ONE WAY OUT

I have read all the various articles regarding David Nilsen and Cedar Funding, and this by far has got to be the greatest [“The Fall of Cedar Funding,” June 5-11]. I live in Southern California and I am a member of the property described as Lake Elizabeth RV park and golf resort. This was supposed to be a private, members-only facility, and we recently learned that the RV park and all its so-called amenities are now open to the public. For those who still support Mr. Nilsen, it’s time for a reality check. Receivership is the only remedy that can resolve the issues that have cost people their retirements. –Roger Berger | Leona Valley

WHAT’S IT GONNA TAKE, MR. PRESIDENT?

Listening to the radio this morning, I heard President Bush call for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to increase the nation’s oil supply. Scientists have told us that there is only one year’s worth of oil there, and drilling would forever destroy the ecology of the place. In this “free-market economy,” why would we ignore market signals that tell us that oil is the energy source of the past? Mr. Bush is personally invested in oil, but our entire nation has stakes in preserving one of the last pristine wildlife areas of the country. It is time for Mr. Bush to stick to his ideological lines and listen to what the market says all the time, instead of only when it’s personally beneficial to do so. U.S. citizens are already paying for our country’s failure to innovate, and are beginning to make positive adjustments like buying smaller cars, walking, and taking the bus.–Virginia Jameson | Salinas, Conservation and development analyst, Ag Land Trust

THE CHOICE IS OURS

Whether one is optimistic or pessimistic about the world’s future [“Coining a New Theology,” June 5-11], one factor cannot be ignored: expanding population is changing the world. One only need look at Haiti, a microcosm of the world to come. Fisheries are depleted. Agricultural land is insufficient to support its fast-growing population, and without sufficient outside help and food sent to this welfare nation the people resort to eating “mud cookies” made from clay and a little grease.

What outside help will there be for Earth’s people when the oceans have died, farmland has been paved over or the soil has blown away, glaciers have melted, drying up the rivers, groundwater has been depleted or poisoned, oil is used up, nuclear waste is plentiful and still not secured, and entire countries like Bangladesh are swamped by rising oceans resulting from global warming?

In the 1960s, Dr. Paul Ehrlich warned what would happen and began the Zero Population Growth movement. It lost momentum when China imposed its one-child-per-family rule, and the subject is now politically incorrect. How often do our presidential candidates mention it? I have been to vastly overcrowded China, which had little choice.

America and the rest of the world must choose between voluntary or mandatory population control, or massive starvation and violent anarchy as survivors battle for disappearing resources.–Bruce Cowan | Pacific Grove