Natural gas

Natural gas is often touted as a “bridge fuel” — a way to ease the transition away from climate-polluting fuels like oil and coal. This is true enough — as long as you ignore the fact that methane emissions trap much more heat in the atmosphere than CO2.

Almost a century ago, Upton Sinclair said “it is difficult to convince a man of something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” It’s clear from Jessica Towhey’s disregard of crucial facts in her op-ed (“NE needs natural gas, Dems block it,” May 16) that her paycheck comes with a whopping moral and intellectual price tag.

Our state, our country, and our world must transform the energy systems that support our civilization if we are to survive the coming centuries of climate disruption. Massachusetts Democrats know something Towhey’s forgotten: it’s never the wrong time to do the right thing.

—Warren Senders

Medford

Carr on Harvard

Howie Carr, in his May 16 column on Harvard and its $53 billion endowment (“Harvard’s $53B endowment sums up tax dodge”) attacks the non-taxable status of college and university endowments generally. He correctly criticizes higher education’s “diversity, equity and inclusion” initiatives. (Even a clock that is not working is right twice a day, and Carr is right on this point.) In his attack on Harvard, Carr writes that he is in favor of the Trump administration’s slashing of federal aid to Harvard specifically and higher education in general.

What Carr fails to understand is that the nation’s colleges and universities not only take on the task of educating our youth, but also produce life-saving medicines in its science labs, and in many other ways contribute to society.

— Harvey A. Silverglate

Cambridge

HHS cuts

The drastic cuts to the Health and Human Services (HHS) budget have potentially deadly consequences for everyone. Without a safe blood supply, anyone who receives a blood transfusion or a blood-based by-product is at risk. For anyone with a bleeding disorder, such as hemophilia, von Willebrands, Glanzmann’s Thrombasthenia, and rare factor or platelet disorders, the stakes are even higher.

Cuts to funding mean drastically reduced access to critical testing for complications related to disorders, loss of research and science backed data, and reduced educational efforts. The American Red Cross estimates that 12 million units of blood are transfused annually in the US. This means approximately 4 million people receive blood transfusions each year. I passionately ask you to learn more about bleeding disorders, join us to #Fight4Hemophilia and raise your voice to ensure a safe blood supply for everyone. If you care about quality blood, you care about funding for bleeding disorders.

— Janet Brewer, M.Ed.

CEO CHES Foundation

Middleboro