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Climate Change

Ways to heal

Re: “Grieving over climate change?” by Elizabeth Hernandez in the Daily Camera, Aug. 23.

I appreciate how Elizabeth Hernandez acknowledges the pain and grief so many individuals feel while considering the large scope and intimate impacts of climate change, and how she points to action as a source of hope.

This summer, I found energy and purpose while volunteering with Citizens’ Climate Lobby. I contacted my representatives in Congress and made calls to encourage other CCL supporters to do the same. When I read this summer’s challenging news, I wrote letters to the editor, urging readers to join me in taking action.

As I talked with people across the country, I heard many supportive responses. I also heard words of hopelessness: “I’m only one person. Does my action really make a difference?”

I’ve seen that individual actions really do make a difference, especially when we take them together with others. After CCL supporters delivered over 50,000 emails and calls to their senators asking for a price on carbon in this fall’s reconciliation package, we heard from senate staffers that the calls made an impact.

If you’re concerned about climate change, I encourage you to look for an organization that’s working on the issue in a way you believe in and get involved. I believe in CCL’S approach of building broad, bipartisan coalitions to support legislation that puts a price on carbon.

There are many other organizations doing worthwhile work. Please find your place to contribute and take action to heal the climate.

Fairview High School right now there are many emotions that come to mind – disappointment, frustration, sadness, and anger. I feel each of these as I consider the disgraceful culture that the leadership at Fairview has created at this school. For far too long a culture of sexism plus a clear indifference to the concerns and safety of female students have been tolerated by the leadership.

We now have a principal on administrative leave whom it appears repeatedly did nothing when female students whom he was tasked with protecting came to him for help. We have a dean of students who just last week told female students that “boys will be boys” when they approached him with concerns of sexual harassment by a male student. My daughter is a student at Fairview and was told this by the students involved.

It’s prompted the “girls will be girls” walkout that is planned for Friday at Fairview.

The culture of an institution starts at the top and radiates down. When the leadership shows a BLATANT disregard for the concerns of female students then THAT is the culture that permeates the school and sadly, THAT is the culture that male students absorb. Fairview, it is time to CLEAN HOUSE. Our students deserve better than this.

Climate change

Looking to the East Coast

What part of CLIMATE CHANGE does our City Council not understand?

Did members not see the photos of the flooding all over the East Coast from “the remnants” of Hurricane Ida? When there is a lot of pavement and buildings and almost no unpaved ground, a lot of rain causes dangerous flooding.

As I understand it, the CU South annexation agreement that Council is about to approve allows CU to raise the ground where they will build a huge number of buildings, streets, parking lots, tennis courts, etc. They have to raise the ground they build on ( a huge project in itself) in order to get their buildings out of the South Boulder Creek flood plain. What do you think the raised ground plus all the pavedover land will mean for the water the next time we get a 100, 500, or a 1,000 year rain? It means the “berm idea” will not protect the people in the Frasier Meadows neighborhood, it means a lot more flooding for anyone downstream from CU South, and it means a lot of flooding for the rest of the city as we spend all our flood mitigation money on CU South.

The 2013 flood was a 100 year flood with a 1,000 year rain. It is clear that this can and most likely will happen again here. It is absolutely irresponsible of Council to approve the annexation plan as it now reads. What is Council doing to keep all the other creeks and drainages clear of debris and trees….the very creeks that flooded the rest of Boulder as well as the Frasier neighborhood? From what I see in Two Mile Creek behind my house: nothing: No enlarged culverts at Linden, Kalmia, or Juniper, no maintenance of the creek bed, nothing about the Iris and Broadway intersection.

Get your heads out of the sand and stand up to CU. CU can grant an easement for the berm you want to build. Let the people vote on any annexation agreement that you want to approve.

Power grid

We need to protect it

We must do more to strengthen our power grid against an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) event. Such an event can result from an attack by terrorists or by another country (e.g. China may already have the capability,) or it can occur naturally. It could result in devastating loss of life. There is disagreement on this, but why take chances?

We should also have a ground-based GPS back-up system, (like Russia has) or we could lose internet at the least in an anti-satellite attack.

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