Tackling existential threat
EDITOR: I want to congratulate all the Cloverdale High School students and teachers who participated in the Global Climate Strike at Kleiser Park last week. Student organizers Paula Toledo and Elizabeth Ruiz deserve a special shout-out for their efforts to shine a spotlight on this existential issue.
It’s also heartening to learn that CHS now has an Environmental Club with the goal of inspiring meaningful changes, both personal and political.
Thanks, too, to Sonoma West’s publisher Rollie Atkinson for his thoughtful editorial about the youth movement to address climate change, along with his offer to provide reprints of “Deep Trouble” for schools.
Raising local awareness of a global existential threat is one small step forward in tackling an issue too long ignored. I’m proud to be part of a community with the will to make a difference.
Diane Bartleson
Cloverdale
Home insurance woes
EDITOR: Our current national administration is wreaking havoc on the environment by undermining valuable measures that help ensure clean air, water and control carbon emissions. Our state government and several nonprofit organizations are valiantly combating these efforts.
Rainforest Action Network, a nonprofit environmental group based in San Francisco, is using a novel approach to mitigate further damage: They are persuading insurance companies to stop insuring and investing in the fossil fuel industry, with the goal of restricting dirty energy projects.
RAN is studying the cancellation of home insurance policies in the state, which is increasingly occurring due to wildfire risk in the area and has affected individuals in our town. These same insurance companies that are withdrawing our coverage are also key drivers of climate change in the first place by helping to underwrite the polluters!
If you have lost your home insurance due to wildfire risk, please contact Elana Sulakshana at su********@ra*.org, as this valuable information can help the organization compel insurance companies to act in the interest of all of us.
Niranjana Parthasarathi and Dan Fitzsimmons
Cloverdale
Lucky to have elder care
EDITOR: Following emergency surgery, which landed me in the hospital and rehab for three weeks, my recovery called for another five weeks of at-home follow-up care. I was aware of a Cloverdale group that provides such care.
The group is known as “Local Care for Local Elders.” They have about 15 people that provide a variety of services for local seniors. Many of the team have medical related backgrounds. I was tended to daily by one of three caretakers skilled for my needs. They were like my three angels. If you ever have a need for their skills, call Janet Seaforth.
Cloverdale is truly blessed to have such a team so available.
Van Gerszewski
Cloverdale
Three girls
EDITOR: My wife, Zoe, and I would like to share our experiences with three girls that came for a visit one day. The girls are completing their missionary requirements. To be honest, the first couple of times the girls rang the doorbell, I didn’t answer the door. Then one day, they came by when I was in the garage with the door open. If persistence is important to being successful, these girls are going to do well. After sharing some favorite verses from the Bible, they played the piano and sang some hymns. Now, they come for short visits and we really do enjoy seeing them. The three girls are: Sister Rosengren, Sister Thomas and Sister Lee.
Matthew and Zoe Glavach
Cloverdale
Goodbye, Cloverdale
EDITOR: Thank you, Cloverdale, for providing me with the playground for my creativity for 12 years. Early on, the talent shows and Sweet Streepers, then the senior center, community garden, the Cloverdale Agrarian project, the efforts toward the Office of Possibilities, Local Folkal and Creative Notions. It has been fun riding my bicycle through the wide peaceful streets but I am hearing a voice saying, “go north, young woman.”
I leave with gratitude and enthusiasm for the next chapter of my life.
Mardi Grainger
Cloverdale
Thank you, Jefferson
EDITOR: On behalf of the Cloverdale High School Rotary Interact Club, I would like to send a heartfelt thank you to Jefferson Elementary School for allowing the Interact students to volunteer at the school carnival on Sept. 20. All of the Interactors participated in running games for the students and their parents, and it could not have been more fun and rewarding. The staff at Jefferson and all the other volunteers made the carnival a roaring success, giving it a wonderful hometown look and feel. It was just another example of how lucky we are to live in Cloverdale. Once again, thank you Jefferson Elementary for putting on such a successful event, and letting Rotary Interact be a part of it.
Robert Redner
Cloverdale
