With the well-written article (“Pastoral paradise threatened?” July 18), I am left wondering: What will it take for everyone, including Gerald Peters, to realize that we cannot keep doing to the Earth what we’ve been doing?

Headlines such as the recent New York Times one regarding flash flooding in Europe scream at us: “No one is safe. Extreme weather batters the wealthy world.” Wildfires are ravaging the American West; the Siberian ancient forest is ablaze; the permafrost is melting; and ocean levels are rising. Evidence of our misuse of the planet is in no short supply. A sense of urgency is dangerously low. This is one ecosystem and the only planet on which we can all live (or die). What Peters does in

Cow Creek has an impact much larger than the 65 new homeowners. Can wealth now be that important?

Barbara MacPhee Santa Fe