Taking care of the best things first

Iasked people on the street, “If you could spend $30 billion trying to solve the world’s problems, how would you spend it?”

“Build houses ... address homelessness,” said a few. “Spend on health care,” “redistribution.”

The most common answer was “fight climate change.”

Really? Climate change is the world’s most important problem?

“It’s not surprising if you live in the rich world,” says Bjorn Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center.

Lomborg has spent the last 20 years consulting with experts from the United Nations, nongovernmental organizations and 60 teams of economists, seeking consensus on how to address the world’s biggest problems.

“The point is not that climate change is not an issue,” says Lomborg, “but we just need to have a sense of proportion.”

He says that while climate change may cause problems someday, “If you live most other places on the planet, you’re worried that your kids might die from easily curable diseases tonight.”

That’s why, he says, it’s important to ask ourselves, “Where can we spend dollars and do a lot of good versus ... just a little good?”

Twenty years ago the United Nations issued development goals. Surprisingly, Lomberg says they actually helped people.

“They basically said, let’s get people out of poverty, out of hunger, get kids into school, stop moms and kids from dying.”

That e ort, plus global capitalism, lifted millions out of poverty.

Unfortunately, now the UN pushes “sustainable” goals that promise everything to everyone.

“Get rid of poverty, hunger, disease, fix war, corruption, climate change,” says an exasperated Lomborg.

But a Bank of America report estimates that fighting climate change alone would cost trillions. Even that might not a ect the climate very much.

“If we spend way too much money ine ectively on climate,” Lomborg points out, “not only are we not fixing climate, but we’re also wasting an enormous amount of money that could have been spent on other things.” Better things.

Lomborg’s new book, “Best Things First,” says “$35 billion could save 4.2 million lives in the poor part of the world each and every year.”

For example, screening people for tuberculosis, giving medicine to people who have it and making sure they complete their treatment would save up to a million lives a year.

“Nobody in rich world countries die from

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Message from EID

Letters to the Editor

Pave

over paradise (not)

EDITOR:

We came up to the old armory in Placerville last year when our own oaks failed to produce acorns for the wildlife and found a bumper crop. My husband once took courses from Cosumnes River College there. Right now it lacks people, the 3 acres with two large empty buildings and some outbuildings. There are pleasant walkways and plenty of parking. Mike named the plants for me. You wish someone would move in here and care for it without more paving. But who? There are ghosts — the ghosts of Korean War veterans who needed a place to come home to and came here. And now? Some people in the great tradition of saving lives need a place to come home to. They wouldn’t pave over paradise.

How about it?

Transgender youth

EDITOR:

June is LGBTQ pride month, a time when the LGBTQ community celebrates the political gains it has made in the last 50-plus years. Tragically, those gains are under attack as laws are passed across red states to limit LGBTQ rights. Transgender youth have been a special target with red states passing laws that ban gender-a rming care for people younger than 18. The right’s rationale for passing such laws is that they are protecting children. If the Republican Party really wanted to protect America’s children, it would do something about gun violence, which is now the leading cause of death for children and teens. Being transgender means one’s gender identity does not match his/her sex at birth. It is known in medical terminology as gender dysphoria. This is not a new phenomenon but one that has been known throughout human history with individuals dressing and taking on roles and social norms of the opposite sex. In some cultures, transgender people are believed to have enhanced spiritual awareness and are even revered. In the U.S. children and adults who don’t conform to traditional sex roles and norms are teased, bullied, attacked, discriminated against and even killed. Because of this, transgender people su er from very high rates of depression, anxiety and suicide, especially among transgender youth. Denying transgender youth gender-a rming care will only make this situation much worse.

Here are some common misconceptions regarding gender-a rming care.

1. Anyone can request sex reassignment surgery. Transitioning is a years-long process that includes counseling and evaluations by a medical team before hormonal treatment and surgeries. Hormonal treatments and surgery are only done on individuals who express true signs of gender dysphoria.

2. Children are undergoing sex reassignment surgery. Guidelines have been established by transgender specialists as to the appropriate age for transitional care to begin — established at 15. However, surgeries for those younger than 18 are very rare and mostly cosmetic in nature. Sex reassignment surgery is a serious decision left almost exclusively to adults.

3. People regret having had transitional surgery. In a recent review of 27 studies mostly done in the U.S., Canada and Europe, only about 1% regret having had the surgery. Studies also found, in general, people with gender dysphoria are happier, less depressed and have drastically lower rates of suicide after having transitioned.

4. Gender-a rming care is not real medicine. Gender-a rming care is a recognized branch of medicine and is as valid and science-based as any other branch of medicine.

5. Children and teens do not need parental consent to receive gender-a rming care. The law in California is very clear. No one under 18 can receive gender-a rming care without parental/guardian consent.

Denying children and teens gender-a rming care for gender dysphoria is not protecting these children. It is another ugly example of the right scapegoating a marginalized group to rouse their base for political gain. It is unconscionable politicians would use children who already face di cult obstacles in their lives as pawns by spreading misinformation and passing laws that discriminate against them in their quest to win elections.

SCOTT TAYLOR Placerville