10/5/2022

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Please don’t make promises we can’t keep when you visit FL today. While folks there are hurting, it will be tempting to tell them that we’ll rebuild their homes & make them whole. I think that’s a bad idea! I recommend that we declare Sanibel Island a national park. Tear down the causeway & refrain from building new structures there. According to Anna Linhoss, a professor of biosystems engineering at Auburn University, barrier islands “move at the whims of the storms & if you build on them, you’re just waiting for a storm to take them away.” Let Mother Nature do her thing there. It’ll be cool to watch what happens.

            Please take a look at yesterday’s WSJ article about garment workers in Burma & do what you can to get fast fashion companies to stop doing business there. According to IndustriALL Global Union, “brands can’t perform due diligence where trade unions are severely repressed. There is no responsible way to conduct business in Myanmar.” While you may not have much influence over the international corporations who continue to operate sweat shops there, you can use your bully pulpit to express your concern for the Burmese workers.

Better yet, start educating America about the dangers of “fast fashion” & find some influencers to popularize the idea of “slow fashion.” Invite Kate Fletcher of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion to the WH & get her to tell you about her efforts to get people to “buy less, choose well, make it last.”

You might even work with the UGWA to put those “look for the union label” ads back on TV to get Americans to buy “Made in USA” clothing. I can sing you their song in case you have forgotten it.

            As you can see, I am full of ideas, today, so I better get to work!

            BYBS,