Your views: Aug. 6, 2020

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Can we help our farmers and environment at the same time?

 

It is about time that farmers catch a break. If you are a farmer, or know someone who is — and I think most of us do — you know how hard they work and how a year’s hard work can be wiped out by an uncontrollable act of nature or market collapse-none of which is of their making. I myself am deeply grateful to them. A piece of legislation has been introduced in both the House and the Senate that can prove to be a great help for farmers, and incredibly enough, it has an equal number of sponsors from both sides of the aisle. It is called the Growing Climate Solutions Act.

This legislation provides the incentive for farmers and foresters to engage in sustainable practices by helping them to access lucrative carbon credit markets. Basically, it will be easier for farmers to get paid for emissions they reduce and carbon they sequester. The bill gives farmers technical assistance to develop practices that are eligible for carbon credits, measure the value of those credits, and certifies them for trading on the market. This can aid them in developing farming practices that can be more lucrative in the long run, but which have hefty upfront costs. This is good news for farmers and for the planet.

At a time when it has been hard to get Democrats and Republicans to agree on anything, perhaps this can be a bridge to help them work together for a common cause for the good of all. Not only that, but perhaps it will serve as a basis to see that caring for our environment does not mean hurting our nation financially. I for one do not believe that we should destroy our nation to combat climate change, nor do I think we have to. I feel certain that we will be able to find many other ways to work together to both combat climate change, help our environment, and to make our nation stronger and more financially secure.

So, please consider contacting your Congressman and Senators and asking them to cosponsor the Growing Climate Solutions Act. It will make our farmers stronger, our country stronger and it can be the beginning of Bipartisan legislation to move our great nation forward as one America-not a Blue America or a Red America, but as the United States of America.

Vernon Dixon, MD

 

Here's what we know about COVID-19

October 2019 -The Chinese Communist Party government knew they had a serious COVID problem months before they reported it to the World Health Organization, as they went from the worlds largest exporters of N-95 masks to importers.

Jan. 14-20, 2020 - The CCP, WHO, and Dr. Fauci stated it was not contagious.

Jan. 28, the Wuhan CCP boss publicly admitted they had lied. Less than 48 hours later, President Trump halted all travel to and from China except for Americans desiring to return to the United States, who were quarantined. He was the first world leader to do so.

Feb. 24, the first 53 cases in the United States were confirmed, no deaths.

March 15, with a total of 69 deaths nationwide attributed to COVID-19, the Center for Disease Control and Fauci recommended that President Trump suggest quarantining the country, estimating that if he did not, over 2 million would die within months. The following day, the president announced their advice.

April 17, the highest daily death count reached 6,372. Since then, the average weekly death counts have gone down for three straight months as happened with all herd immunity in known history. Yet all we hear on the news is that the number of new confirmed cases have gone up dramatically. That is because testing has gone from less than 100,000 to over 700,000 daily. Further, persons having evidence of any virus and/or viral antibodies are counted as having COVID-19 even though they show no symptoms. Also, there appears to be massive over-counting and tests have been shown to be inaccurate. With hospitals being given $13,000 for each case reported and $39,000 for each time a ventilator is used, there is a great incentive to over-report. Yet, the most relevant statistic, actual COVID-19 hospital admissions, is not reported. Why?

Fifth percent of COVID-19 deaths are people over 80. So are about half the deaths in the United States from any cause, some 1.5 million since 2-1-20. Yet the media continually hypes fear. People over 80 and those under 80 with compromised immune systems comprise the overwhelming majority of COVID-19 deaths. Is this worth putting 35 million healthy Americans out of work and destroying the economy?

Schools are being kept closed although Switzerland’s infectious diseases chief says that children do not have the receptors to catch COVID-19. Most of the world’s children are going back to school.

Countries that did not lock-down like Sweden, incidence of infections and deaths (one in 2,000) are roughly the same as countries that have been locked-down for months.

According to thousands of emergency room doctors, hydroxychloroquine with zinc and/or azithromycin have cured people with symptoms. Google, You Tube, and Facebook remove doctors’ videos who report HCQ successes. Why?

The WHO, CDC bureaucracy, and media have continued to condemn HCQ and parrot big pharmaceutical companies that a vaccine is the only answer, even though there have been no documented successful vaccines for a COVID virus. Can you see the con?

James F. Davis 

 

Masking up

Recent letters expressed alarm and concern regarding people not wearing masks in public. This occurs even though there is strong scientific evidence that masks save lives and slows the spread of COVID19. The new wave of cases threaten the fragile lives of the most vulnerable in society while it wreaks havoc on our economy.

The threats are real and tangible and parallel the threats we are facing with climate change. The science behind climate change provides strong evidence of health and economic devastation if we fail to take action. Like COVID-19, we cannot spare ourselves from its existence but we can learn and try to minimize its most damaging impacts on society.

There are no simple fixes but there are ways to significantly improve our outcome. With COVID-19, individuals can wear masks and social distance, while government and scientists strive for a vaccine and effective treatments.

Similarly, with climate change, individuals can be aware of their carbon footprint and can insist their representatives support legislation counteracting climate change. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019 (H.R.763) is proposed legislation that would significantly improve our situation if passed. The legislation puts a price on carbon emissions and returns funds in the form of dividends to citizens. The legislation is deemed effective and is strongly supported by the economist community as evidenced by the 2019 Economists’ Statement on Carbon Dividends published by the Wall Street Journal.

Our society seems to forget how close we are tied to nature and each other, as we now learn just how vulnerable we are. There are tools at our disposal if we choose to use them. It may not be you that you are protecting, but rather your mother, your children, or as an economist would suggest, your wallet.

David Miller