The real goal
Near the end of “Out of sight, out of mind” (News, July 29) Emma Athena notes that Coloradans only recycle 1.1 lb/person/day compared with 3 times that much in Oregon or Washington. But that’s not the whole story; we need to know totals of discarded waste per person-day in Oregon or Washington. If that were higher than here, we’d look better; if lower, we’d look even worse. The real goal is not to increase the amount of recycling, but to reduce the amount that goes in landfills. And remember “reduce, re-use, recycle”: recycling is the third goal, coming into play only after we really need to use something and can’t re-use it afterward.
Dick Dunn/Longmont
LWV Supports Voting Rights
Coloradans have many reasons to be proud of our election system. Our state is widely known as a national model for use of effective processes like mail-in ballots, same-day voting, and the ability for unaffiliated voters to vote in primary elections. Taken together, these and other elements of our election system making voting more accessible to everyone. Our redistricting effort, now underway, is designed to help avoid disenfranchisement through gerrymandering.
The League of Women Voters works to ensure that everyone has the desire, the right, the knowledge, and the confidence to participate. Unfortunately, many states are moving in an opposite direction as Colorado: rolling back hard-won voting rights, disenfranchising people who have already been historically excluded from voting, and weakening our democracy.
That’s why LWV is one of many organizations supporting the For The People Act. This act, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act are two opportunities to secure voting rights at the national level. The bills have had a rocky road this spring, but Congress still has an opportunity to uphold equitable access to the voting process for all who are eligible.
LWV and nonpartisan organizations all over the U.S. are calling on Congress to delay their August recess until the For the People Act is passed. LWV of Boulder County thanks Representative Neguse, Senator Bennet and Senator Hickenlooper for supporting the For the People Act thus far. We encourage all Coloradans and all our elected officials to support at the national level, the kind of voting access we have in Colorado; access that benefits all voters.
Mandy Nuku, Operations Director
Role model
Considering our long dark history of human rights violations, we have little standing in criticizing those in China. Voter suppression and curtailing union organizing are as anti-democratic as the crackdown on the people of Hong Kong. The power of the Capital here is as autocratic as that of the Communist Party. Industrial organization and production, having a willing workforce, and capitalizing on international trade have propelled both nations into economic superpowers. China’s current buildup of military power, citing the preservation of national character and world status, copies that of ours during the “Red Scare” of the 50’s and 60’s, a staged standoff of world powers. Communist China is every bit as much a Capitalist player in the world economy as America. The gorilla in the room facing both nations is Mother Nature and how each will address the effects and their contributions to climate change.
Robert Porath /Boulder
