Correction: The Sept. 8 article “Cinematic climbing” stated that Craig Muderlak’s short film Our Office would debut at the Reel Rock Film Tour on Sept. 15. While the film is in the amateur film contest, it is not expected to earn enough votes to screen as part of the tour.
Turning a mirror on Danish
In his article “Ten years after 9/11” (Danish Plan, Sept. 8), Mr. Danish asserts: “You’ll know we’ve won the war on terror when the Islamic world is 1) reasonably democratic, 2) reasonably secular, 3) only modestly corrupt, 4) more or less committed to the rule of law, and 5) fights jihadists more fiercely than we do. Alternatively, you’ll know that we’ve won the war on terror when the Islamic world stops treating its women like shit.”
Why, I ask, shouldn’t we hold our own government and country to the same standard? If one takes a moment to honestly assess things, all of these conditions are also quite applicable to our own country and government. It’s quite easy to point a high-powered intellectual opinion at others; it’s quite another thing to do the same to one’s self. Perhaps if Mr. Danish began by examining his own faults and hurdles he wouldn’t be so quick to dish out gross equivocations and reactionary pronunciamentos to the outside world.
Indeed, perhaps it’s time that we all look at how we contribute to the quality of the world we share by evaluating the morality we espouse and asking if perhaps it, too, isn’t just well-reasoned (well-to-do) immorality.
Richard Saunders/via Internet
Webster’s Dictionary defines “random” as “a haphazard course without definite aim, direction, rule or method.”
Paul Danish opens his missive (“Ten years after 9/11,” Danish Plan, Sept. 8) with “Random thoughts.” Mr. Danish has never so clearly stated his frame of mind as he has here. As he often does with his pontifications, they are as Webster’s defines them, haphazard and without direction. Thank you, Mr. Danish, for your honesty.
David Segal/Boulder
Corporate personhood
I can think of nothing more fundamental to the seeming collapse of our country than the almost total control corporations have over most aspects of our lives and economy.
Abraham Lincoln wrote in 1864: “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in High Places will follow, and the Money Power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the People, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic destroyed.”
Why would our legal scholars and political leaders allow a system put in place that will destroy our democratic republic? I see only one reason — that they favor a system that fosters the accumulation of wealth and power. We give undue power to wealthy people and corporations. They write the laws that benefit them in ways that minimize the voice of ordinary people.
We are not listened to by our political leaders, as evidenced by the fact that the vast majority of Americans want GMOs labeled — we get no action; the majority want single payer health care — we get no action; the vast majority want a much more progressive tax policy — we get no action. I appreciate Boulder City Council’s decision to give us a voice by putting this on the ballot. Corporate personhood and unlimited campaign spending affect us all.
As corporations increase their domination over our nation, please support this issue and shine a light for others to see. We won’t be the first but we should stand tall with the 30-plus other cities that have done this. Vote yes in November on Boulder’s effort to oppose corporate personhood.
Bruce Robinson/Boulder
Nedfest nears zero-waste
Congrats to Michigan Mike, who just celebrated his 13th Nedfest.
This year, aligned with Nederland’s Envision 2020 commitment to sustainability, Nedfest initiated its first-ever recycling and compost collection effort and diverted an impressive two-thirds of our waste from going to the landfill.
We began by asking our vendors to supply only compostable serviceware (ie, plates, cups and utensils made from corn starches). We then placed three-bin waste stations throughout the festival grounds, encouraging our patrons to separate recycling, compost and trash. We collected six to seven cubic yards of recyclables, three cubic yards of compost, and five cubic yards of waste. If it weren’t for the efforts of our patrons and staff separating materials, all 15 cubic yards would have ended up as waste. We reduced our waste by 67 percent.
It’s confusing that an item like a cup can be manufactured from recyclable plastic, non-recyclable plastic or compostable corn starches. It gets even more confusing that a fork made from recyclable plastic cannot actually be recycled at Eco-Cycle due to the equipment’s inability to distinguish it from a flat piece of paper. So a big thank you to the Nedfest patrons who took the time to read labels and sort materials into the proper bins. Your efforts reduced the amount of time and manpower needed to correct errors of misfiled materials. Campground patrons — you did the best of all — we rate you an “A” in proper separation and for keeping Chipeta Park clean.
The most rewarding outcome of our efforts cannot be measured. In our conversations and observations of Nedfest patrons and vendors, we noticed a heightened awareness regarding the cradle-to-grave dilemma of materials we use. Over the three days of the fest we saw increased participation in trash sepa ration, changes in vendor practices and dialogue within our community favoring recycling and composting. A special shout-out goes to Uncle Jim’s Dogs (Fort Collins) for switching slushie containers from Styrofoam to recyclable plastic, sup- plying only bulk condiment options, and for not supplying condiment cups (what a novel idea to reduce waste and costs simultaneously). Another notable vendor is Weezr’s Butter (Estes Park) for posting a collection station for Ziploc bags at her booth, for personally bringing them to be recycled at participating grocery stores, and also for her support of local busi- nesses in ingredient purchasing. Compostable service ware can cost two to three times as much as conventional plastic, so thank you to the following vendors that supported our sustainability effort: Fruta Smoothie, Seb’s Wood-fired Pizza, The Smokeshack, Surf ’s Up Catering, Boulder Beer, Redstone Meadery and Lefthand Brewery. And thanks to the volunteers: Tom Brophy, Mark Smith, Greg Wilson, Emma, Koby, Taylor and Eli. Thanks also to Eco-Cycle for providing free recy- cling stands and other assistance. Diana Maggiore, Nedfest zero-waste coordinator/Rollinsville
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