but for opening the eyes of many gay Santa Feans to the plight of our brothers and sisters from south of the border!
I am a recent addition to the Santa Fe Mountain Center (SFMC). I come from Las Cruces, NM, where I worked in HIV prevention. During my tenure there, I became acutely aware of this issue and worked with my staff to develop programs to serve the Mexican immigrant population. Down south, this isn't just an emerging issue…it is THE issue.
SFMC has always strived to provide services and education to the LGBTQ community in New Mexico. We are spearheading efforts to find a way, with limited funding, to provide HIV prevention services to the Mexican immigrant population in Santa Fe, including strengthening our relationship with Proyecto Sin Fronteras. SFMC would like to take this opportunity to urge all other groups, organizations and community members in Santa Fe to find a way to help us make a difference. We all need to be as courageous in stepping up to this issue as Rafael Escamilla, Roberto Cerda, Alvaro Holguin and Javier Barraza.
Martin Walker
Adult Health Services Program Manager
Santa Fe Mountain Center
SOUTH-SIDE LOVE
Re: "7 Days" [Outtakes, April 25]. Is calling the new movie theater the first good thing on the south side of town supposed to be funny? Or ironic? Sounds like an insult to the hardworking residents of south Santa Fe to me. The center of town is not the three-block radius around the Reporter's offices. There are a lot of great things about the south side of the city:
• The amazingly beautiful new library-the city's first new library in 27 years.
• The Rape Crisis and Trauma Treatment Center-counseling people on topics no one else wants to hear about.
• The Santa Fe School for the Arts.
• An outstanding drama/music program at Capital High School.
• The Genoveva Chavez Community Center's youth recreation programs.
• El Rancho de las Golondrinas, which offers free and low-cost tours to schools.
• Rodeo de Santa Fe (June 20-23, 2007).
• Zona del Sol and its varied, bilingual after-school programs.
• Santa Fe Community College, with credit, noncredit, evening, weekend and summer classes for students of all ages.
• Gerard's House-grief counseling for children, teens and their families.
• The Food Depot, Food for Santa Fe and Kitchen Angels-collaborating to feed people who don't know where their next meal is coming from or are critically ill.
I'm proud to live in a city that offers these things-away from downtown.
Valerie Ingram
Santa Fe
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