To the editor: Times reporter Sammy Roth raises an important issue with respect to the role of capitalism in exacerbating the climate crisis.

Changing capitalism will require more time than our climate can afford, thus the profit motive will have to be, for the present, a driving force in any climate solution. However, in the long run our economic systems will have to change.

Having huge mansions and private jets as a measure of status is contradictory to having a sustainable future. The profit motive and economic expansion cannot continue to be the primary drivers of our society if we want to have lasting solutions to maintaining a livable Earth.

Christmas is a time to remind ourselves that Jesus’ status did not result from his material wealth.

Karl Reitz, San Clemente

..

To the editor: The free market has run amok with greed.

While the full price of a product is being paid, the seller is not telling the buyer what the full price is.

You are not told by the seller of plastic bags that they will eventually choke off all life in the sea. The oil companies are not telling you that you may die of lung disease if you use their product. Elon Musk is not telling you that the lithium he sells in his electric vehicle batteries causes destruction of the environment.

And economists are not telling you that our economy is based on an ever growing population and how that growth is not possible on a finite planet.

In order to cope with the myriad challenges we face, we need to create a…