Working toward a sustainable Salida

Article by Jayne Mabus

Sustainability - May 2005 - Colorado Central Magazine - No. 135 - Page 13
Copyright © 2005 by Jayne Mabus and Central Colorado Publishing Co. All rights reserved.
Return to May 2005 table of contents.

HAVE YOU NOTICED the price of gasoline recently? It's soaring. And the possible repercussions can't just be avoided by cutting that extra trip to the grocery store.

In our region, a large percentage of locally-owned and operated businesses are tourist-related, and thus they rely on travel -- and hence gasoline. Remember a couple of summers ago when Governor Owens declared that all of Colorado was on fire? Tourists called in and canceled their reservations in droves, and local businesses, from motels and lodges, to restaurants and art galleries, had to tighten their belts.

And the price of oil doesn't just affect the cost of the gasoline you put in your car. Petroleum is also used as a source for the organic compounds used to produce plastics, synthetic textile fibers, synthetic rubber products, pharmaceuticals, pigments, and dyes. (And what do you own that isn't made of plastic these days?)

Nor is gasoline the only thing going up in price. Have you tried to buy a home, recently? And what about the gas to heat your home? And the electricity to power your lights, television, and computer? The cost of health insurance has also skyrocketed -- if you're lucky enough to be part of the ever-decreasing population who actually has health insurance.

So when is it going to end?

Probably not soon. But some people are trying to improve their situation by living more simply and embracing the concept of "sustainability."

When people hear the phrase "sustainable community," a variety of ideas come to mind, but the principal goal is to create a place that provides economic and environmental well-being and stability.

With that said, some community leaders were kind enough to share their thoughts on creating sustainable communities right here in Central Colorado.

Salida City Administrator Julie Feier wrote, "In terms of local government, sustainable development is a strategy by which communities seek economic development approaches that also benefit the local environment and quality of life. Through land use codes and community development Salida hopes to incorporate new approaches that solve rather than create societal and environmental problems -- such as congestion, sprawl, pollution etc. Sustainable development encourages density within municipal boundaries which is why the city and county are working together on a Development IGA. Density within city boundaries on city services implies fewer wells and septic systems sprinkled throughout the county."

Feier then included a paragraph from the Smart Communities Network which is a project of the U.S. Department of Energy, "Sustainable development provides a framework under which communities can use resources efficiently, create efficient infrastructures, protect and enhance quality of life, and create new businesses to strengthen their economies. It can help us create healthy communities that can sustain our generation, as well as those that follow ours."

Jerry L'Estrange, the Buena Vista Town Administrator, and Barbara Wind wrote, "We hate to get lost in "buzz words" and nomenclature when trying to describe important concerns.

"From our point of view, Buena Vista is a sustainable community ... [with] a population working in an environment that allows them to maintain a high quality of life. Today in our community the balance is being tipped in favor of a more aged population that is not always dependent on the local economy for their livelihood.

"We need to strive for a more balanced, economically centered community that takes advantage of our wonderful natural resources to provide a higher quality of life for young and old alike."

Chaffee County Commissioner Tim Glenn maintains, "In my mind, a sustainable community is one that provides a well-balanced community and economy. We need real jobs, not just seasonal jobs. If we are able to diversify our economy to include more than tourism and service sector jobs, I believe we will then have a sustainable community."

Chaffee County Commissioner Jerry Mallett wrote, "Sustainable Community: A community that has addressed its social issues of child care, affordable medical facilities, land use policies, open space, livable wages and housing in a diverse social environment."

Chaffee County Commissioner Jim Osborne wrote, "If we are going to have a viable community we must take into account several factors which will help to sustain the county and some of these are: the use of the automobile, water, ethical values of the county, social harmony, education of and in the community or county, housing affordability, and energy consumption.

"With a few of these factors working, and if we can get the citizens of the county, the businesses of the county, and the various governments of the county or community to all work together, we can start to create a more healthy and viable and sustainable community.

"This is, in a lot of ways, being done by the Vision 20/20 and the economic development group in the county. If it is ever going to work, the community must be educated so that they will take part in the idea and or buy into the ideas that are being set forth. For if something such as a sustainable community is going to take hold and work, a large majority of the citizens of the community must agree and be willing to move forward and try new things and ideas."

SOME PEOPLE HEAR the phrase "sustainable community" and think of stagnation. But nothing could be further from the truth. People have a variety of ideas about what constitutes a sustainable community (which is what makes the concept so interesting), but some of the basic ideas include: the ability to meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents; sensitivity to the environment; and a high quality of life. Descriptions of sustainable communities include: safe; well-planned; well- built and well-run. Others contend that such communities must also offer equality of opportunity and good services for all.

Does it sound too much like Shangri-La? Is it too good to be true?

Well, maybe.

But what happens if we don't start thinking about some of these ideas for making better communities? How will we build better communities if we don't try to incorporate such ideals?

We, in Chaffee County, have many problems staring us in the face:

What's going to happen when gas goes over $3.00 a gallon, as it already has in some places in our country?

And what's going to happen when more baby boomers retire from states like California, after selling their expensive homes there in order to buy new ones here? What will happen to home prices as more and more retirees move in? You don't have to wonder, it's already happening.

How will our community provide affordable housing? And what about the environment? Should we continue to behave as though there's an endless supply of land, water and energy? Or should we conserve, thinking not only about our needs and wants but the needs and wants of future generations?

People are thinking more about these issues. And they're talking about them.

[Haven Stillwater, organizer of the Sustainable Salida Fair.]

Haven Stillwater, proprietor of The Book Haven in Salida, recently decided to give peoples' thoughts, ideas, concerns, and projects a focus. That's why there's going to be a Sustainable Salida Fair on Saturday, May 21. It will offer an opportunity for people to present their ideas and network.

When Haven and her husband moved to Salida a few years ago, she still hadn't found her life's passion, but then she decided to operate a bookstore. "That's when I found out what I should have been doing all these years," Haven said, smiling. Her goal has been to make The Book Haven a "comfortable, vital, interesting place." And she's succeeded.

Haven grew up in Colorado. "I missed being a native by six months," she said. When asked about the genesis of her interest in sustainable communities and the environment, she said, "We ate food grown by my gardener mother. We picked stuff (from our garden) to eat for dinner." And she remembers the first Earth Day. "It happened when I was in high school. They had a lot of events that day; we went to the arboretum and there were seminars at school. That whole day was dedicated to ecology."

Not the sort to sit around and wait for someone else to figure out what's needed, Haven decided to sponsor the fair. And it's already off to a good start with a line-up of interesting people and topics, which include Jeff Lee and Ann Marie Martin's Colorado Land Library; Craig Nielson's ideas about community land trusts; Steve Stucko's sustain Salida organization, Greg Walter's strawbale construction business; and Suzanne and David Ward's ecological learning center. Some of the presenters have been making their living from such ideas for years, while others are just getting organized as you read this article.

There's an old Chinese curse which goes: "May you live in interesting times." And we do.

But as it turns out, interesting times really can be a bit of a curse -- and a blessing. Either way, it's an exciting time to get involved.

Rocky Mountain Land Library

Jeff Lee and Ann Marie Martin have been collecting natural history books for over 20 years, and now they feel ready to share their library with other people. They've been looking for a place to put their library, and they think that it just may be Salida.

"It's the right community and the right site for the books," Jeff Lee said. "Salida seems like the perfect place for us. It has a wonderful combination of ecosystems."

Not all 12,000 volumes - and growing -- deal exclusively with natural history, so Jeff and Ann Marie decided to call it a land library. "That's the phrase that came to us. We have lots of books on different subjects, but what holds the collection together is the land."

They want to put the library in a rural area where field studies can also take place. In addition, they have hosted a number of programs in the Denver area, including: the "Rocky Mountain Land" series, which presents authors to the public -- quite naturally, since Jeff works at the Tattered Cover Bookstore. They've also partnered with the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to present a moderated "Conversations on the Land" series.

Jeff and Ann Marie hope to have similar programs in conjunction with their library when it's established. They have already started a Salida residency program -- which is something like an artists' retreat -- and happened for the first time last fall.

"It's six weeks in the spring and six weeks in the fall," Jeff explained. But there's an added treat for local residents. "We ask the resident to think of some way to share their work with Salida," said Jeff. Thus "Dave Wann, who co-wrote Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic, gave a public slide show at Bongo's."

While the Rocky Mountain Land Library isn't specifically about sustainable communities, Jeff feels that "the library goes hand in hand, because of the general subject of the collection. We're not an advocacy group, but we are passionate about being a resource for anyone interested in natural history."

Community Land Trusts

Craig Nielson has a background in community planning and architectural design and has been interested in affordable housing for the past 20 years.

He's also very interested in community land trusts and says that, "it's the best model for permanent affordable housing. It is based on equity retention in the community. Affordable housing is a big issue; it's at a crisis level here in Salida."

Nielson was quick to point out that community land trusts are not conservation land trusts. "The goal is to create affordable workforce housing or community housing," Craig said. "It's not for everyone. If you can afford to buy a house on the open market, then do it. But, well over 50 percent of the people living here could qualify for housing subsidies. Buying a home is the easiest way to transfer wealth and gain upward mobility."

Not only is Craig interested in developing community land trusts in Salida to create affordable housing, he also believes that Salida could become a model eco-design town, which people could study. "There are all kinds of potential, from wind towers to micro hydroelectric power from the river. It could be used as a marketing tool for tourism," Craig enthused.

Sustain Salida

Steve Stucko's group is concerned with local sustainability, and it's just getting off the ground. They've had at least one meeting of interested people and plan to have more. "I've been talking casually with people over the past couple of months and a group of us met to explore peoples' thoughts about what we should do.

"We kept it small so we could have a conversation with each other. There was a lot of enthusiasm to charge ahead, so we'll probably advertize the next meeting," Steve said.

Sustain Taos produced a guidebook called the "Taos Green Guide for Sustainable Living 2005," and Steve plans to have copies available at the fair. "The Green Guide is a model and a great template," Steve said. He plans to contact Sustain Taos for information and assistance with his new group in Salida. "We'd like to avoid some potholes, trials and tribulations in how to get started."

Their first goal is to have a presence in the community and generate interest. "We hope to act as a signpost organization. We don't want to duplicate other efforts. Our whole intention is purely about education."

Strawbale Cottage

Greg Walter wanted to live lighter on the land, and that path led him to build strawbale and tire homes. His first project was a strawbale/tire addition on the 1907 cabin he calls home.

Walter mentioned the book, Earthships, by Michael Reynolds several times. Not only are the multiple volumes of this series available at the Salida Regional Library, but there's also a fascinating video called "Earthships: From the Ground Up."

"If I'm going to build houses, I want to build ones that are not only energy efficient, but energy abundant," Greg stated. "When you look at building materials, there's a concept of embodied energy - how much energy it took to get the materials to the building site. Steel and concrete, which produce a lot of pollution when created, are the least energy abundant.

"Strawbales are more efficient. Straw is a total waste product, used for bedding and not much else. The strawbale home construction business has helped revitalize farmers, and it helps agriculture. Farmers and ranchers are some of the best stewards of the land. We should encourage them."

As far as tires are concerned, Greg believes that if you're going to create products that take up space in a landfill, you should "bury them and live with them."

Walter and partner Kellen Levan are not only dedicated to using alternative construction methods, they conduct workshops to teach other people the techniques they've learned and they act as consultants for owner/builders.

They believe that, "a sustainable economy and sustainable ecology go hand in hand." Comparing different methods of house construction, Greg said, "Strawbale/tire construction is definitely more labor intensive. It employs a lot more local people. And when you spend money on materials that have to be shipped to the site from outside, the money leaves town."

The focus of their presentation is going to be that it's good to build a net zero home. "It costs a lot of money to heat and cool a house. I want to build energy-abundant homes -- homes that create energy rather than ones that are just energy efficient," Greg stated. "With the cost of utilities rising, it's a good idea to be efficient and pro-active."

Ecological Learning Center

Suzanne and David Ward plan to start an ecological learning center and its mission will be "to provide a structure - and it doesn't have to be a physical structure - through which the energy of the universe will flow to provide resources for, and enhance the human commitment to, saving the life systems of the planet."

Sound kind of lofty or New Agey? Well, consider Genesis Farm. It was founded in 1980 by the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell, New Jersey. The farm provides a Community Supported Garden, which provides farm-fresh produce to participating families - and you can't get much more down to earth than that.

Genesis Farm is also a learning center for "Earth Literacy," a course of study which focuses on ecology, healthful living, sustainability, spirituality, and organic agriculture. Suzanne and Dave were chosen to participate as interns there for six months. Before that, Suzanne taught school for 20 years, and Dave owned several businesses in Salida.

Now, this educated, ecology savvy couple want to give something back to their community and to contribute to the future of our children. To that end, they plan to launch a learning center which will encourage a more sustainable way of life.

"When I think about my kids, I wonder how we're going to survive here. The way things are going, there's not going to be anything left for them. I don't want to have to tell them I didn't do anything to help them. How are we going to survive? We may not. But we're not going to give up without a fight," Suzanne said.

As you can see, these are dedicated, serious people, some of whom have already put their economic future on the line in order to help create a better world for all of us. And they'll be at the fair on May 21st to listen and talk to people. All of you are invited to attend.

Jayne Mabus lives, works, and freelances in Salida; she formerly worked as a photojournalist for a sailing magazine in Huntington Beach, Calif.

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