Postal service troubles

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Our mail is erratic, like so many households. This is because the postal service everywhere is understaffed, it is trying to hire people.

But our letter carrier delivered my medicine on a Sunday. I think this is over and above, and I am very grateful.

J. S. Holly Bennington

Admiration for Jane Fonda

I'm writing this in response to an article titled "Why Activists Are Taking Action for Climate Change" (Nov. 23).

This piece discussed Jane Fonda's call to action in the fight against the climate crisis. Since it was published, Jane Fonda returned to Capitol Hill to revitalize the Fire Drill Friday rallies for the first time since the pandemic. As a former D.C. native with experience protesting on Capitol Hill, I feel admiration and inspiration for her work. However, looking up to mobilizers and activists like Jane Fonda can paint a cynical haze on what it looks like to fight for climate justice. I acknowledge that much of the consequence of climate change stems from major emitters, the foul play of corporations, and the negligence of the government. However, I would like to offer a community-based and individuality-focused perspective to remind us that change can be made with personal participation, as well.

Amidst necessary conversations about natural disasters and the exploitation of large companies, we cannot forget that our carbon footprint and our plastic usage also matter. We cannot forget about the children in our schools that eat with plastic utensils and, in some cases, on polystyrene trays. Many people do not have the ability to rally in the streets every week or the resources to set their lives aside and become full-time activists. Change requires participation at all levels, and even a small commitment to #plasticfreelunch (a movement spearheaded by Cafeteria Culture in New York City Public Schools) in your own home can ripple out to be beneficial in the fight against the climate crisis.

Beatrix Sherry Bennington

How many inactions does it take to make a disaster?

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Imagine a group of people watching a house burn. They are gathered around a fire hydrant and a hose is coiled at their feet. As the house burns, the people discuss how they might make it rain to put the fire out. Maybe prayer would work? Maybe a rain dance? Maybe seeding the clouds? The house continues to burn. Absurd, right? But a pretty good analogy to the current healthcare nightmare and our reaction to it.

In the political debates preceding the November election in Vermont, the subject of healthcare was mostly missing. That's pretty odd, given how prominent that subject has been in the state's media, chronicling doctor shortages, lengthy wait times to see a doctor and, of course, the ever growing cost of healthcare. Consider the silence the equivalent of praying for rain to put the fire out. Healthcare is a necessity, not some consumer product that people can do without if they don't like the price. The industry can charge pretty much any price it wants. The cost of health insurance is rising considerably faster than incomes, prompting the chair of the regulatory body to call the rates unaffordable." There are reportedly "around 30,000 Vermonters with medical debt in collections and tens of thousands more who are paying down medical bills that have not reached collections." The only solution offered to date by the Vermont executive and legislative bodies is another vulture, the "accountable care organization" OneCare, which dines on taxpayer dollars without providing or improving care in any way. At the recent Green Mountain Care Board hearing on OneCare's budget, a GMCB member remarked that he was looking for evidence that OneCare was producing outcomes "that matter to patients," but "I can't find them."

There has been a large turnover in Vermont's Legislature. Dare we hope that new legislators will finally have the courage and sense to finally notice the fire hydrant? Perhaps to even discuss solutions like a publicly funded universal care plan?

Lee Russ Bennington