Earthblog

Or,

WHY CYCLING, RE-CYCLING & COMPOSTING

ARE NO LONGER ENOUGH

(& the Same Goes for Being a Locavore)

Photo by David Niblack

But before I upset you even more, let me start with a personal story.  You might call it a near-death experience.

One summer day when I was a kid, sure-footed and agile, I decided to pick my way out to the end of a quarter-mile-long rock jetty on Long Island. I thought it would be cool to watch the ocean waves throw themselves around, as though I were standing in the middle of the Atlantic.   So I headed out, jump-stepping from one gigantic rock and concrete slab to another, stopping frequently to watch the foam below me explode over barnacles and crabs, then seethe between boulders cushioned in sea moss.  I knew enough to keep an eye on the wind, which was holding steady.

The universe, however, was not.  Though I couldn’t feel or see it, the Earth was spinning on its axis and waltzing with the moon in a graceful ellipse around the sun.  Grand-scale gravitational forces were on the move, hauling a tremendous watery bulge over the surface of the sea.

In other words, the tide was rising.

When I got to the end of the jetty and finally turned around, my stomach sank.  The ocean was suddenly gnawing at rocks that had been dry an hour or two before.  Then, midway between me and the beach, a huge gray wave smashed over the jetty.  It was the scariest moment of my life.

It was also proof that I was an idiot.

Matter Daily: Tell us a little about yourselves and why you're involved in this fundraiser.

Alisa Shargorodsky: I've been a resident of Fort Collins for 10 years. I’m a full time student, mother of two, and employed at Green Logic. The reason I'm involved in this fundraiser, specifically on the CARD side, is to further my activism within the community. Rather than merely having distaste for this situation, I’ve felt empowered to do something about it by becoming more deeply involved.

Kristopher Hite: I grew up in rural New York State where people simply accepted industrial pollution as a way of life, and that experience has played a big part in my interest in keeping Colorado's environment in a conserved state.  There were literally swimming bans on the shores of Lake Erie where I grew up because of pollution. I watched as tax payers paid hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the nuclear waste in the small town of West Valley, New York near my home in Chautauqua county. Edward Abbey probably had something to do with it, too.  Reading about the Atlas uranium mine in Moab, Utah and seeing with my own eyes the 200 million dollar Superfund site left in its wake of bankruptcy has also spurred me on this path of PREVENTIVE environmental health-care.


Matter Daily: Tell us what we can expect from POW: Protect our Water: A Joint Benefit for Save the Poudre and Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction.

AS/KH: This is not just an event to raise money, though it is a fund raiser. This is a night to create a sense of community—a web of support and mutual understanding. The intention is to boogie down and have a good time, yes, but also to create unlikely community connections and RAISE AWARENESS. We want to bring families from Fort Collins and families from Nunn together on the common ground of a most basic human right—CLEAN WATER. We want to emphasize dialogue and discussion of these issues so that the public's voice can be heard by the committees that decide whether or not to permit the mine or the reservoirs.  Not only do we want people to SPEAK OUT about the proposed uranium mine and reservoirs, but we want people to feel empowered to educate themselves in the arguments that will play out in the coming months. We intend to foster a veritable mixing pot of environmental philosophies. The purpose of the gathering is to teach action and promote awareness, and to ask the question: How we can take further action to protect our water?


Matter Daily: What's with the two-headed cow photo shoot?

AS/KH:  Comical? Yes. Trickster spin? Yes. The photo shoot is a way for people to feel connected to this issue and, through something funny, while not-so-subliminally, increase awareness about a real risk to the health of people up and down the Front Range.

Matter Daily: Any important details we should know about?

AS/KH: Bring your dancing shoes!

Protect Our Water: A Joint Benefit for Save the Poudre and Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction

Friday, April 30^th, 6:30pm – 11:30pm  Lincoln Center

Contrary to bike courier stereotypes that carry slacker, space cadet, and/or style-obsessive connotations, Rob is composed of pure rigor and hard-line practicality. Neither his bike nor his clothes are flashy (“I don’t even own a bike messenger bag,” he says), and a few minutes of conversation reveals a perfectionist who is constantly striving to do even more to reduce our collective carbon footprint. Quite frankly, he works his ass off.

On this the 40^th Anniversary of Earth Day, the Matterdaily team thought it fruitful to barrow, say, five greening-up tips from Rob. One, because Rob wouldn’t normally give much of a hoot for one day of eco-friendliness; two, because he deals constantly with piles of recycling from Fort Collins’ wild weekends, and is thus more likely be grounded about our species’ potential; three, because he has so much time to think; and four, because he’s not claiming ecological sainthood.

“I feel like I’m on a soapbox,” Rob told me before he turned in his five tips. “But I’m not perfect.”

Rob’s 5 tips for Earth Day:

1. Drive less, if it means doing less or using your bike. Recreate by bike, or at least carpool.

2. Use your dryer less. Use a clothesline or drying rack. (The dryer uses the second most power in homes to the refrigerator).

3. Don't idle in your car. Wear a coat in the winter instead of using your car to stay warm.

4. Eat and drink local. Research it.

5. Respect the impact and short life cycle of glass and plastic bottles. Separate glass from co-mingled recycling. Choose cans and drafts more, as glass is more impactful (See here and here). Use refillable water bottles instead of buying bottled water.

Get ready for Earth Day by educating yourself about the Poudre River. This video from New Belgium Brewing was shot in the fall of 2006 to document the photo shoot of the Save the Poudre poster. More information about threats to the river and how you can help at SaveThePoudre.org.