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
Desert tortoise no longer lost in Lafayette
UPDATE: LUCY HAS BEEN FOUND!
Have you seen this desert tortoise?
EARLIER: Lucy the desert tortoise usually goes out for a spin during the day and comes home. A stranger thought he’d help her out by getting her across a highway but, well, let’s let the Denver Post take it from here:
A good samaritan rescued her and lifted her across the highway so she wouldn’t be hit by a car.
Then, said Rockley, Lucy — who is extremely friendly, follows people, and answers to her name — followed her scent back to her Westminster home near 144th Avenue and Huron Street.
The 7-year-old reptile, who usually suns herself during the day and then knocks on the back door when the sun sets so she can sleep inside the house, actually got to the home last Thursday, said Rockley.
Because no one was home, Rockley said that Lucy saw some movers at the house next door and started following them, much like a family dog, perhaps hoping they could help her into the home.
Rockley said one of the movers picked up the tortoise and took her to his home but the mover’s wife didn’t want to keep Lucy.
On Saturday, Rockley was able to contact the mover who said he had taken Lucy to a pond located near East Emma Street and South Burlington Avenue in Lafayette.
Keep reading about Lucy the desert tortoise… I wish she knew about public transportation, like this great English dog or these Russsian ones!
Community Food Share, Sister Carmen Center, others want to make fresh food more accessible
Bert Nett (front), John Spencer (back left) and Jane Spencer (right) plant squash seeds at an Earth's Table garden in Boulder | CAMERA/Mark Leffingwell
If there’s one thing the United States isn’t known for, it’s eating well. We’ve got a heck of a reputation for junk food out there.
For some people, it’s because there are six-packs of tiny powdered donuts in the vending machine down the hall (damn you) and they have a problem/are weak-willed*. For others, it’s simply because they can’t afford to eat fresh vegetables day in and day out.
Community Food Share, Sister Carmen Center and others in our community want to help with that second reason so, for one, they’ve set up a plot they call Earth’s Table, where veggies are grown for those in need. Read more
EARTH DAY 2010 in Boulder: Events aplenty
Earth Day falls on April 22, but throughout the month there will be no shortage of fun ways to get involved and celebrate Earth Day’s 40th anniversary. After the jump, we’ve collected some cool events going on throughout Boulder County, from right now through the end of the month: Read more
Green houses for the not-so-rich
Paradigm Pilot Project, a near-zero development, was constructed by the Boulder County Housing Authority in 2009.
Sometimes it seems like deep green building is for the wealthy. Even a “for the masses” house in a zero-energy neighborhood in Boulder clocks in at more than $1 million. But now, Boulder County is trying to bring green — and the resulting cut in energy bills and increase in comfort — to those with fewer resources.
Boulder County’s Housing Authority, which helps low-income familes, seniors and people with disabilities find a place to live, is going seriously green.
The county finished the Paradigm Pilot Project in October. The tiny, near zero-energy development is only three units, but it’s the template for a much larger plan: a 153-unit green neighborhood.
When the cranes showed up at the property on Avalon Avenue last summer in Lafayette, they wrenched 13 giant boxes off the back of five semi-trucks and stacked them like Lego blocks.
When the cranes left, the connected boxes — which were already fitted with wood floors, cabinets, countertops and porches — had become the modern-looking Paradigm Pilot Project, a near-zero-energy, low-income pair of buildings owned by Boulder County. The tiny project can only house three low-income families, but it’s just a test run for the much larger green-building aspirations held by the county’s housing authority. Read more
Mexico City bans plastic bags. Is Lafayette next?
Nadine Shade places her groceries in reusable bags at Vitamin Cottage in Lafayette. The store has stopped offering plastic and paper bags at checkout. Customers either bring their own bags or reuse store boxes. Photo by Mara Auster
Last week, a new law that bans plastic bags went into effect in Mexico City. This puts Mexico City in the company of San Francisco, New Delhi, the entire country of China and, if the Waste Reduction Advisory Committee gets its way, Lafayette, Colo.
The committee pitched its idea to the Lafayette City Council earlier this month:
“Our main goal is awareness about how bad plastic bags are,” said Shelly Colwell, the committee’s co-chairwoman. “More and more people are bringing their own bags.”
The bags can take more than 1,000 years to break down in a landfill, she said. They’re also tough to recycle — only an estimated 5 percent of Americans recycle them, and they can’t go into a homeowner’s recycling bin.
Read more about the committee’s efforts at DailyCamera.com or read more about Mexico City’s ban — and why people there are probably still using plenty of disposable plastic bags — at the New York Times blog Green Inc.
Build more dam, save more fish
- Denver is planning to nearly triple the size of Gross Reservoir in southern Boulder County.
The city of Denver wants to build a bigger dam in southern Boulder County, nearly tripling the size of its reservoir.
And environmentalists have something to say about it: They want to know if Denver would mind making that dam even a little bit bigger.
It’s an odd request from a group like Trout Unlimited, which has partnered with the cities of Boulder and Lafayette to try and negotiate the bigger dam, but it actually represents a calculated effort to make the best out of a bad situation.
Denver — thirstier now than ever – is trying to push through a plan to expand Gross Reservoir by 72,000 acre feet, which would require making the current dam 125 feet taller. The water to fill the new reservoir would be pumped from the other side of the continental divide, sucking more water out of the tributaries that feed the now-not-so-mighty Colorado River.
The Colorado office of Trout Unlimited, based in Boulder, thinks this is a terrible idea, but they’ve come to accept the reality — there may be no stopping the project. But there may still be an opportunity for a small victory to be had in the Gross Reservoir expansion.
Environmentalists are asking Denver to consider adding an extra 5,000 acre feet of water to the reservoir, creating a bank of water that could be used to guarantee that South Boulder Creek, which flows from the dam at Gross Reservoir through the stunning cliffs in Eldorado Canyon State Park.
Most winters, South Boulder Creek completely dries up as Denver draws down the water in the reservoir, causing devastating fish kills and compromising the stream’s ecological integrity.
Read more about this project in a story by Boulder Daily Camera reporter Laura Snider after the jump, or check out a story from the Denver Post that details this new trend here. Read more
