Letters 04-04-2016

April 1, 2016

Bring Water Fairness

There are deeply troubling issues around water in Michigan. We’re painfully aware of the lead-contaminated water in Flint. The lack of a water affordability plan in Detroit has meant mass water shut-offs to seniors, the ill or disabled, pregnant women, and families with children.

Did you know Flint residents have been paying the highest rate in the country according to a national study of the 500 largest water systems? That rate is nearly double the U.S. average, well over what is considered affordable as a percentage of median household income.

Contrast that with the millions of gallons of fresh water pumped from aquifers by Nestle for Ice Mountain bottled water and the millions of gallons pumped and poisoned by the oil and gas industry for fracking operations – both for free. Then, there are the risks posed by crude oil pipelines at the Straits and the St. Clair River.

We now have the opportunity to make sure everyone in Michigan has access to clean, affordable, accessible water. Legislation was introduced that would recognize water as a basic human right. Why have hearings on these bills not begun?

As Chair of the House Committee on Local Government, Representative Lee Chatfield has the authority to begin hearings on the bipartisan Water is a Human Right Bill Package. Please contact him to request immediate action: 517-373-2629, LeeChatfield@house.mi.gov.

It’s time to have a serious conversation about our values, priorities, and commitments to one another.

Rev Deb Hansen, Levering

Co-ops Rock, Too

Your recent article about Nathan Havey and conscious capitalism was good but it neglected to mention that this business model already exists in the form of cooperatives. In fact, the first successful cooperative was founded in 1844 in Rochdale, England by a group of weavers tired of overpriced and inferior goods. Co-ops operate based on many of the same principles as conscious capitalism, having multiple bottom lines: purpose, people, planet and profit, very similar to the four pillars mentioned. Co-ops are cool because they belong to the people who use them, the member-owners, and co-op owners have an equal share in the control of their cooperative.

Cooperatives around the world generally operate according to the same set of seven core principles and values that can be traced back to the Rochdale Co-op. Co-ops in Traverse City include Oryana, TBA Credit Union, Cherryland Electric, GreenStone Farm Credit Services, Ace Hardware, and Traverse City Cooperative Preschool. There are over 30,000 co-ops in the U.S. including REI, Land o Lakes, Bob’s Redmill, and Sunkist.

Conscious capitalism is a welcome trend bringing much needed higher principles to a purely profit-driven business paradigm but co-ops already have a long track record of success combined with "safety, caring, and love," to use Havey’s description of what makes a great workplace. Co-ops rock!

Luise Bolleber, Traverse City

Snyder’s Failure

I agree with Governor Snyder when he says there was a huge failure involved in the Flint water crisis. I disagree with him however, when he says it was a "failure of government at all levels."

The huge failure was not with government, but rather with how he chose to exercise it. The first failure was his choice to install an unelected emergency manager who was able to make decisions with no accountability to locally elected officials of Flint. The second failure was his desire to run government like a business. The combined effect of these failures was to favor profits over people and to disregard complaints and concerns of elected officials and residents of Flint. In the real world an ethical politician responsible for such a human and financial disaster would resign immediately. Our Governor of course is going nowhere.

George Robson, Petoskey

Addiction & Diet

I wanted to respond to Joe Connolly’s short but stinging letter in the last issue. His remark that heroin is a huge problem in northern Michigan is a reality but not a permanent one.

The problem lies in the last half a century and can be fixed in the next 50, slowly but surely. The rising problem of processed sugar, fake food, alcohol, and chemical additives has led us here. Alcohol shouldn’t be on that list, because it’s just a symptom of the larger problem...sugar. Children grow up eating terrible things considered normal by society’s standards. Sugar is a gateway drug to other addictions, including alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and harder drugs like heroin. The brain is trained from birth to seek out pleasurable things. So it’s no surprise that there are so many people addicted to drugs.

But most people are addicted to one thing or another, shoving the bigger problems under the rug because they don’t want to face their own addictions. We must change the way we eat, we must change the way we live, and we must change the way we treat each other. Fresh fruits and vegetables, and other natural foods, are the key to changing your brain back towards normal human behavior. Take it from me’ I’ve been there, and I beat it with a complete change. No chemicals, no commercial products, just natural ingredients.

Another piece of advice is to kick fluoride out of your life. We just don’t know what it does to us, and I feel the difference now that it’s gone.

Kate Heady, Charlevoix

Education Overhaul

I couldn’t agree more with Thomas Kachadurian about "TCAPS’ Sinking Ship." The whole education system needs a massive makeover. Yes, there are good teachers, but a lot of bad ones as well. The educational sector cries publicly that "it’s all about the children." Is it?

Whose feel-good idea was it for students to have community service or fundraising as school activities? Why is it so important to teach students how to use the Internet when they can do that on their own time? When did it become acceptable for the system to knowingly pass students that can’t read, write or apply basic math?

Social media is destroying basic behavior and socializing skills. The education system is failing big time to help educate students on basic life skills and knowledge they need to become informed and fulfilled on their way to adulthood.

Diane Mix, Manton