By Daily Camera letters | [email protected] | Boulder Daily Camera
What is cryptocurrency? From the origin of the Greek word "krypto," it means hidden or dark or unknown. This seems apt because many of us wonder, "What is it?" and more importantly "What is it worth?"
Bitcoin and like so many newbies on the market, such as Trumps latest, are just like our U.S. dollar; not worth the paper they are printed on.
Any currency is a belief system plain and simple; if we believe a cabbage is worth a paper dollar, all of us together, and that paper dollar can be passed on for a bunch of tomatoes, we have a currency.
Gold isn't worth very much actually, I mean compared to water; if you don't have water, it doesn't matter how much gold you have in your basement. But we believe that gold will buy water in difficult times ... I suppose until two people with gold don't have water.
Point is, we are going to have to believe in a common good to maintain the currency of our democracy. The currency will need common belief.
Any forces within our society that oppose our common understanding and propose a new understanding, especially forces that consider the upheaval of morality and human decency, must be rejected. Forces that divide our common beliefs and promote our division see profit as an outcome.
Our government is like a currency. So much of our government is belief in needing to help each other. It is not a currency of "I got mine, so how can I get more!"
Avarice didn't make America great ... generosity did. We know how to take care of ourselves and the world and so we will stand up again to the greed that always lurks in humanity.
Michael Dille, Boulder
I would like to build upon the insightful points raised by Dana Bove regarding Boulder County Parks and Open Space's (BCPOS) troubling actions toward the Stearns Lake Bald Eagles and, more broadly, their relentless targeting of black-tailed prairie dogs -- a keystone species whose survival is intricately linked to the health of entire ecosystems, including that of the eagles themselves.
As BCPOS marks its 50th anniversary, celebrating its role in preserving natural spaces, an important question must be asked: How can an organization dedicated to conservation justify the destruction and displacement of sentient beings who share these same lands? If their mission is truly about protection, why have they sanctioned the extermination of prairie dogs on several acres just south of Stearns Lake -- land that directly sustains the very eagles (and other raptors) they claim to protect? Why did they proceed to trap and remove over 300 prairie dogs from MOA land, just south of the eagles' current nesting site? And this is just scratching the surface of their mismanagement of open space land.
The consequences of these actions ripple far beyond the prairie dog colonies. Their elimination disrupts the intricate web of life, affecting countless other species, from predators who rely on them for food to plants that depend on their burrowing activity for soil aeration. The disregard shown for these ecological relationships reflects an outdated and speciesist mindset -- one that is neither ethical nor sustainable.
Rather than perpetuate harmful policies that prioritize control over coexistence, I implore BCPOS to embrace humane education and the principles of compassionate conservation. True stewardship does not mean selecting which species are deemed worthy of survival while systematically eradicating and neglecting others. It means recognizing the inherent value of all life and working toward solutions that honor and protect biodiversity.