Our air, water and food

ing unleaded gasoline would reduce airport operations by 40%. e county, enjoying the tax revenue that the airport generates, continues to permit the sale.

I wrote my state representative, Briana Titone, about this issue. I asked Titone to take this up at the state level. Instead of receiving a form letter, like I expected, I actually received an intentional response: Titone would intentionally do nothing about it. Titone let me know that, perhaps, the EPA would address this issue someday. Until then, our children would continue to be poisoned without Titone’s involvement. We are allowing more than our air to be poisoned for pro t; let’s consider our water. Suncor re nery regularly emits forever chemicals into the Colorado River. ese chemicals are not broken down by our bodies or by nature, and so they are thought to last inde nitely. Our pollution with these chemicals is so severe that increasing amounts are now being found in Antarctica. Even very small amounts of forever chemicals in our bodies cause cancer and reproductive problems. And even though there is no known

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

MICHAEL DE YOANNA

Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com

KRISTEN FIORE West Metro Editor kfiore@coloradocommunitymedia.com

RYLEE DUNN Community Editor rdunn@coloradocommunitymedia.com amount that is completely safe, Suncor is permitted to use forever chemicals to control a re that predictably results from its re ning process. e waste is emitted the South Creek and Sand Platte rivers, which are sourced for drinking water and crop irrigation. Even so, Suncor repeatedly pollutes the river far beyond the amount they are permitted. Importantly, this is a predictable re! ey need not use forever chemicals, but it would be more expensive to re ne without them. And so they pollute and reap additional pro ts; the government that we rely on to protect us from this pollution reaps additional tax revenues.

So we poison our air and water; what about our food? It is normal to see “natural avors” on food items. Consider, though, that many natural items would be terrible to consume. And indeed, many of the so-called natural avors are terrible for us. Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) is used to make food products appear brighter [8]. is is an oxidized metal, the same metal is commonly used for joint replacements largely because it cannot be metabolized! It is commonly found in

ERIN ADDENBROOKE Marketing Consultant eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com

AUDREY BROOKS Business Manager abrooks@coloradocommunitymedia.com

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LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com reach areas and serve needs that the government cannot. candy, co ee creamers, salad dressing and other foods. How exible is the “natural avors” designation? e FDA has approved cellulose — i.e., virgin wood pulp — as a food additive, which our bodies cannot digest. Vanilla and raspberry ice cream can be avored with castoreum, a combination of anal and urine beaver secretions. It’s FDAapproved.

Budgets are ultimately a series of choices made by the government of a locale as to how to spend tax revenue. e inputs into how a budget is crafted are ultimately more complex than many realize. Writing about the state budget matters in the further education of the general public and how both they and elected o cials handle the budgetary choices made in both the state and county level. I encourage you to question your state legislators about how they vote on the long bill. You should attend hearings about budget concerns that a ect you and those whom you know personally. Most importantly, take the time to tell others in Je erson County and Colorado about what you have learned.

Joe Webb is the former chairman of the Je co Republican party.

We are poisoning ourselves. We are trading our environment and our health for cheap goods and corporate pro ts. ese actions are ubiquitous in our society, and they go on without hardly a peep from the public. is must change. We must immediately elect representatives who are willing to make corporate pollution and its consequences a main issue. (A good start would be voting Titone out of the state assembly and lling the position with someone who is willing to address the lead emitted by RMMA.) And if we cannot nd politicians who will do so, then we must become engaged and elect ourselves to save our health and our environment: not the hypothetical future environment, but the present one.

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