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
Andrea Robbins, ‘the Eco Pass lady,’ retiring
Andrea Robbins, director of Go Boulder, the city's alternative transportation program, leaves on her bike from her office in the Park Central Building on Thursday. Kasia Broussalian/CAMERA
The Boulder bus system is well-known and well-used in Boulder, but perhaps less well-known is the woman responsible for many of the most convenient aspects of the transit system: Andrea Robbins. Now, after 18 years working for Go Boulder, Robbins is retiring. Read more
How to make a solar cooker at home
Solar cooker baking zucchini bread | flickr user davidsilver
A solar cooker is a simple way to use and understand a resource Boulder has in abundance: sunlight. Simple cookers require such basic household items as Elmer’s glue, cardboard, aluminum foil and a glass jar, and can be assembled in as little as two to three hours.
The Boulder company Willow Way, run by Zia Parker, offers a solar oven construction class taught by Jeff Graef.
“One thing that’s good about it is it’s a slow cooker,” Graef said. “You basically don’t have to watch it. You can throw in the food, go out and do some errands, come back and it will be cooked.”
“You can cook a pretty good variety of things, but things that take a long time to cook are more challenging,” he said. “The easiest things to cook are fruits and vegetables.
While a solar cooker might not be able to produce enough heat to cook everything on the dinner table, it could be a fun and energy efficient way to gain more understanding of the power of the sun.
Read more about how to make a solar cooker at the Camera.
-Mikaila Altenbern
Casey Middle School Bike Club gets students fired up about biking
Casey Middle School’s Bike Club participates in a race.
Hey! It’s a guest post from Casey Middle School teacher and Bike Club sponsor Catherine Powers!
Casey Middle School’s Bike Club wrapped up a fantastic 2009-2010 school year with a great showing at the CU Short Track race on May 19, helping to kick off that weekly series. Read more
Xcel franchise agreement moves toward ballot
The Boulder City Council voted 6-3 Tuesday night to approve the first reading of ballot language for a measure that would ask voters to approve a new franchise agreement with Xcel Energy.
FLEX northern Colorado bus service launches in June
Coyote Ridge near Fort Collins | flickr user gregor_y
If you were looking to get up to Fort Collins by bus (say, for some beer or rock ‘n’ roll or for the 2010 Tour de Fat on Sept. 4), it looks like you can take the BOLT to Longmont and take the FLEX up to Fort Collins — starting in just a couple of weeks. Read more
Fremont County’s shorter workweek saving energy, money
Photo taken from Shelf Road north of Cañon City, Colorado | flickr user longhorndave
CANON CITY, Colo. (AP) — Keeping Fremont County’s administration building closed one day a week has saved more money than expected.
Last June the county switched the building’s operating hours to 10-hour work days, Monday through Thursday in a move to save an estimated $10,000 per year in utility costs.
County Manager George Sugars said a recent energy cost analysis found that the savings from closing the building for three days per week during the last 10 months of operation totaled $18,276. He says turning down heating and cooling systems from Thursday evenings until Monday mornings helped reduce costs.
Fifth graders to world: Stay on designated trails!
Hey! It’s a guest post from Deanna Williams, USFS Wildlife Biologist & Angela Mundt, USFS Wildlife Technician!
This spring, as the skis get put back in the garage and the mountain bikes get dusted off, Boulder Valley 5th graders have a message for local bikers, motorcyclists, and horse riders: Please stay on designated trails! That unmarked path may be tempting, but it might be causing serious damage to the land and our drinking water.
The Boulder Ranger District, of the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest, is enlisting local 5th graders to promote watershed protection, local wildlife conservation, and trail rules/etiquette. Selected artwork from the 2010 Student Wildlife Art Contest will be recognized here at BigGreenBoulder and incorporated into new educational trail signs on the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest.
Damage from unauthorized trails off the Peak to Peak Highway.
The art contest was inspired during efforts to repair and restore several miles of undesignated trail that was damaging a sensitive streamside area that runs east of the Peak to Peak Highway. Heavy use of these trails damaged plants, disturbed wildlife trying to raise young, and introduced sediment and pollutants into the Boulder Creek watershed.
Fifth graders participating in the contest are designing artwork around 3 themes: Read more
Wildfire danger lower this year, but still serious
Sean McCaffrey of the Roosevelt National Forest fire crew digs a line around the West Creek Fire west of Glen Haven last year. The fire, which burned about an acre of steep, rocky terrain, was sparked by a lightning strike. | Photo: Walt Hester, Estes Park Trail Gazette
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — Gov. Bill Ritter says wetter than usual conditions have reduced the fire danger this year but the state is ready if there is a major wildfire on the Western Slope.
Officials have warned that the continuing bark beetle infestation has left Colorado’s high country at risk of a major fire. Read more
Ralston Reservoir uranium cleanup plan not good enough, says state
DENVER (AP) — State regulators have rejected a plan by Cotter Corp. to clean up contamination from a closed uranium mine that has flowed into a creek that feeds a Denver-area reservoir.
The Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety said Thursday it doesn’t believe the plan would prevent uranium from contaminating Ralston Reservoir, which supplies some of the Denver area’s drinking water. Read more
Fourteeners Initiative looking for 14er stewards
Long's Peak as seen from Louisville | flickr user question_everything
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A group that works to protect Colorado’s highest peaks is looking for a few good stewards to help.
The Colorado Fourteeners Initiative is seeking volunteers to spend time on the 54 mountains higher than 14,000 feet — called 14ers — to give tips to other hikers about lessening their impact on the environment.
The group estimates that 500,000 people try to climb or hike at least one 14er every summer. Volunteers in the Peak Steward Program provide information about ways to avoid damaging the fragile high-altitude environments.
Volunteers are trained in environmental education, alpine ecology, mountain safety and U.S. Forest Service regulations.
Training is planned 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Glenwood Springs Community Center.
