David Roy - 3-27-2022 - Climate-study denial hurts ag

 Climate-study denial hurts ag 

March 27, 2022

How do we determine the most fundamental reason the Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted against spending an approved grant to assess the impact of climate deterioration on rural communities? 

A variety of board members' negative comments amounted to ad hominem attacks on the survey and revealed a lack of understanding of the nature and importance of empirically derived facts. 

Just like many people who put off seeing their physician because they don't want to know they might be seriously ill, Steve Brandau (my district's supervisor) and the others do not want to know the answers to critical questions in this situation because it likely will mean making changes to safeguard the health of the most vulnerable and the least represented. 

That stance is not only opposing the well-being of all, it actually works against agriculture by not knowing precisely what needs to be done to help keep its work force healthy and on the job. - 

David E. Roy, Fresno 

Pat Reeves - 3-27-2022 - Denial of study funding is shocking

 Denial of study funding is shocking 

March 27, 2022

I was shocked that the Fresno Country Board of Supervisors would vote against a project that would collect data on the effects of climate change in rural areas of the Val-ley. 

Problems can't be solved unless they are first understood. The data collected over a 20-year period would give us important informa-tion. 

I hope the supervisors will reconsider their vote. - 

Pat Reeves, Fresno 

Don Gaede - 3-27-2022 - Time to become prepared is now

 Time to become prepared is now 

March 27, 2022

I was disappointed that the Fresno County Board of Supervisors rejected a proposal by the Dept. of Public Health to accept $175,000 to fund a study on the health impacts of climate change on Fresno County residents. 

We need to better understand the health im-pacts of increasingly com-mon events like wildfire smoke drifting in from across the state. We need to find ways to shield our most vulnerable residents with asthma, COPD and heart disease from those events. 

I agree with the county supervisors that agriculture is important to Fresno County. But climate change threatens both Valley crops and Valley children. As any girl or boy Scout would tell you, "Be prepared." 

- Don Gaede, Fresno 

Andrea De Zubiria - 3-27-2022 - On county denying funds for study

 On county denying funds for study 

March 27, 2022

I truly appreciated your March 1 editorial, taking the Fresno County Board of Supervisors to task for turning away funds to study the local impacts of climate change. 

It is disturbing that we have elected leaders who would prefer to ignore urgent public health hazards so that they can carry on with business as usual. It is especially disturbing that the study would have focused on vulnerable populations and would likely be useful for applying for more funds to address problems in the Valley. 

Thank you for providing the public with information about this issue. I will share your editorial with the 1,000-plus members of Citizens' Climate Lobby-Fresno. - 

Andrea Farber De Zubiria, Fresno 

Matthew Armstrong - 3-13-2022 - County board refuses to see risks

 

County board refuses to see risks

March 13, 2022

In the Feb. 27 issue, The Bee reported that the county Board of supervisors rejected a grant to study health impacts of climate change, with Supervisor Magsig questioning whether such a study would fit with local agriculture, and Supervisor Brandau, unsurprisingly, making vague statements about the “sketchy” people who would do the study — with no clear example of what was sketchy about them.

This is, unfortunately, fairly typical of these two, and of the council as a whole as of late. When granted the opportunity to do their duty and help identify problems for their constituents in order to be prepared, they have chosen instead to bury their heads in the sand.

Every summer we see how climate change causes health problems by burning the Sierra, and we are now seeing how climate change-fueled droughts can impact local agriculture. But apparently the BoS feels that even acknowledging real-world problems, instead of fighting fictional culture wars and pursuing fringe Libertarian economic theories, is somehow not appropriate.

Failing to acknowledge the risks that the Valley faces from climate change is a dereliction of duty. I hope that the voters of Fresno County will hold these people responsible.

Matthew Armstrong, Fresno 

https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article259290964.html