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Gassed up

On Aug. 18, I  visited the Water is Life/Stop Line 3 concert at the lakefront park here in beautiful Duluth. I went there on my mountain bike and wanted to see what was going on.

I decided I did not have enough available cash to pay the $35 entrance fee. I rode around the parking area. There were hundreds of cars, at least 500 or 600. The parking lot was full, the street was full, any available parking spot was taken. Lined up along the  fencing were about a dozen bicycles.

From inside the park I could hear the speakers encouraging people to become active, and “Stop Line 3 from happening, to save the earth.“

I found that to be highly hypocritical, and sanctimonious, considering that most people arrived at the event in petroleum-powered automobiles. There were about a dozen bicycles tied up to the fence. Really?

You want to stop petroleum from arriving in Duluth, but you have a petroleum automobile? To be honest, I did identify 5 electric vehicles out of over 500. 

I don’t think that most of the crowd or speakers understood that crude oil is broken down into gasoline, diesel fuel, marine fuel for freighters, jet fuel, asphalt, other gases and propane.

Stopping the use of crude oil would stop the production of these products. Airplanes could not refuel, trucks would not be able to transport goods, ships would not be able to refuel, and there would be no asphalt for roads.

If you live in a rural area, without city natural gas lines, you heat your home with wood, electricity, or propane gas. No propane available would be a disaster even a shortage,causing prices to go up for everyone who  heats with it. We are a long way from  taking petroleum out of our society.

Bryce Makela
Duluth, Minnesota

Boy, was I naïve

Ten years ago, I thought, “I will not see the effects of climate change in my lifetime.” Now I see I was naïve.

Extreme weather is affecting us now. Near us, Lake Superior is changing. We see fewer days of ice, warmer lake temperatures and even algae blooms where there were none before.

I have personally lost almost 30 acres of forest land on our property, when banks slumped into the Marengo River because of the 2016 and 2018 500-plus-year floods. Most of the sediment from those slumps is carried downstream, affecting neighbors by raising the stream bed and washing away what was good trout habitat. We all lose something with these kind of extreme weather events.

My family saw stark weather on our annual hunting trip to North Dakota this fall. The extreme drought caused the grass to crunch under our feet. Pasture and hay grass barely grew, causing our rancher friend to sell half his herd. And we choked on smoke from western and northern wildfires.

Yikes! What can we do to lessen the future effects of climate change so our grandchildren are not paying the price?

I think we all need to take personal responsibility for this. Simple things like supporting local agriculture, and gradually changing to renewable energy. If we all have a few solar panels, we will see a difference.

But I think we also need to push our state and federal lawmakers to pass legislation that will help us take responsibility. I personally would like to see a carbon tax that provides monthly dividends to all households.

There are many other options, such as tax credits for putting up solar panels or increasing funding to adapt our roads and highways so they won’t wash out from extreme storms. Remember the Highway 2 washout on Fish Creek in 2018? Taxpayers paid to replace the bridge.

Please help in whatever way you can to give our children and grandchildren better hope for their future.

Pam Dryer
Mason, Wisconsin
Member of Chequamegon Bay Citizen Climate Lobby