By Mitchell Adams SALIDA— Proudly gazing through a window at the five fourteen thousand-foot peaks he can see from his log-cabin-chic living room, homeowner Jerry Mallett explained why he chose to build his dream home in a forest fire zone. “My wife wanted a view,” Mallett said with a grin. “We had to roll the…
By Johnna Geick CENTER – Nestled between the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan mountains, Colorado’s San Luis Valley is a place of peace. But in the serenity, farmers are struggling to survive economically while keeping their family traditions alive. They’re facing a water crisis. Climate impacts on mountain snowpack along the headwaters of the…
By Mitchell Adams ALAMOSA— For farmers in the San Luis Valley, farming is more than work. It is their life. “It’s what we do,” said Cleave Simpson, the general manager of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District. “People have been here for eight to nine generations doing the same thing.” Agriculture is the largest industry…
By Carly Valerious ALAMOSA— Living in The San Luis Valley entails facing major climate change impacts, but residents display optimistic attitudes and a desire to help the valley. Farmers are pressing ahead with potato crops in a water crunch. To cope with climate change, residents of Crestone are turning to meditation to calm their anxious…
By: Olivia Dicks Changes in climate and the effort to reduce industrial emissions of greenhouse gasses are beginning to create significant uncertainties for power plant workers and those who use electricity in Colorado Springs. “The industry has basically flipped on its head,” according to Ian Gavin, the plant manager at the coal-fired Martin Drake Power…
By: Olivia Dicks Colorado College students struggle with the grave impacts of climate change affecting many aspects of their lives. Many students are “scared for our kids and our grandkids,” as climate impact increases, said Avery Bakewell, a first-year CC student from Maine. Eco-grief is the term researchers are using to describe a feeling of…
By Emily Stamper It is common at Colorado College to see students reducing their carbon footprint in small and numerous ways. In Ben Khaghani and Ethan Hall’s eight-person, three story apartment on East campus, you will find a compost bin under the table that holds their homegrown sprouts, more skateboards than people and that arc…
By Emily Stamper Five men and a woman sat inside the 1925 boiler room at the Colorado Springs’ Coal-Fired Power Plant, seemingly excited to share their experience. Each held a plastic cup of filtered water. One of them, plant manager Ian Gavin, got his start in nuclear power school. He then moved to the coal…
By Rachel Colchete In a conference room inside Colorado Springs’ coal-burning Martin Drake power plant, five utility workers sat across from a group of Colorado College students clutching notebooks—barriers that seemed to separate the students from the workers who feel misunderstood by the public. The Drake plant has become a hot topic within Colorado Springs.…
By Sam Bower For a scientist who spent years investigating the environment, accelerated climate change has led to deep mental anguish and frustration. “Destroying the planet is the saddest thing in the world,” said Elizabeth Bower, who graduated from Smith College with a degree in environmental science in the 1980s. After college, she worked as…
