Our victory garden
The hottest world day on record, then again, the next day. Disastrous floods in the northeast and across the world. Dangerous smoke in the midwest and east from out-of-control Canadian wildfires. Violent storms in the south. Unheard-of 90-degree-plus water temperatures off the Florida coast. Dangerous heat-waves in the southwest, Europe and other places. What are you gonna do? Please don’t tell me (again) “we’re screwed there’s nothing we can do,” because there is.
The city of Moscow recently adopted a climate action plan, and the goal is for the city to produce net-zero emissions by 2050. This means that we as a community will produce so little global warming, carbon pollution, that it will be offset by activities such as planting more trees. The overall idea is that we will electrify almost everything and at the same time we will clean up our electrical generation so that it produces little to no carbon pollution.
Each of us can start looking at replacing our gas furnaces with mini-split heat pumps, ditching our unhealthy gas stoves for electric or induction models, replacing our gas cars with any of a plethora of new electric models coming out, replacing our gas water heaters with hybrid or electric models and transitioning out of any other fossil-fueled appliances. Now is the time to do it. Not only because of the mounting climate-based natural disasters, but because of the rebates and tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act (see the IRA Savings Calculator at rewiringamerica.org). If nothing else, knowing that we are doing something to address the problem will improve our world outlook, and eliminating fossil fuel emissions from our lives will also improve our personal health. Yes, it will take a World War II-like effort, and going electric at home will be our victory garden. Let’s do it.
Al Poplawsky
Moscow
Giving up rights for others
I was saddened to hear that the city of Moscow has settled with Christ Church deacon, failed County Commissioner candidate, and Doug Wilson acolyte Gabe Rench and another couple after their arrest during one of Wilson’s Christ Church “hymn sings” during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. My personal engagements with Rench assure me that he is gloating and feels fully vindicated now that he has collected a settlement from the city for what he calls a violation of his First Amendment rights. He is entitled to that; after all, he won.
Or did he? As a citizen, he should have been held to the City’s reasonable mask mandate, and the hymn sings were not a spontaneous act of public worship but, rather, a calculated stiff middle finger not only to the City, but to its residents nearby. The rebelliously unmasked crowd lustily singing were engaged not only in reckless disregard for their own well-being and that of their neighbors, but also engaged in hateful disregard of the commandment of the God they presumed to worship.
Christians are commanded to obey reasonable orders from the state. We are also taught by the Lord Jesus to consider the well-being of others as more important than our own, even giving up our rights for the good of others. Wilson and his beholden toadies like Rench may have won this battle, but it is clear that they continue to lose their war against sin, licentiousness, and contempt for their neighbors. I fear for Rench when he finds out that the God of righteousness does not settle His disputes with those who willingly transgress — and do so in His name.
Keely Emerine-Mix
Moscow
Supposed threats
Sadly, truth is being deliberately distorted and falsified by some scientists, the mainstream media and some politicians to deliberately mislead us and move us toward a global government. We were recently told by the mainstream media that we experienced three record warmest days when most involved knew that this was not true or at least could not be proven.
The specter of possible future disastrous global warming continues to be the drum beat of those who seek to create a one-world government that will control all people for the benefit of a select elite. The mentioned “hottest temperature” records were generated by a computer program with the input of known misleading data. The U.S. has experienced significantly hotter days in the past and accurate world records have only been available since 1979. And we are currently experiencing unusual solar activity impacting all weather. We know the whole earth was warmer in the past than now. The heat island effect of big cities is distorting many of the temperature readings. None of the past predictions of the global warming pushers have come true, yet we are being forced to suffer economic hardships because of this supposed threat.
All truth is God’s truth. We need to recognize it and live by it. He has told us there is an evil one world government coming but climate change, gender issues, critical race theory, etc. are just tools of the elite seeking to move us into submission to this evil power. God’s word, the Bible, tells us the truth about what is coming, whether physical death for each of us or the one world government under the Antichrist in the tribulation period. We would do well to avoid being gaslighted by the mainstream media, our government and others with a hidden agenda based on fear.
Larry Kirkland
Moscow
The one-man parade
I have observed a real enthusiasm for flags in Moscow. The desire to have a U.S. flag in front of one’s home, waving in our robust winds, has got me thinking. When did the flag become a symbol of a particular far-right political persuasion? As a child, I was instructed to put my right hand on my chest and to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Flags and pledges seemed then to be symbols of our society as a whole. Today the flag has been adopted by those who want to use it to divide us.
Yesterday, I watched a car go by festooned with flags. One flag was clearly the U.S. flag. Others seemed less obvious, but I wondered about the intent. Was the driver hoping I would respond? Perhaps a wave, a thumbs up? Or maybe he hoped only for acknowledgement: a lonely and isolated human hoping to make a statement that he is here, and he wants to be seen. The sort of response he got from other onlookers I observed on Main Street in Moscow was indifference. No problem, the driver circled and returned to drive down the street again. Indeed, the only response I could muster was pity. I’m sorry his attempts at a one-man parade were so soundly disregarded.
Nonetheless, I’d like to imagine a time when symbols like flags and pledges are no longer seen as a necessary add-on in our yards, on our vehicles. May our community gather and mingle and support one another without divisive symbols. Let’s seek out the lonely spirits such as this fellow and look beyond the symbol he hides behind to the man he might be, without the flags, without the distraction.
Zena Hartung
Moscow
