Man-made woes

Parkersburg News and Sentinel – Aug 19, 2018 Margaret Meeker –

After watching the news of the fires in California a family member said, “Is God trying to tell California something?” I don’t think it is God but it is Mother Earth telling us that for years we have been sending pollutants into the air that have caused the ocean temperatures to rise, caused droughts, heavy rainfalls, mud slides, flooding, etc.

Yes, some human being did deliberately start at least two of the fires in California. Are they terrorists? They certainly have caused more property loss and destruction to the earth than human kind has seen in years.

Well, if one is following the news, you have seen pictures of all the dead animals washing ashore in Florida. Did God do that? No, the governor and legislators of Florida did not think that the Environmental Protection Agency should dictate what could be put into the waters of the state which eventually flowed into the ocean.

Just think back a few years about the contaminated water near Charlestown, W.Va. Was this caused by God? No, it was a chemical company that ignored the regulations of the EPA.

Why is Black Lung on the rise for coal miners? The remaining coal companies do not want to listen to EPA.

Why is there a lawsuit concerning C8? Because a manufacturing company was extremely careless about dumping chemicals that eventually entered the water source for many in Ohio and West Virginia.

Our Rep. David McKinley boasts about the coal production rising since 2016 election. He has worked alongside other members of the U.S. House of Representatives to weaken all regulations. He does not want to see solar and wind power grow in our state nor the country. Why does he support an administration in Washington D.C. that has pulled the U.S. out of the Paris agreement? Why does he support an agency that permits asbestos to be made and used in construction again?

Some do not want global warming or climate change taught in our schools. How will they explain the huge amount of cancer in our area? Why do we have two Cancer Centers in this area of the Ohio Valley?

To the Administration and the EPA: We urge you to rethink and reverse your latest proposal to strip California’s ability to regulate car emissions that damage our lungs, hearts, and brains, and cause climate change.

For those who read the Bible, I think it says that man was to care for the world not destroy it.

Margaret Meeker

Williamstown