In letters: ‘I hope Trump legislates for all, not just his supporters’ | Opinion

Please, no more talk of ‘deplorables’

Growing up in a rural community like Templeton proves California is more than Hollywood elites or San Francisco tech bros.

It also shows you that the power of a community lies in its ability to transcend differences. I voted for Kamala Harris. We can debate the nitty-gritty policy comparisons, but ultimately, I couldn’t separate policy from Trump’s rhetoric, normalizing a dangerous moral decay and vitriol.

But many good people voted for him while simultaneously despising his verbiage, whether for kitchen table economics or fear of losing manufacturing or nuclear energy jobs.

Few people vote as total endorsements of candidates, and our complex, nuanced ideas deserve more than two-party politics. I refuse to hate 72+ million of my fellow Americans, reducing them to a “basket of deplorables.” I’ve been aided by strangers on the roadside, invited in for home-cooked meals, and witnessed a town unite while grieving.

None of them asked about my politics. I urge that Democrats introspectively learn from loss instead of opting for the low-hanging fruit by blaming identity politics. And I hope Trump legislates for all, not just his supporters. Patriotism requires that he does and that we applaud victory regardless of who’s in the Oval Office.

Colby Grey

Templeton

Tell it like it is

I watch the weather nearly every day on local channel KSBY and recognize the good information presented by Meteorologist Dave Hovde. But it seems unnecessary and irresponsible for him to avoid the topic of climate change when covering the increasingly more intense and frequent weather related disasters across the U.S.

I don’t think Dave’s popularity will change if he speaks the truth about our warming earth and the potential local effects. Objective reporting is appreciated by all political sides.

Tom Frantz

San Luis Obispo

Hurricane strength

On Oct. 26, The Tribune reported on how much warmer waters in the Gulf of Mexico created the conditions for the flooding caused by Hurricane Milton. Those waters are just four degrees warmer than normal, yet that is what caused the rapid intensification and destructiveness of Hurricane Helene, followed soon thereafter by the explosive intensification of Hurricane Milton to become the fifth most powerful Atlantic basin hurricane on record. How is that possible?

The answer lies in just how much heat energy is contained in those extra 4°— about 93 kilotons of TNT-worth of heat per square mile. That’s over six Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs-worth of extra heat for each square mile the hurricane crosses. Hurricanes are typically hundreds of miles wide and travel hundreds of miles, absorbing the heat contained in the warm moist air over the superheated ocean.

Where does all that extra heat come from? It’s from the extra 120 million Hiroshima-sized bombs-worth of heat trapped by the 1.5 trillion tons of CO2 we have released into the atmosphere.

Those Hurricanes have produced hundreds of deaths and $50 billion in damages. Let’s stop producing CO2, or it will get much worse.

Dr George Hansen

Arroyo Grande

What’s next for our climate?

Thanks for your column on the risk of a Trump presidency for our community and for our nation’s energy future. As we prepare for the Morro Bay wind energy projects proposed 20 miles from our North Coast shoreline, we should welcome this renewable energy source while we also work to mitigate possible impacts on our coast.

You’re correct: Neither campaign gave sufficient attention to the issue of climate change. With Kamala Harris, however, we could have been assured of continued progress on transforming our energy systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With Trump, we will continue to see his sneering denial of the reality of climate change, his baseless attacks on all forms of renewable energy (especially wind), and his “Drill Baby Drill” mandate – with devastating effects on our climate.

Offshore wind is essential to meeting our state goal of carbon neutrality by 2035, and our national policy to meet that standard by 2045. Offshore wind generates only 11 grams of CO2 per kwh, versus natural gas at 465 and coal at 980. We need leadership at all levels – local, state, national – if we’re to succeed in reducing the impacts of climate change on our communities.

John Asbaugh

San Luis Obispo

We flunked

It appears that we are being tested by an alien civilization. It also seems that, in preparation for this exam they have been tracking the human condition on this planet for hundreds of years, but were having a hard time deciding whether we were truly worthy of a place of honor in this galaxy.

So, they finally agreed to perform an experiment. They first collected all of the most detestable, divisive and destructive traits exhibited by humans over that long period of time. Then they distilled these traits and infused them into an A.I. mock-up of a single, fairly recognizable human. They then sent this grotesque, detestable avatar to Earth to see if it would be (1) accepted, (2) respected, or (3) (worst-case scenario) even chosen by the real humans to lead them.

It wasn’t hard for them to find a test culture on Earth with a very ambivalent behavioral history, which exhibited equal measures of good and evil in its past. They soon decided on the U.S.A. This election was our final, crucial test. Are we truly worthy of membership in the league of civilized nations of the galaxy? We now know the answer.

Gene Strohl

San Luis Obispo

Colby Grey’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of letters.

This story was originally published November 10, 2024 at 5:00 AM.