Climate alarmism is a good thing; bald eagle nest; senior assisted housing (Letters)

Climate alarmism is a good thing

In his recent column, Bjorn Lomborg says, “the global retreat from climate alarmism is a good thing.” There are two problems with this assertion: (1) There has not been a retreat; and (2) saying so, and saying that it’s “a good thing,” is not helpful.

About the “retreat” assertion: The Yale Program on Climate Change Communications has been studying opinions about climate change for over a decade. According to the Yale Program: “Over the past ten years, the Alarmed have grown more than any other audience, from 11% in 2015 to 25% in 2025 (+14 percentage points). Overall, Americans are becoming more worried about global warming, more engaged with the issue, and more supportive of climate solutions.”   

Lomborg advances a lot of points that amount to cherry picking. Here’s what the London School of Economics has to say about his work: “Dr Lomborg provides a masterclass in the use of inaccurate and misleading sources to construct a bogus narrative.”

Finally, Bjorn Lomborg’s words are not helpful. In 2026, with climate-change-supersized floods, fires, droughts and hurricanes evident to all, we don’t have time for any more distractions from merchants of doubt. Exxon and other fossil fuel companies have been running the distraction play for almost half a century. The Keeling Curve keeps rising. It’s time to move on to solutions. And solutions exist … technical solutions such as solar energy, and policy solutions like a carbon tax that rebates money to households and boosts the economy. 

I know that everyone has a lot on their minds right now, given the current political climate. But the physical climate that we depend on is a matter of physics and chemistry and won’t wait for us to calm down. Later is too late. Contact your local, state, and national legislators and demand meaningful climate action.

Chris Hoffman, Boulder

Camera should follow up on eagle nest

Please provide a follow-up article to the recent guest opinion by Dana Bove, “Xcel’s bad timing matters at an active bald eagle nest.” We care about a common-sense resolution to the issue.

Christine Pauly, Boulder

Senior assisted housing could reduce Medicaid transit costs

Medicaid spending has put the state into a billion-dollar hole with 9% a year growth, and costs the Federal government $600 billion a year, historically growing at 6%. Recently, a $25 million Medicaid transportation fraud scandal emerged in Colorado, but you’ve probably seen a lot of it now, finally getting reported, in Colorado, Minnesota and California. The Big Beautiful bill cuts insurance payments to certain earners and may ultimately reduce taxpayer costs, but Medicare spending is at $1.1 trillion and growing at 7.8% due to the Boomers retiring at the rate of 11,000 per day.  

Much has been made of fraud and abuse of these welfare benefits, which go from millions to hundreds of millions to billions of dollars bilked from the taxpayers. A lot of this has happened with transportation costs, which can run $600 for a wheelchair-bound person, each way. Then you had some rural health provider schemes where health care transporters were driving people 100 miles each way and collecting thousands because of the distance to clinics.

Let’s assume the legislature wants to fix the problem rather than just simply find ways of flim-flamming the taxpayers. They could approve tax credits to housing developers who want to build new Senior Assisted living in urban centers, near transit and medical facilities, with in-house services. As an example, a new 200-person facility might have 50 wheelchair-bound residents normally using Medicare twice a week, both ways: $2,400 each week x 50 = $120,000 x 52 weeks = $6.24 million annually under a disbursed care scenario, just in transportation. Yankee innovation can get ahead of the wave but only if the government thinks it’s a good idea too. Because, let’s face it, the book of Regulations beats the book of Revelation when it comes to discouraging visions.

Thomas Anthony, Longmont

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