Think globally, act sustainably

The world’s population is nearing 8 billion. Last year, a report titled “Scientists’ warning on population” cited the research of several renowned scientists including Paul Ehrlich which opines that the Earth is able to sustainably support only 2 billion to 4 billion people.

There’s much in today’s news that should be connected to the above reality, but rarely is: refugees around the globe, the crisis on our own southern border, U.S. labor shortages, the housing crisis, China’s population decline, to name a few.

These realities demand two changes in our perspectives. First, we must imagine and plan for a future with fewer people. Too often we reflexively think more and bigger when we should be thinking how to manage sustainably. Second, we should embrace immigration (we certainly did from the 1600s into the 1900s). Congress needs to break the decades-long deadlock on immigration reform that is preventing control of our borders.

David Allen

White River Junction

Now ‘their’ is a problem

I’ve been wondering what’s going on at Umpleby’s Cafe: Several mornings a week, small groups of people seem to be huddled together and speaking in foreign tongues.

Now I know why. They’re improving their foreign language skills in hopes of eventually escaping to places where they won’t have to endure linguistic inanities such as the caption beneath the photo of Mad River Glen (“Skiing weather’s rise and fall,” Jan. 17): “A skier carries their gear.” One set of skis, just two boots; one figure, shoulders wider than hips, looks like a man.”

Why not risk “A skier carries his gear?” Afraid an enraged feminine mob might storm VTDigger or VN? The threatening pronoun could easily be ducked by a minor alteration of the sentence and grammatical decency preserved.

When I ask my computer to translate into German the sentence “A skier carries their gear,” it adjusts the pronoun to the masculine singular — “A skier carries his gear.” And that from the language of a country that requires any sizable business concern to have an office of gender equality.

We seem to prefer linguistic tokens rather than actual solutions. As does the male essayist who wrote this about a male writer: “We praise a novelist for ... her powers of individuation,” hoping, one supposes, that a phalanx of grateful woman readers will protect his essay from a speedy trip to the wastebasket, filled as it is with such wonderful stuff as, “how to move beyond the merely visible without embracing what he saw as the soulless fungibility of abstraction.”

But some good may come of it. One can envision what will be called the “their defense.” A lawyer may say, “Your honor, my client took their wallet in hopes of finding the proper owner, when this man starts screaming that his wallet had been stolen. How was my client to know?” Or, by slight extension, our past and present presidents may well seek to be excused for taking “classified” documents on the grounds of linguistic imprecision.

It’s possible, however, that I should look for an empty chair at Umpleby’s.

Jack Barrett

Lebanon

Trump should be held accountable

The House of Representatives is under new management. I’m taking a wait-and-see attitude as to what to expect, and I hope the new Republican leadership is determined to take the high road instead of being vindictive and vengeful toward Democrats. We’ve just experienced years of the most immature and incompetent handling of the governing of America that we’ve ever seen, some by the executive branch, but a lot by the legislative branch. I hope that the investigations which necessarily arise from the actions of those in power are undertaken in a calm and deliberative manner, and that all pertinent evidence and witnesses are properly handled.

One of the things I trust will not happen is deference to former President Trump out of personal or party loyalty. That is not to say he shouldn’t be treated with respect, unlike the actions and attitude of the January 6 Committee. In fact, their actions are subject to investigation and depending on outcome, open to consequences. Democrats tried to make Trump unelectable, and he may have beaten them at their own game. I’m hoping he doesn’t split the conservative vote by taking an independent party approach. I fully believe there’s a variety of excellent choices for voters to consider.

If it can be proved that Donald Trump committed any crimes, even as a sitting president, then he should be held accountable. Even sitting presidents should not be considered above the law, and that goes for Joe Biden as well. I find it interesting that in the recently passed $1.7 trillion appropriations bill, there’s a provision to name a future federal building in Nancy Pelosi’s honor. I’d suggest it be one with the prefix “FCI,” and maybe a luxury suite reserved for her. A wise person once told me, “Power is safest in the hands of those who least feel the need of it.” We’ve seen how Democrats acted when they were in power, and we deserve better than that.

Hopefully Republicans won’t succumb to power struggles and negate their potential for good.

William A. Wittik

Hartford

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