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Post Independent
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado

World forests and tropical rain forests are being totally destroyed and will never come back.

Forests the size of a football field are being destroyed about every four seconds. Tropical rainforests are being destroyed at a rate of some 67 acres a minute. By this same time tomorrow, nearly 100 species of wildlife will tumble into extinction.

World forests are being totally destroyed at a rate of about six or seven square miles per hour. That is more than the size of the whole Roaring Fork Valley per day.



More than half of the tropical rainforests of Earth have already been destroyed.

Some 70 percent of all plants known to have cancer-fighting properties are found in the tropical rainforests. Currently, rainforest vegetation yields a major portion of today’s medications for leukemia and heart disease.



Only about 1 percent of rain forest vegetation has been examined for disease use, yet scientists already know that more than 2,000 varieties of rainforest plants possess some form of cancer-fighting properties.

In the time you might spend reading this letter, some three minutes or so, Earth will have had some 54 city block areas burned, or bulldozed of tropical and regular forests.

Why has Carbondale, the U.S. and the rest of the world said or done nothing about our world’s exponentially rising carbon dioxide levels over the last two years?

Have our world population or our world stock markets been destroying trees and oxygen for money? It’s a good and happy life and living for humanoids.

For planet Earth, just reaching the food production level needed in 2025 could require up to the water equivalent of annual water flow of 24 Nile Rivers, or 110 Colorado Rivers, for additional irrigation rights and trying to feed people and animals.

Doc Philip

Carbondale

This letter is concerning the new fare being adopted by the Ride Glenwood bus system. I think it is a great idea for numerous reasons.

I utilize the bus almost daily, and will gladly pay the $1 fee to ride. Hopefully this fare can help lead to things such as re-opening the South Route and extending the operation hours.

I do have one question though. When I am on Ride Glenwood between 3 and 4 p.m. during the week, the bus is literally packed with school children. Should middle school and high school kids be considered to have the privilege of riding the bus at a discounted rate (or for free), when there seems to be a perfectly good school bus system at their disposal paid for by our tax dollars?

This should be an issue for local adults who use Ride Glenwood regularly. If implemented, essentially riders will be paying not only for their own fare but for the under-used transportation provided to students by the school district at no cost to them.

The Roaring Fork School District’s website indicates that there are a lot of school buses picking up at both the middle and high schools. I believe everyone over the age of 5 and under the age of 60 should pay the fare, and if we are going to give free rides to other demographics it should be to disabled people and active/veteran military personnel.

Joseph Bergl

Glenwood Springs

I have been reading letters posted about the president’s attempted government intrusion and attack on religion, and they all failed to recognize basic facts.

This is not about women, contraception or health insurance. It is nothing less than an attack on the freedom to practice whichever religion we care to, as established by the First Amendment.

The First Amendment prohibits the passing or creation of any law that establishes a religious body and directly impedes an individual’s right to practice whichever religion that they see fit. Simply put, the president has no right to impose a law that directly opposes the religious beliefs of any church, organization or individual, period.

R.W. Boyle, in his Feb. 21 letter, fails to recognize that it was Obama who attempted to prohibit the right of Catholics, and other churches that believe similarly, to follow their beliefs. It was not the church forcing those beliefs on him.

The government moved into religious territory, first prompting the response that politics have no place in religion as guaranteed by the First Amendment.

I did not watch or listen to the congressional hearings mentioned by P.J. Breslin in her Feb. 21 letter, but for her to write “powerful men crave sexual attention” makes me wonder if she understands what the real issue is.

Catholic women and those who believe similarly choose to follow their beliefs not as captives or prisoners under the control of men, but because they desire to please God.

I am not a Catholic, nor do I believe as they do, but they have the right to practice as they feel God is leading. If they decide against the church, then they can leave.

To believe that control of women’s reproductive systems is essential to propagate faith is so far out I can’t even respond. What lies underneath all this smoke and mirrors should open the eyes of the church and its officials.

Obama stuck his foot in to test the waters of the religious fabric of this nation to see the response. What did he hear? Nothing from the pulpits or headquarters of organized religion.

Norm Shroll

Glenwood Springs

The alternatives shown in the Feb. 21 article about the Grand Avenue Bridge fail to address the alternative of a new bridge slightly downstream and aimed toward the railroad corridor. Apparently, requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act are being ignored.

These alternatives would each require closing of Grand Avenue for some period of time. Imagine the roundabouts at West Glenwood handling 25,000 vehicles a day. Traffic would be backed out onto I-70 for hours.

Dick Prosence

Meeker

After the indignant backlash from instructors Kathy Goodman on Feb. 18 and Patricia Bolles on Feb. 19, I felt a response was in order. Cumulatively, their letters said that their insurance wasn’t the greatest, their job was very hard, and they actually work nine months a year, not the eight months I thought. I figured all those teacher work days didn’t count since they weren’t teaching any children.

But some teachers have a tough job. The poorest performances could accurately be blamed on a majority of students who can’t speak English and, for that matter, aren’t even supposed to be here. But that’s another kettle of fish.

My main point was that giving every teacher a bonus does not promote achievement results, but rather rewards at worst, failure, and at best, mediocrity.

By the way, I did teach a couple of semesters of German at CMC in Aspen over 20 years ago, and I still think teaching is a pretty soft job.

Bruno Kirchenwitz

Rifle


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