Fourmile burn area has high flood risk

Reread that title again.

Last September's Fourmile Fire has left flood danger in its wake. Photo by Mark Leffingwell.

We’re in danger, folks, especially those living in the Fourmile Fire burn area.

Laura Snider reports that

If more than an inch of rain falls over the area burned by the Fourmile Fire in an hour — an event that happens, on average, every other year — between 20 and 40 homes would be at risk of flooding.

That’s scary stuff. Check out the rest of Laura’s article, “Heavy rain in Fourmile burn area could flood dozens of homes,” for more info about how to be prepared.

Petroleum prices on the rise

So gas prices are going up. Again.

That means it’s time to start thinking about alternate means of transportation.

How will you be getting from Point A to Point B?

By bike? Photo by Paul Aiken.

By bus? Photo by Marty Caivano.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will you walk? Photo by Paul Aiken.

 

 

Will you walk with friends? Photo by Lynne Sladky, AP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We want to know … so tell us!

Eastern mountain lion declared extinct

Did you read the title and pause a moment for of silence in honor of that once great species?

Yeah, we have our share of mountain lions in Colorado … but that’s the western mountain lion.

Looking back over the years, relationships between Boulder residents and cougars have been tenuous to say the least. Some want them to stay because, after all, the big cats were here first. Others fear for the safety of their children, cats and dogs. David Baron’s chilling tale, “The Beast in the Garden,” provides a particularly detailed account of the early 1990s when tensions were especially high.

Most of those worries are warranted. Mountain lions are scary.

But in the midst of those concerns,  the animal itself is a pretty darn cool.

So what do you think? Is Boulder blessed to have them? Or is the east coast lucky they’re gone?

Dinner for a cause

We all need to eat. So plan ahead for Wednesday, March 2.

PLAN-Boulder County’s annual dinner will be held next Wednesday downtown at the Hotel Boulderado (2115 13th St.). Swanky drinks, a delicious buffet and keynote speaker Van Jones will keep you well fed in body and mind.

Jones (Oh, and here’s the Wikipedia link in case you’re headed there next) is known across the globe as a pioneer in human rights and the clean energy economy and was the primary advocate for the Green Jobs Act.

The deets:

Who: You and PLAN-Boulder County, a citizen’s organization devoted to making sure Boulder’s city and county governments comply with environmental causes.

What: PLAN-Boulder County’s annual dinner

Where: Hotel Boulderado

When: Wednesday, March 2; cocktail hour begins at 6 p.m. followed by dinner and talk at 7 p.m.

Cost: $50 for dinner and the program

For more info, check out www.planboulder.org.

Tour deThrift is Tour deAwesome

Ruth Bushard of Erie shops at Rags Consignment in Boulder in December.

I seriously love to thrift. It’s partly because I don’t make a ton of money but mostly because I love the challenge of it. Getting something awesome — and often practically brand new — for a fraction of the cost just feels, somehow, like you’re winning. The game. Whatever that is.

Oh, and it’s also awesome for the environment. And in Boulder, there is no less than 30 thrift-type stories. You read that correctly — 30. The thrift stores cover the entire spectrum from clothes (check out Rags Consignment or Buffalo Exchange) to bookstores (The Bookworm and Redletter Secondhand Books).

If you want to check them all out — leave no thrift store  unvisited — search no further than Eco-Cycle, which publishes two awesome maps to help you out: a Tour deThrift for both Boulder and Longmont.

Awesome.

Not so Xcel-ent for rebates

Homeowners hoping to install solar panels for financial incentives may change their minds. Photo by Zak Wood.

Boulder’s local utility provider Xcel Energy is altering its rebate system to significantly decrease the financial incentives it offers solar panel owners.

Xcel said Wednesday that, effective immediately, the combined incentive for new solar installations would decrease from $2.35 to $2.01 per watt. The company also filed paperwork with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday that, if approved, would further drop the combined incentive to $1.25 per watt.

Members of the Colorado solar industry say the deep and sudden cuts to the incentive program could be ruinous.

Read the rest of Laura Snider’s story “Boulder County solar industry decries Xcel’s plan to slash incentives.”

Cycle tracks to replace bike lanes?

We like bikes here in Boulder. Some of us use them to get in a great workout. Others pedal to and fro to wherever they need to be. And those who drive are typically kind enough to share the road.

We’re proud of this bike-laned land we call home. But are bike lanes good enough? Advocates of cycle tracks don’t think so.

Question: So what the hell is a cycle track?

Answer: It’s a completely separate lane for bikers protected by a curb or a concrete barrier.

The cycle track is an idea we Americans have adopted from our neighbors across the (big) pond in Europe. The cycle track makes biking super safe, but building them might mean adding a lot more cement to our beautiful city.

So what do you think? Are Boulder’s bike paths extensive enough, or do we need cycle tracks as well?

Read more about them at Grist.com in Elly Blue’s article, “Cyclists shouldn’t ‘share the road,’ they should have their own.”

Green Drinks Boulder: January at the Hotel Boulderado

Green Drinks Boulder: January at the Hotel Boulderado, photo by Caroline Treadway.

On the last Tuesday of the first month of the new year, Green Drinks convened at the historic Hotel Boulderado — the perfect locale for a “Shining” remake in my opinion — for another round of high energy, semi work-related, sustainable fun.

Paige and Chris Rogowski with Dana Richardson, photo by Caroline Treadway.

Before I could fill out my nametag, I met Paige, newly relocated to Boulder, who informed me that Green Drinks is, in fact, international. It’s true. If the bubble bug bites hard enough, Boulder Green Drinkers can leave Colorado and network their way across the globe, from Kazakhstan to Colombia to Canada, where a multitude of Green Drinks evenings await. Paige, who’s two weeks into her new job at a certain well-known organization dedicated to not littering, suggested it would be a great way to travel. Keep that in mind when ramping up your carbon footprint.

Vicky and Carrie at January's Boulder Green Drinks, Hotel Boulderado. Photo by Caroline Treadway.

I’d barely wrapped my head around international Green Drinks, when I met Vicky from Blue Drinks. Yep, blue. Vicky, whose turquoise eyes perfectly matched her beaded necklace, lives in Denver and misses the ocean, deeply. So deeply, in fact, that she’s united local ocean-lovers in an effort to save the big blue liquid that surrounds us. According to Vicky, even though we can’t see the ocean from here, a mile high,  it’s still worth saving.

Kira Davis, a massage therapist wearing a pink smock, says she’s been practicing her craft since she was three, thanks to her ailing mother. Having just moved from Hawaii, she too misses the ocean, and can’t wait for warm weather so she can bike to Fort Collins and swim across Horsetooth Reservoir. Offering 25 percent dscount massages to Green Drinkers who chose planet-friendly transportation that evening (extra incentive, as if any was needed), Kira’s really into worms. She claims to have 500 pets, all of them, of course, nematodes. She’s extremely passionate about worm composting and hopes to promote this planet-saving measure in City of Boulder apartment complexes.

January's Boulder Green Drinks at the Hotel Boulderado, photo by Caroline Treadway.


Thanks to the very tall, well-tailored realtor who wears a suit even on weekends, the evening ended on a literary note, courtesy Zig Zigler: “You have to be before you can do, and you have to do before you can have.”

A welcome respite from last year’s holiday grind, the 2011 Green Drinks debut was a blurry celebration of work-inspired socializing, which of course, makes it legit.

EPA in trouble?

Are you siting down, fellow Boulderite? You’re about to read some scary stuff.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton is sponsoring a bill to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to reduce carbon dioxide and other pollutants.

It appears, however, that Upton might have trouble rallying support.

“The bottom line is now clearer than ever: Democrats, Republicans and Independents across America want politicians to protect the health of America’s children rather than the profit-driven agenda of big polluters” said Pete Altman, Climate Campaign director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Chairman Upton and other members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will now be hard-pressed to ignore the fact that their constituents want Congress to let the EPA do its job of safeguarding the health of American families.”

What would this mean for Boulder?

Cold vs. Green

We don’t have to tell you this, but in case you’ve been stuck inside: IT’S BEEN REALLY COLD OUT THERE for the past few days.

Uncharacteristically cold even.

Are you as burly as Rich Rotunno? Photo by Jeremy Papasso.

So I’m curious (no, not nosy, curious) about whether the harsh bite of the frigid air has superseded your dedication to being green.

Are you still biking to work?

Did you take a longer than normal shower this morning after your run?

Other thoughts?

Hit us back!

Want more info on winter weather? Stay up to date at the Daily Camera.