Telluride’s budding love of cannabis
Major tax revenues and virtually no problems during Telluride’s first year of retail cannabis sales.
Purloining our groundwater savings accounts
Groundwater is being pumped at unsustainable rates across the United States. But solutions are not universal — and, in fact, some make the argument more well-pumping needs to be done along Colorado’s South Platte River.
Darth Vader and white knights of oil and gas
Oil and gas drillers hurt themselves badly by resisting transparency, but the risk must be viewed within a broader matrix of considerations, speakers at a risk analysis conference seemed to agree.
Utilities of the future
Less coal, more renewables, plus more storage — that’s our energy story of the future. But a panel of speakers in Denver largely agreed that a new business model will be necessary for our utilities.
Climatic hip-swinging at Snowmass
Even as they hoisted giant mastodon bones over their shoulders, scientists gathered at 9,000 feet in Snowmass suspected the greatest value of the site would be what it could tell us about changing climates at high elevations.
Remembering Sand Creek’s men of peace
The Sand Creek Massacre poses so many questions, among them the question of what we could do to honor our peacemakers? Have we done enough to honor Black Kettle and Silas Soule?
China climate pact a good step not a swindle
Chuck Kutscher’s PowerPoint presentation to the Colorado Renewable Energy Society about climate change was a 90-minute roller coaster of hope and despair, rich with detail and telling images.
Water plan OK’d but talking will continue
Russ George spoke like a proud father, and in a way he was as the Colorado Water Conservation Board approved the draft of a state water plan. But allocation of what is arguably Colorado’s most precious resource remains the subject of contentious if generally civil debate.
GM’s skin in the electric car game
General Motors rep Hal Lenox makes the case that his company is now very much in the chase for alternative fuel vehicles, including a soon-to-be-released Chevy Volt.
Net-zero energy for small office building
Rocky Mountain Institute rethinks energy in small office buildings and hopes to be a model for small office buildings across the United States.
Why ski towns can benefit from a carbon fee
Local good deeds in energy efficiency and renewable energy, although commendable, can never been enough as long as it’s free, absolutely free, to pollute the atmosphere. We need a national and ultimately an international fee imposed on carbon emissions.
Hemp: the answer for whatever ails you
Can industrial hemp be one answer to the slow-motion train wreck of Ogallala aquifer depletion in eastern Colorado? That is the argument made by native son Michael Bowman.
Reslicing the Colorado River
Colorado River expert Eric Kuhn lays out the big picture of one of the world’s hardest-working rivers — and wonders if we aren’t already seeing the evidence of a changing climate.
Beauprez and Hickenlooper on Colorado drilling
Colorado gubernatorial candidates Bob Beauprez and John Hickenlooper offered sharply contrasting approaches to the drilling controversy during appearances at the Energy Forum in Westminster.
Eating local but drinking global
The locavore movement has caught on, emphasizing local origins of meat and other food. But when it comes to water, inverse logic seems to prevail at high-end groceres. Has the time come for a locagua movement?