National Donor Day
Dear Editor: The Health Resources and Services Administration (www.HRSA.gov) is the primary federal agency responsible for oversight of the organ and blood stem cell transplant systems in the U.S. and for initiatives to increase organ donor registration and donation in this country. And while we all know Feb. 14 as Valentine’s Day, it is also National Donor Day. HRSA invites you to learn more about organ donation and transplantation and to share some love by signing up as organ, eye, and tissue donors. Signing up is like sending a valentine to the nearly 114,000 people currently on the national transplant waiting list. One donor can save up to eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 50 individuals!
Remember to tell your family and loved ones about your decision to donate and leave your stamp on the world. Learn more about organ donation and register to be a donor at organdonor.gov and donaciondeorganos.gov. We also invite readers to “Like” Organdonor.gov and Donaciondeorganos.gov on Facebook.
Thank you for spreading the love.
Sharon Turner, Regional
Administrator,
Region 10-Seattle Health Resources and Services Administration
Green New Deal
Dear Editor: When President Trump’s State of the Union Address referred all the way back to World War II for illustrations of American greatness, I wondered why he had to reach so far to find an example. The Green New Deal is right in front of us.
In WWII, the United States mobilized against military threats. Our success led to decades of more or less stable global economic and political conditions. Now we are threatened by our pollution of the atmosphere and of the oceans. Extinction already is claiming the insects and the ocean food chain. If this continues, our crops and our seafood are next. What holds us back from mobilizing against the death of our planet? We were great enough to mobilize against Nazis and Imperialists. Are we any less great?
Critics chip away at the Green New Deal as economically unviable. This calls into question their definition of economy. The old industrialized practices based on depletion are no longer viable. Viable means life-supporting. We must mobilize our greatness, our science and our technology. Our unified goal must be to support life on this planet. The Green New Deal is not dogma from one ideology or another. It is a life-saving vision that we must bring into focus. The Green New Deal is what will keep America’s greatness alive.
John Welsh, Sitka
