Saving the ocean in Colorado
As part of the one-year anniversary of the Colorado Ocean Coalition, Sherman’s Lagoon cartoonist Jim Toomey and Blue Frontier Campaign founder David Helvarg will be speaking at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Boulder Public Library.
They will be part of a “Making Waves in Colorado” symposium being held from 1 to 5 p.m. that will include National Geographic Explorer in Residence Sylvia Earle, U.S. National Marine Sanctuary Program Director Dan Basta and environmental hero Margo Pellegrino.
Helvarg is the author and Toomey the illustrator of 50 Ways to Save the Ocean, which Robert Kennedy Jr. calls “a workable blueprint for grassroots action to save the oceans.”
Other panels and presentations will examine marine protected areas, environmental impacts of plastics, oceans and climate change, and the relationship between land use and watersheds.
For more event information, go to www.facebook.com/coloradoocean. For information and tickets regarding a special evening “Ocean Celebration,” visit makingwavesin colorado.eventbrite.com.
Help plan for county, reservoir
Boulder County officials have scheduled an open house on the county’s new comprehensive plan for Tuesday, Nov. 15.
A similar meeting will be held for the Boulder Reservoir master plan the next day.
From late August to early October, Boulder County Land Use staff hosted a series of six community meetings around the county to gain public input on the first steps for updating the county’s comprehensive plan. The open house is intended to provide feedback from those community meetings and to solicit more input from county residents on the plan.
The meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Boulder County Courthouse in the Commissioners’ Hearing Room.
For more information, visit the county’s website at bit.ly/ BCcompplan or call 303-441-3930.
The City of Boulder Parks and Recreation Department will host the Boulder Reservoir master plan meeting from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16, at Calvary Bible Church, 3245 Kalmia Ave. A preview of the final draft will be available at www.BoulderRez.org.
For more information, call Shelly Ruspakka at 303-413-7214.
Renew your school
The Center for ReSource Conservation’s Renew Our Schools Program, which has awarded schools in Boulder with solar arrays since 2007, is expanding.
A dozen middle and high schools in the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts will compete in an energy conservation contest in which schools will earn points by reducing energy usage on campus or by having their students complete energy-saving tasks in their homes. The energy savings will be added together to determine the overall contest winner. The school that reduces its energy usage by the greatest percentage will win prizes valued at up to $25,000. The competition runs until Jan. 6, and the winners will be announced in mid-January.
There will also be a companion contest offered by the city of Boulder designed specifically as a fundraiser for parent-teacher organizations of schools in the City of Boulder.
The BVSD schools competing in the contest are Arapahoe Ridge High School, Boulder High School, Broomfield Heights Middle School, Broomfield High School, Centaurus High School, Fairview High School, Horizons K-8, New Vista High School and Summit Middle School. The SVVSD schools competing in the contest are Coal Ridge Middle School, Erie High School and Niwot High School.
For more information, contact education@conservationcenter.org
or watch the contest in action at www.renewourschoolsenergycenter. com. For more information about the Boulder PTA/PTO contest, contact Elise Hassler at ClimateActionSchools@bouldercolorado.gov.
Occupying Big Oil
An event called “Occupy Big Oil! Confronting Big Oil’s Disasters,” featuring author and activist Antonia Juhasz, will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 5001 Pennsylvania Ave.
Juhasz will discuss her latest research and writing about Big Oil’s most serious crimes, from the current financial crisis to the BP Gulf oil spill to wars for oil in the Persian Gulf — and what can be done to change course.
Juhasz will be joined by a representative from Iraq Veterans Against the War, an organization for U.S. active-duty service people and veterans who oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Juhasz is the author of several books, including Black Tide: the Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill and The Tyranny of Oil: the World’s Most Powerful Industry and What we Must Do to Stop It. She is on the National Advisory Committee of Iraq Veterans Against the War and was the founder and director of the Energy Program at Global Exchange.
For more information, visit www.uucboulder.org.
New computer recycling option
Boulder’s downtown residents and businesses have a new option for computer recycling, thanks to Eco-Cycle and iSupportU.
The two organizations are joining forces to provide a downtown drop-off location for such equipment. For a small fee, they will be brought to Eco-Cycle’s Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM) to be recycled domestically using green, socially responsible practices, recovering nearly 100 percent of the materials. The Eco- Cycle/iSupportU arrangement is the first official CHaRM satellite drop-off center for outdated electronics.
According to the EPA, Americans recycled less than 20 percent of their electronics and sent 2.6 million tons of consumer electronics to landfills and incinerators in 2009. Such electronics typically include lead, cadmium, beryllium and brominated flame retardants — all deadly contaminants that threaten environmental and public health.
Residents and businesses can drop off desktop and laptop computers, flat-panel monitors, printers, power supplies, keyboards, cables, mice and cell phones as part of the partnership.
To celebrate the new partnership, iSupportU and Eco-Cycle, in partnership with 10 for Change, are hosting a party open to the public at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10, at the new drop-off location, at 1825 Pearl St. All attendees must register at facebook.com/iSupportU or iSupportU.biz to attend.
Art wanted in Lafayette
The City of Lafayette has issued two calls for art.
The Public Art Committee is looking for sculpture submissions to the 2012 Art on the Street Outdoor Sculpture Gallery. Art on the Street, which is in its fourth year, is the largest sculpture-onloan program in Boulder County.
Selected sculptures will be on display outside for a one-year period.
Artists’ submissions are due Dec. 3. There are 17 spots available; selected artists will receive a $500 stipend upon installation. The program is not limited to local artists.
More information can be found at www.cityoflafayette.com/CFA.
In the second call for artists, the cultural resources department is looking for artists to show their work in month-long displays through 2012. Artwork will be selected by a panel of community members. The work will be hung in one of three city facilities: city hall, the library or senior services. Artists may submit their work for review to www.cityoflafayette.com/wallcall.
For more information, contact Susan Booker at susanb@cityoflafayette.com or at 303-665-5588 x3353.
More information is also available online at www.cityoflafayette.com/aiegrant.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
