Housing affordable
I am writing on behalf of the senior citizens living in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley seeking affordable housing. ...
People living on a fixed income cannot meet the basic requirements of property management agencies to get into apartments or housing. One of the main ones is three times the amount of income to the price of the rent. ... or the 600-plus credit score they want.
Most of us have been on this type of income for years and pay our bills through our Social Security Disability checks or Veterans Affairsbenefits. So there is no credit score to speak of.
The older generation’s brushes with the law were more common than they are now. It’s coming back to haunt us as we get older as restrictions increase due to the civil unrest our country is facing. ...
I was put in a nursing home due to health reasons last year. I have made a full recovery and have been seeking housing since the beginning of December.
I have filled out numerous applications and for some reason or another they have all been denied. ...
Some of the applications tell you they want a $25 fee or more just to say you don’t qualify for this property. Here I sit in a nursing home with little hope of getting an apartment through any agency here in this valley. And I am not the only one in this position. ...
I truly hope this does not fall on deaf ears. ...
David Miller
Lewiston
Salmon model flawed
As the Tribune noted, the Nez Perce Tribe recently released a PowerPoint presentation claiming to show that Snake River spring chinook are at the extinction threshold. That claim is based on several errors.
First, they assume spring chinook populations will decline in 2021 and into the future. This is contradicted by history and current experience.
Chinook runs are cyclical, with declines in some years followed by significant increases. The PowerPoint shows this cycle on some slides but ignores it elsewhere.
We are currently seeing this trend. After the lows of 2019, spring/summer chinook returns were 28 percent larger in 2020. Although it is early, 2021 spring chinook runs are significantly higher than in 2020.
Second, they use a statistical trick to claim populations are declining. The PowerPoint uses 2011 — the peak population year in the recent cycle — as the baseline for comparison. By comparing recent returns to 2006, the same point in the population cycle, the decline disappears.
As a salmon recovery activist, I have a lot of sympathy for the Nez Perce and their treaty rights. But the claims made in their PowerPoint are deliberately misleading and undermine the credibility of those who put their name on it.
Todd Myers
Environmental
director,
Washington Policy Center
Seattle
Humans changed climate
What is the cause of climate change? Is it caused by natural variability ... or is it human-caused? ...
Ask Alexa and Google.
Alexa said anthropogenic activities, which emit greenhouse gases, have caused it. Google said it is the result of humans burning fossil fuels, which have created greenhouse gases resulting in the greenhouse effect.
Scientific organizations have also answered the question of the cause of climate change. NASA has stated: “Scientists attribute the global warming trend observed since the mid-20th century to the human expansion of the ‘greenhouse effect’ — warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space. Certain gases in the atmosphere block heat from escaping. Long-lived gases that remain semi-permanently in the atmosphere and do not respond physically or chemically to changes in temperature are described as ‘forcing’ climate change. Gases, such as water vapor, which respond physically or chemically to changes in temperature are seen as ‘feedbacks.’ ”
It mentions four greenhouse gases: water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s “Special Report: Global Warming of 1.50 C” stated “Human activities are estimated to have caused approximately 1.0 (degrees Celsius) of global warming above pre-industrial levels, with a likely range of 0.8 (degrees Celsius) to 1.2 (degress Celsius). Global warming is likely to reach 1.5 (degrees Celsius) between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate (high confidence). ...”
Scientists say we have now entered the Anthropocene Epoch (it’s man-caused).
Tom Fellows
Lewiston
