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Author: Susan Viebrock

[click "Play" to listen to Susan's conversation with Gunter Pauli]

 

Gunter 9.2007-3 Kris Holstrom of Telluride's The New Community Coalition welcomes her colleague Gunter Pauli, founder of ZERI – Zero Emissions Research Initiatives  –  to town today, May 4, for an informal chat with anyone interested in saving the planet, while putting bread on the table. (ed. note: Pauli will be at Wilkinson Public Library at 7:45 pm) If you are unable to attend the local program, on Wednesday, May 5, Pauli is in Durango, where he speaks at SKA Brewing, 225 Girard Street, 7 – 9 p.m.
Pauli has written several books and a series of "fables" designed to convey complex notions in plainspeak. His newest book, "The Blue Economy: 10 years, 100 innovations 100 million jobs" is an example.


04 May, 2010 /

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Monday, May 3: Free film, "Pirate for the Sea," 6 p.m.

A longtime militant environmentalist is held up for close scrutiny in "Pirate for the Sea," a homemade-style documentary in which filmmaker Ron Colby's admiring stance doesn't shroud the downside of the subject's relentless approach. A self-appointed maverick watchdog for mistreated and illegally hunted sea creatures, Paul Watson uses confrontational tactics that could be classified as terrorism, which, along with bloody footage of whales, sharks, and baby seals being slaughtered, makes for some disturbing viewing. Just released on DVD, we are screening this film with special permission of the director, Ron Colby. 

After eight years, Colby completed his film only one week before the 2008 Telluride Film Festival opened. To make "Pirate for the Sea," he participated as a crew member on Watson's voyages to Cocos Island in 2002, Antarctica in 2005, and to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2006. The film includes interviews with Martin Sheen, and Farley Mowat in addition to numerous crew-members.

03 May, 2010 /

Editor's note: For eight years, Telluride local/mountaineer Ben Clark and a few friends/professional colleagues have made Spring treks to the majestic mountains of the Himalayas. If you have missed any of Ben's posts, just type "Ben Clark" into Lijit Search to find them all. Sadly, this is likely to be the last dispatch of his most recent adventure.

Benbioshotlr-254x300 "Dispatch 10: So it is done, my ankle is broken

My ankle is broken after my fall yesterday. We iced 8 times, we went through 5 rounds of Ibuprofen and Tylenol and we kept it elevated almost 14 hours before I slept in a compression wrap and elevated for the night. Currently, I believe it wants to ski or hike downhill...because that's the only way it will point! Then I try to move it...ooooh. It looks like a baseball that has soaked in water staining the lower part of my foot with a purple and green base. Yuck.

So...I guess that this Spring, even after our initial and really charged foray onto the hill, we will not be going higher. Jon says so and I just nod. He's a great partner who despite ambition can see the facts. We have gone over every boot-cutting splinting option you can imagine...None will get me back across base camp even. Ha...ohh, we are climbers.

02 May, 2010 /

Editor's note: For eight years, Telluride local/mountaineer Ben Clark and a few friends/professional colleagues have made Spring treks to the majestic mountains of the Himalayas. Follow his adventures on Telluride Inside... and Out, including links to his regular podcasts. If you have missed any of Ben's posts, just type "Ben Clark" into Lijit Search to find them all.

Benbioshotlr-254x300 "Dispatch 9: well...hmmmm

Jon and I feel stronger than ever. Our spirits are up, our sense of adventure is high, and today we departed for base camp to begin the summit climb. I love moving in the mountains. The first moment was incredibly invigorating.

The sun highlighted the Southeast ridge. I waved goodbye to our cook staff, I turned.

Then I rolled my ankle in the sand. With a 60 pound pack on. I wasn't 120 paces out of camp. I hit the ground and knew immediately that everything would be okay. Well, almost everything. Well, maybe not the ankle right then. Oh man. Shit, it feels like it snapped in half.
02 May, 2010 /
The 32nd annual Mountainfilm Festival will be the biggest ever with more venues in operation, more special guests and more programming. Festival Director David Holbrooke describes Mountainfilm as thriving.
 
“We are particularly excited about the festival this year,” he says. “We have a very strong and varied lineup of films, speakers and artists. We have accomplished mountaineers like Ed Viesturs and Conrad Anker, but we also have artists like Maya Lin and Chris Jordan. We have environmental activists like Dave Foreman and Tim DeChristopher but we also have civil rights activists with two Freedom Riders coming to town.”
 
Among the films to screen in Telluride at the end of May, Holbrooke highlighted the following as examples of Mountainfilm’s depth and diversity:
02 May, 2010 /
Editor's note: For eight years, Telluride local/mountaineer Ben Clark and a few friends/professional colleagues have made Spring treks to the majestic mountains of the Himalayas. Follow his adventures on Telluride Inside... and Out, including links to his regular podcasts. If you have missed any of Ben's posts, just type "Ben Clark" into Lijit Search to find them all.

Benbioshotlr-254x300 "Dispatch 8: 20'600' and man it's awesome up here!

You have to be crazy to explore high altitude. Not conventionally crazy, like constantly repeating the same thing and expecting a different result. You have to be comfortable with getting a result that is punishing and optimistically believing the opposite will happen next time. Crazy thing is...it does, every time. That's why flatlanders label it extreme. I guess it defines risk as well.

Jon and I traveled light and high to 20,600' yesterday on our objective, 23,390' Baruntse, it was hard on us. We climbed half our expected five-day route in a little over 24 hours, just three days after arriving in base camp. As much as we enjoyed the scenery and the awkward sensation of oxygenless stupor, we also descended fully to base camp in time for supper. FAST. Today we rest in anticipation of a summit strike in a couple of days. Weather is moving in as the sky is swarming moisture in from the Northwest, a testy condition I have sat through before in a less comfortable position testing my patience.

01 May, 2010 /

Featuring presenters drawn from science, industry, arts and the media, and in keeping with the International Year of Biodiversity, Mountainfilm launches its 32nd annual Festival on Friday, May 28, with an in-depth look at species extinction.

“We are living in the sixth major extinction on this planet and the first one to be caused by humans,” says Festival Director David Holbrooke. “The statistics are staggering. We’re currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-off since the loss of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. It’s estimated that a species dies off every 20 minutes. Some scientists predict that between 30 and 50 percent of all species will be extinct by mid-century. E.O. Wilson says that biodiversity is the key to life on this planet and that its collapse is the biggest threat we are facing.”

Noting he is still waiting to confirm several symposium presenters, Holbrooke says he is delighted with the depth of expertise he has already locked in.

30 April, 2010 /
Poster The Sheridan Arts Foundation's Young People's Theater in Telluride, under the direction of Jen Julia, presents its third full-length musical, performed by a cast of 27 young locals, grades 3 – 5. Performances are April 30 – May 2, 6 p.m. ( one hour with intermission).

Hansel & Gretel is a fairy tale of German origins, made famous by the Brothers Grimm. The story follows a young brother and sister, who discover a Gingerbread house filled with candy in the forest, the home of a child-eating wicked old witch. The Grimm version differs from the original in one fundamental plot twist: there was no evil stepmother. It was the children's own mother who convinced the father to abandon his offspring in the woods, a not unknown practice during crisis such as famine, war, plague, pestilence of the late Middle Ages. The change was to smooth feathers in a society not able to conceive of a mother forsaking her own babes.
29 April, 2010 /

180south
180 South

From over 600 submissions, Mountainfilm has whittled its 2010 official film selections down to roughly 75, a process that Festival Director David Holbrooke says was a "particular challenge" because there were so many strong films. 
 
“As always, we have a wide range of films on a dizzying array of subjects from exploration to environmentalism to ecstasy (the drug). Having to pick and choose what makes the most sense for us, what best connects or contrasts with our themes and sub-themes, is really tough. Saying ‘no’ to strong films and talented filmmakers is just hard, no two ways about it.”
 
However difficult the decision-making process, Holbrooke says he is excited by the quality and diversity of this year’s picks.

28 April, 2010 /
Renate.suction The American Academy of Bookbinding and the Ah Haa School present a talk by Renate Mesmer of the Folger Shakespeare Library: “The Folger Shakespeare Library and the Preservation of Books.” The talk with accompanying slides is scheduled for Thursday, April 29, 6:30 p.m. in the East Room of the Ah Haa School’s Depot Building.

Renate Mesmer is in Telluride teaching book conservation classes at the American Academy of Bookbinding. She works at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, where she is Assistant Head of Conservation.
28 April, 2010 /