The Tribune recently published online an excellent wire story about the problem of plastics, “Mississippi River cities join project to map plastic pollution: ‘It’s literally choking our oceans'” (March 4). Plastics are also being dumped into our Great Lakes at the rate of 22 million tons each year. They infiltrate our lives through water, air and soil and have serious consequences for human and animal health in addition to choking our environment.
Plastic, which is created from fossil fuels, also contributes to climate change at every step of its life cycle, from extraction to refinement, manufacture, transportation, disposal and waste. If plastic production and use grow as planned, by 2030 emissions from its production could reach 1.34 gigatons per year. That would be equivalent to the emissions released by some 295 new 500-megawatt coal-fired power plants. Plastics and climate change are a dual challenge to our well-being on our planet.
Help is on the way, but we as citizens must act. Congress has an opportunity to address the climate crisis and the plastic pollution crisis by passing the new Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021, which builds on state laws across the country and outlines plastic reduction strategies that place the onus on the fossil fuel industry and plastic producers to realize a healthier and more sustainable future.
The Chicago Coalition for Plastic Reduction strongly urges our lawmakers in Washington to co-sponsor the pollution act.
— Jon Schmidt, Coalition for Plastic Reduction, Chicago
Web of life matters
Thanks for keeping the environment on the front page (“Endangered bee at center of federal lawsuit,” March 29). We have made great improvements since the passage of the Clean Water Act. People need to be reminded that the survival of something as seemingly insignificant as a bee affects every creature in the long run.
We are the ones to determine that, so let’s move forward, not back.
— Joseph E. Bukovsky Jr., Westmont
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The Chicago Tribune publishes letters from readers reflecting their thoughts on news and Tribune content. Letters reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily the Chicago Tribune.
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Biden’s skewed priorities
The Biden administration plans to open eight new emergency sites holding 15,000 beds in non-Health and Human Services facilities for migrant children at the southern border at a cost of $775 per child per day.
While approximately 40,000 U.S. veterans remain homeless, the children of migrants who do not respect our immigration laws will get accommodations costing more than a night at a fine resort or hotel.
How can the administration defend its priorities and fiscal stewardship of our tax dollars?
— Patricia Clickener, Chicago
Seize the opportunity
Savvy CEOs at leading companies practice the mantra, “Let no serious crisis go to waste.” After the emergency passes, they study the situation and adjust their operations to emerge stronger.
Likewise, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle and Gov. J.B. Pritzker should employ this mindset. The COVID-19 pandemic has left thousands of state and local government jobs unfilled. Take some time to analyze the situation — how many of these spots can be permanently eliminated to deliver services more efficiently and narrow budget gaps?
— Jonathan Adams, Chicago
Bring troops home
Since 2000, we have lost about 7,000 U.S. military members in Iraq and Afghanistan and have spent (directly and through budgetary obligations) $6.4 trillion on post-9/11 conflicts in areas of the world that do not like us, do not respect us and only want us to help prop up governments that can’t stand on their own.
We can stay there, and our opponents will slowly bleed us of personnel and dollars. Or, we can get out and see what the citizens of each country want for a ruling government. Our forefathers did the same thing to the British.
So let’s get out of these two wars — now. We can spend those dollars on improving infrastructure, paying down debt and helping those in need in our country.
— Lee Frary, Rockford
Exploring gun control
Thank you to Steve Chapman for his recent column regarding mass shootings (“Banning assault weapons unlikely to stop mass shootings,” March 28). Many of his arguments are true, but that shouldn’t prevent us from trying any and all possibilities for increasing gun control.
The current situation is unacceptable. I am ashamed of our nation’s history with gun violence, unequaled in most parts of the world.
I have come to believe that the freedom to posses arms is due to an incorrect reading of the Second Amendment and certainly not worth the lives of innocent Americans, especially children.
— Arthur Zirger, Boulder, Colorado
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