Jimmy Paulding is a legacy politician with legacy ideas about the environment (“Environmental groups are threatening South SLO County’s water security,” Dec. 19). Stuck in the past, oblivious to the world around him. It would be interesting to know the last time he left his desk and took a walk outside to feel an actual breeze on his face or smelled the earth after a rain.
Our biosphere is collapsing and our planet overpopulated, with the global south taking the brunt of its consequences. Until global warming and runaway climate change has melted the ice caps entirely and the ocean is lapping at his doorstep, until industrial agriculture has failed due to the destruction of the jet stream, until his family misses its first meal, and his neighborhood is overrun by armed looters trying to find resources, it appears Mr. Paulding won’t understand. When he does, it will be too late.
At one of my two jobs, on the outskirts of SLO, I have the opportunity to walk across a small bridge over a small creek I didn’t even know existed. In the summer I make a point of looking at a section with deeper pools of water in it, and to my surprise have seen trout in it about 8 inches long. As someone who usually struggles with making sense of the world or has any hope for the future, these small trout inspire me, as do the gurgle of the water, the sycamore leaves floating in it, and the sun reflecting off the water. How these fish have survived is beyond me. Can we not help them?
Jimmy Paulding’s naivety about how close our natural world to collapse is similar to German Jews during WWII. Even as they were being herded into boxcars to be sent to concentration camps, many Jews were convinced the Nazis were simply relocating them to the countryside for jobs. Until steelhead trout and the overall environment are put first, we should refuse to get in the boxcar Jimmy Paulding is insisting we get in through piecemeal proclamations, locutionary acts, and nonbinding meaningless resolutions.
Shanti Harris
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Jan 2-12, 2025.