Steve Sperelakis, President Symbio Polska

Warsaw, Poland

Thank you for a fair and balanced look at “The Greening of America” (Aug. 14). What a thrill to have Republicans and Democrats embracing environmentalism. Granted, much of it may be economically driven. After all, $3-per-gallon gasoline has a way of turning the most diehard SUV lovers into Sierra Club members. But whatever the reason, it’s a step in the right direction. Let’s not forget it was Richard Nixon who signed into law the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and established the Environmental Protection Agency. And it was Teddy Roosevelt, the original green GOPer, who was responsible for our un-rivaled network of national parks and wildlife refuges. Which all goes to prove that while our tenuous environmental situation may be “an inconvenient truth,” it’s a truth that transcends party lines.

Bob August

Nashville, Tennessee

Mainstream going green sounds encouraging but too good to be true. Many of the things you mention in your article are the exception rather than the rule, and they focus on the alleviation of symptoms instead of a search for fundamental solutions. A fundamental solution would be agreeing on what we really want and need from among all the goods and services we are accustomed to, and then producing, transporting and using them in a way that does the least damage to the environment; and creates jobs that provide sufficient employment without destroying the Earth. Caring for God’s creation is a nice thought, but it is not possible without sacrifices–sacrifices that may turn out to be gains as they emphasize quality of life over quantity. This requires a true community spirit instead of preaching the gospel of economic growth.

Reinhold Trott

Glinde, Germany

I know that global warming is bad and getting worse. Many days, I envision a nightmarish future of storms, droughts, flooded coastlines, famine and disease, and am terrified that my children and grandchildren will have to struggle with the effects of runaway climate change. But your cover story gives me hope for our future. Even without efforts by our leaders, Americans are taking action and making a difference on their own. These people are what make America great–intelligent, innovative, caring people working at the local and corporate level to make the world a better place. Why should we take action to stop global warming? The reason is usually sitting across from us at the dinner table.

Nancy Nolan

Lexington, Massachusetts

Only in America do we somehow manage to get things backward. Organic foods are more expensive than fast food. Hybrid cars cost more than their gas-guzzling cousins. A house built with environmentally friendly material and solar panels would break the bank for an average family. That which is supposed to help us save the environment costs more than our current planet-destroying ways. Shouldn’t the opposite be true? Maybe the reason we’re not all onboard with protecting our future is that while we may not speak of a recession, we are all counting our pennies.

Cynthia Drenckhahn

North Bellmore, New York

I was disappointed not to read of any realistic, economic solutions to reduce greenhouse gases significantly. Why not hybrid cars powered by hydrogen-fueled engines with a plug into our homes and offices to charge the battery? To generate electricity to produce hydrogen, why not use nuclear power? Unfortunately, the best noncarbon electricity source–hydropower–is already developed to its max. Wind power is helpful but expensive and unreliable. Solar power is good for heating water and swimming pools. Western Europe safely uses nuclear power, and Finland, Japan and China are building new plants. If mining accidents and air-pollution health effects are considered, nuclear power is safer than coal. There are plenty of remote places to store the spent fuel safely and environmentally. Hydrogen, electricity and nuclear power are truly “green.”

David Serell

West Richland, Washington

According to recent research conducted at the University of Chicago, switching to a vegetarian diet is as or more helpful than switching to a hybrid car. The study concluded that an animal-based diet accounts for significantly more fossil-fuel use than a plant-based diet, and emits much more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Furthermore, the practice of raising animals for food causes greenhouse gases even more dangerous than carbon dioxide, primarily methane and nitrous oxide. With the wide range of vegetarian options in today’s market, it is convenient and simple to switch to a plant-based diet.

Leslie H. Armstrong

Asheville, North Carolina

I found your report (Africa’s Taliban," July 31) quite interesting. Although Islam was founded in Arabia, it made its way into the continent of Africa, south of the Sahara, as early as the seventh century. This long historical tenure, coupled with the rise of well-established and highly regarded centers of Islamic learning across the continent, gave birth to a form of Islam whose spirit of independence has become unique to the continent. Hence, it would be a sad day indeed for the Muslims of Africa, including those in Somalia, if they were to sacrifice this gift at the altar of a political ploy used to gain dominance and hegemony over the Muslims of Africa. Today, the people of Somalia cry out for peace, not religion, which they already have and practice every day of their lives.

Mohamed I. Farah

Uppsala, Sweden

I wish in your reporting on the crisis in Somalia that you would point out that the frequent rallies in Mogadishu are not spontaneous but orchestrated by the Islamic courts. Just like in Iran or the Saddam-era Iraq, these demonstrations are nothing more than propaganda for international news reporters. It’s also the case that no news outlet is reporting that Mogadishu is, and has been for the last 10 years, controlled mostly by one clan, the Hawiye. When the civil war broke out, the Hawiye killed or chased out the other clans. So, whatever the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) says they represent, they really only represent one clan in a diverse country. The Transnational Federal Government, which you pointed out rules only the bush town of Baidoa, is the only representative body that includes all Somali clans.

Mahad Adagee

via internet

Israel, by hitting Hizbullah’s military infrastructures, attempts to eradicate its military power (“Torn to Shreds,” July 31). But this is the wrong move. Even if Hizbullah or Hamas or any other terrorist group were actually physically destroyed, a new one would form a few years later. Israel must face the real way out of the problem, by attacking the conditions that these groups thrive on: misery and despair. Why is there no talk of a Middle East development committee? There must be more emphasis on developing these countries rather than destroying them. The men who follow these groups are not especially evil. Their religion does not preach any form of violence and their culture certainly doesn’t promote it. Had people the choice between terrorism and a job, they surely would choose the latter. The critical error Israel has made is in undermining the state’s role in the countries it recently went to war with. Israel should have worked with Lebanon’s government. Together they could have helped build a better Lebanon; one in which these terrorist groups would have no despair to thrive on, no hole to fill. Israel and the world should be implementing hope in these countries, not increasing further hatred.

John-Edouard Silva

Paris, France

Israel deludes itself if it believes that undertaking a bombing offensive against southern Beirut and limited conventional military operations against Hizbullah will bring the terrorist organization to its knees. Hizbullah (as well as Hamas) employs guerrilla-warfare tactics against the Israelis, who need to adopt a suitable counterinsurgency strategy of their own. Only by doing this will they be able to defeat an enemy who hides behind civilians, is supplied with weapons and logistical support as well as training bases by Iran and Syria, and operates from neighboring territory. If Israel is serious about destroying both Hizbullah and Hamas, it may yet have no option but to extend the fight to Iran and Syria, if only to make these countries aware that there is a price to be paid for supporting and harboring terrorists.

Peter Perkins

Randburg, South Africa

President Bush is urging israel to preserve the fragile government of Lebanon, which was recently chosen in democratic elections supported by Bush himself. But Israel should do exactly the opposite. Hizbullah, the Iran-sponsored Islamic terror group, is part of the Lebanese government (23 Hizbullah members were elected to Parliament and two were given cabinet positions). A government that tolerates the operations of a terror group within its country, that does nothing to stop it from launching rockets on its neighbor’s cities, and that further allows its presence in the Parliament and cabinet has no legitimacy at all. If the Lebanese are ever to have a legitimate government and lasting peace with Israel, they will have to show that they, like Israel, will not tolerate Hizbullah any longer.

David Holcberg

Irvine, California

The war in Lebanon was not so much a war as a massacre. Innocent men, women and children lost their lives, and to what end? The escalation of the war in Lebanon was a disgrace and seems to have marked the end of any peace in the Middle East. The pictures in NEWSWEEK of children dead in the streets physically disgusted me. Israel must stop using its tragic past as an excuse to take whatever action it deems suitable, and take responsibility for its actions in this war. This war was not about the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers, it was about Israel destroying Lebanon for its own selfish needs and satisfaction. I am disappointed in the Muslim nations who have not shown a united front to make a strong appeal to the United Nations and America against the destruction of Lebanon. And as for George W. Bush and Tony Blair, they do not want peace in the Middle East, nor do they have any concept of how to achieve it.

O. Syed

London, England

The fact that Hizbullah knowingly triggered a senseless war with Israel, causing all of Lebanon to become engaged in a losing gamble, is absolutely outrageous. As Lebanese, we strongly believe in the democratic sovereign state of Lebanon and will not accept a militant faction operating within our country’s borders under the patronage of two despotic regional players: Iran and Syria. It is important that the outcome of this war be a sustainable solution that endorses peace, growth and prosperity for both Lebanon and its neighbors. We simply cannot continue to diligently build sand castles and call them “home” and then watch them collapse at the whims of charismatic religious leaders. The Lebanese have had enough and want to live in peace.

Samar A. Layoun

via internet

I have been reading NEWSWEEK for more than 25 years and find that you often write in a discriminatory way about countries like Romania (“East of the Louvre,” June 19). It was sold out by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill to the Russians in 1945, and completely destroyed socially and economically for generations afterward. But Romania has, even today, the best museums in the whole of Eastern Europe–and this is not only in Bucharest. In my opinion it also has, by far, the best painters and sculptors in Eastern Europe–some of them even reaching world class–as good as many French impressionists, for example. Brancusi’s best works are in New York and in Paris, and also in Romania.

Viorel V. Bucur

Hainburg, Germany

Clarification In “The Greening of America” we wrote that by bicycling part of the way to work, Kelley Howell saved three fifths of a gallon of gasoline and avoided 15 pounds of carbon-dioxide pollution. Several readers questioned how that amount of gasoline, weighing less than four pounds, could have generated so much CO2. The extra mass comes from the oxygen in the air. In the engine, each atom of carbon in the gasoline molecule combines with two atoms of oxygen to make carbon dioxide. Additionally, in calculating pollution from automobiles, scientists take into account the carbon dioxide emitted in extracting, refining and transporting the petroleum.