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Letters to the Editor

The canary and the polar bear

Editor:

Decades ago it was customary to keep a canary in a cage in sight of an underground mining operation. The function of the little songbird was to give early warning of toxic gases in the depths of the mine. If its cheerful song failed and it keeled over it was time to get to the surface before the miners would lose their lives in foul air or explosion.

Just this week we learned that the massive, beautiful polar bear is serving the same purpose, not for miners, but for perhaps millions of the human race if not all of humanity. We have the Endangered Species Act. It is the law. The law compels the government to protect an endangered species. The polar bear has been declared an endangered species. He is endangered because his habitat is changing. The polar ice cap is, and has been, melting at an alarming rate. The obvious cause is global warming.

Our government can no longer ignore this fact. Its own law compels it to take action to protect the polar bear. It can no longer say that there is no global warming, as it has during the last many years. It must take positive action to save the polar bear before it is too late.

It is almost comical that saving the polar bear habitat could result in saving the habitat of millions of humans living in low level lands, for as the ice melts the ocean rises. Bangladesh, with its millions of living on the ragged edge of existence, would be largely inundated as well as hundreds of populated communities throughout the world.

Thank you, great polar bears, for forcing our government to admit the fact of greenhouse gases and the necessity of taking action.

Jim Powell

Park City

Environmental consciousness

Editor:

I have a difficult time trying to understand why small businesses and large businesses in Park City "choose" not to recycle. I say choose because it is a choice they are making. Realizing that some do recycle, I feel that most do not.

Take your family to Redstone Cinemas, order popcorn and a few bottles of water and when you are finished all you can do is thrown them in their trash bins. They don’t offer recycling. How many plastic bottles do you think a cinema of that size sells a month. Thousands. Holiday Village Cinema does not offer it either.

We cater to the outdoor enthusiasts in this town but we sure don’t behave like them.

Thank you to the businesses in Park City that do choose to recycle.

Sincerely,

Matt Brown

Park City

Educational assistance

Editor:

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Philip Meeks of Wells Fargo Bank, Paul Tan of Wells Fargo Bank, Tom Case of Granite Construction and Arlene Valdez of Home Savings Bank. I am very grateful to these individuals who took time out of their busy and important schedules to speak with my economics class this semester.

It is not an easy task to speak to 30 high school seniors about starting a business, investing, business ethics, money and banking, let alone make it engaging. Their expertise has brought an immeasurable degree of relevancy and interest to a subject that is not often appreciated.

I would like to especially thank Phil Meeks for his incredible support over the past two years. He has spent countless hours evaluating student projects (in class and at home), provided me with invaluable suggestions, ideas and information on how to make my program more realistic and beneficial, and has connected me with other people in the business community.

It is exciting to have this partnership with Phil, Paul, Tom and Arlene; I look forward to it continuing.

Paula Baltzan

Park City High School

Letters

School district must lead

Park City School District is being investigated by the federal Office of Civil Rights for persistent and ongoing violations. It’s a very big deal that has a lot of our community on edge.



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