Reviews | A disastrous climate report and the judges do not help

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For the editor:

Regarding “Time is running out to fix climate, report says” (front page, March 1):

At a time when the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has made the devastating effects of unbridled climate change more apparent than ever, President Biden is fighting an uphill battle to gain congressional support for the essential federal programs targeting US greenhouse gas emissions.

His job has only been made more difficult by coal companies and a number of Republican-led states that have just fought their last battle against meaningful federal intervention in the Supreme Court (“Justices Dispute EPA Power to Curb Emissions “, front page, March 1).

These dirty energy advocates have shut down President Obama’s clean energy plan, and their ongoing goal is to thwart the Environmental Protection Agency‘s ability to curb carbon pollution from power plants. obsolete. What century do they live in?

The United States must confront our climate crisis head-on. In this regard, Ross Douthat’s call for a boosted US birth rate in “’My Fellow Americans’: Four Times Columnists Channel Joe Biden” (Opinion, March 1) is oddly misplaced. In a country that is one of the world leaders in carbon pollution per capitait’s madness to raise birth rates in the hope that someone will “invent the invention or come up with the big idea that makes the world a better place.”

There is no shortage of good ideas to advance this ambition; what we lack is the political will to implement them.

Philip Warburg
Newton, Mass.
The author is a senior researcher at Boston University’s Institute for Sustainable Energy.

For the editor:

The Times provided excellent commentary (without saying a word) on the current state of our highest court in the land. Consider these two front-page headlines on the same day, March 1: “Time Running Out to Fix Climate, Report Says” and “Judges Challenge EPA’s Power to Cut Emissions.”

If you want to know how alienated the majority of judges are from the hopelessly fragile world we live in, read these two headlines and weep.

Landor de Barth
Chicago

For the editor:

As important as your “Time is running out to fix the climate, report says” story is, I doubt the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will have as much impact as the United Nations and the authors of the report had anticipated.

First, it is not clear from history what is substantially new in this report that has not already been said in many previous reports.

Opinion talk
The climate and the world are changing. What challenges will the future bring and how should we respond to them?

And I find it disconcerting that the United Nations would decide to release what it clearly sees as a very important report at a time when most of the world – including the New York Times – is fascinated by the invasion of Ukraine.

Given the profound implications of climate change for all life on the planet, it is imperative that the UN and others fighting climate change adopt a more sophisticated communications strategy.

Paul Jelinek
Mercerville, New Jersey

For the editor:

Conservatives on the US Supreme Court could condemn the Earth, as in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, countries scramble to reduce their dependence on oil and gas like never before and green energy stocks are soaring.

Who would have believed in this world “on the other side of the looking glass” that it could be the United States that would risk dooming millions of lives in the future when the actions of Vladimir Putin could help save them?

Deborah Moran
Houston

Catholics believe that all life is sacred, including the unborn child, and Catholic health care has long been committed to upholding the human dignity of every person. Catholic hospitals do not allow elective abortions. But they treat life-threatening complications of pregnancy, although it is expected that such action will lead to the death of the unborn baby.

Clinicians working in Catholic hospitals recognize that these medical decisions are often difficult and painful and strive to manage them with compassion for mother and child.

In the case of pregnancy complications that could lead to miscarriage, such as ectopic pregnancies, Catholic hospitals follow established clinical protocols when a fetus cannot come to term and could cause infection or even death of the woman. mother. Removing a diseased part of the fallopian tube in an ectopic pregnancy or treating a uterine infection is both clinically and ethically necessary.

The majority of Catholic hospitals operating in the United States were founded by women for women and children. Today they deliver around 500,000 babies a year and are accredited and held to the same standards as non-Catholic hospitals.

The care provided by Catholic hospitals is rooted in a commitment to human dignity for unborn children and their mothers. When complications arise, our dedicated providers always try to save both lives. I disagree with the suggestion that clinicians working in Catholic hospitals ruthlessly ignore one in favor of the other.

(Sister) Mary Haddad
Saint Louis
The author is president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States.

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