Mitigating climate change
Regarding the introduction to your March/April feature articles (“Solutions for a Planet in Peril”): As noted in the first paragraph of this piece, efforts to slow down climate change by reducing carbon emissions have, to this point, proved to be largely futile. As such, it is refreshing to see that at least some of the initiatives described here are directed more toward adapting to the warming climate rather than to changing it.
Kenneth A. Margolis ’77
Chappaqua, NY
There is really only one substantive and economic answer to climate change, and that is nuclear power. Having spent a portion of my career on a nuclear submarine, I can attest to its safety and efficacy. More than a third of Connecticut’s power (and two-thirds of France’s) is nuclear. With the increased demands from AI, cryptocurrencies, and EVs, we cannot meet the need from renewables and conservation.
The other focus should be on flue gas scrubbing. With better scrubbing technology we could build more fossil fuel plants and waste-to-energy plants. It is obscene the amount of garbage that we are burying in Mother Earth every day, worldwide.
This is not a suggestion to diminish our conservation efforts. Planting trees is very good. But let’s not fool ourselves that conservation and recycling come close to being a substantive solution.
R. Kenneth Merkey ’62
Hilton Head Island, SC
Although it’s encouraging to read about the various projects that Yale and Yale alumni are engaged in to mitigate climate change, the unfortunate reality is that the single most impactful thing would be effective government policy. We now have a president who is a complete science, truth, and climate-change denier, and he is unquestioningly supported by Yale alumni like J. D. Vance, Josh Hawley, Ron DeSantis, and other Republican office holders and Supreme Court justices.
Climate change denial by a president in this day and age is not just a political opinion. It is a crime against humanity. Shame on the enablers. Yale should revoke their degrees.
Alan Holleb ’67
Santa Monica, CA
What a tree can do
Thank you for this beautifully written, informative article (“Reforesting the Elm City,” March/April) that reflects the life cycle itself—losses of the inner city, but also uplifting moments of hope. Just as trees can temper extremes of climate and other challenges, articles like these help counterbalance today’s screaming headlines. Well done, Cathy Shufro!
Diane Joy Charney
New Haven, CT
I think that in any efforts to mitigate climate change by plantings—really anywhere in the world but certainly in New Haven—it is important to remember the teachings of Professor Douglas Tallamy at the University of Delaware. He points out that it’s best to plant the plants that grew in a region before humans arrived. That’s best for the environment and for endangered insects, birds, and the small mammals that keystone species depend on. Native plants shouldn’t need supplemental watering, fertilizer, herbicides, or pesticides either.
It would be nice for Yale and for New Haven to bring back the elm trees where they used to be, but perhaps native trees, bushes, and flowers could be planted elsewhere. Even on campus.
Daniel Fink ’70
Beverly Hills, CA
I was a student at Yale from 1969 to 1973, likely nearly the nadir of trees on the campus and in the city. I then was employed by Yale from 1981 to 1988, and things were getting better. By the time our daughter graduated from FES (now YSE) in 2006, the progress was evident. Returning for our 50th reunion, it was indeed a delight to see the shade returning to campus and city streets.
Daniel Larson ’73
Queensbury, NY
I found myself planting 300 trees on two acres surrounding my house in Los Angeles in the Santa Monica Mountains behind UCLA. Half the trees came from Tree People in Los Angeles, and half were fruit trees (30 varieties) I found at various nurseries.
I have been a child psychiatrist in Los Angeles for 35 years (now near San Francisco) and would often walk through or sit amongst the trees with my patients. Sessions outdoors amongst the trees often resulted in deeper and more meaningful sessions. At times we got to witness deer, owls, coyotes, snakes, butterflies, bobcats, tarantula hawks, and mourning doves roaming my land, just five minutes from UCLA.
These trees spoke to me and changed my psyche, each having their own name. I have planted a tree for each person close to me who has died, and I am comforted seeing my friend continue to grow. Planting a tree is an act of faith in the future.
David Scott May ’69
Mill Valley, CA
Alums in the government
Why would you think it speaks well of Yale to highlight alumni in the current federal administration (“Elis in the Trump Administration,” March/April)? Since the election, the president, his consigliere Elon Musk, and the sycophants in the cabinet have seen fit to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization, eliminate USAID and other programs benefiting the most vulnerable populations both domestic and global, and fire civil servants and military leaders who have served the country admirably, and non-politically, throughout their careers. Vice President J. D. Vance, who clearly learned nothing at Yale Law School, has questioned the need for Trump to follow judges’ orders and participated with him in a disgraceful tirade against Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and in support of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Yale should be ashamed of these alumni.
Amy S. Rich ’80, ’84MPH
Orange, CT
We have published lists of alumni in each new presidential administration since 2009.—Eds.
Stressed students: try TM
Students being unable to cope with stress (“A Generation in Crisis,” January/February) is only the beginning of a lifetime of not being able to handle stress, which is the underlying cause of most inefficiency, disease, and mental imbalance.
As a freshman in 1966, along with hundreds of Yalies, I learned a practice that allowed me to totally relax physically and mentally twice a day for 20 minutes. I learned the skill of releasing stress to access more open-mindedness, clarity, and compassion. I used it every day to great effect. It has continued to be valuable in my personal life and in my practice as an architect.
As stated on tm.org, “The TM technique is a simple—yet very effective—way to enjoy inner peace, dissolve stress, and access your full potential. TM practice is easy and enjoyable. Anyone can do it, sitting comfortably with eyes closed, for 20 minutes twice a day. There is no effort involved.”
I am puzzled why this evidence-based tool is disregarded by many college counseling services. Could it be its moderate cost? Since it needs to be individually and precisely taught by certified teachers, it does involve a cost. Or could it be a misplaced concern about its religious nature (although it involves no belief)?
The article mentions a stepped model of care that colleges are adopting. I would like to see TM made available among other first steps, like peer counseling, yoga, and mindfulness meditation. One example of the successful adoption of TM in academic programs is an elective course at Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine over the last ten years.
Inability to handle stress in a healthy way is a serious crisis that will affect students beyond their college years. Why not use the most evidence-based technology to tackle it successfully?
Michael Chelnov ’70
Romney, WV
When "Yalie" was a slur
The president of Yale used the term “Yalie” in the latest alumni magazine, and I feel offended (“Shaping Yale’s Future,” March/April). Back in 1959, it was a derisive term used by the non-Yale citizens of New Haven to describe us. Not as bad as the N-word, but bad.
At a marine lab where I taught part-time, the local fishermen referred to us as “cupcakes,” a derisive synonym for an effeminate homosexual. The lab then used the word to describe themselves in response. I guess by using the derisive ourselves, we take away the sting others intend, and it is okay, but I still feel it when Yale itself uses it to describe us.
Charles F. Tucker, ’63, ’66JD
Swall Meadows, CA
Sincere flattery
I have earned degrees from Notre Dame and Michigan and so, football wise, I am not a fan of Ohio State. Yet, I have spent much of my life of 92 years within the shadow of Ohio Stadium, and from attending many games there, I know well the alma mater that is played. In part, it goes like this:
Summer’s heat and winter’s cold
The seasons pass, the years will roll
Time and change shall surely show How firm thy friendship, Ohio
President Maurie McInnis writes about “Bright College Years” (“Building Bridges to Support Our Students,” January/February), saying that this verse particularly lingers in her mind:
The seasons come, the seasons go
The earth is green or white with snow
But time and change shall not avail
To break the friendships formed at Yale
It seems that the only way to determine the ownership of this alma mater is for Yale and Ohio State to play a football game against one another. Or maybe a flip of a coin would be a better way to go.
John Connaughton ’76LLM
South Bend, IN
With all due respect to the Buckeyes, the lyrics to “Bright College Years” were written in 1881, 22 years before “Carmen Ohio.”—Eds.
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Correction
Our feature on the Urban Resource Initiative’s tree-planting program (“Reforesting the Elm City,” May/June) misidentified the tree in the opening photo as a white oak planted in Criscuolo Park to honor URI founder Bill Burch. The photo was taken in the same park on the same day, but it was one of several other trees planted that day. Several readers wrote to tell us it is not a white oak. It is in fact a pignut hickory.
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