Plant a tree
This year, many weather related records in our country have been broken — 1,302 heat-related records, 1,090 rainfall records and 549 snowfall records plus a record 12 extreme weather events costing over $1 billion each. Worldwide, many more records have been broken.
We are buying trees to offset our personal carbon use as well as for holiday gifts this year. The trees are being planted along the Crooked River in Maine as part of a national carbon exchange as well as to restore brook trout habitat in Maine (see clearwatercarbonfund.org).
Planting trees next to streams not only sequesters carbon but provides significant benefits to water quality as well. As the trees grow over time they will sequester carbon, shade the stream, prevent sediment and nutrients from entering the stream and provide valuable habitat for fish and wildlife. It’s a win-win-win-win solution.
Please consider buying these trees as a gift to the planet as well as to your grandchildren.
Pam Person
Orland
Helping Maine thrive
In response to John Henderson’s “Just plain wrong” letter to the editor on Saturday/Sunday, Dec. 10-11: If God created Adam and Eve, He must also have created Steve. If He created any of us, He created all of us.
Allowing gay marriage in this state is not only a basic human right, it is also an opportunity to boost our economy. If the thousands of gay partnerships in this state were legally recognized, people might be more inclined to stay here and invest in their communities rather than relocating to other states.
And why is it so terrible that people who may not be Maine natives want to allocate their own money to enhancing our economy? Attitudes such as Mr. Henderson’s prevent our state from thriving. Maine is suffering. Our job market, school systems and way of life are all in jeopardy. Rather than pointing fingers and slamming doors, might it not be wiser for us to work together to help Maine thrive?
If we continue to base our politics on views such as his, it is only a matter of time before our state is left barren. Please do not presume that you are speaking for all Mainers, Mr. Henderson, because clearly you are not.
Carly Migliore
Veazie
Get Big Oil’s help
I can’t for the life of me fathom why our senators and representatives in Washington who support restoring fuel assistance funding to last year’s levels don’t enlist the help of the oil, gas and electrical utility lobbies in their efforts.
Big Oil in particular is one of the most powerful lobbies in our nation’s capitol and generally get whatever it desires from Congress. All three industries will be the major recipients of this program since only a small percentage of the billions spent go to administration of the programs. The rest ultimately ends up in the pockets of those who provide fuel to the poor and elderly who struggle every winter just to keep from freezing.
Besides the obvious contribution to their bottom line, fuel providers would reap a considerable measure of positive publicity for their efforts to help the financially less fortunate, a priceless commodity when one considers the public’s general dismay at the historic profits they have generated in recent years.
The business enterprises providing the various types of heating fuel possess immense influence in Washington and it’s high time they used some of it to do some true good for the less fortunate in our society.
John Purington
Southwest Harbor
Robin Hood tax
People ranging from Occupy Wall Streeters to Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman have proposed a “Robin Hood tax” on financial trades. The United States in fact did have a stock transfer tax from 1914 to 1966, instituted by the Revenue Act of 1914.
Taking trading in just the New York Stock Exchange as an example, in 2008 the daily volume totaled $153 billion. Taxing these trades, say at 2 percent, would have brought in about $3 billion a day, or nearly three-quarters of a trillion dollars a year, enough to solve the deficit problem and most of it paid for by speculators, fat cats and big financial firms.
Instituting such a tax would be a welcome alternative to proposed plans, mostly hatched by Republicans, to place the burden of reducing the deficit on the backs on the middle class, seniors and the disadvantaged.
Gene Clifford
Southwest Harbor
Lavish housing for Malone
The CEO of a Maine nonprofit wants Gov. LePage to continue providing millions of dollars in state funding to his agency, even though the CEO went out and bought himself a $600,000 home with the nonprofit’s money.
“At Catholic Charities Maine we are proud to answer Christ’s call to serve our neighbor in need,” said Bishop Richard Malone, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and president of the board of directors of Catholic Charities Maine.
Malone is CEO of a $75 million organization that allocates a measly 1 percent ($756,000) of its total diocese revenues to support the services of Catholic Charities Maine. An additional $24 million is received by Catholic Charities from state and federal grants and payments.
Earlier this year, Malone used $600,000 of his nonprofit’s money to buy himself a luxurious, nonessential 3,000-square-foot, four-bedroom home in Falmouth. Now, as Catholic Charities faces budget cuts, Malone will head to Augusta to stop the bleeding.
Stop. Something’s not right.
If, six months ago, Bishop Malone had allocated the $600,000 he used to pay for his new home to the programs and services of Catholic Charities, then the cutbacks wouldn’t be so severe.
But, that’s not the way it happened. So now, when Bishop Malone shows up at the legislative hearing to plead his case against funding cuts, in a very real sense the bishop is asking the governor to cover the costs of the bishop’s $600,000 home in Falmouth.
It’s not right.
Paul Kendrick
Freeport
No honor
The recent scandal involving the horrific way that remains of fallen servicemen are handled is an absolute travesty. Those responsible need to be held accountable. We don’t need lip service until the issue quietly goes away. Action is required.
As a two-tour Iraq veteran, I know that the fact that those in the chain of command have not offered their resignations says a lot about the lack of honor within their command structure.
Please call or write as many members of Congress and senators as you can so that issue does not simply go away.
Michael Prescott MacArthur
Dyer Brook