Climate change for all

Loved the big focus on Bill McKibben and the 350.org international day of action calling for climate protection ("None Like It Hot," Oct 21.)!

I also appreciated the listing of the events that took place on Saturday, Oct. 24.

I only take exception to the report about the Oct. 2 event at Sonoma Country Day School, emphasizing gray hair three times. It was subsequently mentioned that only a "handful of students in the top tier" applauded.

In fact, climate protection is a multi-age, multicultural concern, and that was well illustrated by the attendance in the crowd, and also at the 40 booths representing environmental groups, outside in the lobby. For example, the opening film was entirely focused on students, many of whom were in the audience on Oct. 2. The Academia Quinto Sol (green jobs training program), featured at one of the booths, displayed pictures of youth at risk who are being counseled about their culture, their worth to their community and their future.

I rub shoulders with the next generation of activists consistently, as we work together to build movements for sustainability, peace and justice.

Debra Birkinshaw

Sebastopol

Gassing on the Prez

Reality check: President Obama recently flew 6,000 miles round trip to San Francisco and back on Air Force One, a big Boeing 747, to help raise money for a political campaign. If the president was really concerned about global warming, why didn't he do the video-conferencing thing? I suppose if anyone could ever get close enough to the president to ask him about that, he would make some comment about pollution credits. Unfortunately, pollution credits do absolutely nothing about the CO2 that is going into the atmosphere right now. The pollution credit philosophy is all about building "environmentally friendly" power plants at some future point in time. President Obama campaigned on a platform of hope and change. I was hoping that the president would help to change America's wasteful consumption habits. I still see lots of Obama bumper stickers on the back of Ford Explorers, so with regards to changing America's consumption habits, from where I am sitting, he is failing miserably.

Duclo Haymaker

Santa Rosa

Got the blues over categories

In your 2009 North Bay Music Awards (NORBAYs), you split the styles of jazz and blues and attached "R&B" to the blues category. I would like to bring to your attention that, as you have acknowledged in the past, R&B is really a category more aligned to soul and funk than the blues.

Most, if not all, of your 2009 blues/R&B-nominated musicians are blues musicians who would not describe themselves as R&B players.

For your 2010 NORBAY awards, would you please consider adding an R&B/soul/funk music classification, as you have done in the past?

You will open up the NORBAYs to the many musicians and fans who regularly support R&B/soul/funk bands.

John Ranis

Petaluma

Just One-Third of Jay's Letter

Vote John Reed for Fairfax Town Council. . . . John is one of the most valuable, resourceful and capable members of our community. . . . He is someone who cares about our town and its future. . . . Serving as chair of the Fairfax Volunteer Committee, he . . . is a member of the GPAC advisory committee to the planning commission and town council, and creator of the Safe Routes to School program. He secured $2.5 million for Fairfax, organizes and leads creek-cleaning and brush-clearing forays, mapped publicly owned right of ways in case of an emergency evacuation . . . [and] helped to raise thousands of dollars for young victims of violent crime. . . . John is a model neighbor. . . . Everyone who knows him can tell you a story about the help he's provided, fixing a plumbing problem or leaky roof, and always refusing to take a dime. He leads camping and sailing trips for his son's Boy Scout troop. . . . He is one of the best captains I've had the pleasure of sailing with. . . . In the vein of da Vinci, Franklin and Jefferson, John Reed is nothing less than a renaissance man. . . . He can fix anything. . . . He has worked in the motion picture industry. . . . This feeble attempt at describing the man doesn't even scratch the surface. One could take up several pages of this newspaper to list his contributions to the town, the entire newspaper to list his qualifications.

Jay Cimo

Fairfax

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