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.

Earth’s Table’s effort is one of several across the county among farmers, service agencies and individual citizens to make it easier to make fresh produce available to those with lower incomes.

It’s a tall order. A state-by-state study last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that no state had met its goal for individual fruit and vegetable consumption. And that didnt even take into account income barriers.

“The nutritional value of fresh fruits and vegetables is so much higher,” says Lonna Lindsay, vice president of policy for LiveWell Colorado. “There are the antioxidants, minerals, nutrients, and the preventative aspect for cancer and obesity.”

via Earth’s Table and others grow food for those who can’t afford it – Boulder Daily Camera.

*Is it just me, or are vending machines satisfying like slot machines you can’t lose?

Apr. 15, Apr. 17, Apr. 18, Apr. 21, Apr. 22, Apr. 23, Apr. 24, Apr. 25 and ongoing Earth Day activities

Thursday, April 15:

The Visual Arts Complex Auditorium at CU will be hosting the “Earth Days” movie premiere. In the movie, acclaimed director Robert Stone traces the development of the modern environmental movement from its post-war rumblings in the 1950s to the first wildly successful 1970 Earth Day celebration to the subsequent firestorm of political action to reveal an engaging history of the revolutionary achievements – and missed opportunities – of groundbreaking eco-activism.

Visit http://ecenter.colorado.edu/event/555. Here’s the trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Saturday, April 17:

NCAR’s Mesa Lab, 1850 Table Mesa Drive, will be hosting Wild Earth 2010 in honor of Earth Day from 10 a.m.- 4p.m. Explore the prestigious Mesa Lab where critical climate science research is happening every day. Hike the surrounding trails then enjoy a delicious meal in the NCAR cafeteria (a cash-only café). In the spirit of Earth Day, carpooling is encouraged. All ages are invited. Admission is free, but donations are suggested. For more information and to register for Wild Earth 2010, click here.

Sunday, April 18:

The 2010 Lyons Community Montessori Earth Day, Sandstone Park, 350 Broadway, will be be from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. There will be many earth-day related activities for children to participate in as well as vending and informational booths hosted by eco-friendly merchants. There will be diverse live music and dancing including a yoga demonstration, Irish dancing, and a performance by the LCM students.  Refreshments are also available. Click here for more information.

Wednesday, April 21:

SALT the Bistro, 1047 Pearl St., will be hosting an Earth Day Dinner with Paul Dolan Vineyards that will benefit the Boulder Valley School Food Project. The dinner will feature seven courses complemented by the organically grown wines of Paul Dolan Vineyards from Mendocino County, CA. Cost is $75. Go here for more info or call  303-444-SALT.

Thursday, April 22:

Celebrate Earth Day at Chautauqua Dining Hall | from flickr user agahran

Chautauqua Dining Hall, 900 Baseline Road, will be celebrating Earth Day  by hosting a dinner featuring the certified organic beers of  Asher Brewing Co. Cost is $48. Visit www.dininghall.net or  call 303-440-3776.

Boulder Valley School District with be holding Bike to School Day 2010 in honor of Earth Day. Students and staff can register online at saferoutes.bvsd.org and the school with the highest participation will be rewarded. Click here for more information and safe routes.

BVSD will have a bike-to-school day on Earth Day this year.

Nederland Community Center, 750 Highway 72 in Golden, will be holding an adults-only  “First Earth Day, 1970″ themed dance concert  from 7 p.m.- 11 p.m. The event will be starring Seismic Shift with Bruce Lish and friends “The Earth Day-ja Vu” and a special concert featuring the Crosby Stills Nash and Young “Déjà vu” album and other great music from 1970. There will be a $15 cover benefiting the Carousel of Happiness and a cash wine and beer bar. If you’re interested, check it out here. From the organizers: “‘Seismic Shift and Friends’ and Dan Rose will open at 7 p.m. at the Nederland Community Center. The plan is to do two sets, the first being the Deja Vu album by CSN&Y, the second set all material released in 1970 including Bell Bottom Blues (Derek and The Dominoes), Don’t Keep Me Wondering (Allman Brothers), Them Changes (Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsies), Empty Pages (Traffic), Friend Of The Devil (Grateful Dead), And It Stoned Me (Van Morrison), I’ve got A Feeling (Beatles), and maybe one or two others, but it’s not set in stone.”

Sunflower Preschool, 3340 Dartmouth Avenue in Boulder, will be celebrating Earth Day by planting gardens from 12 to 1 p.m. With a history of being green throughout the entirety of its 30 year history, Sunflower will be inviting kids to come plant their own edible gardens and enjoy art projects and refreshments. Click here for more info.

Empowering Arts will be hosting an Earth Day Eco-Art Show at Bear Creek Elementary School, 4700 Table Mesa Drive, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Guests can view the outdoor sculptures and art work of over 200 students and learn about flying insects and birds in our ecosystem by viewing  sculptures designed and implemented by Paula Kehoe, founder of empoweringarts.org. Check out Empowering Arts to find out more  about this event.

While supplies last, come out to nab  some of The Big Red F’s Earth Day Complementary Seed Packets from Isabelle Farms at any of The Big Red F restaurants. Jax Fish House Denver, The West End Tavern, Happy Noodle House, and Zolo Southwestern Grill will be offering several Earth Day food and drink specials as well as providing the free seed packets. Check out The Big Red F for more info.

Friday, April 23:

The St Julien Hotel & Spa will be hosting the CRC’s Annual ReWards Dinner & Auction from 6-9 p.m.  Gather among the Front Range environmental community and recognize ReWard Winners in water, waste, and energy conservation. This sit-down affair is CRC’s largest fundraiser of the year – a most memorable affair with a silent auction, locally-sourced vegetarian meal crafted by St Julien’s Executive Chef Laurent Mechin, and live auction with Don Martin.

Center for ReSource Conservation (CRC) is a non-profit organization that implements programs for the Boulder County community through their Waste (Deconstruction/Re-Use), Energy, and Water Divisions. Learn more about CRC’s programs and the events listed above by visiting www.conservationcenter.org.

Saturday, April 24:

The Macy’s Plaza at 29th Street will be the venue for  the Recycle the Runway Fashion Show from 1-2 p.m. Think Project Runway meets Earth Day! CRC and 29th Street is putting on an Eco Fashion Show, where the models walk on a runway made from ReSource’d materials. Three designers will create dresses from recycled and sustainable materials in only one hour during the contest portion.

Earth Day at Red Rocks runs  from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, featuring John Denver music all day long. Organized by the Windstar Foundation, founded in 1976 by Denver, the free event includes a park clean-up, free face painting for the kids, and information and education from many environment-related groups in the Denver and Boulder areas. Groups participating include “The Windstar Foundation Denver Botanic Gardens, Sierra Club, Friends of Red Rocks, REC Solar, University of Colorado Science Discovery, Defenders of Wildlife, Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Earthseeds Project, Pueblo Collie/Sheltie Rescue, The Cloud Foundation, W.O.L.F. Sanctuary, Music By Aspen Meadow, John Adams and Amanda Reyes-Rist among others!”

Sunday, April 25:

Boulder’s Central Park will be holding Earthfest from 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. Experience musicians, entertainers, exhibitors and the CRC’s Speaker’s Tent. Seven speakers will cover a variety of topics in 14 minutes – from solar PV to indoor climate comforts and the community’s importance in sustainability.

Potts Field at CU Research Park will be the venue for the CRC’s Earth Day 5k Run/Walk at 10 a.m. The run is a fast, easy race for all ages and abilities, where your participation benefits the CRC and local green building programs.

Ongoing events:

From April 16-April 30, The Pedestrian Shops, with a location at 1425 Pearl St. and another facing Folsom between Arapahoe & Canyon, are celebrating their 42nd shoe drive and Earth Day by collecting gently worn shoes that will be distributed to people in need by local assistance organizations. Customers who donate shoes will receive a 10 percent discount on any shoe purchase.

Click here to view the embedded video.

From April 12-April 16, CU’s Fiske Planetarium will be holding free showings of “Planet Earth.” Monday at 7pm, Tuesday and Wednesday at 6pm, Thursday and Friday at 4pm. For more information go here.

From April 8-May 2 , Whole Foods’ Bouquet for the Earth. Whole Foods Market stores in the Boulder area will be donating $2 to the CRC’s Water Division to help xeriscaping initiatives. Bouquets are $12.99 each.

From April 12-17, attend WaterWise Landscape Seminars. Attend these free Boulder County seminars put on by CRC’s Water Division, featuring local experts in permaculture and xeriscaping. There will be several seminars throughout Boulder County so click here to find out more about times and locations.

Ellie’s Eco Home Store is holding a nine-day sale April 17-25 in advance of its grand re-opening. Everything in the store is on sale, starting at 10 percent 4/17 and increasing by 10 percent each day. The final day will be 90 percent off on 4/25. 2525 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder. 303-952-1004.

Naropa University’s Environmental Leadership program has just released it’s Spring 2010 semester’s “Turning Leaf” Newsletter. Full of tasty recipes from Sustainability Day, some commentary about life as an Environmental Studies Graduate Assistant, articles about Earth Day’s past and future, as well as, the usual updates from our Environmental Studies students, faculty and alumni, and much, much more. Check out the newsletter here.

–Lindsay Gulisano

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.

From the Daily Camera:

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.

The Paradigm Pilot Project is made up of just one duplex and one single-family ranch home, both of which are heavily insulated, oriented to maximize passive solar gain and outfitted with photovoltaic panels.

And the boxes used to create the homes were built in a controlled environment inside a factory, which allows for an economy of scale that drives prices down.

“This was an experiment to see how well this comes together,” said Scott Simkus, housing developer for the county’s department of Housing and Human Services. “This is the first time the factory has built a near-zero-energy project.”

Read the full story at DailyCamera.com.

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.

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.

Cities, environmentalists to help South Boulder Creek

Gross Reservoir expansion could restore stream flows

Laura Snider, Daily Camera: Sunday, August 9, 2009

South Boulder Creek used to be a vibrant stream, swelling and shrinking with the sun and the snowmelt. 

Now, the stream’s flow is controlled by the dam that creates Gross Reservoir, and in the winter, it’s not uncommon to see South Boulder Creek dry up completely — and quickly — sometimes scattering the stream bed with the bodies of dead fish.

For more than a decade, water lawyers, conservationists and anglers have been wading through the complex maze of Colorado’s water rights system, trying to figure out how to restore the ecological health of South Boulder Creek, which flows through both Walker Ranch open space and Eldorado State Park.

And they may have finally found an answer, one that could make South Boulder Creek the silver lining of another river’s plight.

“It’s a stream that needs help,” said Drew Peternell, a water lawyer working on the Colorado Water Project for Trout Unlimited, a national conservation organization. “For a long time Trout Unlimited has been trying to restore flows in South Boulder Creek.”

Gross Reservoir is filled largely with water that was pulled from the Fraser River — a tributary to the Colorado — and then pumped through Moffat Tunnel to quench Denver’s thirst. As the city has grown, so has its demand for water, and now Denver has asked for permission to nearly triple the size of Gross Reservoir, pumping even more water from the Fraser.

Trout Unlimited opposes the expansion, arguing that the project would further drain the already over-taxed Colorado River. But if the project goes through — and most people expect it will — Trout Unlimited wants to see some victory for the fish.

Both Boulder and Lafayette have also joined with Trout Unlimited in the negotiations over the expansion, asking Denver Water to add another 5,000 acre-feet to the planned 72,000-acre-foot expansion of Gross Reservoir. The idea would be to release the extra water into South Boulder Creek in the winter, ensuring that the stream never dries up.

“This is something that is under serious consideration,” said David Little, Denver Water’s director of planning. “But as you might imagine, money is an issue.”

Adding the extra volume in the reservoir could cost about $8 million, and while Denver, Boulder and Lafayette have all said they’re willing to throw some money into the pot, Denver Water is still looking at a shortfall.

“We’re all very excited about the possibility,” Little said. “We hope that this money thing doesn’t get in the way.”

Denver Water expects to release a draft environmental impact statement on the Gross Reservoir expansion this fall, when the public will be invited to comment on the project.