A proposal that helps the planet
Initiatives taken by Georgia’s businesses to promote sustainability and a greener environment heartened my environmentally conscious mind. (“Green acts drive job growth,” Opinion, April 8). The focus on businesses working around resource limitations reminded me of the carbon fee and dividend proposal championed by the non-profit organization Citizens’ Climate Lobby and endorsed by Republicans such as George Shultz. It aims to put a fee on each ton of CO2 emitted by businesses and then return the revenue back to the public. A study conducted by Regional Economics Models Inc,. concluded that the increased money in people’s pockets would create 2.8 million jobs over the next 20 years, while reducing CO2 emissions by half. This proposal works for our planet.
RAHUL SRIVASTAVA, ATLANTA
Hospitals follow protocol to screen heart recipients
Politics surrounding the Anthony Stokes situation are troubling. The decision of the hospital to deny him a heart should not have been questioned and should not have generated the hue and cry that it did. There are protocols institutions use when screening candidates for their waiting lists for transplants. The only question that ever should be asked in a particular case is were the protocols followed. When properly established and followed, these protocols take race, sex, wealth, political influence and other such factors out of the equation. This was the initial situation in the Stokes case, but political pressure caused the hospital to reverse its decision. There is a finite supply of donor organs, which meant that others more deserving were moved down on the list. It is not just about saving a life, but which life.
JACOB M. YOUNGINER, STOCKBRIDGE
Educate children of the APS scandal
Hundreds, perhaps thousands of Atlanta’s children were capriciously robbed of one of a person’s most precious possession — an education. The guilty are being punished. However, there is another crime against these children that is taking place right in front of us and we don’t even see it. Atlanta has found the funds to help construct a Beltway, a trolley line and a stadium for a privately owned business. Atlanta should show moral decency and find the funds to locate the children who were so unjustly robbed, bring them together and provide them with the education due them.
DAN SIEGEL, DACULA
