Letters to the Editor: California Republicans aren’t taking pollution seriously enough
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To the editor: According to a UC Berkeley/Los Angeles Times poll, California Republicans need to step outside and check the weather (“California voters undecided in 2026 governor’s race, but prefer Newsom over Harris for president in 2028,” Aug. 26). Only 1% consider climate change and the environment a great concern. According to a study in the Science Advances journal from University College London, 91,000 premature deaths per year in the United States can be attributed to air pollution from oil and gas, in addition to 10,350 preterm births and 216,000 new cases of childhood asthma.
Communities of color suffer the most from fossil fuel pollution due to location. Historic racial redlining concentrated available housing for people of color near factories and refineries and adjacent to freeways that pollute the air with the byproducts of burning fossil fuels. While the greatest burden of this pollution falls on these communities, the magnitude of health impact cited in the study should be a great concern for all Americans.
In our current political situation, and until Republicans (and more Democrats) see fossil fuel pollution along with the resulting climate change as a serious and deadly health issue, we will not take the urgent and substantive actions needed to address the existential climate crisis.
Joe McLaughlin, Los Angeles
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To the editor: At a glance, the graph in this article makes it look like a huge portion of Californians (73% of the Republicans) think the country is headed in the right direction under President Trump (“On U.S. direction under Trump, Californians split sharply along partisan lines, poll finds,” Aug. 27).
However, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, only 25.2% of Californians are registered Republicans. Even if every one of them approved of what Trump is doing, that would barely change the reality: Only 26% of Californians are pleased to be living in Trump’s America. To call this a “split” is downright silly.
Janice Blake, Manhattan Beach
