Mountain Biking: Rubber side down- Time for a TurnaroundWell, my friends, things are finally looking up, and good timing, too, since I’m sure you’re all sick of me bitching. Recent bike build, including wheels… fun! In what feels like a fairly short time, I’ve come from sitting around … Continue reading → […]
- This Raised My PulseHey, baby… wanna ride? I may be injured, but I’m not dead yet. I can still have racy thoughts. Here’s more info. In other news, UBI was an awesome success! I had a blast. I highly recommend it. Overhaul day…. … Continue reading → […]
- Time for a Turnaround
- Edgy Veggie
You are viewing the archive for the Environment category.
Oil spills in Colorado, too (thousands of times)
A drilling rig tower in Garfield County, which ranked second in the number of spills reported to the state | Denver Post
While it pales in comparison to the environmental devastation caused by the BP oil spill in the Gulf, oil is spilling in Colorado, too.
The Colorado spill is really spills — thousands of them that have spilled millions of gallons over the last 2.5 years.
From a story in this week’s Denver Post:
Oil and gas companies have reported almost 1,000 spills to Colorado regulators over the past 2 1/2 years, totaling 5.2 million gallons of drilling liquids and oil.
They ranged from small oil leaks from half-closed valves to thousands of barrels of tainted water that escaped from pits.
It’s far from the volume of oil now shooting into the Gulf of Mexico, but a Denver Post analysis of state spill reports shows that even far from offshore, drilling for oil can regularly create unintended messes.
Read the full story at DenverPost.com.
Vegetarian recipe: I choo-choo-choose chorizo tomato taco soup
The tomato soup and an accompanying lemonade.
There’s really no better way to save money on food than a slow cooker, and I’m a firm believer that crock pots can result in food with a lot of flavor and heft. Combine that with a desire to cut way, way back on meat consumption for environmental reasons (boy, I’ve come a long way) and you’ve got yourself an easy urban challenge: What’s the tastiest thing I can make in the magic money-saving machine? Read more
Meals on (bike) Wheels goes green in Longmont
Jennifer Martinez delivers meals for seniors on a bike | Longmont Times Call
The “wheels” in Meals on Wheels, the national service that delivers hot meals to seniors and the disabled, usually means a car.
But in Longmont — at least in a few cases — the wheels now may mean a bike, thanks to a couple of local women. From this weekend’s Longmont Times Call:
The program marks the first time Meals on Wheels has made deliveries via bike in Longmont, said program coordinator Karla Hale. It also is the first bike-powered program in the state that has been implemented under Meals on Wheels, she said.
“A lot of it has to do with going green and what can we do as a community or an organization to help the environment,” she said. Read more
Volunteers get down and dirty to protest pesticides
Sofia Joffe, 9, left, and Amaya Baccellieri, 10, pull weeds in a garden area of Foothills Community Park on Tuesday afternoon. | John Weller
Camping in Rocky Mountain’s finest clear cuts
Beelte-kill trees at Timber Creek Campground | NPS
Camping in Rocky Mountain National Park means time to commune with nature, relaxing around the campfire, stargazing and long hikes.
And this summer, for two of the park’s five drive-in campgrounds, it also means views. Lots of them. Great vistas that are now totally unobstructed by the trees that used to be there.
That’s the positive spin that park Superintendent Vaughn Baker tried to put on the unfortunate fact that Timber Creek and Glacier Basin campgrounds have literally been clear cut to remove trees killed by pine beetles. The campgrounds used to have plenty of shade, he said. Now they have plenty of views, but campers should provide their own shade. Read more
Passive solar saves energy without panels
The stone wall on the South Facade absorbs heat during the day, lowering the heat gain on the interior of the house. At night as the air cools the heat is given back into the surrounding air, warming the house naturally | photo and caption: flickr user Jeremy Levine
Taking advantage of the sun doesn’t mean you need costly solar panels. Passive solar is the heating and cooling of a building naturally by means of efficient site placement and energy efficient materials. Strategic positioning of a building in relation to the sun can be enough to heat your home and seriously cut your costs. Here in Boulder, we get a lot of sun, and you’re either fighting it or you’re working with it. Architects in Boulder know the value of passive solar: Read more
Denver’s bike-sharing program rocks! (and rolls, too)
Have you checked out the new bike-sharing program in Denver yet? It’s rad… and plus, now there’s no excuse not to ride the bus down to Denver because you can just get off and grab a bike. (OK, well you need five bucks. But, that gets you unlimited rides!)
Cory Madden, left, of Denver and his brother, Conor Madden of Cleveland, ride bicycles from the new Denver Bike Sharing program at Confluence Park on Monday. (John Prieto, The Denver Post )
Denver’s bike-sharing program, called B-Cycle, kicked off on Earth Day. And so far, 16,500 bikes have already been checked out.
Here’s the way it works: You get a membership — either for the day or for the year — and you “check out” a bike. Then you’ve got it for 30 minutes, which, theoretically, should be long enough to get to where you’re going. (These things aren’t made for long road rides, after all.) Then you “dock” the bike at your destination — a coffee shop? cafe? museum? — so someone else can check it out while you’re doing whatever you’re doing. Then, you check out the bike again after to ride back to where you started.
Cool, huh?
Read more about the program at www.denverpost.com.
Bike to work day 2010 in Boulder is June 23
Bikes on a Boulder bike rack| flickr user niehoff
It’s not too late to get into Boulder Walk and Bike to work Month: Bike to Work Day is June 23.
For those who have already pulled their bikes out of winter storage, or never put them away (or maybe you’re even a practitioner of Winter Bike to Work Day), June 23 is just another Wednesday. For everyone else it marks the day the excuses run out. Leave the car in the garage, pump up your tires and get out onto the many bike paths Boulder has to offer.
Bike to Work Day veterans, remember how great last year was?
Just past 6 a.m. on Wednesday, more than 40 Boulder businesses broke out bagels, fruit, organic breakfast bars and hot meals to serve the thousands of people who were participating in this year’s Bike to Work Day.
The annual event was expected to draw more than 35,000 across the state, with more than 6,300 registered to participate in Boulder.
Not a Bike to Work Day veteran? No worries. Whether or not you’re an experienced cyclist on Boulder’s bike paths and main roads, here’s everything needed to help make Boulder’s 34th annual Bike to Work Day the biggest one yet–and how to get as many perks as possible for your hard-earned sweat.
Get started
If you’ve never biked to work mapping the best route can seem a daunting task. Even for experienced riders there is always a need to find the best way to get where you are going. To help with the task GO Boulder has a MapQuest-style Boulder bike route mapping website specifically designed to get you where you need to go, by bike — and Google Maps now has bike path information and streetview for some bike paths in Boulder.
With your route in hand, hit Boulder’s Bike to Work Day 2010 registration.
Why bother registering for Bike to Work Day? Well, GO Boulder is counting on you. Last year 7,132 people registered for Bike to Work Day, according to the Go Boulder Boulder Bike to Work Day 2009 Wrap Up. If you are not registered, you are not being counted–although you are still reducing the number of cars on the road.
No excuses
The bad weather seems to have finally passed–hopefully there won’t be any June snowstorms. A more likely weather deterrent in June is 90 degree heat. Allay your qualms about arriving with a smell by checking out Jenn Fields’ tips on how to bike to work and not stink, including:
Don’t just keep deodorant in your desk drawer — add a washcloth for warmer rides that require the bathroom-sink mini sponge bath. Also, witch hazel sprizted on the washcloth is a helpful de-funkifier. Ladies, do your make up once you get to work. This could apply to men, too. We don’t judge.
To help you make sure your bike is in working order there will be bike repair stations set up around Boulder. A few are listed below.
Boulder Cycle Sport, 4580 Broadway
Great Harvest Bread Company, 2525 Arapahoe, service provided by Performance Bikes
Whole Foods Market, 2905 Pearl, service provided by Bicycle Village
Don’t forget breakfast
June 23 many restaurants and businesses will be offering breakfast stations for participants. Whichever area of town you are coming from, or headed toward, there is an official breakfast station near you. Below are a few places around town that will be participating. For a complete list of participating businesses check the Community Cycles Website.
Half Fast Subs, 1215 13th Street
Moe’s Bagel on Arapahoe, 3075 Arapahoe
Moe’s Broadway Bagel, 2650 Broadway
Ozo Coffee, 5340 Arapahoe
Celestial Seasonings, 4600 Sleepytime Drive
Boulder Chamber of Commerce, 2440 Pearl
Get involved
Events on Bike to Work Day don’t end when you arrive at work. The CU Environmental Center, along with Community Cycles, is hosting the 4th annual Bike Shorts Film Festival at Old Main on CU’s Boulder campus.
Community Cycles and GO Boulder work year round to help more people find ways to make bicycling more convenient and possible for more people in Boulder and Colorado. To help keep Boulder moving check out volunteer opportunities and how to donate an old bike.
Show your Bike to Work Day pride with the official Walk and Bike to Work Month T-shirt.
Now that you’re in the know, see you on the streets!
-Mikaila Altenbern
Cruiser rides and flood information: Springtime in Colorado
Happy June, everybody! Look around — it’s time to think about your “Happy Thursday”-ing and your floodplain. We’ve put together two new resource pages for you — remember those? they’re all down the left side of this page and we take requests!
Today’s news about a washed out dam and Boulder flood advisory got us thinking about the floodplain, so we went ahead and built a resource page with Boulder floodplain maps and information.
And, in happier news, we’re excited about riding our bikes all the time these days and have recently had a few questions about Boulder cruiser rides, so we put together some information on those, too (though we emphasize that you can always organize your own group rides)!
How to protect your bike from thieving scum
Busted padlock | flickr user marckjerland
Well, I returned from a three-day vacation and discovered that one of my two bikes was stolen. Or perhaps magically disappeared. In some ways, this further makes me an official Boulderite. Read more
