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Around Telluride

[click "Play" to hear Eileen's interview with Roman Yavich]

(editor's note: Take note Telluride and all other readers: This article was to have appeared on Sunday, August 31. The Challenge officially ends today, September 1. Even though the contest is over, the real challenge is to develop habits that enhance sustainability.)

6a00e553ed7fe18833011571047a02970c-120wi The Colorado Association of Ski Towns (CAST) Reusable Bag Challenge is in it's final days of the six month  competition. In the top ten towns who have eliminated the most single-use plastic bags is the Colorado Ski Town of Eagle, currently in 7th place out of more than 30 participating communities who have joined the CAST Challenge since March 1st. Roman Yavich is Sustainability Coordinator for the Town of Eagle and is the administrator of Eagle's "bring your own bag" campaign. With 14 businesses participating, Eagle has been busy promoting the CAST Challenge through their town website www.townofeagle.org, press releases in local papers, ads on County TV and posters around town. The town also bought 2000 bags and distributed them at their Earth Day Party for the Planet and at their popular Flight Days parade. Several charity races also received reusable bags.

01 September, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with director Tom McPhee]

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Tom McPhee

On Monday, August 31, Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library is really going to the dogs. Starting at noon, Second Chance Humane Society is out front, its Pet Mobile filled with animals in need of loving homes.

At 5:30, Second Chance gets to plead its cause, followed by a real life Katrina pet rescue story featuring locals Alfredo Lopez and Nancy Landau. (Bring Kleenex, a checkbook and a leash.)

At 6 p.m., the Library and the Second Chance present a screening of director Tom McPhee's  award-winning "An American Opera: The Greatest Pet Rescue Ever." What could have been pessimism porn about an American tragedy turned out to be an upper about the triumph of the human spirit.

31 August, 2009 /
[click "Play" to listen to Kelly Goodin speak about Second Chance]

Constant contact 2 In the Telluride region, including San Miguel and Ouray counties, Second Chance Humane Society is the last word in pet rescue.

Second Chance offers top of the line rescue initiatives  – a shelter in Ridgway, foster care, help for families who can no longer care for pets, outreach for prevention and education, including financial assistance for spay/neuter –  for dogs and cats at the end of their rope.

 Second Chance Humane Society together with the Pagosa Springs Humane Society brought 100 dogs and cats from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. All the rescued pets were placed into foster homes and some, including a dog initially placed in a Telluride home, were reunited with their original pet parents. 

30 August, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with John Sir Jesse]

100-0056_IMG_3 In Telluridespeak, the event is known as Mushfest. The 29th annual Mushfest, aka Telluride Mushroom Festival  – billed as "the nation's oldest mycological conference exploring all things fungal" – happens this weekend, August 27 – August 30.

In the context of the Telluride Mushfest, the world wide web takes on a whole other meaning: we are talking about mycelium, the sentient  web of cells, which, in just one magical phase of its life cycle, fruits mushrooms. Shroom evangelists from writer Terence Kemp McKenna and avant garde composer John Cage to Paul Stamets, a Mushfest regular, filmmaker Ron Mann ("Know Your Mushrooms),  and this year's special guest Gary Lincoff ("Mushroom Magick") head the list of true believers who contend fabulous fungi have the potential to save the planet.

28 August, 2009 /
[Click "Play to hear Eileen's interview with festival director Art Goodtimes]

TMF_2009Poster The 29th annual Telluride Mushroom Festival takes place Thursday August 27th through Sunday the 30th with Fungophiles from around the world attending what has been dubbed as "the nation's oldest mycological conference exploring all things fungal."  MushFest, as Telluride locals call it, is part education and part outdoor fun, with daily workshops and lectures on a variety of topics as well as forays into the mountains to search for all types of edible and some not so edible mushrooms.   There will be a tent in Elks Park, on Main Street, where anyone can bring their found mushrooms to have identified. There will be book signings, poetry readings, a vendor bazaar, drumming and dancing and the whimsical Mushroom Parade, which will take place Saturday at 5 pm beginning from Elks Park. Art Goodtimes, renowned performance poet and long time director of the Telluride Mushroom Festival, tells us what's in store this year and shares some special memories in this podcast. 

26 August, 2009 /

Thumbprints. Snowflakes. Telluride. Harold O'Connor's jewelry. These are all unique, one-of-a-kind.O'Connor is in town to teach a class in his art at the Ah Haa School. In addition he will appear at a reception and a showing of his work at Telluride Gallery...

25 August, 2009 /
[click "Play" for Eileen's conversation with Catherine Carson]

Bag challenge poster NO STORE 2 23 (Small) The Colorado Association of Ski Towns Reusable Bag Challenge is winding down, but the number of single-use plastic bags being eliminated every day continues to climb and is pushing 3 million. Currently, the United States uses 100 billion plastic bags per year at an estimated cost of 4 billion dollars and 12 million barrels of oil. Helping to make a dent in eliminating single-use plastic bags is the Colorado Ski Town of Steamboat Springs, currently in 6th place out of more than 30 participating communities who have joined the CAST Challenge since March 1st.   The contest ends September 1st with the winning town receiving a $10,000 grant from sponsors Alpine Bank and PCL Construction to install a solar panel system at a public school for the winning community.  Independent Power Systems will install the panels for free.

Catherine Carson is Treasurer for Yampa Valley Recycles and one of the founding members of "Team Bag Ladies,"  the driving force behind Steamboat Springs participation in the CAST Challenge.  Yampa Valley Recycles Misson Statement reads: "YVR believes it is possible for people to coexist with the environment without depleting natural resources or polluting the environment. We aim to expand and support comprehensive recycling programs in the Yampa Valley by educating, promoting, and implementing creative solutions to help communities reduce, reuse, and recycle."  One of their primary accomplishments has been the sale of more than 8,000 green bags.  According to Catherine Carson, "Team Bag Ladies and Steamboat Springs," has their sights set for a piece of the podium come September when all the numbers for the CAST Challenge are tallied and winners are announced.

23 August, 2009 /

by Kris Holstrom

019 It’s mid-summer in Telluride! Nights seem cooler than usual though the days are warm and the monsoons haven’t really materialized. We’ve got fires smoking up our atmosphere and early frosts on nearby mesas. Hmmm. Global weirding once again? The only thing predictable is unpredictability.

For those concerned about global climate issues there are local actions you can take right now.  San Miguel Power has two renewable energy initiatives that fund the Renewable Energy Fund (green fund). All SMPA members (anyone who gets an electric bill) are encouraged to participate in both programs. The amount of money SMPA is able contribute to local renewable energy and energy conservation projects is dependent upon the number of participating members in these programs. So more support for these programs means more support for local renewable energy. Here’s their info on the programs.

19 August, 2009 /

The girls lined up School will start again soon – for our children in Telluride and the girls at the orphanage/school in Kardze, Eastern Tibet. It’s time to gather supplies, buy some new school clothes and try on a new backpack; what’s routine for our children could become reality for the 108 girls in Tibet as well -- with your help.

• A bit of background:

LAmdrak Rinpoche by Om Mane Kardze lies in the eastern Tibetan province of Kham, famous for its fierce –and dashing- horsemen, fantastic monasteries, vast grasslands dotted with yaks and nomads’ tents, and a strong sense of cultural/ethnical identity. A local tulku (re-incarnated lama) by the title Lamdrakh Rinpoche oversees a cheerful nunnery there as well as the Tibetan Health center, and has established the home and school for girls. He wants to make sure that these future mothers will be prepared to raise the next generation well. Presently, there are 108 girls enrolled, from age 4 to 16. Some are orphans, some were abandoned due to severe poverty or illness in the family, some were handed to the school so that they could get a Tibetan education. They live and learn in a gorgeous, traditional home in extremely crowded conditions. Divided into 5 classes they learn Tibetan, English, Chinese and math.

18 August, 2009 /