Robert Castellino has worn a lot of hats over the last 20 years — he ran the ski-racing program at Eldora in the early ’80s, worked in telecommunications, founded his own greeting card company, supported adolescents as a youth minister and, as a lifelong photographer, has authored five photographic story and guide books about Boulder, Denver and Colorado at large.
Now he’s donned another hat — environmental activist.
“I’ve always had a passion for the environment and the books I’ve written in the past … have always had a component about the ecology of commerce and our place in relationship to nature in Colorado,” Castellino says. “Nature has always driven my experience in Colorado and everything I know about the land and how it defines us. So that’s been at the core of my passion as a photographer, being in touch with nature, the land, the diversity of the landscape and the people in it, how we celebrate it in our everyday lives. That’s why so many of us come here, to be connected with the outdoors and enjoy this amazing lifestyle we have.”
A little more than two years ago, Castellino decided he needed to take action to save the natural beauty that has inspired him throughout his life. On Nov. 15 and 16, the result of Castellino’s decision will culminate in the Colorado Climate Summit, a conference that Castellino says will move attendees past the conversation about the global climate crisis and toward solving the problem.
There will be some of the usual conference trappings — keynote speakers will kickoff the event: Alison Holloran, executive director at Audubon Rockies; Mario Molina, strategist and department director with the Climate Reality Project’s Climate Leadership Corps; and Coreina Chan, manager in the Rocky Mountain Institute’s buildings practice division.
But after a series of presentations with experts, the conference will get hands-on. Attendees will break out into teams, based on geography and expertise, and work with presenters to solve a series of real-world problems facing Coloradans, from glacial melt to drought to beetle kill to fire, in hopes of not only addressing the ecological effects but the economic bearing as well.
“Here is the major deal — the Switch 2020 contract,” says Castellino. “We are requesting that every person who participates … sign their own contract, a checklist based on how far down the road they are, what they are going to do to make the switch to renewable energy by 2020 and reduce their water footprint by 50 percent by 2025. Accountability is part of the process.”
Castellino says even those who can’t attend the summit will still be able to create their own Switch 2020 contract by reaching out to summit participants who live near them. Castellino plans to work with other summit organizers to create an online map of participants, allowing people around the state to find someone in their community who can share the knowledge they gleaned from the conference.
“That notion of community is the driver here,” says Castellino. “How can we reach 64 counties and make a difference on the ground — there are seven regions in our state and we have different cultural interests based on where we live in Colorado. How can we reach out across these cultural barriers, geographically and demographically, bringing together people who aren’t just activists but who are doing things?”
Castellino says that diversity is key to addressing the climate change crisis, and he’s got the numbers to back up that belief. Census data shows that Latinos make up approximately 21 percent of the state’s population, and according to projections from the State Demography Office, Latinos will make up one-third of Colorado’s population by 2040. To address the state’s fastest growing demographic, the Colorado Climate Summit partnered with the Americas Latino Eco-Festival. ALEF Executive Director Irene Vilar will present at the summit.
But it’s more than just people of color that Castellino sees as leaders in the movement to combat climate change.
“When we start engaging with the environmental movement and NGOs, we start talking to leaders like Anna Zawisza, who is the executive director of the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado in Denver, and you meet other executive directors like Alison
Holloran, who’s the executive director of Audubon Rockies,” says Castellino. “The list goes on. You meet leaders like Leslie Glustrom. Suzanne Spiegel with Frack Free Colorado. Women are playing a significant role in this. They are often times the vocal ones and they are not afraid to take action for the benefit of their family and home. And women are often times better networkers and more engaged in community-building.”
Along with keynote speaker Holloran, Glustrom, a longtime Xcel Energy watchdog, and Spiegel of Frack Free Colorado will act as presenters at the summit.
Castellino says women’s role as leaders in combating climate change has a financial aspect as well. The average household in Colorado spends between $650 and $1,200 a month on energy — that’s everything from heating and cooling and electricity to purchasing gasoline for a car. Castellino says that, on average, women make decisions about how finances are spent on energy in the home 83 percent more often than men. So if women can be convinced to make changes in the home — installing solar panels; purchasing an electric car; changing insulation, furnaces and hot water heaters to energyefficient models — millions of Coloradan families will make the switch.
A big factor in convincing people to make that shift, says Castellino, is convincing them that it’s within their economic reach. Castellino points to financing programs that allow households and businesses to install photovoltaic and solar thermal systems.
However, Chris Ellis, an associate professor of integrated energy at Colorado Mountain College and presenter at the summit, acknowledges that making these changes are often easier said than done.
“It’s difficult for people to think in terms of prepaying their energy bill seven years ahead even though they know they won’t have an energy bill after that,” Ellis says. “It’s like if I told you, you have to pay for your car in cash, but then it won’t cost you to run it. How many people think two to five years out, much less two to three weeks out?” For Ellis, addressing this issue means teaching children about renewable energy.
“If we can teach people that energy literacy at a young enough age, get them starting to think in terms of ‘What am I going to do that I’m passionate about, then what am I going to do in terms of setting aside this money so I can do renewables?’ then we can start to see a shift [in the public at large].”
Since 2012, Ellis has worked with groups of students to install solar systems in three Garfield County libraries.
The students built the systems, from the design to the actual installation.
“How do you get these kids to see a vision 20 or 30 years out of what they want to become?” Ellis asks. “Remember Charlie Brown’s teacher? I don’t want to be that teacher. Let’s do something fun and sneak the science in when you’re not looking.”
While Castellino says he doesn’t think Colorado can single-handedly reverse the course of the climate crisis, he does believe Coloradans can be global leaders.
“I see we’ve lost touch with this treasure … of a relationship with nature. Celebrating the power of the mountains, the plains, the desert landscape in the Southwest, places as far west as Gateway, the Dolores River — places people don’t know because they are so [engrossed in] the comforts of their urban environment,” he says. “We are very hard on this planet. We wield a very big stick here, and we have to learn how to walk softly.”
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