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
Conservatives pound on Boulder climbing gym’s solar array
A Boulder climbing gym has been taking a beating by conservatives for its solar array.
On Friday, right-wing talk show host Sean Hannity listed the 100-kilowatt solar array at Movement Climbing and Fitness as second on his list of the “102 worst ways the president’s stimulus bill has wasted your money.”
“And the No. 2 entry on our list is a climbing gym in Boulder, Colorado, that has received more than $150,000 for a new solar panel array on its roof,” Hannity said on his opinion show that airs on the Fox News channel. “Now, aren’t there a few mountains in Colorado where people can climb actual rocks outside under the real sun?” Read more
Boulder cyclists can now get bike-friendly directions from Google Maps
Google Maps now shows bike paths and bike lanes for Boulder. Click to enlarge!
Google Maps has just launched a new “biking layer” for 150 U.S. cities including Boulder. This potentially awesome feature should be able to give bike-specific directions, routing cyclists onto paved multi-use paths and streets that are friendlier to two-wheeled commuters.
Check it out at Google Maps by clicking on “bicycling” under the “more” drop-down menu, or click on the photo above to check it out here.
Dark green indicates dedicated bike trails (like the Boulder Creek Path), light green are roads with bike lanes and dotted green lines indicate roads with no bike lanes but which have lower volume of traffic or safer intersections. Read more
Is the frozen dead guy in Nederland contributing to global warming?
Bo Shaffer pours dry ice on the frozen body of "Grandpa" Bredo Morstoel in Nederland in 2006. Grandpa Bredo died in 1989, in Norway.
In the last several years, the city and county of Boulder have been working to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. But it’s possible they’ve forgotten one significant source of carbon: the frozen dead guy who’s kept in a Tuff Shed in Nederland. Read more
Did WSJ just give Boulder the big green beatdown?
Even Boulder Finds It Isn't Easy Going Green, by Stephanie Simon, WSJ
Last Saturday, the Wall Street Journal published a story about Boulder on its front page: “Boulder Struggles with Green Dream: Even Boulder Finds It Isn’t Easy Going Green.”
This spring, city contractors will fan out across this well-to-do college town to unscrew light bulbs in thousands of homes and replace them with more energy-efficient models, at taxpayer expense.
City officials never dreamed they’d have to play nanny when they set out in 2006 to make Boulder a role model in the fight against global warming. The cause seemed like a natural fit in a place where residents tend to be politically liberal and passionate about the great outdoors.
Instead, as Congress considers how to encourage Americans to conserve more energy, Boulder stands as a cautionary tale about the limits of good intentions.
Ouch.
The article, in general, focused on the fact that since individuals wouldn’t motivate to make energy-efficient upgrades to their own, the city of Boulder (like a cross, eye-rolling nanny) planned to do it for them. By Monday, Boulder’s supposed fall from green grace had made its way around the Internet echo chamber, showing up on a handful of high-profile blogs. Take, for example, this joke that introduced a post on the Time magazine Web site:
How many residents of Boulder, Colorado, does it take to screw in a light bulb? 100,000: Taxpayers foot the bill for teams of techies to go door-to-door and caulk windows, swap old light bulbs for compact fluorescent ones, and install programmable thermostats, all in the name of energy efficiency. Should saving energy—and money—be this difficult to achieve?
Even in an exceptionally progressive, environmentally sensitive town like Boulder, it seems nearly impossible to get residents to lift a finger, spend a buck, or change their habits to save the planet.
So is this true? And if not, what’s the real story? Is Boulder green or isn’t it? Read more
New fame won’t lure ‘The Cove’ director out of Boulder
Louie Psihoyos
Just because “The Cove,” which got an Academy Award nomination Tuesday for best documentary film, is now the talk of Hollywood (and New York, and Park City, Utah, and everywhere else in between) doesn’t mean that the film’s director, Louie Psihoyos, plans to take his new-found fame and leave provincial Boulder (relatively speaking, of course) behind.
No, Psihoyos loves it here. (And what better place for the executive director of the Oceanic Preservation Society to live?)
“We made this film in my backyard,” Psihoyos told the Daily Camera. “And now, the last couple weeks, we’ve been rubbing shoulders with George Clooney and Meryl Streep … the Hollywood glitterati. Now we’re part of the discussion.”
And he plans to reap that attention from the film to sow more bad-ass ocean movies that tackle environmental travesties. Money for those films, one of which he started on last week, has seemed a little less hard to come by, he said. And Psihoyos doesn’t even have to do the pitching anymore if he doesn’t want to. He’s already been approached by Animal Planet to film a show for them.
CAN YOU FIND THE PEOPLE? The crew of the documentary, Left to Right; Director Louie Psihoyos, Production Manager Joe Chisholm, Associate Producer Charles Hambleton.
With all the new work, Psihoyos said he may have to start a production company to handle the demand. But if he does, you can count on it being in Boulder, which, he says, is essential for giving movies that authentic feel. (Even ocean movies, because…. ummmm… Boulder is halfway between the Pacific and Atlantic so neither could accuse Psihoyos of being biased.)
“Hollywood is craving authentic, creative content from the hinterlands,” he told the Daily Camera. “That’s why the film was resonating with people. And that’s why Sarah Siegel-Magness’ film is resonating.
“It doesn’t matter if you have a New York or an L.A. zip code, you can make films anywhere –especially in Colorado.”
Read more about how the Oscar nomination is impacting Psihoyos at DailyCamera.com.
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.
Apple’s smart grid tool
That’d sell.
The first iPhone owner in Boulder | photo by Ryan Oelke
Boulder seems pretty satisfied with being eco-conscious and a bit brand-oriented (for a while, too: Nalgene, North Face, whatever — a lot of us have been guilty of it), so an Apple smart grid utility seems like a smart way to go.
But the “Smart Home Energy Management Dashboard System,” could turn “every power outlet in your home or office into a conduit for audio, video and data,” with something called HomePlug Powerline Networking, according to Patently Apple.
The Apple Smart Home system also would control the amount of power that flows to a device, so you could turn down your electronics, or turn them off altogether when not in use.
But don’t rush out to the store yet — it’s just a patent at the moment.
A well-traveled paper (or: Hey, Boulder, France noticed!)
Somebody just came by and dropped off this old copy of Le Monde from 6 September, 2009. Pretty neat.
Smart Grid news you can use (finally)
You’ve probably heard about the smart grid — and Xcel Energy’s bid to make Boulder the country’s first SmartGridCity.
But have you wondered what that really means for you? Like, when will you finally be able to tap into the power of the grid? (And, will it make you smarter?)
Well Xcel finally announced Thursday that their customer Web portal is up and running. Meaning, you can check your home energy use online. And if you’re one of the folks with a smart meter (and 24,000 of the houses in Boulder have one of these thingamabobs) then you can see your electricity use updated every 15 minutes. Read more
Compost improvisation in Boulder
Boulder has curbside composting! Awesome!
Except in certain places! Less awesome!
Small garbage workers, too.
Yeah, curbside composting is really awesome, but if you happen to live in a multifamily situation, like a lot of Boulder renters, you’re out of luck.
But here’s a little story for you: Read more
