Letter: Unsexy issues that matter

For those still interested in issues this November, let me pose a few new ones that matter.

Insects matter. They pollinate over 30 percent of our food crops, including apples, cranberries and pumpkins. This Thanksgiving, thank a bee.

Trees matter. They inhale C02 and give off 02, among other important services ... shade, filtering pollutants and anchoring soil.

Oceans matter. Seventy percent of our planet is sea, which has become 25 percent more acidic from C02 emissions since George Washington was president. Like seafood? The acid is limiting bivalves from making shells, which endangers the oysters, clams and mussels you may enjoy eating. Acid is changing the chemistry of fish species, putting the entire marine food chain at risk.

Daily diet matters. Meat consumption releases more C02 gases than transportation and energy industries. Overuse of antibiotics by the livestock industry causes sickness and inflated medical costs.

Living soil matters. Spewing pesticides, poisoning what grows in the soil as well as above the ground, is neither cost-effective nor ethical.

Donald Trump brags about relaxing regulations on industrial polluters. What we need are more regulations to protect the health of the environment and living beings who depend on clean soil, air, water and wholesome food.

I’d like to hear the candidates debate more on the importance of bees or trees and less on sleaze. The failures of Obamacare pale in comparison to the pollutants that make us sick in the first place.

And please, Donald Trump, thoughts and clean language still exist, but there is no such thing as clean coal.

This story was originally published October 27, 2016 at 9:09 PM with the headline "Letter: Unsexy issues that matter."