Re “San Diego is heading in the wrong direction on greenhouse gas emissions, new data show” (Nov. 28): It should come as no surprise that the city cannot reach its climate goals. According to the Rady School of Business at UCSD, nearly 25% of our economy is related to the military and defense industries. However, the U.S. military, even though it is the world’s single largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels and emitter of greenhouse gases, does not accurately nor transparently report its emissions. You can’t manage and reduce emissions if you cannot even measure and account for them.
As long as this behemoth polluter goes unchecked, the rest of the San Diego population can switch to electric cars, eat no meat and do a myriad of local actions to reduce our carbon footprint, and still have little impact as long as the big dog goes unchecked.
— Gary Butterfield, San Diego