Readers Write (Dec. 12): The environment, the future of the workforce, vaccinations, Christmas songs

Regarding "Ruins open up a remarkable landscape" (Nov. 27), about the Cedar Mesa in southern Utah: I share the author's reverence for the Bears Ears area where a national monument is proposed. I have spent many hours hiking in its beautiful canyons and observing cliff dwellings, pictographs and wildlife. On one hike, I found a pictograph of a newborn baby's feet, gently pressed to the canyon wall hundreds or even thousands of years ago. It is a sacred place.

Unfortunately, Bears Ears faces serious threats not addressed in this article, including industrial development and damage to archaeological sites by inappropriate off-road vehicle use. The political leaders in Utah consider extensive oil and gas drilling and mining to be appropriate here, as they stated in Senate Concurrent Resolution 4 in March 2015. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has gone so far as to demand that all federal lands, including national parks, be transferred to state control so that they may be opened for development. Companies such as EOG Resources have already secured permits to drill for oil on nearby Utah State Institutional Trust Lands and are seeking permits for federal land within the Bears Ears.

The monument proposal has been developed with input from stakeholders both across the country and locally. It is supported by the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, Ute Indian Tribe and a majority of Utah citizens.

I am confident that monument designation would protect this land for future generations and allow visitors to continue to enjoy its treasures respectfully.

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The article on Utah's Cedar Mesa was timely. This region just south of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks is rich in geologic wonders, unsurpassed scenery, ancient Anasazi ruins, and many pictographs and petroglyphs spanning times from the Fremont and Chaco cultures, and some also from the early Spanish colonizers. I have traveled from my home in Minnesota many times over the past 45 years, and as recently as this October, to camp, hike, backpack and photograph in this region so rich in the history of our indigenous cultures. Cedar Mesa is, however, a fragile environment, and unfortunately in recent years its treasure of ancient and sacred ruins and artifacts has become a target of vandalism and theft. Once destroyed, this historical evidence is lost forever. To provide appropriate protection it is hoped that before he leaves office, President Obama will use his authority under the Antiquities Act to protect this fragile area for future generations.

The photograph accompanying the article "Immunization debate shifts to Texas" (page A7, Dec. 8) illustrated yet another false perception regarding vaccinations. A screaming child supported by a stressed parent is a rarity that the photo implies is routine. As a pediatric dentist, I give injections in the mouths of young children multiple times daily without their crying or needing to be restrained. By providing such an atypical scenario of a very upset child receiving immunization, the Star Tribune has given parents another erroneous and unsubstantiated reason to opt out of one of our most-effective, cost-saving and safe public health measures.

As the American economy progresses into the automation economy, we will need to rethink our employment paradigms. Self-driving trucks, automated cashiers, fast food kiosks, and things we can't even imagine now will replace human workers. How we deal with this disruption of the workforce will determine the stability of our society. We have no economic safety valve now. No western lands for those economically afflicted to escape to. Our options are shorter workweeks and workdays. Maximum allowed working hours. A guaranteed minimum wage with a capped maximum wage.

Our economy is rich enough to support all Americans without impoverishing the 1 percent. Would economic crime become rare if all basic needs were met? How do we mesh greed with economic disparities caused by modernization? Can we readjust 19th-century economic models with 21st-century employment models? The pace of automation will become the most disruptive economic force we will face this millennium. America needs to understand its consequences and plan for it. Or it will be our demise.

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One of the key ways to win a war is to choose the right battles to fight. And the right battles to fight in the war for jobs are the ones for industries, not individual factories. Remember tube TVs? Companies like Zenith and RCA were world leaders. In the 1960s, my family even had a bake-off between the two before we bought our first TV. But that entire industry has left the U.S., and TVs are now built in China, Japan and Korea.

The big war for the next century will be for clean power. Whether driven by the eventual scarcity of carbon fuels or the inevitable march to avoid climate change, this will be the biggest battle of the 21st century by far. And making investments to save a few thousand coal jobs is the wrong battle for our government to fight. It would be like trying to save CRT TVs in the early 1990s. A favorite line from the Matrix movie — "he's already dead" — comes to mind. Our competitors, such as China and Germany, are already fighting the battle for the clean future. Hopefully we will, too.

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It seems to me that Jacobson has more problems than dealing with Christmas songs. She has a problem dealing with being Jewish in a predominantly Christian society. To call Christmas songs "crap" is a little harsh. Does she know that many of the top Christmas songs were written and performed by Jewish composers and artists?

• "The Christmas Waltz" and "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne.

• "Silver Bells," by Felix Bernard.

• "Santa Baby," by Joan Ellen Javits and Philip Springer.

• "I'll Be Home for Christmas," by Buck Ram and Walter Kent.

• "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and "White Christmas," by Irving Berlin.

• "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)," by Mel Tormé and Bob Wells.