Climate change, now and later
Dear Editor:
For a seasonally organized and essentially fashion-driven industry like a ski resort, it makes perfect sense to frame climate change in immediate terms. Winter-sports enthusiasts are less likely to think in the long term, as advocated by Rob Katz in his recent op-ed, so making the case for an urgent response to the climate crisis might well be best accomplished by stating the obvious: No more skiing unless we act.
But Katz’s argument is just as powerful and just as correct. Our collective focus on the short term has been a major contributor to our present predicament. Our culture is fixated on instant consumer gratification, informed by hysterical news media on a 24-hour cycle of excitement and spectacle and governed by politicians fixated on the next election cycle. Only with a profound reorientation in our thinking toward multi-generational responsibility to the future can we accomplish the kind of thoughtful and reasoned planetary response demanded by an emergency of this magnitude.
Warren Senders
Medford, Mass.
Aspen City Council considers additional increases to food tax refund
Just as everyone was getting used to the $15 increase in the food tax refund, Aspen City Council unanimously agreed that they’d like to see it increase even more.