COLORADO MAY 25 – JUNE 2 (WEEK 4)
At the foothills of the Rocky Mountain Front Range, the town of Boulder, Colorado is an example community for sustainable living. Its highly educated and committed population has set the standard of green practices for others.
Most importantly for SUSI participants, Boulder is accessible, small, friendly and safe. It allows visitors to easily engage with residents about their lifestyle and quickly see with their own eyes the results of the community’s policy choices. With a geography, history and culture much different than Hawai‘i, it provides a totally different context to explore answers to SUSI’s driving questions in dialogue with Boulder community members: 1) What’s doing on in the environment and how are humans reacting? 2) What leadership action is needed to affect positive change? 3) What can you do as a SUSI participant?
- Boulder residents were the first to tax themselves to buy and preserve open space in the early 1900’s (which forms a circle around the town)
- Boulder was the first SmartGrid community, meaning residents can be produce and sell, not just consume energy from the main grid
- Boulder was the first city to create a Carbon Tax
- 15% of the transportation bill goes to bicycle infrastructure, which includes over 100 miles of bike lanes
- The University of Colorado in Boulder has been rated by ‘greenest’ campus in the United States
- Boulder has the largest per capita consumption of organic foods
- It hosts the largest concentration of green certified businesses in the United States
Most importantly for SUSI participants, Boulder is accessible, small, friendly and safe. It allows visitors to easily engage with residents about their lifestyle and quickly see with their own eyes the results of the community’s policy choices. With a geography, history and culture much different than Hawai‘i, it provides a totally different context to explore answers to SUSI’s driving questions in dialogue with Boulder community members: 1) What’s doing on in the environment and how are humans reacting? 2) What leadership action is needed to affect positive change? 3) What can you do as a SUSI participant?