Revisit Colorado’s inhumane mistakes
Re: “A somber occasion, for Native Americans whose connections run deep in state, the heartbreak of history shades their view of the sesquicentennial,” July 25 news story.
Kudos to The Denver Post for the feature article about Native Americans and their history in what we call the State of Colorado. One of the best short trips I’ve taken in Colorado was to Granada. From there, I visited the site of the Sand Creek Massacre, Amache National Historic Site where American Japanese citizens were illegally incarcerated during World War II, and Bent’s Fort, all important pieces of Colorado’s History.
I encourage readers to make the trip if they haven’t gone yet. Visiting the Sand Creek Massacre and Japanese detention sites are good examples of man’s inhumanity to man, and a reminder why, as citizens of a democracy, we must speak up when similar (current) government actions repeat the errors of the past.
Mariann Storck, Wheat Ridge
There is a limit to the exploitation of our natural resources
Re: “Stop using tax dollars to subsidize environmental carrying capacity overshoot” July 16 commentary.
I found Cosima Krueger-Cunningham’s July 16 guest opinion piece about overshooting environmental carrying capacity intriguing. We (the USA and most countries) operate on a market economy based on ownership of commodities, including natural resources. This economic model is often at cross-purposes with environmental stewardship because the commodity has more value than the environmental resources.
An example of this is the wood from clear-cutting an old-growth forest versus biological diversity and its function as a carbon sink, among other attributes. The United States currently has the mindset of “manifest destiny” that this country has unlimited resources that can and should be exploited for profit. Only when exploitation overshoots the carrying capacity do we suddenly look for other solutions, if there are any, e.g., Colorado River water availability and allocations that were determined using finite amounts instead of a percentage of the flow.
I agree with Krueger-Cunningham and her innovative idea for Colorado governments to require environmental assessments of taxpayer-funded projects to figure out if they exceed carrying capacity (e.g., water, air quality, land use) before being funded. That would help reduce the exploitation of natural resources.
However, what if most projects exceed the carrying capacity and there are no solutions to increase it? In natural populations, when the carrying capacity is reached, the population decreases (increased death, lower birth rates) until the system recovers. Perhaps the human population has reached this limit.
Loren Hettinger, Littleton
Can you lend a hand to prevent youth violence?
Re: “We’ve been here before. We know what it takes to reduce youth violence,” July 26 guest commentary.
As former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb said, “Youth violence is a community problem.” We are all part of this community. Each of us has 168 hours a week. We decide how best to spend them. Consider how you might best invest any of your 168 hours.
David L Stevenson, Denver
Camp fires and feeding animals … Sheesh!
I visited our beautiful mountains this past week, and unfortunately, I observed the less intelligent of our species. Instance one, right next to a sign saying, “No open fires,” a family with their kids was fanning the embers of a campfire. Instance two, with several signs saying, “Do not Feed the Wildlife,” again families were brazenly feeding chipmunks. They even came prepared with precut apple slices and nuts in baggies. What’s with these people? Don’t they care about the very nature they are visiting, and what kind of example are they setting for their next generation? Sheesh!
Dan Eberhart, Denver
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