OPINION

By Jeanne Perry Ps & Qs

Well, here we are, three years since the start of the pandemic to beat all pandemics (at least in our lifetime). What a ride it has been!

We did it. We survived our first rodeo. I don’t know about you, but I embraced the hermit cycle: get up, go to the dog park, go to work in my uncle’s garage, go home and go to bed. No need to get dressed up — or even wear real pants. It felt like that movie, “Groundhog Day” with Bill Murray, and it hardly mattered what I wore as the days blurred together into weeks, months, years…

Forget about the days when we dressed to fly, now we don’t even change out of our pajamas to board the plane.

Letters

Re: ReEnergize

Trying to stay engaged and lighthearted in these viral times was challenging. I believe we are generally a happy species with an inclination to help each other, even we middle-agers who can barely understand the virtual social language at this point. We gave it our best shot during COVID with apps like House Party; pretty much like a real house party in that you can see your friends, you can sometimes even hear them over the background noise, and you can lock the room if you don’t want Chachi’s girlfriend to barge in on you (when we went to actual house parties Joanie still loved Chachi).

“Is this what the future looks like?” we wondered, enjoying our cocktails while hanging out with video versions of our friends, all without actually leaving the house. The best part was when we were ready to leave the party, we just said goodbye; no waiting for an uber on the street or taking a late-night bus ride, because we were already home. Of course, the most often-heard phrase on House Party from the 45-55 age bracket was, “how do you end this thing?”

Virtual house parties weren’t the only advantages to humans staying indoors. Pollution was

Last week’s paper included a press release from Garfield Clean Energy (GCE) asking residents to apply for “ReEnergize'' and other programs which subsidize home energy use reduction measures. It noted that the program has limited funds. Another article reported that last year the funds ran out after 50 retrofits countywide. So, if you noticed your heating bill this winter, apply ASAP for improvement funds. If you didn’t notice your heating bill, consider a tax-deductible contribution to CLEER (cleanenergyeconomy.net), which manages these programs, so they can serve more of the applicants. Either helps reduce carbon pollution contributing to climate disruption.

Much of the funding for GCE and CLEER comes from our towns and the county. These entities almost doubled their revenue from energy taxes and fees last year. Perhaps they should also specifically increase their contributions to this existing underfunded program.

Fred Porter, Carbondale

Re: Harm reduction

In response to a quote in the Feb. 7 edition of the Post Independent, “You don’t think harm reduction encourages the use of opioids? That’s a question that’s out there."

Here’s the answer: 30 years of data in the United States shows that individuals who use drugs are five times more likely to access treatment if they use harm reduction programs. While we support folks to make their own life choices, these services have been shown to ultimately reduce drug use.

Harm reduction programs also reduce crime, the spread of disease and spending