Newspaper mail to New Jersey sometimes is slow, but two letters in the Oct. 19 issue caught my eye, one from a New Jersey resident and one from a Route 22A driver. Both had global warming implications.
To Tom Lewis of Whiting, N.J., your resident polar bear has reached the Delaware River in Phillipsburg. The soot from Pennsylvania coal burning power plants has turned him black, but local swimming pools may provide a wash-up.
New Jersey tidal flooding will not be the result of melting icebergs, however, any more than ice cubes in New Jersey shore drinks cause their supersize containers to overflow. The melting of all icebergs and Arctic Ocean ice will not raise the Atlantic Ocean. But glaciers in Greenland, Alaska and Antarctica calve icebergs that at birth instantly cause the Atlantic Ocean to rise. Check with Archimedes.
To Laurel Casey in Bridport driving Route 22A. I don’t know about Solomon’s Curve but I do know that I am elderly. We drive Route 22A at the speed limit. Fifty mph is not the “suggested” flow of traffic, it is the legal limit. Those wishing to drive faster are illegal drivers and their actions are the cause of accidents. Why should legal drivers be put in danger because some illegals wish to speed up the flow?
As to global warming, the Fuel Consumption Curve of automobiles results in an exponential increase in greenhouse gas emission at speeds greater than 50 mph. Obeying the legal speed limit is good for us elderly and the planet.
Looking forward to my new summer home in New Haven.
David Spencer
Phillipsburg, N.J.