Transition Town Introduction

Here is a 30 minute video introducing the Transition Town Movement by Jennifer Grey one of the founders.

Another Word (or two) About Skiing

I do applaud the efforts by a number of Colorado ski mountains to reduce their environmental impacts. Programs to purchase wind power to power the lifts, bio-diesel to run the snow cats, and even recycling programs to handle waste and even compost are impressive. But no matter how hard the various mountains work at these efforts, by far the largest impact from skiing is out of the hands of the resorts.

I am talking about the tens of thousands of cars, trucks, SUV's and numerous airplanes which carry the skiers from their homes to the mountains and back. In some places the traffic generated by these trips causes traffic jams miles and miles long.

The bottom line is that we are being forces to look at our lifestyles in all areas and reinvent how we can still have fun and do our work while generating a much smaller ecological footprint in the process.

Sustainable Sports ... Not!

This past weekend I had the chance to visit a local ski slope with my family. Since I am not a skier, I spent some of my time hiking the trails bordering the ski mountain. As I walked by the homes scattered in the trees I was hit by the total unsustainability of it all. I could easily see how in the next few years, how this lifestyle enjoyed by many will become so difficult to maintain.

These large homes with gas-guzzling SUV's parked in the driveway and snowmobiles in the garage, will become too costly for many owners as the price of oil (and everything else made with and from oil) continues to rise. On top of that, their distance from any services such a food shopping, car service and almost all forms of entertainment, makes their location a major challenge when resources become harder to get.

All of this impressed up me how important it will be for us to learn how to live and organize ourselve more sustainably in the coming years.