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
Kids learn eco-tips in battle with supervillains
Katherine Lapp, left and Lindsey Jamison, right dance with Tim Hillman, as Doctor Drafty and Corrie Williams as the Kilowatt Kid as the play a song to finish the energy information visit to Flatirons Elementary.
I read somewhere that in explaining motives for action, it’s useful to have a villian. Well! How about a supervillain?
Friday was the third of five times the Kilowatt Kid (and some surprise evildoer) is scheduled to visit Strife’s class. The pilot program, which is being tried in eight classrooms across the Boulder Valley School District, is being supported by part of the $25 million in stimulus funds that Boulder County received earlier this year to expand local energy-efficiency efforts.
Traffic skills for bikers: a class this Sunday
Here’s an announcement from Community Cycles about a class this weekend that many folks might find very useful. If you’re thinking about getting into commuting by bike, there’s probably no better way to get your information. Without further ado, here’s the copy-and-pasted announcement from their site:
Announcing: The League of American Bicyclists course Smart Cycling: Traffic Skills 101 (formerly called Road I) takes place Sunday, September 26, 2010. This is a 9 hour class for all cyclists, novice to advanced. The class will be held in Boulder at Naropa University.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN: Learn how to fix a flat tire; Learn the importance of the ABC Quick Check; Learn how to shift to the right gear for your ride; Learn how to safely avoid dangerous objects and potholes as you ride; Learn where to ride in traffic for the most safety and visibility; Learn how to easily make difficult maneuvers in traffic, such as a left turn across four lanes of traffic; Learn about riding in all kinds of weather, day or night; and more! Be a part of the movement to standardize cycling education for everyone.
Half the time will be instruction and discussion in a classroom setting and half the time will be given to cycling drills and on-road riding. You will need a bike with breaks and gears and a helmet to participate. If you will have trouble bringing a suitable bike please let us know so we can help you find one. Helmets are required. Course materials and workbook are provided. There will be a lunch break in the middle of the day so please bring a lunch or plan on making a quick run out to grab something.
Conducted by LAB Certified Cycling Instructor: Dan Adams LCI # 2801
For more information, contact: Dan Adams, email ductmonkey@gmail.com or call 978-760-2186
Title: Smart Cycling: Traffic Skills 101
Date: September 26, 2010
Time: 8am – 6pm with an hour break for lunch
Place: Naropa University, 2130 Arapahoe
Cost: $80.00
Register Now
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
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
Plants stolen from school’s educational veggie garden
How do you get the lamest street-cred ever? You steal plants from an elementary school’s educational vegetable garden.
The Smith Renaissance School of the Arts, located in northeast Denver, got plant-burgled recently, but is rising above it.
Two weeks ago, on a Friday, the students planted the seedlings and others that were donated. The following Monday, the plants were gone.
“One student wondered if it was a clever rabbit,” said Lindsay McNicholas, the school’s resource advocate. “It was deflating. We had just planted them. We didnt even make it 72 hours.”
Read the rest of the story at The Denver Post. Or check out photos of the students replanting the Smith Renaissance School of the Arts vegetable garden.
So many ways to get green-ducated
The University of Colorado at Boulder just added a “sustainability certificate” for working folks in its continuing education department.
About 100 sustainability programs — minors, majors, certificates, etc. — have been added at schools across the country just in the last year.
The program fits into a larger trend as green areas of study are booming at colleges and universities nationwide. There are about 200 sustainability majors, minors and certificate programs across the United States — half of which emerged in the past year, said Paul Rowland, executive director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
CU’s continuing education department is debuting the new “sustainability management certificate” in January to help professionals put a green edge on their existing expertise.
Program Director Geoffrey Rubinstein said he expects the program to attract employees of mom-and-pop shops, larger companies, local government, nonprofit agencies and schools.
“It will be valuable for individuals who want to focus on sustainability in their careers, but also for organizations that recognize the importance of sustainability to the health of the planet and their organizations’ bottom lines,” Rubinstein said.
Read the full story at DailyCamera.com.
Sustainable Living Fair draws greenies in Fort Collins
In case you couldn’t make it to the Sustainable Living Fair in Fort Collins this weekend, the Coloradoan has a little slice of the sustainable fair action posted on its site:
3-year-old Maisie Godfrey-Cory puts a doll to bed inside the natural parenting tent during the Sustainable Living Fair in Fort Collins. | Photo: Dawn Madura / The Coloradoan
About 30 people watched a local food cook-off featuring Sarah Tomsic from Drive-By Diner in Fort Collins and Jason Shaeffer, chef at Chimney Park Restaurant and Bar in Windsor.
Each had to prepare three dishes in 60 minutes using ingredients that came from within 300 miles of Fort Collins.
Both prepared dishes using spicy peppers, fresh fruit, beets and pork.
The Sustainable Living Fair photo gallery buries the needle on the that’s-adorable meter, too.
If you want in on the action, the Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Association offers workshops year-round. Some of the current selections include cheesemaking, native plant propagation and grid-tied photovoltaics.
More GREEN-IT-YOURSELF at BigGreenBoulder:
Carpooling at CU gets fancier, less scary
Green burials: Fort Collins steps it up
CU earns most “eco-enlightened” school, and gets the big green diss
Student ambassador Tim Mullin, left, helps parent Cheryl Mandler, as does Ryan Brown with Sean Carey, with directions around the CU campus in April
The University of Colorado is the No. 1 “cool school,” according to Sierra Magazine’s “comprehensive guide to the most eco-enlightened U.S. colleges.”
The list, which came out today, noted the top 10 green schools, including some of the usual suspects: UC Berkeley, Middlebury College, Evergreen State College …
“This ranking is not a surprise, but it is a wonderful tribute to the hard work of our students, faculty, staff and administrators,” said Phil DiStefano, CU’s chancellor, in a news release. “Over the course of the last nearly six decades they have made sustainability a campus priority, and have done the hard work to make it a reality.”
But CU didn’t fare so well on Princeton Review’s list, which came out in late July. The school was no where to be found on the green honor roll, which listed the 15 schools that got top scores of 99. (Also including the usual suspects: UC Berkeley, Middlebury College, Evergreen State College … )
When the Princeton Review debuted its list last summer, CU scored an 88, and in response, school officials questioned the rating’s methodology.
But officials at CU are skeptical about the way the Princeton Review collects information for its rankings, saying the company relies too heavily on anecdotes.
CU’s Boulder campus has a long-standing commitment to sustainability, said Dave Newport, director of CU’s Environmental Center.
CU students in 1974 founded the nation’s first campus recycling program, and in 2000 the school became the first in the country to raise student fees to buy wind-energy credits for campus buildings. Chancellor Bud Peterson is also recognized as a carbon neutrality leader, sitting on a national steering committee.
“CU has been a climate and sustainability leader for nearly 40 years and is so far ahead of other schools I think we get taken for granted by some of these ad-hoc ratings systems,” Newport said.
