Climate change: Reap what you sow

ISSUE | CLIMATE CHANGE

Reap what you sow

L&D Landfill in Burlington County may be gearing up to host a solar farm ("Sunnier days at Superfund site," Nov. 8), but York, Pa., also has a Superfund-site-to-solar conversion to be proud of.

Putting a solar array on top of a remediated site is a glorious symbol considering the full effects of our consumption. We may no longer be dumping toxic contaminants into unlined pits, but we continue to use too much energy that emits devastating greenhouse gases. Those gases cause warming that also threatens clean water supplies, and emissions include toxic pollutants that pose harm to our neighbors downwind.

May this inspiring symbol of solar over Superfund remind us of the choices we can make. Knowing the positive we can choose, why would we not?

|Rev. Alison Cornish, executive director, Pennsylvania Interfaith Power

& Light, Philadelphia, acornish@paipl.org

ISSUE | WHYY

Helping students

Thank you, WHYY, for bringing your media lab to Murrell Dobbins High School.

Bringing video equipment and a media instructor to Dobbins has value beyond increasing student interest, engagement, and performance. The lab inspires teachers to incorporate digital media in classrooms in ways that would not otherwise have been possible. They can record classes for absent students and give students the chance to document their understanding of the content and present it in their own words.

For students, this means they are using technological equipment that they will be expected to use beyond high school. Dobbins' students will graduate ready to succeed in a competitive environment.

This is all possible because of WHYY's commitment to the community and education.

|Toni Damon, principal, Murrell Dobbins High School, Philadelphia, tdamon@philasd.org

ISSUE | THE PARKWAY

Pedestrians, beware

Children, seniors, and others should not have to risk their lives to cross a street in Philadelphia. Citizens and community leaders should pay attention to the state highway project in progress on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway ("On Parkway, a building frenzy," Tuesday).

What could be worse than a traffic pattern that sends ambiguous, mixed messages about who has the right of way? It also makes drivers and pedestrians competitors for the same space, a contest that is certain to end badly.

The traffic engineers who created this mess never had to cross these streets at dusk. The only question is whether the state will correct these mistakes before or after an innocent person is killed.

|Dick Levinson, Philadelphia, levinson.dick9@gmail.com

ISSUE | TERRORISM IN PARIS

NATO should respond with force

Article 5 of the NATO Charter states, "The parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them . . . shall be considered an attack against them all and . . . will assist . . . [with] such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area."

The attack on Paris by the Islamic State clearly fits under this article ("At G-20, leaders vow a vigorous response," Monday). This is neither a culture war nor a religious war. It has nothing to do with Islam or Muslims. It is an act of naked aggression that must be dealt with immediately. There is no diplomatic avenue open to the militaristic leadership of the Islamic State, so the NATO powers must fulfill their agreement and act jointly.

If the United Nations, Russia, or Arab powers wish to join in, by all means allow it. The pope has said this is World War III, and I agree with him.

|Dr. Kenneth Gorelick, Newtown Square

It's time to destroy the Islamic State

The Islamic State may have overplayed its hand and sowed the seeds of its own destruction. Not satisfied with having established a caliphate in Syria and Iraq, it is exporting its brand of terrorism around the globe. In so doing, it may have galvanized world and domestic public opinion that will allow for the introduction of ground forces by the United States and its allies that can bring IS down.

It seems clear that no amount of bombing can degrade IS capability so greatly as to stop its export of terrorism or reclaim the lands it has captured. President Obama, the people will support a significantly upgraded effort to destroy IS, not merely try to slow it down. Now is the time for you to seize the initiative and act - are you up to the challenge?

|Ken Derow, Swarthmore

The political blame game

Republicans are amazing. Nearly 3,000 Americans died on 9/11 with George W. Bush as president, and he kept us safe. Fewer than 150 people died Friday in Paris, and it's President Obama's fault.

|Stephen Sander, Westtown Township

ISSUE | ORGANIST

Piping up

What a refreshing Kevin Riordan profile of Robert Gladden, the Haddon Heights church organist, ("All the right notes," Nov. 8).

I'd love to get to the St. Rose of Lima Church some weekend to hear him play. I'm Roman Catholic and a secular musician, and I have played many funerals and weddings on guitar (and vocals), though not the organ.

Gladden reminds me of renowned Wanamaker organist Keith Chapman. As a stock boy, I would listen, astounded, during lunch breaks on the organ station high above what is now Macy's court. I've never heard of anyone as talented until I read about Gladden's working four keyboards through nearly 3,000 pipes.

|Cletus McBride, Bensalem