Win for cultivated-meat industry

In a landmark ruling destined to save billions of animal and human lives, the Food and Drug Administration ruled Wednesday that meat cultivated from animal cells is safe to eat. The ruling was granted to Upside Foods, funded by Bill Gates and Richard Branson, but also by meat industry giants Cargill and Tyson Foods.

In the past decade, the cultivated-meat industry has grown to more than 150 companies on six continents, backed by $2.6 billion in investments. They all grow meat from animal cells in clean manufacturing plants, rather than in cruel filthy factory farms.

An estimated 70 billion animals are macerated or suffocated at birth or raised in tiny cages each year to produce today’s animal meat and dairy offerings. Consumption of these products has been linked conclusively with elevated incidence of killer diseases.

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Production of animal-based foods pollutes our waterways and groundwater supplies, destroys wildlife habitats and accounts for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions.

The forthcoming massive switch from animal agriculture to plant-based and cultivated meat and dairy products offers a truly monumental change in kindness to animals, human health, environmental pollution and global warming.

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Filipe Santana, Glenwood Springs

Boebert shouldn’t change

Most of our media has abandoned journalism for a lapdog seat on the Dems’ knees. The editorial advice column for Lauren Boebert (PI Editorial, 11/14) exemplifies my point.

The op-ed says Boebert should focus on local issues instead of national politics and that she “adjust and adapt.” But don’t national politics and policies dramatically affect us all locally? What “ridiculous” things has she said that earns such scorn from our local liberal lecturers?

Should Boebert remain silent about the crushing inflation Dem policies have unleashed on us? Maybe push the mute button on the millions of illegal immigrants invading our country? And how dare she support parents over teachers’ unions or victims over no-bail laws! 

Boebert realizes 300 Americans killed every day by fentanyl is not solved by 86,000 new blood sucking IRS agents. Nor does Lauren think our children should be indoctrinated with CRT or gender-fluidity wokeness.

The lesson I learned from the election was the power wielded by the information suppression of our media. The unholy alliance between Dems, big tech and the media is the greatest threat to our country.

Lauren Boebert has the backbone and integrity to call out loud and clear the political prostitution that Dems are inflicting on the citizens of our country. I applaud her.

Maybe it’s our local liberal lecturers who “would do well to adjust and adapt” to reality rather than ideology.

Bruno Kirchenwitz, Rifle

Stop the hate

This weekend, our queer community celebrated Trans Day of Awareness in the face of a terrifying attack against LGBTQIA+ people in Colorado Springs. 

Five people are dead and 18 injured on the Front Range because of the furor that hatemongers are whipping up against us. 

Our district just re-elected Lauren Boebert, whose rhetoric seems to support efforts to erase queer people on a national scale. Shame on us.

I’m here to tell you that terrorism and violence will not stop queer people from existing right here in your cute little Western Colorado towns. 

I’m disgusted by the hateful conversations I hear in coffee shops, grocery stores, and public spaces in this Valley. People like me just want to live our lives, pay our taxes, and raise our families without the threat of being harmed by our neighbors. 

If you think anti-gay sentiment doesn’t live in our valley, you’re wrong. It’s vile. I’ve, personally, been menaced and physically removed from a gym, right down the road in Rifle, because I wore rainbow gear for working out. 

For those of you who endorse philosophies of hate in our community: My siblings’ blood is on your hands … but we’re not afraid of cowards who slink in the night to harm others. People like that shooter are pathetic, contemptible, and weak. 

I’d like to wish everyone a belated Happy Trans Day Of Remembrance (Nov 20, 2022).

Kathryn Bennett, New Castle

Keep it in the ground

What the Garfield County commissioners fail to understand is that the burning of fossil fuels is destroying the future of young people.  The millions of dollars that will be spent on the proposed new wells should be put into solar panels. 

Oil and gas production will be stranded assets in just a few years. The public will be footing the bill for dealing with old wells, not to mention all the damage from climate change. Solar arrays also produce tax dollars. 

In my view the reporter who did this article (GPI, 11/15) should not let unsubstantiated statements from Commissioner Samson stand alone. In fact there is no mention of the downside of the proposed drilling and production. There is no mention of an opposing point of view.  

If any actual financial benefits actually proceed from these wells they will mainly increase the bank accounts of just a few of the investors in this “play.” The negative externalities will, as always, fall on the members of the community. In theory, we form governments to keep this from happening. Locally, we have done a lousy job of this. 

Patrick Hunter, Carbondale