Colorado not very green (tell me I'm wrong) (Denver, Colorado Springs: houses, buy)

[randomparent]

Originally Posted by otowi

I've seen some articles on line about repairing becoming a thing again - moreso overseas than here so far - but they talked about having places where people could bring their broken stuff and work with volunteers or experts to learn and repair it themselves while there - mainly small appliances, wood furniture, various household goods. I'd like to see that here, too - I think a lot of people would enjoy it and it would help spread some knowledge that is increasingly being lost.

That would be a great program for a public library to implement.

[seethelight]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Much higher in my neighborhood in the Socialist Paradise of the City & County of Denver.

Yeah keep Boulder weird. Boulder is weird, but not in a good way. Socialist: that's a laugh. When I was there in 1970 perhaps that was true but today Boulder is city just like any other. Nothing really special about it, except those people that think they are too cool for school that live there. I now live in Maryland where people are much more green than Boulder and way nicer.

[Freak On a Leash]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

True, but if local/state government wanted to do serious planning, the "conservative" types would get out their tiki torches and goosestep in force through the streets protesting how the evil guv'mint has no business telling a man what he can do with his own land. These same people have ridiculed Boulder for decades for doing just that sort of planning; they love to call it the Peoples Republic of Boulder, etc. But what could be more "conservative" then protecting our land and assuring this limited resource is not squandered frivolously.

That's one reason I like Boulder. No real sprawl or congested/ugly outskirts. The Conservatives can keep their ugly suburbs.

I come from the overdeveloped and congested Northeast. Conservation is a good thing. Unless you want the Front Range to look like New Jersey.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by otowi

I've seen some articles on line about repairing becoming a thing again - moreso overseas than here so far - but they talked about having places where people could bring their broken stuff and work with volunteers or experts to learn and repair it themselves while there - mainly small appliances, wood furniture, various household goods. I'd like to see that here, too - I think a lot of people would enjoy it and it would help spread some knowledge that is increasingly being lost.

I wish!

We are a society that has shifted towards throwing away entire products and buying entire new ones. It doesn't help when the products are deliberately made so you have to throw away a SYSTEM because you cannot replace one component, let alone one part of a component.

Think of all the "upgrades" you are forced into that require buying not just what you want to replace, but all the accompanying things that are engineered to be incompatible with a straight replacement of an "obsolete" part.

I would vastly prefer buying a high-quality item whose parts can be bought and replaced for a long time than a cheap item that must be discarded when one part breaks. What a waste.

There was a time when a bike part--even just a single spring in an old Campy rear derailleur--could be bought by itself, and I could replace the old spring with it. Along came "the systems" where not only could you not buy small parts, even the derailleur itself might not be compatible with the new version of "the system."

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by Freak On a Leash

That's one reason I like Boulder. No real sprawl or congested/ugly outskirts. The Conservatives can keep their ugly suburbs.

I come from the overdeveloped and congested Northeast. Conservation is a good thing. Unless you want the Front Range to look like New Jersey.

Boulder doesn't have sprawl or ugliness?

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by pikabike

Consider how many posters on C-D list "lots of greenery" as one of their requirements when looking for places in CO. They demand contradictory things (little or no snow, not cold, yet green all year, without having to water).

Then consider how many decide they will pay anything to have that greenery around their house, rather than picking a location/climate where it is not a constant battle to make things different from what naturally thrives.

I agree with the comment that CO is pretty average on recycling practices. But specific towns can be very supportive of "living green." Same goes for other states.

Think of all the little niceties that have become normalized but are wasteful. For example, drinking straws for beverages being consumed in the restaurant. Why? You can still drink from a glass with no straw. That one little plastic straw, multiplied by millions of people, multipled by the number of meals they use one, amounts to A LOT of plastic.

That's just one small example of ordinary items that Americans thoughtlessly use just because it is available at no charge.

Some things don't need to be substituted for; just don't use them, or use fewer of them. I am not going to buy an electric car or Prius. But I combine errands into one trip when possible, walk or bike, avoid gas-guzzling driving practices (leadfooting), and reuse almost all grocery bags, even the thin produce bags. We also bring acceptable items to be recycled, as this cuts our waste amount by about half. It appears that many people do, indeed, recycle, and we do not live in a Boulder type of town. Recycling has become more common over time, and hopefully will continue to do so.

There is a group in Boulder trying to get rid of straws. Frankly, they seem a little more hygienic than drinking straight out of the glass.
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boul...plastic-straws

Originally Posted by Freak On a Leash

That's one reason I like Boulder. No real sprawl or congested/ugly outskirts. The Conservatives can keep their ugly suburbs.

I come from the overdeveloped and congested Northeast. Conservation is a good thing. Unless you want the Front Range to look like New Jersey.

Where do you suggest people live if they can't fit into Boulder?

[EastwardBound]

Originally Posted by pikabike

Boulder doesn't have sprawl or ugliness?

28th Street is so scenic!

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by EastwardBound

28th Street is so scenic!

LOL, that is exactly the street that I noticed, in a bad way, the first time I ever went to Boulder. It is not ugly as in blighted crime zone, but it is just so...generically suburban/shopaganza sprawly. Pretty much every fair-sized city has such a shopaganza strip. They are what replaced the old-school downtowns as basic shopping centers. Now the downtowns tend more towards cutesie tourist and niche markets, unless they are down in the dumps economically.

There is much more parking space available in the outlying areas than downtown.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by Katarina Witt

There is a group in Boulder trying to get rid of straws. Frankly, they seem a little more hygienic than drinking straight out of the glass.
Boulder environmentalists set their sights on disposable plastic straws - Boulder Daily Camera

If the cleanliness of drinking glasses is a worry, then think about forks, spoons, knives, bowls, dishes, the fact that your hands touched a chair or table that doesn't get sanitized after every customer, etc. I wash my hands before eating out and leave it at that. Servers do not wear vinyl gloves to set the tables. There could be no end to obsession with hygiene.

I don't like outlawing straws. Discouraging their use by not providing them as default would be a good start towards weaning people off them. The fact that many people do recycle things shows that, with time and encouragement, habits can shift towards being greener.

[wilberry]

on the subject of a green Colorado I liked this article

Can Colorado really achieve 100 percent green energy by 2040?

oh and I bleach everything, spoons, forks , glasses, counters , hands , feet, grocery cart LOL