Pertaining to the Monday letter, “Quit trying to find blame”. To the contrary, much of the news discussion about the landslide are stating facts to explain why it happened, and needs to be differentiated from calling it blaming. Even the writer of the blaming letter is “blaming.” Blaming the media and others for her reading and apparent lack of understanding of the law of cause and effect. “Life” as she says, is Mother Nature’s expression of herself and no one can prevent it. Actually, everything happens for a reason, which is very clear from the “law of cause and effect.”

It is clearly not “ludicrous,” as the writer says, to examine and infer what would happen. What is ludicrous is one continuing to have ignorance as to how Mother Nature comes to express herself. Ignorance is the real “monster” here and serves to prohibit understanding of cause and effect, what to do about certain things like slides, and how to prevent harmful effects.

The EPA is basically designed to help understand how a cause can yield an environmental effect. A few examples of how the cutting of the forests influence landslides on slopes has been apparent for more than a century. Today we only have to drive our own highways, e.g., just drive over Stevens Pass, White Pass, or Snoqualmie Pass and observe how the cutting of those trees has continually caused mud and snow slides in the areas to their west through the years. Or look at the west side of Camano Island. And also remember near Coupeville on Whidbey Island, where in 2013, the Internet will show, the landslides occurred due to forest cutting. At time this was to improve the property owners’ views, other reasons were also apparent. Then look back at Oso and see that several landslides occurred one to three years after that area’s forests were cut.

Or observe the UN’s response about climate change, what is causing it, and its effect on our planet. The planet is warming, ice is melting in the Arctic and Antarctic and we are experiencing some of the worse weather and environmental and human destruction in the written history of the U.S. And it will continue until the pollution of the atmosphere is stopped, if is not already too late!

Norm Kosky

Camano Island