Mountain Biking: Rubber side down- And Now, Back to Your Local News…Since the weather’s getting better, I’m sure we’re all totally jonesing to get onto the trails, but in general, they’re a mess. It’s a bummer to see nice singletracks get trashed and widened, so like all of you, I’m grinding my teeth in annoyance while I try to be patient. The good news is that you [...] […]
- Downieville, Take ThreeOkay, well, things went pretty haywire in race promotion after the registration debacle. The organizer received so many hateful emails and comments about the mishap that it made him wonder if he should even bother putting the race on. I can’t blame him, really. In his shoes I might do the same thing. It sounds [...] […]
- And Now, Back to Your Local News…
- Edgy Veggie
You are viewing the archive for the G.I.Y. category.
Climate change: what’s your neighborhood doing?
So, remember Copenhagen: The Event? If you do, swell, but for a lot of folks, it’s just fading quickly in the rearview.
I can see my house from here. | flickr user johnlegear
The Sierra Club has a takeway that applies to us here at BGB, which is that climate change calls for community change (because climate change news is all local):
If we learned anything in Copenhagen, it’s that we can’t wait for governments to hammer out a solution to global warming. Bottom-up, community-based approaches seem just as likely to save the day. Which is why hundreds of cities and towns are signing on to the Cool Community campaign launched by David Gershon, founder and CEO of the Empowerment Institute [BGB note: CAUTION: insanely ugly Web site ahead]. “Approximately 50 percent of America’s carbon footprint is residential,” he explains. Reducing the carbon output of regular Americans could make a big difference, or at least buy us some extra time.
Gershon’s laying out a big part of his plan/book at the Huffington Post right now, and you can take part in a free two-hour training on March 11 by registering on the Cool Community Tele-Training site. The way it’s described is a little scary, but you can read an overview on the site and there’s also the always-clickable carbon footprint calculator.
Of course it’s entirely possible that you don’t need such training — or that you’ve got better training here in Boulder. We’d love to know about how you’re drastically reducing your own footprint (or how you’ve done it over the last five years). Tell us in the comments!
Treehugger smackdown: Washington City Paper calls ‘em out on cans
We just posted about canned beer, so this is fun:
Mama's Little Yella Pils | flickr user walkn
… author Lloyd Alter takes a wrong step when he writes:
“Nobody a mile north or south of the American border touches the stuff in cans, it just doesn’t taste as good.”
This is wrong. Cans now hold some of the best beers in the world, or at least some of my favorites. And unlike 75 years ago, beer cans today are made with a water-based internal coating that keeps the aluminum from ever touching liquid, so if your beer tastes like tin foil, it’s probably just a crappy beer.
Damn skippy! Tasty canned beer, we salute you!
Hop on over to the blog in question to let ‘em know about your favorite protected-from-the-evil-day-star beer.
Treehugger’s point, though, is totally valid: we’re just not very good at using refillable containers here.
Boulder’s National Center for Atmospheric Research turns 50
The National Center of Atmospheric Research in the early morning | flickr user Laertes
In the 1950’s, meteorologists across the nation lacked the efficient tools, technologies, and computers they needed to perfect their art. They were in great need of a well-equipped science center where scientists specializing in all disciplines of meteorology could collaborate to create more accurate and sophisticated forecasts and models.
In response to this need, the National Science Foundation backed the formation of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in 1960, and Boulder was chosen as its home. Read more
The end of the road for the Lynx
Adan Morquecho, a sophomore at Monarch High School, rides the Lynx bus home Tuesday | Mark Leffingwel
RTD passengers traveling between Broomfield and Louisville may be out of luck soon as RTD plans to cut the Lynx bus route.
The route, which first starting running in the summer of 2008, was funded primarily through a two-year Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant.
City officials hoped that the Lynx would be successful so RTD would agree to take over the service once the federal grant ran out. Unfortunately, the route averages only five riders per hour and has not been nearly successful enough to make the cut.
However, RTD did decide to pick up the Jump XL bus route, which extends the popular Jump route into Erie.
In a last ditch effort to save the Lynx, county officials are trying to decide whether to scale-down the Lynx route to only include more popular stops. But, if they can’t cut the route down enough to make it financially viable, the county will likely be spending its limited transportation money elsewhere. Read more
Raise your own chickens, sure, but be prepared!
After Longmont starting issuing permits last year to allow residents to raise their own chickens, many people, like Melissa Held, jumped at the opportunity to form a closer relationship with their food and where it comes.
While Longmont has seen few problems with urban chickens, a story in the Daily Camera shows that raising chickens may be more complicated than expected: Read more
Big Green Drinks Boulder: January at the Draft House
Tonight we all moseyed out to the Draft House for some good beer and green cheer in the latest installment of Green Drinks Boulder (last Tuesday of every month).
On top of the quesadillas and the award-winning brews on tap, the back room was busting at the seams with all manner of greenie — you had your salesfolk, your media relations people, your event organizers, your students and your just-green-dudes.
One such green dude is Green Drinks regular Rick — I see him every time, and he said he’s been going for a while. Even tried out the Denver GD. I haven’t been down to one of those, but I’m told it’s larger and a bit more unwieldy. He’s pictured here with GD co-organizer Sarah, who identifies herself as communications maven at the ReDirect Guide. Read more
How the West was warmed: local authors talk climate change in the Rockies
This book of essays, many by Colorado authors, explores how climate change is affecting the Rockies.
Driven by the desire to localize the issue of climate change, a former editor of High Country News compiled a book of essays by locals illustrating what a warmer climate means for Colorado.
On Monday evening at the Boulder Bookstore on Pearl Street, nine of the contributors of the book read parts of their essays from, “How the West Was Warmed: Responding to Climate Change in the Rockies,” published in November and edited by Beth Conover.
“I had an opportunity to convene views and speak to the locality and diversity of climate change in Colorado,” said Conover, who also worked as an environmental policy advisor from 2004 to 2007 for Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and helped develop the largest urban sustainability program, Greenprint Denver.
Mayor Hickenlooper provides the foreword to a book filled with essays about trash scavenging, recycling, pine beetles, water scarcity, eco-tourism, hitchhiking, renewable energy and Iraq veterans working to train fellow veterans in green jobs.
A former environment and science reporter at The Boulder Daily Camera, Todd Neff, wrote the essay “Getting the Fever,” which examines the driving effect fear can have on making changes to lessen impacts on the environment. Read more
3/50 movement urges buying locally — for the environment
MNN stalwart Karl Burkart reports on an effort to quantify buying locally. Boulder’s pretty good at this already, and I’d guess that a lot of you are already beating the heck out of this goal. If you’re not, think about all of the local businesses and brands in Boulder — it’s not like we’re wanting for great local goods!
Albums on the Hill
In a March 2009 blog she named her campaign “3/50” which encapsulates her formula for local economic success — spend $50 a month on three different local retailers per month. In so doing (assuming half the employed population spends $150 per month) the U.S. could direct more than $125 billion in local revenue, generating 50 percent more employment and tax opportunities within local communities.
Now with a stalled climate movement and the recent success of the 3/50 local economies campaign, I wonder if the two movements are set to converge. Local economies have a lot going for them — they are inherently low(er) carbon and have broad appeal to people on both sides of the political spectrum. Most importantly, no charts, graphs or slideshows are required.
I think my household already hits that mark pretty easily, but I just might start charting this for kicks.
Longmont gets composty
The photo illustration of what can be composted that ran with the Longmont Times Call story on the city's new pilot composting program.
The city of Longmont plans to launch a pilot curbside composting program this spring, according to a story in today’s Times Call.
If the pilot is successful, Longmont will start a citywide program in 2011.
A year ago, Boulder expanded its own pilot curbside composting program to serve the entire city.
If you live in Boulder County and you want to know how you can compost, check out the composting resource page on BigGreenBoulder. Read more about Longmont’s program here, or check out an article on the success of Boulder’s program at DailyCamera.com.
Avery Brewing Co. to can Ellie’s Brown, IPA, White Rascal and a mystery brew
Everybody’s doing it!
Craft breweries are increasingly opting to sell their tasty beverages in cans, and the latest to jump on the bandwagon is Boulder’s own Avery Brewing.
Avery IPA's wardrobe is about to expand. | flickr user montage_man
In the Westword article, Adam Avery stated that four of their beers including Ellie’s Brown Ale, India Pale Ale, White Rascal and a yet to be released new beer will be the initial brews going into cans.
Think about it, this move makes sense. Cans are easier to recycle and cost less to make and transport. It helps to reduce shipping costs which can help to hold rising costs down. I look forward to trying these beers again from a can.
Westword’s Jonathan Shikes tracked down another motive: Read more
