Your Views for November 23

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Nature’s warpath

Regarding “Council members hear bleak presentation on greenhouse gases” (Tribune-Herald, Nov. 20): Approximately 8 billion human beings trapped in a burning building with no exits believe having conferences about smoke management and moving people around will save them.

No one understands it is fire destroying the building, not smoke.

Twice as many human beings have been added to the global population in the past 70 years than in the previous 200,000 years, when modern humans first appeared.

Let that gentle fact sink in for a moment.

There is your fire.

Unfortunately, any frank discussion about global human population is viewed as racist and politically incorrect. Public hand-wringing over carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is, however, virtue signaling at its finest.

Pretending we are going to solve a planetary crisis whose root cause is unmentionable is a tragic farce. To publicly assert the harsh truth that only a world with fewer people can survive, and halt, climate change is to invite scorn, comparison to historical mass murderers — or worse. Even though this could be achieved by the end of the century nonviolently via family planning.

No one wants to be attacked by a mob. So we discuss “managing” carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It is a safer subject.

Sadly, it is physically impossible to grow a human population and simultaneously reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Our despised president of the United States will do more to combat climate change by slowing U.S. population growth, via mass migration, than through all other proposed carbon dioxide mitigation strategies combined. For this he is hated.

Only the most benign and ideal global climate can support the 10 billion-plus people projected to inhabit Earth by the end of the century. Catch-22. Scientific research indicates the global climate in the year 2100 will be neither benign nor ideal.

If we break the climate, nature will deal with humanity on her own grim terms. The geologic record of nature on the warpath is genuine cause for alarm. She has laid waste to life on this planet multiple times.

And, yes, time is running out.

John Powers

Pahoa

Praise for Chang

The Hawaii County Fair Foundation Committee would like to take the opportunity to thank Mr. Kelton Chang for his extreme commitment to keeping the Hawaii County Fair here in Hilo.

The Hawaii County Fair not only provides family entertainment but also opportunities for many nonprofit organizations to work toward their fundraising and community service goals. And established and new businesses get to showcase their products and services.

It takes a lot of time to prepare, run and break down the Hawaii County Fair.

Hundreds of hours and many hands work for the fair. Kelton puts hundreds of hours into the fair, more than any other person. Kelton starts planning for the new fair before the current fair is even finished. A lot of his “free time” is consumed by the fair.

We would also like to thank Kelton’s family. They support his commitment to the Hawaii County Fair Foundation. They know the time away from his family is to make each fair a success.

David Kuniyoshi and Lloydette Helenihi

Hawaii County Fair Foundation Committee