Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.

Water is always a big topic in the west. Water is required for life. Without it our crops die, our cities dry up, and eventually we would die. According to a Durango Herald editorial, Colorado’s Front Range is seeking new sources of water to fuel their population. Where do you think they’re looking? Across the continental divide, to the green and fertile western slope, at least that’s how they see us. One plan designed by Aaron Million, a Fort Collins developer, calls for a private pipeline that would carry as much as 250,000 acre feet of water from the Green River to the Front Range. The Green River, which begins in Wyoming and travels all the way into Utah where it merges with the Colorado River, is the primary water source for Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Southwestern Wyoming, and is one of the more popular river routes in the region. Luckily, Governor Bill Ritter does not support the idea of taking water from the Western Slope to support the Front Range. Gov. Ritter sees that the Western Slope may have more water running through it, it is just also a very arid region. Ritter also believes that the water from one watershed should not be used to support another, especially one that drains to the east instead of the west. If you want to learn more about this discussion check out the Durango Herald’s article here.

Is the Western Slope that wet? The Durango Herald reported that the Animas River, the river than runs through Durango, Colorado, is well below what it was in 2002. Why is this important? 2002, was one of the worst drought, and fire, years in Colorado history. The low water levels have been attributed to early runoff and a dry monsoon season. Hopefully, Colorado will have a snowy winter that will make up for the lack of a monsoon. But only time will tell. If we don’t get a good winter base it is likely that we could find ourselves in a drought with fires raging around us. If that happens we might need to steal some water from the Front Range.


- Ben Rogers

Schools LEED the Way to Eco Justice

Growing vegetables has been taken to a new level for students at Escalante Middle School who installed a photovoltaic system. This system is capable of powering electricity that the school would usually buy. This will allow students in Sharron Orrs class to learn more about the environment and sciences. The Durango Herald reported this story about the new photovoltaic system. Students will also engage and learn about plants, composting, and weather.

In Arizona The Arizona Republic reported on what their schools are doing to more energy efficient. Arizona schools will use stimulus funds to generate energy efficiency. $20 million dollars totals the amount to make schools more energy effective. $13 million will be used for grants that Arizona school districts can apply for. $5.5 million will be used to install solar panels in 25 districts. The other $1.5 million is set aside for administrative funding.
Pleasant Grove charter school in Utah is wanting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, reported by Deseret News. There are only 25 buildings in Utah that are certified and Pleasant Grove wants to join that list opening for the 2010-2011 school year.

Schools are a fundamental building block for knowledge and going green is a great aspect to learn at a younger age. Theses schools are setting the right example for other elementariness, middle schools, high schools, and colleges across the company to strive for eco-excellence.

Devon Dey

Energy in the West

While it may not be green or (entirely) renewable energy, nuclear power has been a potential contender for energy usage within the United States. In Montrose county, for example, there has been heated debate as to whether a new uranium mill should be built. Telluride News reports on the Rocky 4-esque clashing of two ideals (albeit less violent). The entire meeting had an economic undertone, as many decisions were based on the recession alone. It has been estimated the mine would create more than 85 new, much-needed jobs; while this may be a brief stimulus package, a more useful, long-lasting job-maker would be reprocessing (recycling) uranium. To explain it simply, a byproduct of reprocessed nuclear fuel is plutonium, which can also be used to fuel a nuclear power plant. Not only would this method keep the Colorado landscape unscratched, but also keep unnecessary uranium from being mined and put into production. Since this nonrenewable resource may be a little more renewable than given credit for, we should take advantage of this and direct our capabilities to recycling uranium rather than our wasteful, “throw-away” lifestyle.
Now on the other side of things: putting resources into the ground. The Denver Post reports on the newest form of the “green” movement: green burials. A one acre piece of the Fort Collins cemetery will be designated for burials without any type of vault or embalming. While my spiritual side is all for a part of the deceased becoming a piece of the flowers, the bloom; my ethical side can't seem to accept a ceremony as sacred as burying the dead labelled as part of the “green” movement. As great as the green movement is, there has to be a line drawn somewhere; I can imagine a grieving, vulnerable family going over such a trivial yet painful process of finding the resting place of their loved one and being offered a “green” alternative. Rest the deceased anyway you like: burying, cremating, setting sail on a burning viking ship; just don't attach a label to whichever way you do it.

Jamison Griffith

Tea Parties of the 21st Century and new Green Collar Jobs

According to the Vail Daily about 50 people from Summit and Eagle counties rallied against federal spending of tax dollars. As the crowd walked down Main Street, in Frisco, chanting that they had already been taxed enough and told the government to stop spending now. No one likes taxes but how else is our government supposed to get the money necessary to run itself. The people who were demonstrating seem to see the US as becoming socialist, or as one man put it fascist. We’ll see what happens to our nation, but for some reason it seems like we won’t become the next fascist nation.

According to the Arizona Daily Sun community colleges across the country are seeing an increase in their classes that train students to work in what has been termed green collar jobs. These types of jobs include solar panel construction and installation, wind turbine construction and installation. The move towards green jobs seems like it may be a way out of the problems with the economy. The more new jobs we can create the sooner the economy will right itself. This movement was started with President Barrack Obama’s drive to promote alternative energy systems. This movement will, hopefully, produce millions of jobs.

Ben Rogers

Purely a Matter of Equality

One of the most debated controversial issues of today’s society is the issue of gay rights. Senators here in Colorado have recently been debating the topic. The Rocky Mountain News reported on a spat between senators when Democrat Sen. Jennifer Veiga proposed the idea of equal health insurance for same sex couples. Veiga made the proposal on Monday, February 23 in Senate Bill 88. She stated that this was purely an equality issue. Many Republican senators, such as Nancy Spense from Centennial and Kevin Lundberg from Berthoud, argued with this idea. The Rocky Mountain News reported senators commenting that it was not time for this sort of change. Perhaps the most shocking argument was that of Republican Sen. Scott Renfro from Greely. Renfro stated, “I am not saying this [being gay] is the only sin that’s out there. We have murder. We have all sorts of sin. We have adultery. And we don’t make laws making those legal and we would never think to make murder legal (On Top Magazine).” Many gay and lesbian peoples, including Veiga, found this extremely offensive. Furthermore, several of the Republican senators pleaded that they do not stand by the remark that their fellow party member made, even if they do not agree with the bill. It is slightly difficult for most to make the analogy between a heinous crime such as murder and a shared affection between two people, even if they are of the same sex.

In 2006 Coloradans voted that ‘marriage’ was between a man and a woman and denied any proposals that would award same sex couples equal rights as married heterosexual couples; however now 17 counties have officially decided not to restrict that equal privileges for homosexual couples. Therefore, on Monday the Legislature gave S.B. 88 the initial ‘o.k.’ regardless to Refro’s comment. S.B. 88 is a bill that awards same sex couples group benefits.

Meanwhile, the rest of the country is not as accepting to these sorts of proposals. There are only two states, Massachusetts and Connecticut, which have allowed same sex marriage in the courts. Many states have had a back-and-forth verdict about whether same sex couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples. The New York Times reported on states such as Rhode Island that are having issues with the decision to allow bills such as those like Colorado’s to pass. Many of Rhode Island’s dominant senators are opposed to these proposals. Other states such as Utah, New Mexico, Montana, and even California struggle with this change.

Kaitie Haagenstad

Great Government Goes Green

Around the country it seems to me as if the government, both on the national and state levels is trying to become green. It is great that the government is getting involved so we can try to save the planet from ourselves. Here are some regional and national examples of the government involvement that is beginning to go into effect.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that during a city council meeting in Salt Lake, green initiatives were the topic of discussion. Talks ranged from becoming a more biker friendly city to recycling initiatives and almost everything in-between.

The Telluride Daily Planet reported on the 4-3 vote by the Colorado Senate Business, Labor, and Technology committee to back the ban on plastic bags in grocery stores and other large stores by 2012. Thank goodness, plastic bags have bothered me for years; it seems like such a waste to just throw these bags away. Mandating the use of canvas bags will greatly reduce the use of plastics.

Then on to the help the national government is giving the cause. With our recently passed economic stimulus package green programs are going to be looking good. Commondreams.org reports that almost $60 billion dollars, of the $787 billion stimulus package, is going to green projects and research.

Now that the national and local governments both on our side we need to take these dollars and policies that are coming our way and work on the future of green. Maybe someday the term green will not have the connotation of being eco-friendly because that is how everybody will be.

Royce Johnson

Drilling to the Center of the Earth

There are some interesting debates about drilling for fossil fuels this week in the news. The Arizona Daily Sun published an L.A. Times article on drilling near national parks. Is drilling outside the park boundary legal? Some say that the 1916 Organic Act, which mandates clean air, water and other resources in national parks, would be broken even if the drilling were to be done outside of the boundaries of the park. You would be able to see the roads and see and hear the noisy construction equipment used to search for fossil fuels. Some of the heads of different national parks have spoken out against the Bush administration and say that he caused a problem that we will be fighting for years to come.

It seems energy companies always manage to find the bright side of global warming. Truthout reports that the melting ice caps are uncovering about 25 percent of the Earths oil and gas reserves. It seems also that there is somewhat of a dispute over what country will have the rights to these resources. The maritime law is a little unclear about how far from the coast line of a country gets to claim it's territory.

And while drilling rigs move into these newly uncovered lands, temperatures in Australia have been skyrocketing. Alternet reports that just last week a power station blew up in Melbourne due to absurdly high temperatures in the region, presumably linked to global warming. This caused the train to stop, stop lights blew and half a million homes were without power. There have several deaths that have resulted from these temperatures. The heat wave actually has been impacting professional athletes in the Australian Open tennis tournament. Some have even been taken to the hospital.

Ah, drilling. The answer to every problem.

-Royce Johnson