Daniel Shoer Roth The Miami Herald

May 4, 2010

Daniel Shoer Roth
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693

RE: “Spill Reminds Us That Beaches Need Protection” – They sure do but not as much as the people sitting on them. Some comments on your Jeremiad about the selfishness of man in today’s Miami Herald.

Mr. Roth,

After we help the beaches, the bi-valves, the manatees, the polar bears, the pythons, the Key West deer, the peripatetic pterodactyls, the snail darter, and my personal favorite, the furbish lousewort do you think we’ll be able to help man, the most endangered species?

Logic, that cruel and unforgiving discipline, that brutal task master that knows not of parabolic curves, would dictate that we address the reasons why we drill in the Gulf.

25% of the gasoline used in this country comes from oil produced in the Gulf.

How important a first step it would be if you were to give up your car for one week each month? How important a second step it would be if you mandated that all your employees – no exceptions – use public transit getting to and from work? Finally, how important would it be if you were to turn off you’re A/C this summer?

I’ve been asking the Miami Herald to go cold turkey, so to speak, about A/C since 1997. Just turn it off. Shame the rest of us into following suit. We will. We will. Maybe.

The Age of Oil is only 151 years old. Colonel Drake saved the whales from extinction then but that’s a story for a different time. We can wean ourselves from this noxious beast.

We did well in the Age of Steam. We can do it again.

Show us the way to save ourselves. Lead. We will follow. Maybe.




Kevin Smith