Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for June 7, 2024

Warren helped found Women’s Hall of Fame

I am writing to share memories and help remind everyone about the legacy of Pat Warren (“Patricia Warren, education leader, dies,” May 28).

Thirty-seven years ago, Warren, Bonnie Hough, Nancy Nakai, Ann Kennedy, Rita Levy and I met to create the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame. We were passionate about redressing the lack of acknowledgement and honor for women’s contributions and achievements in local and national history.

We were soon joined by other committed women. We had our first ceremony in 1988. Warren was incredibly hardworking, had good ideas, excellent organizational skills and was able to enroll the county in providing needed services.

Over the years, she worked tirelessly to make the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame a respected institution in our county. It is as relevant and needed now as it was in 1988. In 2013, Warren herself was inducted. It has honored over 150 Marin women. Warren deserves enormous credit for this.

— Anne Sisler Latta, San Rafael

Even in his final month, Griffin focused on nature

It would take a book to describe the achievements of Marin’s environmental giant Dr. L. Martin Griffin, who passed away May 22 at age 103. Fortunately, there is one. He wrote “Saving the Marin-Sonoma Coast.”

I was privileged to be a friend of his. In the last email he wrote me, on May 9, he said, regarding the dairy ranches incongruously occupying, polluting and closing off one-third of Point Reyes National Seashore, “Nobody in this county should be happy until every last cow is transported to a cattle paradise outside of the National Park.”

Let us honor his legacy and make his last dream a reality.

— Barry Spitz, San Anselmo

Buying less would help cut food waste

I am writing in response to a recent article by the Minneapolis Star Tribune with the headline, “Your fridge is a place where fresh food goes to die. That doesn’t have to happen.” It concerns the issue of food waste.

As agriculture becomes more industrialized, the amount of food being made has significantly increased. This paired with the fact that consumers are buying more has led to an increase in food waste and disposal. Millions of pounds of food is wasted every year and it is having negative impacts on our planet and people.

Many Marin County residents struggle with having to throw away much of the fresh foods they buy at the end of the week. There has yet to be a viable solution in place. The article explains how to stock the fridge for limited food waste. Yes, that’s important, but it still can be difficult to use up all the food by the end of the week.

Many people buy too much food for what their family can eat in a week. Increase in refrigerator size and abundance of food at the grocery store make it easy to overbuy. Ultimately, buying less food is the only way to stop letting fruits and vegetables rot in your fridge.

This can be a difficult thing to implement for many. Seeing blank space in the fridge or worrying about not having enough to eat can be hard things to deal with. However, it is important to remember that the fridge does not have to be filled to the brim and it is an option to go back to the store if something was forgotten.

Try being more mindful and cutting back the next time you go grocery shopping.

— Amelia Robson, Mill Valley

Reactions by Trump’s backers is disappointing

I am writing in response to the article published June 1 with the headline, “Trump verdict fuses GOP even closer to him.”

Apparently it’s not enough that backers of former President Donald Trump in Congress simply disagree with his guilty verdict on 34 felony counts and follow the appeals process. They have to trash and delegitimize the entire judicial system (like some have our elections) just because they didn’t get the outcome they wanted.

— John Brooks, Fairfax

Wrong to use courts to destroy political opponent

I am not a fan of former President Donald Trump. We all should know by now that he doesn’t have the character to have the honor of being president of the United States for a second term.

However, I am disappointed with what I believe is the weaponization of our judicial system to destroy a political opponent. I think Democrats are using the courts against Trump.

America needs to be careful. The genie is out of the bottle and, with this precedent, it will happen again. Sadly, today’s verdict might be the first shot fired in America’s second civil war.

— Walt Rose, San Anselmo