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Humans are bad for environment

3 min read

This in response to the letter, “Drilling, fracking not safe” in the Feb. 1 edition of the Observer-Reporter. The writer of the letter, Candy DeBerry, stated a wealth of facts that immediately brought one saying to mind: “Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.”

I would say that 99.9 percent of the human race is bad for the environment. Things that make our everyday existence easier are bad for the environment.

DeBerry was responding to a Jan. 23 letter, which means she read it. The paper is made from trees. Deforestation destroys the environment, which aids in reducing greenhouse gases emitted into the environment. The trees are taken down by heavy equipment, which emits noise pollution and air pollution, not to mention displacing millions of species of animals or, in some instances, making them extinct.

The rigs that transport the logs to a mill are no exception. The mill processes these logs into paper, which is then transported for various uses, including your daily newspaper. The press that makes the paper, along with the mill, expel greenhouse gases. The trucks that transport the newspaper to the store where you buy it or the news carrier who drives to your front door emit chemicals dangerous to the environment. Just to get up many of the roads this time of year requires salt to deliver the paper. The road is made of tar which is an oil by-product. Both salt and the roads are destroying and polluting our environment, not to mention the trucks used in both procedures.

The Internet uses electricity to power it, which emits more greenhouse gases, and is constructed with plastic and metals, which are poisoning and contaminating our environment when thrown in the garbage. So does that television set, cellphone, computer, lighting and heater that you use every day, all in the name of convenience.

The garbage that you put on the curb every week goes to a landfill where it adds to pollution. I understand that Waste Management filters out up to 93 percent of the recyclables to reuse, but it still leaves 7 percent of your garbage to be detrimental to the environment. Those plastic containers you throw away take thousands of years to dissolve.

Fracking may not be 100 percent foolproof, but natural gas is a lot better for the environment than coal or gasoline or oil as an energy source. It’s also cleaner and cheaper. It’s also produced here, which means many new job opportunities. It brings much-needed income to municipalities and gives an economic boost to an area of the United States that has needed one desperately since the death of the steel industry.

The moral of my story is if DeBerry is looking to place blame for the destruction of the environment, then she need not look any further than the nearest mirror. Placing all this blame on fracking is like the pot calling the kettle black.

Chris Koger

Washington

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