Climate’s change degrading South our kids will inhabit
Growing up in the South, I inherited a belief in the goodness of Creation. Everyone in my life system encouraged the climbing of trees and the catching of critters. There was even a stigma to staying indoors and leaving the wild world unexplored, the grasshoppers uncaught, the fireflies un-chased. I love my memories of that time, but my sentiment sours when I think of my niece. She will never know my childhood world, because she lives on a different planet – a rapidly warming planet with 50 percent fewer wild animals and storms that dwarf those of my youth. By the time she is my age, around 20 percent of species will have gone extinct, and I am terrified by what this ecological collapse will mean for her future. This Earth Day week, I ask citizens, journalists and policymakers to please focus on the climate crisis that is quickly moving beyond our control.
JEFF SHADE, ATLANTA
Central Library not equipped to be homeless shelter
Regarding “Library renovation plan” (Metro, April 16), more than anything, the Marcel Breuer-designed Central Library in downtown Atlanta serves as a homeless center. Until the city finds more appealing alternatives for the homeless to use the bathroom, wash up, read, relax and snooze all day, it is a waste of money to pour more cash into that white elephant. The last time I was doing research there, a couple of guys got into a fight, with one of them ranting interminably to the cops about how he’d been wronged. Not the right atmosphere for the library’s intended purposes. This is not a rant against the poor and often-addicted and deranged homeless. Libraries and librarians aren’t equipped to serve their needs and shouldn’t be expected to.
JIM CONNAH, SANDY SPRINGS
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