To the editor: Electrifying the mail delivery truck fleet will indeed have widespread positive effects. These benefits are in addition to reducing air pollution and our dependence on oil and helping to fight climate change.
Because these trucks are highly visible and are seen in every neighborhood, they will serve as an example for people to follow. Many drivers don’t want to buy an electric vehicle until they see a lot of other electric vehicles out there. So this should stimulate the purchase of EVs by the general public.
Other vehicles that are highly visible in every neighborhood are school buses, and these should also be converted to electric power. This would also show the children who ride them that we care about their future, and it will give them peace of mind that the world they inherit may not be so gloomy.
Murray Zichlinsky, Long Beach
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To the editor: The health benefit of reducing this type of air pollution is significant.
One recent study, from the University of Wisconsin, found that eliminating the air pollution caused by our burning of fossil fuels would prevent more than 50,000 premature American deaths and provide more than $600 billion in health benefits annually. This is more deaths than caused by car crashes or guns.
The quicker we decrease our burning of fossil fuels as our energy sources, the quicker we can realize these health benefits (as well as mitigating the current and future climate crises).
Jack Holtzman and Irwin Rubenstein, San Diego
