LETTERS

to “global crisis,” while irresponsible mass-money-printing is ignored.

According to WEF’s 2023 report, we are not moving fast enough toward “net zero” emissions. WEF rebukes the world for only 5% of their energy supply in wind and solar, while seemingly overlooking the earth’s biggest polluters. ey push EVs without supportive infrastructure.

Al Gore’s ranting about “boiling the oceans”— and Greta unberg’s angry diatribe of irresponsible adults stealing her future — just make my eyeballs roll out of their sockets.

e pandemic lockdown submission was justi ed by “the common good,” and we now have self-appointed billionaires telling us how we must change and live. Otherwise, we are going to extinct ourselves.

We old folks seek moderation rather than extremes, but our children are demeaned into guilt, and it’s no wonder the suicide rate has increased.

As for this crotchety lady, I’ll go green as much as I can. My recycling e orts are noteworthy, and my research for a new vehicle leans toward hybrid. But I won’t be bullied into submission. Don’t tell me to eat bugs. I’ve tried some, but they just don’t satisfy like a nice, juicy steak.

Go y a kite, you authoritarian crazies!

Linda Mazunik

Lone Tree

Avoid disinformation

In a recent letter to the editor, Laureen Boll (Douglas County FAIR chapter leader and Douglas County Libraries Foundation chair) writes how “some parents” have taken it upon themselves to purge critical race theory from DCSD and boasts about their “success.”

Boll fails to mention that she is not a DCSD parent, nor does she acknowledge that CRT has never been taught in DCSD. She also conveniently omits the fact that in DCSD, racism and dis- e EPA strongly advises that any radon level at or above 4 pCi/L should be reduced through a radon mitigation system. Radon mitigation needs to be done by professionally accredited operators and most health departments — including the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment — post lists of accredited mitigators. Radon is an invisible and odorless radioactive gas that can be found in many homes. It comes from the crimination on the basis of immutable characteristics has been described as “rampant” and “systemic.” For decades, the district has been urged by multiple stakeholders to take action, to no avail, resulting in countless complaints and ongoing litigation with the O ce of Civil Rights. e April 2021 “Making Connections Workshop” that Boll misrepresents and misquotes was voluntarily attended by many DCSD sta . e workshop consisted of sessions focused on evidence-based best practices for general education, gifted learners, special education, trauma-informed practices, classroom and behavior management, youth mental health and student perspectives. In an independent post-session analysis, only 0.03% of respondents had a negative review about the workshop. Statistically, for a professional development session, this is a screaming success.

Considering the risk for lung cancer is high, why aren’t people exposed to high radon levels eligible for lung cancer screening? e United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends people ages 50-80 with a 20-pack year history of smoking, or have quit in the past 15 years, get a low dose CT scan, which is painless and takes only a few minutes.

Based on the conversation with our son, we tested our home using methods recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency and discovered that the radon levels in our home were elevated above the threshold of 4 pico curies (pCi/L).

All of this is evidence that Boll and the parent community she represents are misinformed about educational equity and its e ects on student outcomes. Yet, they continue to spread disinformation, creating con ict where none exists, thereby harming our public education, our students and sta , and by extension, our community.

I o er this advice, particularly for those in positions of power in our community, who extol colorblindness, quote MLK without context, twist and misrepresent reality and advocate to abolish systems of support in the name of “equality not equity” - Please step out of your echo chambers. Try to look beyond your personal interests and authentically engage with people who don’t share your worldview, your identity, your faith. Seek out true “diversity of thought” and try to objectively analyze how policies you make, advocate for or ght against a ect larger swaths of the community before you claim and boast about doing good while claiming to defend liberal democracy.

In hindsight, you may be doing more harm than good, sowing hatred and creating division rather than uniting the community. Creating consensus and nding common ground is what decomposition of uranium in soil, rock and water and gets into the air you breathe. When inhaled, radon can cause serious health problems including lung cancer. About half of all homes in Colorado have radon levels above the recommended limit of 4 pCi/L.

While there is no way for me to know with certainty if radon caused my lung cancer, I want people to know it is one risk factor that can be tested for and reduced to safe levels very easily. I also want people to know that smoking and exposure to radon are not the only risk factors for lung cancer and that many people develop lung cancer despite having no known risk factors. Exposure to secondhand smoke, family history of lung cancer and air pollution are risk factors for lung cancer. Report any persistent symptoms you have to your doctor. Being young and having no known history of tobacco use does not make you immune to lung cancer, even if the risk is low.

Despite the well-known risks of radon, it concerns me that there isn’t more public health messaging about radon, especially given its high prevalence in Colorado and many other states. e EPA estimates that radon kills approximately 21,000 people in the U.S. every year and about 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked. ese numbers may be a low estimate, as I know my doctor never asked me if I knew the radon level of my home when I was diagnosed. In fact, only a small number of family physicians transmit radon information to their patients. Please consider testing your home for radon at least every two years as recommended by the EPA because levels can change due to movement of soil, or new cracks in the foundation. Even if you have a mitigation system, testing is still recommended. A mitigation system is like any other appliance, and it can malfunction or stop working.

Learn more about radon and radon mitigation from the EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.