Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 September 26

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September 26

Form of address when writing to US officials from overseas.

Probably an unusual question but is there a standard form used when writing a semi-formal enquiry/comment to the US congress, from overseas by a non- US citizen?

On a related note is there a formal address used when writing to the offices of the President of the United States or to a State Governor, assuming someone that is a non-US national can do so. ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 09:58, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

Are you asking how to send such letters (i.e. the mailing address), or are you asking how to format them? Anyone can write to individual officials at their official addresses. However, a non-US citizen with a foreign address is probably unlikely to get a response. Dragons flight (talk) 11:12, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

I think that by "form of address" the OP means things like "Senator", "Mr. Senator", etc. Loraof (talk) 13:05, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

If you live in a country with its own President or a Congressman/woman would you address them as "US Congressman/woman" or Dear President of the United States"? -- Q Chris (talk) 13:51, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

• Here is the recommended forms of address for all U.S. government officials as recommended by The Emily Post Institute, considered a foremost authority of etiquette and protocol in the U.S. --Jayron32 17:27, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

Florida Department of Transportation, climate change

What kind of planning is the department doing if the prevalence of flooding and of sinkholes under roads and bridge pilings increases due to climate change? Actually, do they even think floods and sinkholes are getting worse, and if so, to what do they attribute the cause?144.35.45.72 (talk) 19:21, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

We cannot speak to what people think. This article speaks a bit to your general question, but our role here is to neither justify nor condemn political leaders for their action or inaction. --Jayron32 20:11, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

I don't know of any linkage of global climate change to sinkholes. One of the main causes of sinkholes is karst topography, which is widespread in Florida. This doesn't mean that nothing can be done, however. Mandatory inspections for sinkholes, using ground-penetrating radar, before a home could be sold, or a road is built, would greatly reduce the problem.

Flooding is not as easy to take on, since restoring the swamps, which act as a buffer, would require abandoning much of the beachfront property there. That's a non-starter. As sea levels go up, much of Florida will be submerged, but they can fight this by continually building up the beaches, until eventually the interior will be below sea level and you will need a system of dykes similar to what they have in the Netherlands. StuRat (talk) 02:12, 27 September 2016 (UTC)