Burning trees isn’t renewable
I was intrigued to read Allen Best’s opinion piece, “A Climate Crisis, But Not a Catastrophe,” (Nov. 27) on the path to “decarbonize” Colorado.
As an advocate for a transition away from dirty fossil fuels and protection of our biodiverse, carbon-storing forests, I’m personally doubtful of the statement from Aspen-based Holy Cross Energy that it might “achieve between 95% and 100% emissions-free electricity by 2030.”
According to the Holy Cross Energy website, in 2023 35% of its energy came from coal, 9% from gas and 6% from “market sources.” Of the 50% “renewable” energy, hydroelectric was 3%, solar 4% and wind 36%, while 7% came from burning trees and parts of trees from logging public forests, what the industry calls forest “biomass” energy.
Not only isn’t incinerating trees “emissions free,” biomass facilities — including Eagle Valley in Gypsum, from which Holy Cross got electricity until the facility closed in April — spew “approximately as much CO2 per unit of energy generated as coal,” according to a December 2023 study of biomass emissions. Any increase in logging results in “a permanent increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration,” according to other peer-reviewed studies. That’s not to mention particulate matter, carcinogenic formaldehyde and benzene, volatile organic compounds and other toxic air pollutants.
Please don’t misconstrue pointing out these facts as an endorsement of fossil fuels. To the contrary, what I’m suggesting is we cannot “decarbonize” by switching out one climate-busting energy source for another that’s just as bad (or worse).
Ultimately, if a transition away from coal, gas, oil, nuclear and other polluting, industrial-scale energy is going to work at all, we must put equal (if not more) effort into curbing our ever-increasing consumption of energy — and the natural world in general — that corporations, governments, our entire economic system and so many of us individually continue to demand.
– Josh Schlossberg, Nederland
A needed laugh
Thank you so much for having the comic strip Tom Tomorrow! I got home 15 minutes ago to my wife in tears due to a technological issue with trying to order something online. I think we have all been there at one time or another.
After we solved the problem, she took off for her afternoon walk. I sat down with the Boulder Weekly, one of my great pleasures, and opened it to the strip with the AI doctor (Dec. 5 issue). It reminded me so clearly of the hours I spent on the phone during the last year straightening things out with accounts, credit cards and bill payees after my identity was stolen. Most of the time, no person could be found and my situation was unique enough to not offer an easy solution.
I immediately cut the cartoon out to share with my wife and anyone else who walks into the house. What a wonderful treasure it is to laugh now in the background of the worst political disaster since the Civil War.
Good journalism is more important than ever!
– David Hazen, Lyons
Incorporate accessibility
I have appreciated seeing Jennifer Och’s disability columns in the paper. I’m writing with feedback on how this might continue to be represented in other sections of the paper.
For example, the Nibbles article on Suti (“A time for hygge,” Nov. 7). I visited Suti after reading the article, but was sad to find it is not very accessible. There is a stair to enter with no handrail, the front door is quite difficult to open, the ordering area is too narrow to fit a mobility aid and the chairs are difficult to sit in without moving furniture.
While these may not be obvious to the able bodied, certainly a mention of an entry that has steps might be something to include in future articles.
Thanks for taking this into consideration.
– Shelby Bates, Boulder
These opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly