6 20 13 boulderganic by Boulder Weekly

Summer 2013

Bringing self-sufficiency and

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Growing a greener economy n Debunking the oil industryâ€™s jobs claim n Can new home construction fit with a sustainable economy? n New program sources local beans for university, schools n An update on the Cottage Foods Act

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Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

Summer 2013

Susan France

staff

Publisher, Stewart Sallo Special Editions Editor, Elizabeth Miller Advertising Director, Jeff Cole Director of Operations/ Controller, Benecia Beyer Circulation Manager, Cal Winn

EDITORIAL

Editor, Joel Dyer Managing Editor, Jefferson Dodge Associate Editors, David Accomazzo, Steve Weishampel

SALES

Retail Sales Manager, Allen Carmichael Account Executives, Julian Bourke, Andrea Craven, David Hasson, Chelsea Mack

PRODUCTION

Production Manager, Dave Kirby Art Director, Susan France Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman

GENERAL & ADMINISTRATIVE Marketing Manager, Julia Sallo

Office Manager, Andrea Neville Circulation Team Dave Hastie, Dan Hill, George LaRoe, Jeffrey Lohrius, Elizabeth Ouslie, Rick Slama Paul Wright, owner of Juiced Organic produce market and juicery

13-Year-Old, Mia Rose Sallo

contents ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 9

Ted Ning talks sustainable living and business with LOHAS

FOOD & GARDEN 12

Local beans to support schools

SUSTAINABILITY 19

Reskilling for sustainable living

BUSINESS 28

New homes in the new economy

HEALTH & FITNESS 35

Speeding up your workout Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

growing the green economy

o declare that the way we do business has changed is probably the “Duh!” statement of the decade. Of course it has. Between the amount of business done on email and the fact that we now carry devices capable of sending and receiving those emails whether we’re at our desks or our dinner tables, it’s a new world out there. But corporate culture has been on the move in the last decade too, identifying and beginning to cater to

an increasingly pervasive environmental ethic that extends its fingers into the way we approach our health and healthcare, build our homes and buy our food. In this edition of Boulderganic, we delve into the ways in which our economy is changing and how an increased intention on greener living has changed our economy. We’ll learn about the role of green consumers as early adopters and trend-setters, and the resiliency of an eco-friendly economy. We’ll also explore the future drivers

of commerce and look at legislation meant to help small business entrepreneurs find a foothold in the market. And, of course, we’ll give the in-depth insights into the oil and gas industry’s actions in the state we call home, and the ongoing issues raised by the use of GMO crops, particularly on the bees and butterflies with whom we share this planet. We hope you’ll enjoy our latest edition. Respond: info@boulderganic.com June 20, 2013 5

debunking the gas industry’s pitch Does unrestrained drilling really lead to the promised tens of thousands of new jobs and energy independence? by Joel Dyer

Joel Dyer

arketing is a tough job, particularly when you’re trying to push something that most people don’t really want, say, for instance, a giant natural gas production platform stuck right in the middle of a neighborhood or next to a school or maybe even in someone’s backyard, provided the yard is big enough. Faced with such a challenging sales task, it’s no wonder that oil and gas companies have been working overtime to try to create messaging that makes their unsightly, noisy, hydraulically fractured, somewhat toxic gas wells seem like a good idea, something that every neighborhood in every community should not only tolerate, but actually desire. In order to accomplish this image transformation, the industry has relied on a couple of tried and true, focus-group-tested marketing techniques. The first one draws an association between drilling wells and patriotism, as expressed in the industry’s “energy independence” argument. This pitch basically says that if we will allow the oil and gas industry to drill enough wells in our town, we can become safe from future terrorist attacks. The idea being that we are giving terrorists our money when we import petroleum products from the Middle East. This marketing ploy worked pretty well for a time, but it has lost much of its credibility of late because people realize we don’t actually import natural gas and that the primary market for fracked shale gas going forward is as an export product. This exporting scenario renders the energy-independence claim mute as increasing gas exports will only lower our domestic supply while increasing the costs for natural gas here in the U.S. And just as a side note, the energy independence claim is similarly misleading when it comes to oil imports. Most of our imported oil comes from Canada, Mexico,Venezuela and Nigeria. Only about 12 percent of our oil comes from the Persian Gulf with two-thirds of that coming from our regional 6 June 20, 2013

ally, Saudi Arabia. So with the energy-independence argument being understood as largely fraudulent by many Americans, the oil and gas industry is now increasingly turning to its last and most powerful addedvalue pitch for why we should allow more drilling and fracking in our neighborhoods, namely jobs, jobs and more jobs. This is a very strong marketing message anytime for any industry, but particularly so when jobs are scarce in a faltering economy as is the circumstance today. The industry’s “jobs” messaging is also more powerful than its “energy independence” pitch because to a certain degree, the jobs argument is true. There is no denying that drilling and fracking creates jobs and high-paying jobs at that. But as with anything that sounds too good to be true, which the industry’s jobs claims most certainly do, a closer look is warranted. One would think that determining how many jobs are actually created by increasing drilling activity would be a relatively simple task, but this is not the case. Quantifying jobs from any industry expansion is calculated by way of what is commonly referred to as a “jobs multiplier,” and that’s where things can get a little controversial. The idea of the multiplier is that one set of

new, “direct” industry specific jobs, the industrial process itself which may use products from other industries and the overall dollars being spent on an expansion, will all lead to the creation of many more “indirect” jobs than those actually related to the industry itself. For example, if more wells are being drilled, then more jobs on drilling rigs will be created. Those are the obvious, “direct” new jobs. But it also follows that with more drilling, more truck drivers will be needed to service the pipe and fluid needs for those wells. And it is also assumed that with more chemicals being needed to frack those wells, more workers will be hired to manufacture those additional chemicals. As can be imagined, there is almost no end to this multiplier effect if a company or government is trying to give the impression that an industrial activity will create a high number of new jobs. The connections can be quite tenuous. Even additional employees that might be hired by environmental companies to clean up toxic spills from the drilling process can be counted as new jobs attributable to increased drilling activity. As a result of such contrived logic, industry job guesstimates can get out of hand pretty quickly. The government is one of the major players in the job multiplier business. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis maintains a list of government approved job multipliers calculated by industry. The bureau claims that for every job added in the coal-mining sector, for instance, an additional 4.4 “indirect” jobs are added in other, unrelated areas of business. For every job added in the tobacco industry, says the bureau, a whopping 5.5 unrelated jobs are created. Each new chemical industry job is multiplied at an astounding rate of 6.3 unrelated new jobs. But the very highest multiplier effect reported by the government goes to the oil and gas extraction industry. The bureau claims that no less than 6.9 new, “indirect” jobs are created for every added job associated with oil and gas development. The previously mentioned industries were Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

chosen as examples for a reason. The bureau keeps multiplier numbers for nearly every business sector from retail to agriculture to apparel manufacturing to construction. In virtually all sectors, a 1 to 2.5 jobs multiplier is used. Such moderate numbers are widely accepted as reasonable assumptions within the academic community. It is the loftier multiplier numbers associated with coal, tobacco, the chemical industry and oil that bring out the skeptics. More than one critic has pointed out that these extremely high multipliers have been assigned only to controversial and highly polluting industries, industries that might just need a strong value-added sales pitch when they come to town. Recently the oil and gas industry went public with its job creation estimates for drilling 500 new shale gas wells a year in New York. The Public Policy Institute of New York State (PPINYS), which supports the proposed drilling activity, claims that by 2018, 62,620 new jobs will be created as a result of this additional drilling. Of this massive number, PPINYS estimates that 15,500 “direct” jobs would result from spending by gas companies. By the institute’s own estimate, only a small portion of what they are considering “direct” jobs would be in the oil and gas industry with most being in other sectors as a result of dollars spent in the area by the gas companies. The remaining 47,120 new jobs that would supposedly be created by the drilling would be “indirect jobs” theoretically resulting from the multiplier effect. That is quite a sales pitch for a rural area of New York that has been hit hard by the great recession, but is it true? The nonprofit group Food & Water Watch (FWW) has generated a report titled “Exposing the Oil and Gas Industry’s False Jobs Promise for Shale Gas Development: How Methodological Flaws Grossly Exaggerate Jobs Projections.” The research behind the report examined the PPINYS’s new job estimates. FWW’s work uncovered five major inaccuracies and methodological flaws within PPINYS’s calculations which, according to FWW, led to a major overestimate of potential new jobs from drilling. Food & Water Watch found that, “the economic forecasting model PPINYS relied on only supports a claim of 6,656 New York jobs by 2018, under the PPINYS scenario of drilling and fracking 500 new shale gas wells every year.” In other words, FWW found that the PPINYS’s Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

new jobs claim was inflated nearly 10-fold. The FWW report went on to note that even the corrected 6,656 new jobs number was still too high because it did not take into account the economic and job losses that would occur in the agricultural and tourism sectors as a result of the drilling. Closer to home, Gov. John Hickenlooper has often touted the oil and gas industry’s importance to the state’s economy in terms of dollars, jobs and new job creation as the primary reason for his unbridled industry support. But just how big a piece of Colorado’s economic pie is oil and gas, really? A recent report titled “Spend, Baby, Spend; How Oil and Gas Controls Colorado” which was created by Ethics Watch, a nonprofit organization that tracks the influence of money and lobbying on government, found that the industry is far more influential than its actual importance to the Colorado economy can justify. According to the report, “Colorado’s oil and gas industry has been called ‘the state’s most powerful’ and few would disagree. The industry has long presented itself as a key job creator and driver of Colorado’s economy. Certainly, the industry has benefitted from regulations that are looser than even some historically friendly states like Texas and Pennsylvania. As it turns out, however, oil and gas development is a smaller portion of the state’s economy than most Coloradans would likely expect, given the industry’s power in Colorado political and policymaking arenas. This disparity may be explained by the industry’s robust and effective spending on elections and lobbying.” The report further notes, “the United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) show that as of 2010 (the last year for which complete statistics are available) the oil and gas industry in Colorado accounted for only 2.25 percent of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) and just less than 1 percent of the state’s jobs. This means that oil and gas extraction is not close to being a top industry in Colorado either measured as a percentage of state GDP or in terms of number of jobs created.” As a matter of comparison, it should be noted that when industry critics have pointed out that the hydraulic fracturing process being used in shale oil and gas development may be using as much as 1 percent of Colorado’s available water supply, the industry and Hickenlooper administration have responded that 1 percent is statistically insignificant. One would think that this same statistical insignifi-

cance would apply to something that accounted for less than 1 percent of the state’s overall jobs as well. Also of importance is the fact that many, if not most, of Colorado’s oil and gas sector jobs have nothing to do with increased oil and gas drilling in Colorado. Most of the industry’s highest-paying jobs are the result of oil and gas companies headquartered in Denver whose petroleum reserves and exploration activities are taking place in many parts of the country and even around the world. The vast majority of these jobs would remain in Colorado if all new drilling in the state were to stop tomorrow. Drilling itself is really a very insignificant job generator. In North Dakota, where an unprecedented drilling boom is occurring, the active rig count (the number of rigs drilling wells on any given day) was 176 in February of this year. In Colorado the active rig count was 55 that same month. According to a North Dakota economic report from March, that state has added just under 1,000 jobs in the oil and gas drilling sector since 2005. From that we can estimate that Colorado has added far less than 1,000 drilling jobs. What all this means is that it is very difficult to estimate the real new jobs impact that the oil and gas industry could have in Colorado even if it were allowed to drill in Boulder and Larimer counties and elsewhere without further restrictions. While there is certainly a job multiplier effect from oil and gas drilling and spending, it is likely nowhere near as high as the industry and Hickenlooper administration have been touting. Considering that most oil and gas industry jobs in Colorado are not directly tied to drilling in Colorado, and that the entire industry currently accounts for less than 1 percent of jobs in the state, it should be safe to say that whatever the number of new jobs created as a result of increased drilling activity might be, that number will be statistically insignificant to the state’s overall labor force. The decision to allow or not allow drilling in specific areas such as within city limits or even within entire counties, should be made based upon the desires and concerns of those living within these areas in question. The oil and gas industry’s arguments for allowing more drilling in order to either achieve energy independence or significant job creation have been exaggerated well beyond their actual merit. Respond: info@boulderganic.com June 20, 2013 7

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there’s a name for how you shop Ted Ning and LOHAS put a label on the market demographic for healthy, sustainable, green consumers by Elizabeth Miller Courtesy of Ted Ning

aybe you haven’t heard of LOHAS, but it’s big in Japan. No, seriously. Forget your hipster tunes and Hello, Kitty bags. The concept of LOHAS has taken off in Japan and surrounding Asian nations. The Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability is an organization, a mindset and a business culture you can import that helps draw the pieces together — sustainable living, social responsibility, personal development, health. The concept fits well with the cultural principles already entrenched in Asian countries — those of respect, healthy living, balance and nature. The concept has 60 percent market penetration in Japan. In China, there are LOHAS hotels, TV shows, department stores, train stations. The word there translates to “happy living.” Ted Ning, director of LOHAS In America, however, where the idea was born, ask a person “Are you LOHAS?” and you’re more likely to get a blank stare. company was shared by 90 percent of “cultural The LOHAS concept originated at Gaiam, creatives.” In 1994, the study’s author, Joel Ray, Inc., a progressive company founded in Boulder in who joined the board of directors for Gaiam after 1988. While the company still practices the LOtheir IPO, estimated there were 44 million people HAS principles, it is not affiliated with the LOHAS in that demographic. organization. Interview requests to Gaiam for this Today, LOHAS serves as an identifier for the article were unfulfilled by press time. one in four adult Americans — a $290 billion U.S. NASDAQ data on Gaiam describes the commarketplace for goods and services — who were pany as practicing “conscious commerce” — look- identified as the original adopters of trends that ing to personal values and beliefs about health would soon sweep the country. The Natural Marand sustainability to guide purchasing decisions, keting Institute identified the industry that serves and allowing consumers to essentially vote with those consumers and gave the market the moniker their dollars. Crafting this vision was supported by Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. “Cultural “The Integral Culture Survey,” a study published creatives” who practice LOHAS are the people by the Institute of Noetic Sciences in 1996 that most likely to invest in green building practices showed that the view Gaiam was crafting for their like EnergyStar appliances and renewable energy Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

systems, natural lifestyles including organic cleaning supplies and CFL bulbs, personal health through integrative health care and organic products, eco-tourism, alternative transportation and alternative energy. They’re typically well-educated, tech-savvy, affluent and willing to spend more on products that share the values they’re cultivating (pretty much your stereotypical Boulderite) — and, they’re the early adopters. “LOHAS consumers are the ones who try all these things, test them, and then they share the information in terms of this type of lifestyle with their family and friends,” says Boulder resident Ted Ning, director of LOHAS. “So they’re the largest brand ambassadors as well. So this is a group that everybody’s very keen on because they’re the ones that predict future trends that will be mainstream in the next five years.” Businesses practicing LOHAS look for the intersections of what otherwise could be viewed as diverse individual values. “It’s this thread or this glue, if you will, that kind of bonds all these different aspects so that people can better understand there is a relationship between all these different pieces,” says Ning, who has been called “Mr. LOHAS.” Ning works as a consultant and speaker for companies interested in bringing the LOHAS principles into their corporate culture or expanding their connections in that market. “I have kind of a 50,000-foot view of all of these different groups, because I’m in touch with them as to what’s going on in different areas, and then am able to say, OK, if this is happening over here, it might affect what’s happening over there see LOHAS Page 10

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because of the overlap that I kind of familiar with Japanese trends, they uniquely see in relationship to each just kind of do a phosphorous spike other,” Ning says. if they take off.” LOHAS is an umbrella that Among the American issues Ning includes social responsibility, personal says he’s seeing from his bird’s-eye development, health and environview of the market is an increasing mental values with the understandattention on building a corporate ing that consumers who express an culture that fosters creativity, a sense interest in one are of openness and likely to also have involvement and, an interest in in some cases, another. a democratized It’s not just the And no, those workplace. company picnic consumers don’t “It’s not just kind of thing. know they’re getthe company ting that moniker. picnic kind of ... Can you go The term has not thing. I’ve been beyond that, can been positioned to those, and you go deeper? in the American maybe we’ve all consumer market be to those, and as part of the those are kind of — Ted Ning vernacular and like, yeah you get has instead been a free meal and kept inside busiyou get to play ness realms. some volleyball, “People, when you walk but can you go beyond that, can up to them and you say, ‘Are you a you go deeper? And I think people green consumer, or do you consider are really seeking that,” Ning says. “I yourself green-oriented?’ — they un- think people are craving connection derstand what you’re talking about,” as well, and that is something that Ning says. “But when I say ‘Are you a businesses can offer. When it comes LOHAS person?’ they have no idea. to fostering this element of, OK, you They’re like, ‘What is that, Hawaican create a corporate, employee-deian?’” veloped garden, for example, or carBusiness leaders from around pooling, or these kinds of elements the world attend the annual LOHAS where the employees engage within conference, which was held in Boulthe process of whatever the initiader this year from June 18-20. In the tive may be. It depends on the levels mid-2000s, a group from Japan came of the engagement with employees and took the concept back there. as to how rich those experiences or It has since blossomed in the Asian those ideas are.” markets. The bottom line, though, is that “The concept really wrapped these businesses can’t just market traditional Asian values into the LOHAS ideals to consumers. Western packaging, if you will, of They’ve got to “walk the talk” in respect and nature and balance and their own offices as well, reforming healthy living and all that, and it not just what we buy, but what kind was really appealing because of the of workplaces are nurtured when Western package, to the younger consumers buy those products. Respond: info@boulderganic.com generations,” Ning says. “If you’re Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

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County farmer to supply locally grown beans to CU, schools by Jefferson Dodge

n a continuing effort to keep more locally grown food from being shipped out of state, Boulder County is brokering an initiative that will send a Longmont farmer’s pinto beans to the kitchens of the University of Colorado and local school districts. The local bean project is an example of the type of arrangement many of the county’s organic food companies and sustainability advocates have been calling for to make Boulder County more self-sufficient and foodsecure. David Bell, county agricultural resources manager, is serving as a sort of middleman between farmer Matt Pierce and the educational institutions. In addition to the broader goal of getting the county to produce a greater percentage of its own food, the county has a vested financial interest in the project: Pierce has planted the beans on county-owned open space, and the county gets a share of the profits. Bell says that while none of the buyers has made a firm commitment yet, CU, the Boulder Valley School District and the St.Vrain Valley School District have said they would prefer to buy their pinto beans locally. And the demand for beans is high, so even if Pierce grows more beans than CU and the school districts can buy, he won’t be left holding the bag. “If the whole thing falls apart, he can sell them into the open commodities market,” Bell says. Having that safety net is not just important for Pierce, but for Boulder County taxpayers, he explains. After all, it’s the public’s land being planted, and it’s the public that would lose money if a crop went unsold. Part of Bell’s role is to make sure 12 June 20, 2013

Jefferson Dodge

Farmer Matt Pierce is selling his bean crop within the county, which will help boost the local economy.

each side gets what it needs. For example, farmers need to get paid at least as much as they would otherwise, and CU, for example, wants a $2 million insurance policy and 150 pounds of beans arriving each week, which means the county has to find a place to store the pintos and a means of delivering them. “My goal is to not make Matt have to think about that,” Bell says. Pierce planted his beans on June 11. Bell is still looking for a place to store them when they are harvested, but says he is relieved they are finally in the ground after strange spring weather that saw high temperatures followed by a frost, then massive precipitation that kept many farmers out of the fields an extra two weeks. Then water rights on the 50 acres Pierce was originally going to use dried up, so he moved to a 20-acre parcel that has more available irriga-

tion near the corner of 95th Street and Vermillion Road on the north side of Longmont. Bell says the plot is expected to produce about 25 tons, or 50,000 pounds, of beans this season. •••• “I’m always up for increasing our mega-local,” Lauren Heising, CU’s coordinator for sustainable dining, says of the bean project. CU already has a Colorado-based bean supplier, but all other things being equal, a Boulder County provider is preferable, she says. The university consumes 5,400 pounds of dried pinto beans a year, so there is plenty of demand. Bell says the sticking points between local growers and buyers typically include price, quantity and quality. Can the local farmer generate enough product to meet demand, and will that

product meet minimum standards? For instance, Heising points out that most of the county’s small farms can’t produce the volume CU needs. “How many different companies are you going to work with to meet your needs?” she asks. “We run a business too.” As for quality, Heising says a “huge issue” is the number of rocks and splits found in pinto beans. At one point, she explains, CU stopped doing business with its Colorado supplier because the deliveries contained too many split beans. In addition, often small local farmers expect to be able to charge what they’d get for their products at local farmers’ markets, while large organizations like the university have to buy in bulk to keep costs down. (Pierce is growing the less-expensive conventional beans instead of the pricier organic version, but Bell says he is in talks with officials from Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage about that store’s future involvement in the project once organic beans are available.) While Heising declines to disclose what CU is currently paying for its pinto beans, Colorado’s procurement rules place restrictions on not only how much state institutions like CU can shell out for beans, but what factors it can use in selecting a vendor. And whether a supplier is local is not one of them. “I can’t say I’m only going to buy from Boulder County,” Heising says. But she has found ways to increase the use of local goods, like when an emergency shipment is needed within a certain timeframe, and by using the definition of “local” set by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education: a 250-mile radius.

Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

•••• Longmont-based Twin Peaks Seed & Grain has the capability of cleaning the beans to CU’s specifications, Bell says, and the operation will buy any pinto beans that the educational institutions don’t buy. But he says that once the county breaks even and covers its costs, it will donate the rest of the beans to Community Food Share. Bell acknowledges that playing middleman between supplier and consumer is not exactly a traditional role for a county government, and he welcomes the day when a company steps up to bridge the gap between local farmer and local buyer. The county’s goal is to simply demonstrate the bean project as a pilot program and “show that it is a functional model.” “We’re playing a role that the private sector could play,” he says. “We’d be glad to have someone else take it over in the future.” Another thing that remains to be seen, Bell explains, is whether those clamoring for the local infrastructure to keep the county’s food system a closed loop will still be as supportive when they experience the impacts of such operations, from traffic to “the smell of the dairy and the noise of the mill. … Is everyone going to feel the same?” As complicated as the bean project has turned out to be, at least they can be stored dry for long periods of time. “Beans are probably as simple as we’re going to get,” Bell says. Pierce, who is in the first year of transitioning another county parcel to organic crops, agrees. “This is something simple,” he says, as he watches his wife drive a tractor across a county field to cut out weeds and loosen the ground. “I don’t need 20 people to help me do it.” Pierce is using four county open space parcels as well as two other properties this season. In addition to beans, he is growing sugar beets, wheat and sedan grass, for hay bales.

He says he is pleased to be contributing to the local food movement. “I’d like to do more local stuff,” Pierce says. “There’s just not much of a market. … There’s not much of

Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

a market to get rid of big quantities, that’s the problem.” But he adds that he was surprised by the demand that CU and the school districts have.

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Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

Drinkable Gardens

Susan France

Using local ingredients to cool off this summer by Patrick Fort

ocal and homegrown foods have been a fad in Boulder for so long they’ve become passé — they’re the fodder of restaurant menus across the city. But the local food movement isn’t confined to your entrees. It’s a drinkable movement, too, that’s found its way into juices, teas and adult beverages around the county. Paul Wright is new to Boulder — only a few months of residency. He stands just under 6 feet tall with reddish-blond hair and speaks with the slight drawl of a former Southerner. Wright moved to Boulder intending to open a restaurant that used only organic and locally sourced foods. He did just that, opening Juiced Organic Market and Juicery in midMay. Wright was not initially the organic aficionado that he is today. His desire to cook with organic food developed while he was a restaurant owner in his home state of Louisiana. He came to Boulder to make food for people who he thought would appreciate it. “I would explain it to my partners and they would say, ‘You’re doing what? You’re doing an organic juice bar? Why?’ ‘Because there are people out there that do care about that,’” Wright says. It isn’t possible to have an entirely local smoothie bar in Colorado due to the state’s inability to produce important tropical fruits like pineapples and bananas, Wright points out, but he does attempt to use every local item that he can, like locally made Noosa yogurt. “I can’t wait till the summertime when I’ve got all of the local melons,”

Wright says. “We will do an applemelon smoothie that is all local.” Although Wright currently does not grow his own food, he says he has mulled over the idea of starting a garden to supplement his restaurant or producing his own almond milk. “That would be so cool, wouldn’t it?” Wright says. “That’s what it’s about anyway — getting your food from as close to the source as you possibly can. It’s what I believe in.” Fruits and vegetables are important to Wright’s homemade drinks, but herbs and flowers can be used just as easily in beverages — and some ingredients can be found in your own backyard. Rebecca Luna, owner and founder of Rebecca’s Herbal Apothecary and Supply, gets quite a few of her supplies from nearby Colorado locales. She has agreements with local farmers, allowing her to gather plants that she can use in her store. Many of them become ingredients in herbal teas. Luna says that she uses “Mints, chamomile, calendula (a member of the daisy family) … passion flower, monarda, feverfew” and other herbs for her herbal tea blends. “With the herbal teas, we support our local farmers,” she says. “It’s a seasonal thing — the amount that we get.” Luna advised those who would like to grow their own ingredients for herbal teas to just look in their surrounding areas. “I would look and see what grows really well here,” Luna says. “What is growing wild in the alleys? Your lemon balm and your mints. What’s growing naturally here and what’s abundant?” Boulder Distillery, the home of 303 Vodka, mixes local ingredients

Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

“Mainly the into interesting infusions are cocktails. Brandi seasonal, for Schafer, CFO cost purposes, of Boulder Dishowever we tillery, says that do try to get although the creative and process for creinvite customer ating their spirsuggestions for its may not be our infusions unique, the way and drink ideas,” that they create Schafer says. their infusions “Somebody and cocktails is suggested a special. Jenna Switzer prepares a smoothie at Juiced Organic Market and Juicery. blueberry mint “The process the other day. is more my dad’s … We try to style and design, make it a little bit more fun, complex but when it comes to our cocktails and creative with our infusions.” and infusions, we really believe that The infusion process at the fresh juices and fresh essences and distillery takes about a week, and the herbs are a lot better than syrups results are sampled to customers and artificial flavorings,” Schafer says. over a three-day period. “We believe in natural fruits to proSchafer described her favorite vide a much better flavor in everycocktail served at the distillery — the thing that we do.” “Shark Bite” — as a combination of a Like Luna and Wright, most of fruit-infused vodka that they have in the ingredients used are found locally. stock, orange, pineapple and grapeAlmost all of the produce is gathered by going to farmers’ markets, she says. fruit juices, finished with cranberry, lime and lemon. “We get a lot of our cucumbers In the summer, whether they from farmers’ markets — strawberare smoothies, teas or cocktails, it is ries as well,” Schafer says. “Most of becoming just as easy to drink local our drinks are very seasonal, so when as it is to eat local. there are peaches or nectarines, we try to get them from the local farms Juiced! Protein Power and farmers’ markets, rather than a smoothie local grocery store chain.” 1 cup organic strawberries Schafer says that they don’t rely 1 frozen organic banana on one farmers’ market. The com1 cup local Noosa honey yoghurt pany travels to various farms and 1 tbsp. local Madhava honey farmers’ markets in Boulder County 1 cup fresh squeezed organic apple to acquire produce for their drinks. juice Dealing with similar seasonal 1 tbsp. flax seed issues as Wright, Schafer noted that many of the ingredients that they use drizzle of honey on top, garnish with changes depending on the season and strawberry availability of produce. Respond: info@boulderganic.com June 20, 2013 15

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Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

Gardening for those in need

Garden Against Hunger helps local gardeners donate excess produce to the hungry by Ainslee Mac Naughton

ne in six people in Boulder County The second priority of Garden Against Hunger don’t know where their next meal is educating Boulder residents about alternatives to will come from — but typically that the industrialized food system. The system, which meal won’t include fresh produce. separates people from the food they’re eating, is Fruits and vegetables are in high the reason 40 percent of food goes to waste across demand in the food bank community, and Garden the United States, Dansky says. The Garden Against Against Hunger wants to respond to that need by Hunger team is also teaching people how to garden tapping into the gardening community in Boulder. at their own plot at Hawthorne Gardens. The project joins a network of other organizations Last year, Garden Against Hunger collaborated already created to help reduce with Growing Gardens, a nonSusan France food waste and feed more of profit organization that tries to the Colorado residents who are raise awareness about growfood insecure. ing food and organic gardening Started in the spring of 2012, techniques, to create a drop Garden Against Hunger is a side site and do outreach. The group project created by Boulder Food also collected produce from Rescue and aimed at feeding the the farmers’ market and the hungry by reducing food waste leftovers that the teenagers and providing an alternative to involved in the Cultiva Youth the industrialized food system. Project grow. Boulder Food Rescue staff have “This year we’re just trying announced plans to expand Garto step it up one more notch,” den Against Hunger in its second Dansky says. “We’re really trying year, increasing the outreach the to get more outreach, more organization does and encouragBoulder residents donating food ing more gardeners to donate and also more drop sites, more their excess produce to agencies Harvest of Hope pantry volunteer Angie places where they can take food, Precourt helps to make sure excess serving those in need. more farmers’ market gleaning.” produce gets to those who need it. “Eating local is really imporGarden Against Hunger’s tant. Growing your own food is produce will go to agencies like really important,” says Hana Dansky, executive direc- Emergency Family Assistance Association, Harvest of tor of Boulder Food Rescue. “We’re able to educate Hope Pantry and Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, and teach people about some alternatives to the which provide food to those in need.These agencies, [industrialized food system].” along with many others in Boulder County, receive The first tier of the project is educating Boulapproximately 60 to 70 percent of their food from der gardeners on how and where to donate their Community Food Share, the largest food bank for excess produce instead of letting it go to waste. Boulder and Broomfield counties. Garden Against Hunger also provides seeds to garCommunity Food Share, which is associated deners, encouraging them to grow more food that with Feeding America, has a nutrition policy in place can then be donated to agencies that provide food to encourage healthy eating and better nutrition for to those in need. The organization has set up five those it serves, but the food bank receives 90 percent drop sites around Boulder for gardeners to donate of the food it distributes from donations, giving it their excess produce. The Boulder Food Rescue limited control over the food it supplies. Produce from team will collect the donated produce a few times local gardeners is only a small percentage of the total a week from the drop sites and bring it to one of food Community Food Share distributes, but it helps the 50 agencies that Boulder Food Rescue delivers the organization distribute healthier and higher qualto. Garden Against Hunger sees a variety of proity food, according to Tom Reed, food procurement duce being donated, but peppers, leafy greens and manager of Community Food Share. squashes are the most common donations. “A lot of the small gardens around here that Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

garden organically will bring in their extra product to us,” Reed says. “It’s not in huge volumes, but it’s the highest quality stuff that people who shop here will ever get access to.” The agencies Community Food Share serves see a demand for fresh produce and healthier food. Harvest of Hope Pantry, a faith-based organization that functions as a free supermarket for those with and without kitchens, sees a demand for healthier food from its clients, says executive director Barbara O’Neil. Although the pantry receives some produce from Community Food Share and other donations, produce goes fast, so fruits and vegetables from local gardeners help. “I’m amazed at what people bring from their gardens,” O’Neil says. “We’ve only been open for a year for the homeless population, and August of last year is when we opened it to the families, so it was really August, September and then into October when we started getting the squash and winter vegetables that we saw just in abundance come in. ...They’ll say, ‘Can you please take our carrots?’ Of course we will.” Emergency Food Assistance Association gives out approximately 700,000 pounds of food to families per year through a supermarket-like set up. Low-income households have a harder time obtaining high quality produce, Dansky says, and EFAA is able to supplement the families’ diets with healthier food. The more fresh produce that the organization receives, the more it is able to offer its clients. In Denver, residents with fruit trees can email YardHarvest when their trees are ripe, and volunteers from the organization will go to their homes and pick the fruit. The organization typically receives about 100 to 200 pounds of fruit per tree, and YardHarvest delivers that food to charities in the Denver area. In 2012,YardHarvest donated over 3,000 pounds of fruit from Denver residents’ yards to a dozen different charities. Jason Barton, director of operations at YardHarvest, says they have hopes to expand to Boulder within the next few years. Colorado gardeners looking for other ways to donate their produce can turn to Produce for Pantries. The statewide coalition has put information about where to donate excess produce on the HungerFree Hotline and has partnered with HungerFree Colorado and LiveWell to create a donation guide for gardeners. Respond: info@boulderganic.com June 20, 2013 17

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Boulderganic Summer â€™13 Boulder Weekly

reskill yourself

Old skills become new skills as locals become more self-sufficient By Jessie Lucier

ollowing in the footsteps of their grand- such as gardening basics, raising chickens and parents, an increasing number of people composting. “But people tend to get more success are expanding their sustainable living if they understand the basics. Nature does a lot of education and learning the skills needed the work itself, but it helps to understand water to tackle projects such as growing and and soil, which are important parts of raising food.” preserving more of their own food, making cheese Growing Gardens also offers intro to organic and keeping chickens and bees. gardening classes every spring. Their hands-on “We’re seeing that people really want to do classes focus on garden planning. Topics include more things themselves and some see the poscrop selection, starting seeds, soil preparation and sibility of having to do transplanting. James Bertini/Denver Urban Homesteading more things themThose with plantselves in the future,” ing experience whose says Betsy Burton, thumbs are aching to owner of Lyons get a little greener Farmette, which offers and have an interest classes on cheesein helping others with making, fermentation planting instruction and biodynamic farmmay want to check ing, as a few examples out Colorado State of their offerings that University Boulder feed a movement County Extension’s called reskilling, the Colorado Master Garlearning of new skills deners’ program. Sesthat are actually old sions are offered twice skills. “But more than a year and intensive the doom and gloominstruction in hortiers, I think people just culture is exchanged love it and want to for volunteer services, spend more time in which can include their gardens and at Four to six chickens can produce enough eggs to feed a answering gardening home. It’s not fancy. It’s family of five, and kids love them as pets. questions for the comnot expensive. It’s just munity, writing articles enjoyable and brings or teaching classes. people back to the joys of living.” Some people may be motivated to engage in Cooking more hands-on work while others desire to conTaking freshly picked produce from the garden nect more deeply with the Earth or community. to the kitchen and whipping up your own farmAnd then there are the many environmentalists fresh meal sounds delicious, but what if you — like who want to do more to reduce their use of many others who have routinely outsourced meal natural resources. Here are a few options for the preparation — have no idea what to do with your budding reskiller. tomatoes or squash? Hands-on classes for cooks of varying skill Organic fruit and vegetable gardening levels and interests are offered around the county. “Raising your own food is easier than a lot The Simple Spoon offers instruction in how to of people think,” says Mikl Brawner, co-owner of make simple yet bold dishes that don’t require Harlequin’s Gardens, which offers low-cost classes a ton of ingredients and are easy to replicate Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

at home. At Roma’s Catering, students start by learning some basic cooking skills and finish having prepared an entire meal. Budding young chefs may want to check out Stir It Up Cooking School, which provides cooking instruction for kids. For those who prefer to learn at home on their own time, The Natural School of Cookery now offers online cooking classes as well as online support. “I knew there would be a time when people wanted to and really needed to cook seed foods and once again make it part of daily practice,” says Julianaa Satie, director of The School of Natural Cookery, the Colorado-based, online cooking program. The focus of their classes is to help people understand natural ingredients and how to put dishes together that are easy, fun and healthy — without recipes. This training helps people make the connection between what doctors and nutritionists say people should be cooking and eating and how to actually make it part of their lives, according to Satie. Preserving food Like gardening, preserving food takes some time, but benefits include food safety, developing a relationship with the place your food is grown and a sense of doing real work that will nourish you through the winter season, says Anne Cure, farm manager of Cure Organic Farm. “People enjoy the work that they put into it, and it connects them to the season,” Cure says. “I see people wanting to do real work that sustains them, and food falls right into that.” This season, Cure will offer classes in pickling, jam-making and making and canning tomato sauce. Class fees cover the cost of produce, supplies, jars and teachers, and students leave with what they made that day and the skills and recipes to do it themselves at home. Other farms and schools around the county will also be offering late summer and fall food preservation and fermentation classes, including the see RESKILLING Page 20

June 20, 2013 19

RESKILLING from Page 19

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Cheese making Advanced cheese making can be a complex process, but making basic cheeses may not be as hard as you think, explains Burton of Lyons Farmette. The Farmette offers upcoming classes in cheese making, as well as fermentation, beekeeping, skincare and pie making. Making cheese really just takes a little time and access to a raw cow or goat milk source, Burton says. The Lyons Farmette offers cheese-making classes for varying levels throughout the year, including a basic cheese making class that teaches students how to make ricotta and mozzarella — the easiest cheeses to make, according to instructor Hilary Van Dusen. “People really seem to get excited about this,” says Van Dusen. “A lot of people want to know what’s going into their food and the best way to know that is to make it yourself. Plus, making your own cheese is kind of like growing vegetables in your garden — it always tastes better.” Beekeeping Many people have an interest in keeping honey bees, but may be intimidated by them, Sweeney says. Growing Gardens offers a series of monthly classes to help beginner beekeepers learn skills and get support throughout their first season of keeping bees. “With all that’s going on with bees and their dwindling health, it’s important that more people do this — keep bees — so we can continue to establish more colonies around the county,” explains Sweeney. The Boulder County Beekeepers’ Association also offers beekeeping classes for both novice and seasoned beekeepers who want to refine or update their knowledge. Beyond developing and improving beekeep-

ing skills, the program’s mission is to educate, inform and increase bee awareness in the community. Raising chickens Keeping chickens is not too hard or expensive, and a family of five can easily get by with the eggs produced by four to six chickens, says James Bertini, founder of Denver Urban Homesteading. Coop construction is usually the biggest expense, he says, but chickens need an indoor area where they can sleep and stay in times of inclement weather. They also need an enclosed, outdoor area where they can free-range while being protected from predators and escape. Beyond that, they just need to be fed. “Chickens are kind of like biorefineries,” Bertini says. “You input compost from your kitchen, feed materials or garden clippings, and they output eggs and fertilizer. Beyond being highly efficient, they make fun pets and kids love them.” Tools and advice The ReSource Tool Library offers a wide variety of small and grand tools for rent at a low cost and is a local hub of reskilling knowledge. “A lot of people come to the library to borrow a tool, but end up sitting down with a staff member or volunteer to talk about how to use a tool correctly or for any other doit-yourself advice we can give,” says Jared D’Arcey, who manages the Tool Library and is often referred to as the “chicken master” by the ReSource Yard staff because of his background in raising livestock. “People who visit the ReSource Yard and Tool Library really want to do things themselves,” explains D’Arcey. “And, it’s a one-stop shop to get low-cost, repurposing materials and advice on how-to construct anything from a chicken coop to a raised garden bed.” Respond: info@boulderganic.com

Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

EPA under pressure to protect pollinators Beekeepers and environmental groups make a big buzz with lawsuit against agency by Jessie Lucier

Jessie Lucier

oulder-area beekeeper Tom Theobald, three other beekeepers from around the country and five environmental organizations filed a joint lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for the agency’s alleged failure to protect bees and other pollinators from systemic neonicotinoid pesticides, which are commonly applied in the U.S. These beekeepers and environmental groups, among others, argue that the EPA’s failure to create a moratorium on the pesticides that scientific studies show are toxic to bees amounts to negligence. The plaintiffs are using the lawsuit, filed in federal court in March, to pressure the agency to put sanctions on those chemicals, Boulder beekeeper Kristina Williams which the European Union voted to do in early May. “The EPA claims that bees are being harmed by percent of commercial hive populations annually. a number of factors and I wouldn’t argue with that,” This year, however, losses were even higher, with says Theobald, president of Boulder County Beethe average beekeeper losing 45.1 percent of their keepers’ Association, owner of Niwot Honey Farm colonies in operation over the 2012-2013 winter, acand a beekeeper of 35 years. “But they choose to cording to Bee Informed Partnership’s online survey. put pesticides at the bottom of that list and I believe And, some beekeepers reported much higher losses. that science shows us something very different. The One long-term commercial beekeeper out of New EPA is choosing to significantly downplay the role York, whose bees are responsible for 10 percent that pesticides are occupying.” of the state’s apple pollination, reported losing 100 Two research studies released in 2012 and percent of his colonies. published in Science show that non-lethal doses of These abrupt, dwindling and seemingly mysterineonicotinoid pesticides severely disrupt normal ous colony losses have been dubbed colony collapse navigational and reproductive bee behavior. disorder (CCD). The EPA is currently attributing “You’d think what the EU did — banning the CCD to a combination of environmental, nutriuse of three neonicotinoid pesticides for two years tional and various other stress factors. Although the in order to determine unacceptable risks — would agency cites pesticides as a possible contributor, have a ripple effect here,” continues Theobald. “But plaintiffs in the lawsuit contend that science shows that’s simply not the case.” that pesticides are a key contributor to CCD — if For more than a decade now, commercial not its root cause — and that the EPA must create beekeepers have sustained significant colony losses policy and practices that ban or restrict the use of — with average losses accounting for roughly 30 bee-harming chemicals. 22 June 20, 2013

“The coalition, represented by attorneys for the Center for Food Safety (CFS), seeks suspension of the registrations of insecticides that have repeatedly been identified as highly toxic to honey bees, clear causes of major bee kills and significant contributors to the devastating ongoing mortality of bees known as colony collapse disorder (CCD),” reads a press statement released by the plaintiffs. “The suit challenges EPA’s ongoing handling of the pesticides as well as the agency’s practice of ‘conditional registration’ and labeling deficiencies.” “We feel that the EPA regulatory process is too slow and broken in too many ways,” says Larissa Walker, policy and campaign coordinator for the Center for Food Safety, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit. “Science tells us that pesticides are toxic to bees and the EPA just isn’t acting and we felt the need to step in. We feel that we have a very strong case and now we’ll see.” The EPA does not comment on pending litigation, but did provide information detailing actions the agency is currently taking to protect bees and other pollinators from pesticides that peer-reviewed scientific studies suggest are harmful. EPA administrators are going out into fields to talk directly with farmers and growers and holding public meetings with beekeepers and pesticide manufacturers. The agency has accelerated the schedule for the registration review of neonicotinoid pesticides. And the EPA has also taken regulatory measures such as moving to change pesticide labels to limit applications and adding warning statements to bags of pesticide-treated seed. The EPA is working on national and international efforts to develop tests to evaluate both exposure to and effects of pesticides on insect pollinators, but currently, the EPA is showing no indication of banning or suspending systemic Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

in plants & p g n i r andscape s s od liz ter l

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Sustainable insecticides that scientific studies have mental groups take the pesticide issue suggested cause pollinators harm. to the courts, they’re encouraging “At this time, the data available to people to take actions locally, from the EPA does not support a moratowriting congressional representatives rium,” according to a media officer at and chemical companies to cleaning the EPA’s press office. “If at any time up their own act when it comes to the EPA determines there are urgent pesticide use. human and/or “One of the environmental biggest abusers risks from pesof neonicotinoid “Environmentalists ticide exposure pesticides are that require homeowners,” are calling what prompt attention, says Kristina Wilis happening to the agency will liams, who has a bees and other take appropriate master’s degree regulatory action, in insect behavior pollinators the regardless of from the Universecond Silent the registration sity of Colorado Spring.” review status of and has been that pesticide.” keeping bees lo— Larissa Walker The lawsuit’s cally for 30 years. plaintiffs say that “They are for sale hard science everywhere and and the losses that they work. They beekeepers have suffered are kill insects. They kill bees.” enough to indicate that pesticides’ Getting rid of grass, which is comeffects need to be addressed by EPA monly treated with pesticides and — now. doesn’t feed bees, and replacing it with “Unfortunately, the agencies bee-friendly plants and flowers can charged with the public trust in also support healthier bee populations. protecting the environment, sustaining Plant species that do well in Colorado the environment and the future global and attract bees include anything in the health of the environment are not mint family, such as mint, sage, lavender living up to that challenge,” says Jay and salvia. Anything in the sunflower Feldman, executive director of Beyond family is good, too, she says.Williams Pesticides, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit. also suggests an app called BeeSmart “That challenge and its outcome is Pollinator Gardener, which will provide critical to our survival and I don’t a list of plants that are good for bees think anything captures the problem and other pollinators in any given more succinctly than the declining location. health of honey bees and other pol“Environmentalists are calling what linators.” is happening to bees and other pollina“Bees are an indicator species,” tors the second Silent Spring,” explains Walker says. “They are absolutely criti- Walker, referencing Rachel Carson’s cal to a sustainable and healthy food groundbreaking book on DDT and its system, and we’ll be facing catastrophic effects on songbirds. “This is a very economic, agricultural and environvalid analogy. Pesticide use is persismental damages if the process isn’t tent and the problems they’re causing changed.” are becoming prevalent in our food Bayer AG, the German company system. And, it’s not just bees that are that makes many of the pesticides in being affected. It’s working its way up question, did not return calls for comthe food chain and that is extremely ment. concerning.” Respond: info@boulderganic.com While beekeepers and environBoulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

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Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

plight of the monarch

As with bees, butterflies decline due to habitat loss, pesticide use by Meredith J. Graham

Susan France

here are few species on this think of insects as being able to migrate the planet that inspire awe quite way birds can. And yet they do.” like the monarch butterfly. Its The migration may be awe-inspiring, migration alone, which spans but the lifecycle of the monarch is no less thousands of miles, is enough magical. A tiny egg laid on a milkweed plant to get children interested in science and hatches into a caterpillar, or larva. The make adults appreciate the wonders of caterpillar feeds on the milkweed leaves nature. until it’s nice and plump, and then, sensing “It’s become such a representative of an that it’s time for a makeover, spins a silky incredible natural phenomenon, and people cocoon in which it “sleeps” for about 10 are interested in studying its biology,” says days. When it emerges, it’s not a caterpillar M. Deane Bowers, biology professor at the that appears, but a vibrantly colored butUniversity of Colorado Boulder. “They’re terfly. That butterfly then flies north to find beautiful to look at, and their biology is rea milkweed plant to lay its eggs on. ally interesting.” So, what happens when milkweed plants One thing scientists have long studare hard to find? ied, for instance, is the way in which the “If they don’t find milkweed, and they monarch, over four generations, makes its don’t get to lay their eggs, obviously we’re way north each year, and then how the fifth looking at a much smaller monarch populageneration is able to return to the roosting tion,” Schaad says. place of its predecessors. The No. 1 threat to the monarch, ac“The monarch is one of the few insects cording to a University of Kansas organizathat makes such a huge migration,” says tion called Monarch Watch, is habitat loss. Kristy Schaad, lepidopterist at Denver’s ButIn Mexico, logging has eliminated many terfly Pavilion. “No matter where they’re of the trees monarchs historically use for living the rest of the year — along the East hibernation. In the United States, milkweed Coast or through the Midwest — they’re all plants are being threatened by development going to the same mountains in Mexico for and the increased use of genetically modiwinter, to a specific forest. They’re these fied organisms, the group’s website (www. tiny little insects and they make this huge monarchwatch.org) explains. Deane Bowers, professor of biology and curator of entomology at the journey. And it’s not always the same adult “In the United States, 6,000 acres are University of Colorado Boulder. that’s going to be flying the whole way.” converted to development each day, elimiUnfortunately, the monarch is facing a nating milkweeds needed by monarch larvae battle on two fronts, both on a loss of habitat here many different ecosystems, their decline indicates and nectar sources required by adult monarchs,” in the United States, where it reproduces, and in that ecosystems all around the world aren’t that the website reads. “Chemically intensive agriMexico, where it “winters.” National Geographic healthy.” culture and roadside management by excessive reported in March that scientists who monitor The monarch’s reign lies mostly to the east of mowing and use of herbicides have also eliminated the insects in Mexico had recorded an appreciably the Rocky Mountains, where the insects can be monarchs and their milkweed hosts.” smaller group than in the past. The regal butterseen in huge numbers flying from their winterBowers and Schaad also point to research flies spotted this past winter occupied an area 59 ing grounds in Mexico all the way up to Canada. indicating that the use of GMOs has had a negative percent smaller than last year, they said. Bowers says monarchs were sighted in Colorado in affect on monarch habitat. “Monarchs, and butterflies in general, are an June, but they should fully arrive in Boulder County “Farmers spray pesticides to get rid of the bugs, indicator species. They’re a fairly sensitive animal,” sometime in July. but butterflies are insects,” Schaad says. “Pesticides Schaad says. “They elicit an emotional response “The thing about monarchs, what’s captured will affect them, and generally not in a positive way.” from people, but they’re also an indicator of the people’s imagination, is that they’re like birds, but see MONARCHS Page 25 health of an ecosystem. Because monarchs span so they’re ‘just’ an insect,” Bowers says. “People don’t Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

June 20, 2013 25

Audubon’s New Multi-State Grassroots Network to Protect Rivers Audubon is actively working to address threats to rivers in the arid west, launching the Western Rivers Action Network, a multistate grassroots coalition to advocate for rivers and the birds and other wildlife that depend on them. Please join us as we work to save western rivers. YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED!

Tom Ranker

‘Because monarchs span so many different ecosystems, their decline indicates that ecosystems all around the world aren’t that healthy.’ — Kristy Schaad, lepidopterist at Denver’s Butterfly Pavilion

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WHY WE CARE: Millions of migrating birds representing over 250 species depend on key western rivers for their survival. Over 100 species spend some portion of their life cycle in riparian areas and many of these species are now threatened or endangered – as demands increase but water supplies dwindle. What can we do? Join us and find out!!

A monarch caterpillar

Audubon’s Western Rivers Action Network is working across the intermountain west to raise awareness of threats to rivers, promote conservation actions to increase flows and improve habitat, and advocate for sensible water management policies that benefit communities and wildlife. Sign up for WRAN (a free service for people who care about water) to get the latest on CO water concerns: http://aububonaction.org/westernrivers-rockies (email addresses aren’t shared, only get when urgent CO issue) Learn more about Audubon Rockies and Western Rivers: http://rockies.audubon.org/audubons-westernrivers-initiative

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MONARCHS from Page 26

The byproduct of more GMOs is the increased use of pesticides and herbicides, says Sarina Jepsen, program director at the Xerces Society, which monitors monarchs. The Oregon-based Xerces Society was named after the extinct Xerces blue butterfly, which called San Francisco home before its lush native habitat was destroyed. “As monarchs are flying throughout the U.S., it’s important that they be able to find milkweed,” says Jepsen. “Historically, a lot of milkweed would crop up in corn and soy fields, and on crop edges. But now that growers have these new GMO crops that are ‘Roundup-ready,’ they’re able to spray their whole crop and quite easily wipe out anything that is not their crop. It’s led to a lot less milkweed across the landscape.” Climate change — in particular, warmer temperatures and less moisture — has also affected the monarch’s habitat, explains Schaad, who notes that these same issues were affecting other butterflies native to Colorado as well, including the eastern black swallowtail. The monarch is not on any endangered species list. In fact, Jepsen

says, they probably still exist in the millions. But it’s clear that the monarch’s habitat is being threatened, and mostly by human actions. Bowers and Schaad both suggest planting a butterfly garden as one way concerned citizens can help out this majestic butterfly. People can plant milkweeds in addition to nectar plants. With that butterfly garden in place, Schaad warns against spraying herbicides or pesticides. Bowers also points to organizations like Monarch Watch, which offer opportunities for people to get involved in butterfly tagging and counting. In addition, Schaad’s Butterfly Pavilion is actively seeking volunteers for butterfly monitoring sites around Colorado, including several in Boulder County. “I think losing such a unique biological phenomenon would be really distressing,” Bowers says. “Is that going to make a difference to humans in terms of how we live our day-to-day lives? Probably not. But as far as our appreciation for the natural world and what humans are doing to our natural world, monarchs are an icon for that.” Respond: info@boulderganic.com

Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

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June 20, 2013 27

can new home construction fit with a sustainable economy? Key employment sector turning eco-friendly by Steve Weishampel

Courtesy of Jeffrey Zax

he burst of the housing bubble in 2007 shined a spotlight on the big weak spot in economics: human

behavior. “There are times in our history when developers have gotten a little exuberant and have overbuilt compared to what the demand conditions really were,” says Patty Silverstein, president and chief economist at Development Jeffrey Zax Research Partners in Littleton. The independent firm studies the economy of metro Denver. “Construction, we hope, only occurs as a response to a need,” she says. “We hope we’re not out there building new houses just for the fun of it all.” If anybody was having fun, it screeched to a halt as the market collapsed. “During this economic downturn we saw some tremendous losses on construction employment because there was no need for new construction activity during that period of time,” Silverstein says. And that’s a key point about the construction industry: It’s important to the economy because it provides employment to lots of people, both directly and indirectly through secondary effects. Economists agree that building a new home is most likely the single biggest economic activity people will do in their lives. Construction in Colorado, both new building and remodeling, accounts for 3 to 6 percent of the state’s gross domestic product, depending on the year, and in 2012 accounted for 5 percent of the state’s employment, with more than 115,000 people. But economists note that, as high as those numbers are, they don’t account for the secondary industries that benefit from new home construction. “The issue with construction is that it also drives a lot of other industries, whether it’s appliances, carpet, building materials, even government zoning, regulation, permitting departments for different 28 June 20, 2013

Courtesy of Julie Herman

Courtesy of Patty Silverstein

an economy, but don’t form the basis. “There’s gotta be some other core of economic activity that makes that particular location viable,” says Jeffrey Zax, a professor of economics at the University of Colorado Boulder. He says exporting goods or services isn’t necessarily the only basis of an economy, but he agrees that construction can’t form the basis by itself. Patty Silverstein Julie Herman One trend in construction is earning some praise: counties,” says Ron Throupe, an associate professor Green building techniques and at the Burns School of Real Estate & Construction technologies aren’t just groundbreaking or unusual Management at the University of Denver. “There’s a anymore; they’re now the standard, and in Boulder lot of what we call secondary effects that construcCounty, they’re even becoming required. tion drags along.” “When you talk broadly,” says Herman, “the Which is good, as long as times are good, Silvercity of Boulder and Boulder County have pretty stein says. stringent building codes that help ensure the new “Generally we talk about construction as having home is going to meet those ... energy efficiency and some large multiplier effects on the economy, both green standards.” in a positive as well as in a negative way,” she says. Boulder’s pro-environment building codes cover “There’s no doubt that new construction is large issues like land use and zoning down to energy very good for the economy,” says Julie Herman, efficiency requirements for appliances and fixtures. executive director of the Colorado Green Building “Toilets with less water flow or shower heads Guild. “And there’s a very broad base of contracwith less water flow, those things,” says Throupe. tors and suppliers who benefit from that.” “Even aeration on your sink to wash your hands — But none of this is exceptionally pleasant news instead of straight water, you have an aerator on it, for environmentalists, given the necessary consump- so it sprays the water, uses less water.You don’t tion of resources in building. And economists don’t have to think about it. It’s done for you.” foresee an industry stepping in to do as much for Throupe says eco-conscious building concepts employment numbers as construction does — have gradually moved from novel to normal. though there’s just no way of knowing what will “What you’re going to find over time is those come next, they say. concepts are going to be incorporated into building Economists are quick to say that it’s not accodes, so it won’t be special, it’ll be what everyone curate to consider construction a “driver” for the does,” he says. economy or a primary industry. On a larger scale, developers and communities “In the economic development realm, we are also making eco-conscious decisions. distinguish between primary employment — pri“New urbanism — I don’t know how many peomary employment being those jobs that are really ple would know that term, but just thinking about bringing new dollars into the economy,” Silverstein where new developments go, where new homes go, says, comparing it to “services” that contribute to what kind of building codes are in place to ensure Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

that they’re as green as possible and sustainable practices are undertaken,” Herman says. “There’s a lot of policy around transportation and land use and building codes.” It’s a shift in philosophy, Silverstein says, away from a pre-recession trend that ate up land voraciously. “We’re not exactly building the McMansions these days,” she says. “As we have the baby boomers who are aging and are looking for homes that don’t require as much upkeep and maintenance ... you’re not necessarily utilizing as much space.” “New urbanism is really a throwback to the ’60s, let’s say,” Throupe says, “when you had neighborhoods that had … the butcher, the dry cleaner, everything was there, so you live in closer confines in those neighborhoods. … Instead of a big subdivision, where housing was one thing and you had to go somewhere else for your services, new urbanism tends to put it all together. “You use less new land,” he says. Herman also points to “cradle to grave” thinking — taking into account where materials come from and how long they last — as a positive sign. “Suppose you build a really tight green, quote unquote, house and use all sustainable materials, but you’re drawing on resources that come from China,” she says. “You need to think about the expense and the energy that went into producing it and then bringing it all across the world. Then is your house really a model of sustainability?” Asked whether there was any chance of a more sustainable industry stepping up to provide employment, Zax says it’s likely to happen, but predicting what it will be is impossible. “There’s a bias in all of us to think that the way it is is the only way it could be,” he says. “But that’s just wrong. “In the long run — maybe not in the first month — but basically, if there are unemployed resources in the economy, there is the tendency to employ them.”

Zax points to the past to demonstrate that something new will step up to fill an economic void. “You would have said the same thing about manufacturing 40 years

Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

ago, when manufacturing was 40 percent of the economy,” he says. Over that span, Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers say the figure dropped from roughly 24 to 9 percent. “You would

have said, ‘Oh my God’ — and people still say it — ‘If we don’t manufacture, what will people do?’ And the answer is, a lot of other stuff.” Respond: info@boulderganic.com

June 20, 2013 29

e t a n o i s s a P t n a l P Li v i ng!

30 June 20, 2013

Boulderganic Summer â€™13 Boulder Weekly

cottage foods 2.0

Changes to law should pave way for prepared foods at farmers’ markets by David Accomazzo

Susan France

he 2012 Colorado Cottage does buy a product, and let’s say there Foods Act was supposed is a problem, that jar will be at someto allow farmers and one’s home with the contact informaentrepreneurs the option on it … and we would be able to portunity to make foods trace that back.” in their home kitchens and sell them to There’s no official registry of farmers consumers, offering farmers an extra and others who produce cottage foods, revenue stream and entrepreneurs a and the law actually didn’t include an testing ground for business ideas. enforcement provision. Jeff Lawrence, diThe legislation intended to allow rector of the Division of Environmental farmers to prepare “nonpotentially Health and Sustainability at the CDPHE, hazardous” foods from their produce — says that means that health agencies are spices, teas, dehydrated produce, nuts, less likely to actively enforce the law and seeds, honey, jams, fruit, butter, baked rather would respond to complaints as goods and candies — without having they arrived. to use a commercial kitchen, a demand “If, for instance, [there was] a query which would require them to either Mark Guttridge, owner of Ollin Farms in Longmont, was one of those disappointed that someone was selling an unallowed build one of their own or rent out space by the red tape that was created when the original wording of the Colorado Cot- food product, something that potentially tage Foods Act was enforced. in one somewhere else. had a public health concern, they would But language problems in the original dozen eggs per month on their property withprobably look at that with greater rigor bill ended up erecting roadblocks in front of those out needing any license or state certification, and that maybe someone selling 252 dozen a month of seeking to make cottage foods.The bill required farm- the Cottage Foods Act sought to exetend that to eggs,” Lawrence says. ers to take a food-safety training course, but it didn’t farmers’ markets as well. Again, though, the CDPHE Since the passage of the law, cottage foods prospecify any particular one. So the Colorado Departinterpreted the bill otherwise. ducers have been sprouting up at farmers’ markets ment of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), “Our eggs are probably our most popular item around the state.The Boulder County Farmers’ tasked with enforcing the law, decided that farmers on the farm,” Guttridge says. “In order to sell them off Markets in Boulder and Longmont do not allow cotwould need to take a certification course intended the farm on the farmers’ market, the [CDPHE] wants tage foods, but the ones in Louisville, Lafayette, Niwot, for food managers at restaurants, which came with us to certify ... for a $250 fee. I’d rather not.” Broomfield and Westminster do, says Anne Zana costly price tag and required farmers to take a So Sen. Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass), who initially der, with the Colorado State Extension in Boulder proctored exam, which struck many potential cottage sponsored the 2012 act, set about to clean up the County. Kelly Williams, the market manager for the foods producers as unnecessary. language in the bill to make the intent clearer to the farmers’ markets in Louisville and Lafayette, says she “We were excited about it, as were a lot of people, CDPHE. She switched the training requirement from has two categories of cottage foods producers at the and then we ran into some bureaucratic red tape,” says the level of someone managing a restaurant to someone markets: farmers who make goods on the farm, and Mark Guttridge of Longmont’s Ollin Farms.“It really merely working at a restaurant. She eliminated a few people making baked goods in their kitchens. ended up being too much red tape, too much uncerrequired licenses that the bill inadvertently mandated Louisville resident Andy Tanner, owner of Andy tainty.We sort of lost a lot of the enthusiasm.” farmers get.And she changed the wording so farmers Bakes, is one of the bakers taking advantage of the The course seemed over the top to some could sell eggs at farmers’ markets as well as at the farm. Cottage Foods Act. He gets up at midnight the day beekeepers, who were required to receive training in The bill introduced a legal path for something before the Louisville Farmer’s Market to bake desserts, including a “kickass” ginger pound cake and an running a commercial kitchen just to sell a few dozen people had been doing under the table regardless, “awesome” triple chocolate brownie. He is testing jars of honey, says Beth Conrey, president of the Schwartz says. the water via the farmers’ market right now and Colorado State Beekeepers Association. “What was happening prior to the bill, people within a year hopes to open his own store. A lifelong “[The training] was really for food managers in a were producing food in their kitchen without inbaker, he says without the Cottage Foods Act, he restaurant-type setting, and the cottage industry only spection, but also without labeling, without enough never could have entered the marketplace. really applied to non-potentially hazardous foods, which information to tell the consumer exactly what they “It had never occurred to me that [running a was sort of overkill for selling honey,” Conrey says. were buying,” she says. “You build in the accountbusiness] was something I could do from my home,” Another issue arose in the sale of eggs, which ability, let people make the choice if they want to Tanner says. were originally intended to be defined as cottage buy your baked goods or your canned goods. ... We Respond: info@boulderganic.com foods.The law allowed farmers to sell up to 250 have a very comprehensive label for when someone Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

June 20, 2013 31

boulder’s green economy brings in the green A local look at a national study By Travis Mannon

Susan France

ive and half years after the The construction sector, which accollapse of the global financial cording to the report has the second market, fingers are still being highest green intensity, suffered heavily pointed: at the wealthy for at the start of the recession. According reckless trading, at the poor to Colorado Department of Labor and for living above their means, at RepubliEmployment, Colorado construction cans for deregulating, at Democrats for employment dropped more than 25 runaway spending. percent between 2006 and 2011. The ticket out of the darkness, howSandra Weeks, the president of the ever, may be to recognize that economic Colorado Green Building Guild and the recovery cannot be framed as a whitepresident and owner of Blue Spruce collar or blue-collar (or even a red or Design and Construction, a Boulderblue) issue. Building a vital and competibased construction firm that specializes tive economy will require innovative, in green retrofitting, recalls the tough growth-oriented thinking. It will require times in the construction industry. us to recognize that, this time, the real “The recession hit across the solutions may be in the hands of the board,” says Weeks. Business owners green-collared workers. “had to tighten their belt and in some Research into the nation’s economic cases reorganize and redefine how they recovery indicates that communities like were going to approach their business Boulder, whose economies rely heavily moving forward.” on green industry, are bouncing back However, over the last couple of quicker. According to a national report years, the green construction sector in released by the Economic Policy Instiparticular has begun to see a light at the tute, greener industries are outperformend of the tunnel. ing the rest of the economy. In Boulder, green construction Though the data are still young and appears to be “healthy all across the definition of green jobs can vary, some residential and commercial construcSandra Weeks, the president of the Colorado Green Building Guild and the interesting trends in green industry are tion spectrum,” Weeks says. “Things president and owner of Blue Spruce Design and Construction emerging that may have a significant have really picked up and there’s a lot of impact on Boulder’s ability to climb out work going on now.” of the latest recession. had industry sectors that continued to grow in Weeks attributes the sector’s recovery to Sectors in the economy with a “higher green that period,” Hanson explains. government influence (both on a national and lointensity,” or percentage of green jobs, have Boulder’s leading industries, such as federal cal level) and Boulder residents’ progressive and faster employment growth, according to the research labs, the University of Colorado and environmentally conscious attitudes. Economic Policy Institute report. In a state that green and clean tech, proved more stable than “Building codes are changing and they’re manboasts the third highest green intensity in the other industries, which corresponded to more dating that new construction, as well as remodels, country —Colorado stands behind only Vermont stable employment, she says. meet certain criteria,” Weeks explains. Boulder’s and Pennsylvania — future prospects are encourData compiled by the Bureau of Labor StatisGreen Points and BuildSmart programs require aging. tics supports Hanson’s claims. According to the that certain energy efficiency requirements be “Boulder really fared better than most places their numbers, Boulder’s unemployment rate (5.1 met before the city issues a building permit. Bein the country during the economic downturn,” percent as of April 2013) remained consistently cause of these requirements, green construction says Liz Hanson, the City of Boulder’s economic below both state and national levels (6.9 percent has been able to stay afloat despite a severe drop vitality coordinator. and 7.5 percent, respectively, as of April 2013) in new construction. Hanson attributes Boulder’s relative success throughout the recession. The federal government also played a role by to a diverse local economy. Although Boulder fared relatively well, not all investing in the U.S.’s green industry through the “We’re not a one-company town, so we still industries were immune to the financial crisis. 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. 32 June 20, 2013

Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

30th The Recovery Act provided federal timely and important.” funding to rebate programs such as According to Fleming, local busiEnergySmart to offset the costs of nesses can be influential in shaping energy efficient retrofitting for both a community’s culture by adopting commercial and residential buildings. certain environmental practices. The federally funded rebate One example is Movement, programs, coupled with the local Boulder’s energy-efficient climbing government’s environmental building and fitness gym. More than 80 permandates, have heightened public cent of its energy comes from solar awareness of energy efficiency. panels and solar thermal heaters. “Green building became almost Western Disposal, Boulder the new normal,” Weeks says. County’s primary waste manageRichard Fleming, the president ment company, is a leader in green of the Boulder practices. It, too, Independent felt the effects Business Alliof the recession; Communities like ance (BIBA), as construction Boulder, whose an advocacy jobs disapgroup for small peared, so did economies rely businesses, commercial and heavily on green also attributes consumer waste. Boulder’s relaHowever, by industry, are tive resilience embracing green bouncing back in the recession business practo Boulder resitices, education quicker, research dents’ distinct and community shows. demographic. outreach, West“I think what ern Disposal you have that’s weathered the unique to Boulrecession. They der, and the worked with reason that the many local busigreen industries are so successful, is nesses, such as Ozo Coffee, to dithat you have this creative class and vert waste from the landfill through you have this highly focused set of composting and recycling. educated people that are commitWhile the role Boulder’s ecoted to enhancing the world, and that friendly industries played in the starts at this local level,” Fleming city’s quick economic recovery is says. difficult to quantify, there’s no doubt He’s right. Boulder is home to that the city and the federal governone of the most educated populament believe in the vitality of green tions in the country. Nearly 60 perindustry. Match that with Boulder’s cent of Boulder’s residents over 25 uniquely educated and environmenyears old have a bachelor’s degree tally conscious population and you or higher, more than double the have a solid recipe for a thriving national average (28.5 percent). green economy — despite the eco“There are a lot of very young, nomic downturn. hungry people that are looking to Going green doesn’t just make get in and get big and make a differenvironmental sense, it makes ecoence and I think the most immediate nomic sense too. Finally, a study that sector for them to enter into is the both sides of the political spectrum green sector because it’s popular can get behind. Share that at your and it’s necessary,” says Fleming. next dinner with the in-laws. Respond: info@boulderganic.com “It’s in that fad, but it’s also very Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

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EnergySmartYes.com Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

speeding toward fitness Trainers debate the benefits of short workouts by Tate Zandstra

seven-minute workout can be efficaUsing Body Weight: Maximum Results with Minimal cious,” says Glen Cordoza, co-author Investment,” written by Klika and Jordan for the of Power Speed Endurance: A Skill-Based American College of Sports Medicine’s Health and FitApproach to Endurance Training, a book ness Journal,“Traditionally, resistance training often is detailing Crossfit founder and triathlon performed separately from aerobic training — typicalcoach Brian MacKenzie’s revolutionary short, intense ly on two or three non consecutive days each week.” approach to training. The American College of Sports Medicine “But you better be sure that every other facet is recommends eight to 12 repetitions of a resistance absolutely dialed in; your diet, your sleep patterns, training exercise, and two to four sets, with two to your stress levels, and Courtesy of Katie DeLuca three minutes of rest you have to be at least in between, for each a moderately active muscle group, as well human ... Get 10,000 as 150 minutes per steps a day, go on week of moderate-inhikes, etc.,” Cordoza tensity exercise and 75 says. minutes at a vigorous In an increasingly intensity. time-crunched world, Obviously, a the seven-minute seven-minute per-day workout, a trend workout falls far short which has been gaining of these guidelines. popularity, sounds too “Although these good to be true, but it traditional protocols may not be.The idea can be effective, they is that in only seven may not be realistic minutes per day, you enough for time-concan transform your scious adults because body by doing a range of the amount of time Personal trainers like Katie DeLuca,above, caution against of upper and lower necessary to complete replacing resistance training with bodyweight-only training in seven-minute workouts. body exercises at a each program,” the arvery high intensity. ticle says.To address This workout can the limitations of time be accomplished almost anywhere, with no more and effectiveness in that traditional program, the auequipment than a chair and a wall. It is comprised thors say, they created a high-intensity circuit training of familiar movements like lunges, crunches, squats, workout that uses body weight for resistance. Each tricep dips and so on, performed for 30 seconds each exercise bout takes roughly seven minutes — and with 10 seconds allowed for transitions and rest. they recommend completing the program two or The idea for a seven-minute workout seems to three times back to back. have originated with Brett Klika and Chris Jordan, “Everyone is looking for a quick fix: ‘Great, seven two Orlando-based performance coaches at the minutes is all I need,’ ” Cordoza says. “But it’s not. It Human Performance Institute.The workout has been may indeed be that it’s all the exercise you need if featured in forums as diverse as Dr. Oz, the Huffingeverything else is in place, but if it’s not, you won’t ton Post and Forbes as being an efficient way to stay in get faster, stronger, leaner or healthier.” shape in virtually no time at all.Their intent appears “A seven-minute workout can be great, really to have been to create a stopgap measure for clients great,” says Yata Williams, a personal trainer and too busy to get into the gym and workout with their former Colorado State University linebacker. “Any trainers. extra movement throughout the day is great, but According to “High Intensity Circuit Training the question is whether you have the desire, the Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

determination, to get through seven minutes at the kind of intensity you need to make that workout truly beneficial.” A trainer for a dozen years,Williams cautions against expectations of the seven minute workout. “Bodyweight training won’t give you, metabolically, nearly the same advantage that weight bearing, eccentric motions will, lengthening, strengthening muscles and stimulating bone density growth, which staves off osteoporosis and a bunch of other health problems,” he says. “I think that you have to do some kind of resistance training,” agrees Katie DeLuca, a personal trainer at NorCal Strength and Conditioning. “Whether it’s lifting weights or simply using your own bodyweight, you’ll build more muscle mass and stimulate bone growth, as well as increasing your balance and proprioception [or body awareness],” she says. “It’s all part of a platform that leads to a better life, especially as you get older.” The original seven-minute workout: Exercises are performed for 30 seconds, with 10 seconds of transition time.The circuit can be repeated two to three times. 1. Jumping jacks 2.Wall sit 3. Push-up 4. Abdominal crunch 5. Step-up onto chair 6. Squat 7.Triceps dip on chair 8. Plank 9. High knees/running in place 10. Lunge 11. Push-up and rotation 12. Side plank Katie DeLuca’s sample alternative workouts For the office: 1 minute of each: plank hold straight arm; split squats; push-ups (can be scaled to the desk); squats; mountain climbers; stationary forward lunges; wall sit Outdoor workout: seven burpees; 50-100m sprint for as many rounds as possible in seven minutes. Respond: info@boulderganic.com June 20, 2013 35

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Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

personal healing and preservation: An herbalist’s manifesto One herbalist shares her story by Abby Faires

oulder herbalists aren’t doctors, and went to town. Before she knew it, it burned like they don’t claim to be. Their mission hell. But she woke up the next morning, and her is to listen to people and to educate joint pain was gone. them on options — on centuries-old “For me, that’s what it’s [herbalism] about; it’s remedies. the radical DIY ideas about self-care,” says Alanna For Lisa Ganora, director of the Colorado Whitney, herbalist and student at Colorado School School of Clinical Herbalism, a career in herbalism of Clinical Herbalism. has been one rife with personal healing and perseBoulder herbalist Rebecca Luna, who refers to verance. her career in herbalism as a total fluke, says she can Ganora has been studying herbs since the 1980s, imagine just how Ganora felt back then. when she first fell in love with medicinal plants and “There’s something about herbalism,” Luna says. natural healing. Not long after “It’s like a hook. It just gets you Abby Faires giving birth to her first child, if it’s meant to be.” Ganora started experiencing Herbalism definitely hooked problems with her joints. There Ganora. While in school, she is one day in particular that studied botany, wrote a thesis plagues Ganora now: It was the on Native American pokeweed day that she bent down and and conducted research on anticouldn’t stand back up. oxidants produced by tomatoes. “You know how you push At 40 years old, she graduated from your knees when you’re with a 4.0. squatting just like this,”Ganora She reached out to the Rocky says. “Well, I couldn’t push. I Mountain Center for Botanical couldn’t get up.” Studies and was invited to come Little did she know, that teach a chemistry class focused moment was one of the earliest on plants: phytochemistry. warning signs of her multiple Sometime around 2008, sclerosis (MS). MS is a chronic, Ganora’s personal health often disabling disease that started to take a turn for the attacks the central nervous worse. She was noticing a lot Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism system. The progress and Assistant Director Lyn Romero (left) and of problems with fatigue and severity of MS is unpredictable, Director Lisa Ganora. chronic joint pain. That’s when and symptoms can vary from she was diagnosed with MS. numbness in the arms and legs to total paralysis and Ganora started reaching out to all of her loss of vision. contacts, including herbalists, nutritionists and A woman Ganora had come to know while living traditional physicians. At the top of her list was Paul in the hills of the Appalachian Mountains suggested Bergner, a medical herbalist and clinical nutritionist that she rub stinging nettles all over her knee to help she had met at Rocky Mountain Center for Botaniease the pain.The leaves of a stinging nettle plant cal Studies. act like hypodermic needles and produce a stinging “He is a fabulous weirdo,” Ganora says. “He sensation when they come into contact with human really is just a sweet guy with a lot of wisdom, and skin. So, rubbing the leaves on an area that was he’s an obsessive researcher.” already in so much pain seemed absurd to Ganora. Bergner asked Ganora to eliminate dairy from But Ganora considers herself an open-minded perher diet. Although she was skeptical, Ganora tried son, willing to give just about anything a shot. it, and within a month, she noticed a lot of her So she grabbed herself a handful of nettles and aches and pains were disappearing. Ganora went Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

through two more “re-challenges,” where she eliminated dairy and then re-introduced it to her diet, before she decided that Bergner was onto something. “It’s about being your own authority and experimenting and educating yourself about what’s good for you,” says Ganora. “Often, what’s so basic is what’s so powerful.” With Bergner’s guidance, coupled by her own research and perseverance, Ganora says she has alleviated almost all of her MS symptoms, but she worries that the fatigue will never fully go away. “The one thing that’s still such a huge variable is my energy — the fatigue,” Ganora says. “But you know, in the big picture, I’m doing great.” Last year, Bergner decided that he was ready to retire from his position as the director and owner for the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism. He asked Ganora to take over for him — to become the director of school. It was one of the hardest decisions Ganora has had to make in her life, not knowing if she had the strength or stamina, both mentally and physically, to take over the school. Ganora retreated into the mountains and into nature, the one place that she has always found solitude, she says. She decided that she would sit by a creek until it gave her an answer, and after a few minutes, she had one. Ganora bought the school from Bergner and soon changed the name to Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism. “Sometimes it wears me out and it kicks my ass, but you know it’s worth it,” says Ganora of the school. “It’s probably the best thing I could be doing with my life.” Every day, Ganora grapples with her fatigue and has to decide what’s best for herself and for her school. Sometimes that means not getting work done, or staying in bed. Ganora herself is living proof of the herbalist manifesto. “We’re not psychologists, or psychiatrists or counselors, but we listen when people talk,” Ganora says. “It’s not about diagnosing or prescribing. It’s about understanding and learning how to support your body’s natural resistance.” Respond: info@boulderganic.com June 20, 2013 37

personal healing and preservation: An herbalist’s manifesto One herbalist shares her story by Abby Faires

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Boulderganic Summer â€™13 Boulder Weekly

straight to the point

Dry needling practitioners and acupuncturists dispute the crossover in techniques, disparities in training by Joseph Wirth

he needle slowly goes deeper and deeper through the layers of skin and into the muscle and the pain diminishes while the dull, warming vibration begins deep inside — in the spot no one could get to before. The technique at hand, dry needling, uses needles primarily to treat muscle pain. Dry needling was designed to deactivate trigger points, which are areas of injury and dysfunction. More than 200,000 physical therapists, chiropractors and physiDry needling resembles cians across the country use dry neeacupuncture but its dling. The method treats neck, back practitioners contend it’s a different therapy. and knee pain, tendonitis, overuse injuries, hamstring strains, headaches and a variety of other musculoskeletal Dry needling mixes acupuncture and modern and neurological injuries. medicine, says Dr.Yun-tao Ma, a North Boulder “We see people all the way from geriatrics to resident, the founder of and teacher at the Ameriteenage athletes to semi-pro and professional athcan Dry Needling Institute and author of several letes, and I find this tool works equally well across books on dry needling and acupuncture. His the whole spectrum,” says Sue Nakaoka, a physical students are already trained medical professionals therapist at Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. who know anatomy, physiology and neuroscience. Professional cyclist Jesse Goodrich has re“Physical therapists come to this course and ceived both acupuncture and dry needling for his they’ve had four or five years of medical training,” back issues in the past, and he says dry needling Ma says. “This course is based off of their medihas done more for his rehabilitation than acupunc- cal training. No one can learn acupuncture in 56 ture did. hours.” “The first few times [dry needling] is a little But Valerie Hobbs, the campus director of the shocking because it’s different than acupuncture Southwest Acupuncture College in Boulder, says because [physical therapists] go for the muscle that what Ma teaches is acupuncture with a new trigger point,” Goodrich says. “Acupuncture ... is name. more of a relaxation technique, but dry needling is “We look at this as a very prescriptive kind of more of a solution to a specific injury.” dumbed-down acupuncture, in a way,” she says. The technique dates to a study on trigger point Acupuncturists and acupuncture associations pain patterns done in the 1940s, but only started also say there is a potential public health hazard gaining in popularity in the United States in 2005. due to many more medical professionals performAs the technique has seen an increase in practitioing needling on patients. ners and patients, it has also seen increased politiIn a statement released by the American Ascal opposition from acupuncturists, who claim that sociation of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine dry needling is acupuncture with a different name. in March, the group took the position that dry Dry needling practitioners argue that it’s a skill needing and “any other method by which a needle set that augments other therapies as people work is inserted to effect therapeutic change is, by defitoward a more holistic approach to healthcare. nition, the practice of acupuncture.” Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Summer ’13

Joseph Wirth

Some acupuncturists say that dry needling takes away patients while failing to meet the educational standards acupuncture is held to. To become a licensed acupuncturist takes at least 3,000 hours of course work, while dry needling is taught in weekendlong courses — although to already licensed medical professionals with medical training. “There is a kinesthetic skill that comes with going into tissue and knowing what you’re doing and that takes more than a weekend to learn,” Hobbs says. “Physical therapists will say that, in the new health care paradigm, scopes are going to overlap and no one owns a single technique, and we agree that’s probably true. But when you start to overlap that scope, your overlap has to be based on demand and education and we don’t see those things with the physical therapy profession.” Ma says that he respects the field of acupuncture and acupuncturists tremendously, but that acupuncturists need to make changes for their patient’s sake. “If [acupuncturists] want to serve their patients better and improve their business quality, they have to learn new things and understand modern medicine,” he says. “It’s not a new procedure. It’s an ‘emperor has no clothes’ kind of argument,” Hobbs says. “Here is the suit of the finest silk, but in the end, it’s just acupuncture.” Dr. Jan Dommerholt, an expert at trigger point dry needling, states in his book Trigger Point Dry Needling: An Evidence and Clinical-Based Approach that dry needling and its techniques are not in the exclusive scope of acupuncture or any medical discipline. “It is physical therapy when performed by a physical therapist, chiropractic when performed by a chiropractor, and dentistry when performed by a see DRY NEEDLING Page 40

June 20, 2013 39

Courtesy of Valerie Hobbs

Courtesy of Yun-tao Ma

Valerie Hobbs

Dr. Yun-tao Ma

DRY NEEDLING from Page 39

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dentist,” he writes. The issue has become a heated political debate in several states across the country, including Colorado, where more lenient laws allow dry needling to be practiced by other medical professionals with proper certification. In 2009, Dommerholt was involved with a court case in Oregon against the Oregon Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. He defined the technique of dry needling in support of legalization for physical therapists, but the case concluded that dry needling is acupuncture and that it is not safe for physical therapists to use dry needling on the public. The case ultimately made it illegal for physical therapists and chiropractors in Oregon to puncture the skin of their patients. Dommerholt said he was disappointed with his opposition’s arguments to ban dry needling. “[Acupuncturist’s] arguments don’t make any sense and they are distortions that are historically incorrect, there are a lot of assumptions that aren’t supported by anything and everything defeats itself,” Dommerholt says. “The public health hazard is a powerful tool when you want to go up and talk to state boards, senators and congressmen, but our study has shown that there is no such health concern because 0.04 percent of

patients suffer any kind of injury from dry needling.” There are risks that come with dry needling, the biggest risk being the accidental puncture of a lung (a pneumothorax). It is a rare complication with dry needling, and every patient is usually required to fill out a consent form before the procedure that alerts them to potential complications. Ma says that this political battle is not about medical risks, it’s about money. No matter what legislation gets passed, acupuncture still needs to reform itself to more modern times in order to survive, he says. A report from the July 2012 edition of Acupuncture Today revealed that 91 percent of all acupuncture businesses fail within 10 years. Hobbs says that it’s not a turf war or a matter of protecting the profession, but it’s a matter of protecting the public from “bad acupuncture.” “This fight is only in the United States,” Ma says. “We can see that it is not a medical issue, it’s a social issue. … Frankly speaking, if [acupuncturists] do not change, they’re going to lose their business.” Dry needling was based on the drive to learn new things, Ma says, and that drive is necessary for both acupuncture and dry needling need to continue to improve for the sake of patients. Respond: info@boulderganic.com

Boulderganic Summer ’13 Boulder Weekly

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