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Get growing! • Local kids get education in aquaponics • Recondition, don’t replace this year’s potting soil • Boulder author talks dangers of processed foods • One couple’s dream: a zero-waste grocery • Balance your hormones with seaweed
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FALL 2014
Staff
Publisher, Stewart Sallo Special Editions Editor, Caitlin Rockett Advertising Director, Jeff Cole Director of Operations/ Controller, Benecia Beyer Circulation Manager, Cal Winn
Susan France
The plentiful bounty of fall
Editorial
Editor, Joel Dyer Associate Editors, Elizabeth Miller, Matt Cortina, Josh Gross
Sales
Retail Sales Manager, Allen Carmichael Senior Account Executive, David Hasson Account Executives, Jalen Aquino, Julian Bourke, Althea Schelling Marketing Coordinator, Melissa Chua Mrs. Boulder Weekly, Mari Nevar
Production
Production Manager, Dave Kirby Art Director, Susan France Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman
General & Administrative Assistant to the Publisher, Julia Sallo Office Manager, Andrea Neville Circulation Team, Dave Hastie, Dan Hill, George LaRoe, Jeffrey Lohrius, Elizabeth Ouslie, Rick Slama 14-Year-Old, Mia Rose Sallo
contents: Food & Garden 6
Teaching aquaponics and learning to reuse soil
Environmental Issues 17
Increased wildfires are affecting snowpack in the West
Sustainability 25
How algae is making beer production greener
Business 29
Difficulties abound in Colorado hemp production
Health & Fitness 35
Using seaweed for hormonal health
Isabelle Farm seasonal employee, Berit Nelsen, harvesting broccoli greens at Thomas Open Space in Lafayette
Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
T
he evenings are getting cooler, the aspens are beginning to dapple the mountains in vibrant yellow and equally yellow buses carry students to a new school year — fall is here. The season brings with it these things and more, like bountiful harvests and an onslaught of holidays that make good use of that abundance of food. Without doubt, this time of year, more than any other, seems to place our collective focus on food. So for this fall’s edition of Boulderganic, we place our emphasis on food in a variety of ways, from the conventional to the less obvious. With school back in session, we look at how one local business is helping teach young minds about sustainable food production through aquaponics, and how a local nonprofit is making sure students get the nutrition they need over the weekend. And just because the chill is setting in, we didn’t forget the gardening — we made sure to share tips from experts on how to get the most from this year’s potting soil by reconditioning and reusing it for next season. We explore seaweed’s effect on your homones, demystify detoxifying cleanses, journey with scientists to study how “black carbon” affects water supplies and learn how algae can make beer better (take comfort — the algae isn’t actually in the beer). We go beyond food to look at how Colorado hemp farmers struggle to grow this newly regulated (and highly useful) crop, the difficulties the marijuana industry confronts in producing a truly organic product and how one century-old building is leading the way in sustainable architecture. We think we’ve provided a little something for everyone, from the gardener to the cook to the fitness guru to the eco-conscious community member looking for ways to make Boulder, and the world, a greener, healthier place. We hope you enjoy. Respond: info@boulderganic.com
September 25, 2014 5
Courtesy of The Aquaponic Source
Courtesy of The Aquaponic Source
An aquaponic system uses 90 percent less water than a traditional soil garden and requires no chemicals.
The tank and grow system at Flagstaff Academy
Fish food A local business looks to help schools across America learn about sustainable food production through grants for aquaponic systems BY MALLANE DRESSEL
W
hat do you get when you unite a system that grows plants in water with a fish tank? You get a sustainable way to produce food. The Aquaponic Source, a company based out of Longmont, hopes to increase the number of aquaponic systems being used in classrooms across that nation with their new Grants for Plants Foundation, but some Boulder County students are already reaping the benefits. In an aquaponic system, everything moves in a cycle: fish produce waste that is processed into fertilizer by bacteria and worms, plants take up the water and nutrients and then the water is filtered and sent back down to the fish tank. An aquaponic system uses 90 percent less water than a traditional soil garden and requires no chemicals, as do hydroponic systems. Sylvia Bernstein, one of the owners of The Aquaponic Source, says one of the bigger advantages of having an aquaponics system over a traditional soil garden is that it can be used to teach yearround. Soil gardens are exposed to harsh, erratic weather conditions and don’t really start producing results until it’s time for the students to leave for summer break. With an aquaponics system, the 6 September 25, 2014
Courtesy of The Aquaponic Source
keeper for Flagstaff Academy, it cost plants are able to go through their around $3,000 to purchase their whole growth cycle, and since the aquaponic system. A grant from root systems are exposed, students the Colorado Garden Foundation see how each part of the system concovered the cost of the system, but nects to make a complete ecosystem, the school had to cover the cost of says Bernstein. the fish and plants. Heather Riffel “A lot of teachers are finding of Arapahoe Ridge High School, out about [aquaponic systems] and who used The Aquaponic Source wanting to bring it to their schools for some of the equipment she because it’s such a great teaching The crowd during the presentation of the Flagneeded to build their system, had to tool, especially for teaching about staff Academy aquaponic go through the tedious process of healthy, sustainable food sources,” system for the Aquaponic applying for several grants, some of says Samson Brock, Grants for Plants Fest this year. which were federal, and one being an Foundation manager for The Aquaeducational grant from the Boulder ponic Source. “So, it’s our mission to spread this popularity and help the teachers as much Valley School District, in order to cover costs. One of the purposes of the Grants for Plants Foundation as we can by providing funding and resources.” Bernstein says The Aquaponic Source decided is to simplify this process by not only providing free to develop the Grants for Plants Foundation besystems for classrooms, but also by assisting teachcause their interaction with schools, like with their ers with finding other grants to cover any remaining neighbors at Flagstaff Academy, already made up a costs, says Brock. big portion of their business. They found out from Another important aspect of the Grants for these school relationships that one of the biggest Plants Foundation will be creating an online forum challenges for teachers is finding the necessary funds where students and teachers can share their experiences and lessons and ask questions. to implement the system. “It will really help accelerate the learning curve According to Allison Cole, the greenhouse Boulderganic Fall ’14 Boulder Weekly
because they will have the ability to talk to other teachers and students that may have dealt with similar issues,” says Bernstein. It will be a few months until the forum is established since the Grants for Plants Foundation is still in its startup stage. Brock is currently working on raising funds to cover startup costs and completing all the federal filing necessary to establish the foundation as a nonprofit. He’s already found a few ways to cover some of the costs, such as putting a portion of the profits from their annual Aquaponic Fest, which took place this year on Aug. 9 and 10, toward the foundation. One of the speakers at the Aquaponic Fest, Mark Manteuffel, a professer from St. Louis Community College in Missouri, shared how an aquaponic system provides a more beneficial learning experience for students because it requires hands-on interaction. According to Manteuffel, such “active learning” helps students to retain 90 percent of what they are studying as opposed to the average 10 percent studies show students get from reading, 20 percent from hearing or 30 percent from viewing. “It’s a wonderful gateway for teachers to introduce into their curriculum in terms of science and chemistry because it’s so hands-on for the students,” Riffel says. Manteuffel also addressed how well the aquaponics system lends itself to so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education. According to the U.S. Economic and Statistics Administration, STEM employment will rise 7 percent higher than non-STEM employment by 2018. With an aquaponics system students learn to keep accurate records, measure temperature, water quality and PH and learn about the nitrogen cycle. Riffel says that the system also opens the door for the discussion of food production and its association with social development, as well as social and scientific responsibility. “It allows us to bring up water rights, which is such an issue in Colorado,” says Bernstein. “The fact that all the water in an aquaponics system gets reused makes it a very water-
wise way to grow, which will help kids start thinking about things like, how are crops watered and what is the most ecological way to do that?” Bernstein already worked closely with the Colorado MESA program for a year to develop a curriculum for teaching aquaponics that would fulfill classroom science requirements.
Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
Several schools already use her book, Aquaponic Gardening: A Step-By-Step Guide to Raising Vegetables and Fish Together, as a textbook. She hopes to expand this kind of curriculum and informational support and make it more available with the start of the foundation, which she hopes to be up and running by November.
“There is quite a learning curve to figuring out the water chemistry,” says Cole. “I think education information support will be important, and I’m really glad that The Aquaponic Source is willing to provide that because it’s really a lot of information to process and understand.” Respond: info@boulderganic.com
September 25, 2014 7
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Processed food nation Boulder author Melanie Warner discusses the dangers of processed foods by Andrea Neville
T
he typical American diet is filled with heavily processed foods, filled with high-fructose corn syrup, salt and preservatives. What is this costing us in terms of our health and the environment’s health? “One of the most fundamental acts of being alive is eating,” says Melanie Warner, author of Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal. Warner speaks about her journey down the rabbit hole searching for the truth about processed foods. “[During childhood] the stage was set for my curiosity about food and our food system,” says Warner. “My mom always had this kind of healthy skepticism about food. She would read ingredient labels long before people actually did such things. “I first started writing about the food industry about 10 years ago,” Warner continues. “When I started talking to people in the field of food science, they started telling me all these crazy things about the incredible technical complexity that goes into making our food.” One example, vegetable oil, a key ingredient in many of our foods, has to be processed in explosion-proof factories. “I just knew there was a story to be told about what happens to our food after it leaves the farm,” says Warner. “This was all something that was very new within human history. We had only begun processing food in the last 100 years and this really intensive processing was really only in the last half-century or so.” During her research, Warner discovered a lot of surprising information about the world of food processing. “I was totally amazed at the world of vitamins and where they come from,” Warner says. “I think I just assumed they somehow came from natural things, like foods.” But she found that wasn’t the case. “They put these highly manufactured, artificial vitamins into our foods and then put a health halo around it,” she says. You’ve likely noticed vitamins are added to many things, from cereal to water. Australian sociologist Gyorgy Scrinis coined the term “nutritionBoulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
If a Pop-Tart can look perfect after four months out of its packaging, should we really feel safe consuming it?
ism,” a focus on nutrients as the indicator of healthy food that can make even processed foods seem Courtesy of Melanie Warner wholesome. By filling our diet with processed foods, Warner says we are robbing ourgoes so far,” Warner adds. “It just doesn’t really carry selves of the real nutrition our bodies need. with the massive array of processed foods that you “I think the biggest culprits are the abundance find in the grocery store or at fast food restaurants. of sugar and refined grains in processed food,” “The lack of sustainability of processed foods says Warner. “In addition to giving us calories with comes from a health point of view. It’s just not no nutrients, it’s taxing our metabolic system and sustainable to eat a diet heavy in processed foods leading to obesity and Type 2 diabetes.” and stay healthy. There’s always an effect on our Warner says there is probably also a link to bodies.” heart disease with a lot of the fats that are used What does it mean for food to be processed? abundantly in processed foods. “It clearly exists on a spectrum of processing “One of the unintended consequences of the with the extent to which something is subjected processing of foods is that you are removing a lot to a disfiguring, a taking apart,” says Warner. “It’s of the healthy, life-giving properties, all these things the number and type of processes it is subjected that are in food that our bodies need to survive,” to. It’s the difference between an ear of corn and Warner says. “So we are just depriving our bodies high fructose corn syrup.You can call high fructose of the things it needs to function optimally.” corn syrup natural because it comes from corn, And on top of the human health implications but it’s all about all those many steps that disfigure are the environmental consequences. this corn into what we know as high fructose corn “First of all, you have tons of packaging, mainly syrup.” plastic,” Warner says. “Then there’s lots of enFoods can range anywhere from minimally to ergy involved in manufacturing these products in heavily processed. factories and heavy water use as well. All that on “It’s sometimes hard to pick apart what haptop of the environmental imprint that food already pens in the processing, but people can figure it has,” such as the massive amount of carbon dioxout,” says Warner. “If it’s not something you could ide generated by a large and constantly growing create at home or grow in your backyard, then it’s animal agriculture sector. probably a highly processed food.” Warner says she believes people generally un“There’s that aspect of it that you wouldn’t get derstand what it means for food to be processed, if you were just consuming the raw, fresh ingredibut worries for those who aren’t concerned about ents,” says Warner. the amount of processed food filling their diet. Warner recently spoke at the Sustainable “I think you have to think a little bit more Living Fair in Fort Collins. When asked about the sustainability of processed foods, she says the food skeptically about giving big corporations the power to feed us,” Warner says. “I don’t think you industry makes the argument that “the processing of foods helps food become more sustainable on a can just have that blind trust that it’s out there on the shelves, so it must be OK. So you have to take very basic level, by increasing the shelf life so that back some of that food preparation for yourself food can sit around for months.” and your family. There are so many easy ways to “So there’s an argument to be made that the cook with real, fresh foods in a way that doesn’t processing of food is good in that sense and from take a huge amount of time. The payoff is huge in an environmental point of view because we aren’t wasting all this food and throwing it away,” she says. terms of your health and how you feel.” Respond: info@boulderganic.com “The problem with that argument is that is only September 25, 2014 9
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Boulderganic Fall ’14 Boulder Weekly
Courtesy of Colorado Friendship
A
s the temperature In order to start the drops and the leaves program, Friedenson applied change color, kids for several grants and charity around the nation get funds, the biggest contributors back into the swing of being AEC Trust, Hurlbert school. For some students it Family Foundation and the means little more than early Virginia W. Hill Foundation. mornings and evenings lost to But a recent connection homework, but for others, it with Whole Foods on Pearl means knowing they won’t go Street in Boulder allowed home hungry — at least durthe program to include an ing the week. additional school this year, The National School Lunch Northridge Elementary of Program provides reduced Longmont. and free lunch for students “I receive quite a few experiencing food insecurity applications, but their applicaduring the school week, but tion appealed particularly to many teachers and principals me because it dealt with food are realizing that when Monday security in children,” says Leah comes, some of these kids are McClay, public relations direcnot receiving the nutrition they Because volunteering only requires simple tasks, many parents and their children are involved tor for Whole Foods’ Pearl with packing the backpacks for the IncrEdibles program. Packs are prepared for the coming four need over the weekend to be Street location. “People have weeks. successful in school. this perception of Boulder The Longmont-based County as being an affluent nonprofit Colorado Friendcommunity, but there are ship keyed into this need.The actually many who have to deal organization started out as a with food insecurity in this disaster relief group 15 years community, and the IncrEdibles ago, but wanted to develop program is really doing a great Courtesy of Colorado Friendship programs that could provide job at trying to eliminate this consistent support for the community.With the sucinsecurity, and that’s something that we really want cess of their Hot Meals on the Street program, which to be a part of.” feeds Boulder’s homeless every Sunday evening, Liz McClay says that it took little convincing to Friedenson, executive director of Colorado Friendget the approval for a 5 percent contribution day ship, looked to create a program that concentrated at Whole Foods’ Pearl Street location for the on improving food security with children. IncrEdibles program. She went a step further by “We found out that there were quite a few reaching out to the other three Boulder stores and schools that were in poor shape,” says FriedenIdeal Market to see if they wanted to participate as son. “Where parents were struggling to provide, well. Because of her efforts, on Nov. 12, 5 percent and found that smack dab in the middle of a nice of the proceeds from each of the four stores will go neighborhood that there was a school that had 90 toward the IncrEdibles program. McClay estimates percent of its kids on the assisted or free lunch that the 5 percent day will raise $15,000 to $25,000 Eve Weglarz, project manager of the IncrEdibles proprogram. It came as a surprise to us because it’s for the program. gram, with two students after last September’s flood. not like we are in Denver — it’s Longmont. It was “Whole Foods’ contribution is tremendous for definitely not what we were expecting.” us,” says Jeff Grossberg, director of development Colorado Friendship developed the IncrEdibles needed the support of the new program. The for Colorado Friendship. “We really appreciate that program in the spring of 2013. The program program currently provides 65 packs every Friday kind of sponsorship and support, sharing a common provides underprivileged students with backpacks to send home with students. The success of the appreciate for promoting better food for society.” containing healthy foods and drinks on Fridays to program fueled Friedenson’s desire to expand to Lorynda Sampson, principal of Northridge ensure that they receive proper nutrition over another school as soon as possible, but the task is Elementary, says the IncrEdibles program has the weekend. The first school they contacted was costly. According to Friedenson it takes $10,000 for surpassed her expectations because of FriedenRocky Mountain Elementary in Longmont, where the IncrEdibles program to provide the packs for son’s attention to detail and her efforts to not just principal Steven Hoel said that they absolutely one school for the whole year. see BACKPACKS Page 12
Full backpacks, full stomachs
Colorado Friendship improves food security for Longmont students by Mallane Dressel
Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
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provide healthy food. Since Friedenson used to be a dietitian, she puts effort into including food in the packs with the highest nutritional value. Some of her nutritionally conscious decisions include Cheerios over Pop-Tarts, 100 percent juices, fruit cups with juice instead of syrup, at least two servings of vegetables and something high in protein, such as nuts or peanut butter. According to Friedenson, not consuming enough of these healthy foods over the weekend can render students unfocused on Monday. She gets most of her feedback from the principals of the schools who say that the children’s attitudes and performance have improved. Supplying the food for the kids over the weekend also takes the pressure off parents, allowing them to stretch their dollars further. “I have had several people this week stop me and say, ‘Thank you so much, we are really grateful,’” says Sampson. “They don’t expect anything to be provided, so if you give them something, they are incredibly grateful. I let them know how glad we are that we can provide this service.” Finding enough funds to continue the expansion of the program has proven difficult, but finding enough dedicated volunteers hasn’t been an issue, says Friedenson. About 15 volunteers meet in the program’s warehouse once a month to fill
backpacks for the coming four weeks. They arrange themselves into an assembly line, each person in charge of a specific duty or item. Because volunteering only requires simple tasks, many parents have called to not only get themselves involved, but their kids as well. “We make sure that the kids know where the packs are going and what they are doing it for,” says Friedenson. “They feel useful and they are getting the sense of why what they’re doing is so important.” Friedenson would like to continue the expansion of the IncrEdibles program in the Longmont area. McClay also looks forward to helping with the expansion of the IncrEdibles program with more 5 percent fundraising days in the future. Grossberg says he believes IncrEdibles can successfully expand because there is a community developing around this effort, with the principals, teachers, parents, local stores and, more importantly, volunteers spreading the word. “It inspires me when I watch the volunteers packing the packs because I know how valuable those early years in a child’s life are and the difference it will make in the rest of their lives, and what it means to society in general,” says Grossberg. “It’s not only compassionate, it’s also smart.” Respond: info@boulderganic.com
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The dirt on reusing soil Save money and up your gardening IQ by reconditioning and reusing this year’s potting soil for next season by Caitlin Rockett
A
s summer turns into fall so will fall turn into winter — we pull the sweaters and coats toward the front of the closet and stow away the bathing suits, shorts and tank tops. But you may find yourself looking at the planting containers on your front porch or patio, once brimming with colorful flowers and vegetables, now filled with lifeless vegetation, and think, what do I do with these? Gardening can get expensive, so take some advice from a few expert gardeners and recondition, store and reuse that soil for next season. In places where winters can get harsh — and there will be at least a couple of harsh winter weeks here on the Front Range — soil will expand and contract, so a mindful gardener will want to empty plastic, ceramic or clay containers to prevent them from cracking. Deryn Davidson, Colorado State University’s extension agent for horticulture in Boulder County, says the first step to prepping for next season’s garden is sterilizing your planting containers. First, you’ll want to remove debris from the containers, which can be done with a soak in warm, soapy water — brushes or steel wool can be used to remove extra difficult deposits. Then the sterilization: Use a mild bleach solution, one part unscented chlorine bleach to nine parts water (in other words, one cup of bleach for every nine cups of water). You’ll need to mix enough solution to completely submerge the containers for 10 to 15 minutes, which can be done in a five gallon bucket or a deep sink. After soaking, rinse the pots with warm water then give them a gentle scrub down with some soapy water. Follow up with one final rinse until the water runs clear, then set the pots out to dry. Then there’s all that left over soil — it may look a little spent, but experts guarantee it’s got life-giving
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Nicole Bratt
Reusing soil is a great way to save money when gardening with containers.
potential yet, especially if you take the time to recondition it properly. “It does get expensive if you’re buying new soil every year,” says Davidson. But Davidson says that reconditioning and reusing soil is a common practice and there are many ways to go about it. “First of all, you want to be careful, because if you have disease in your soil and you’re not aware of it, that can be an issue,” says Davidson. Davidson adds there’s a perfectly good chance you’re not going to have anything in your soil, but to test it out, throw a few easily germinating seeds into the old soil, such as lettuce. If the seeds don’t germinate, there may be an issue. In an article for the Colorado State University Extension division, Laura Pottorff of the Colorado Department of Agriculture writes about methods by which to sterilize soil. With any method, you’ll want to remove all the plant material from the soil prior to sterilization (Pro tip: add it to your compost pile). • Oven:You’ll need a meat or candy thermometer for this. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread a thin layer of soil in a glass
Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
dish (you can also use clay or metal), no more than 3-4 inches deep. Cover with aluminum foil and stick the thermometer in the foil and let sit in the oven for 30 minutes. Watch to make sure the temperature in the soil doesn’t go above 200 degrees. Fair warning: Experts and DIY-ers around the Internet say this will smell bad. Consider yourself advised. • Microwave:You can nuke about two pounds of soil for 90 seconds on full power. Obviously, don’t use aluminum foil or metal containers to do this. • Pressure cooker: If you’ve got such a device, Pottorff suggests pouring “several” cups of water in the cooker, then placing shallow pans with no more than 3-4 inches of soil on the rack of the cooker, each pan covered with aluminum foil. She advises that you close the lid of the cooker, but leave the steam valve open until steam begins to escape. Then close the steam valve and heat at 10 pounds pressure for 15 minutes. “Many heavier soils and soils containing large amounts of organic matter may release toxic compounds when heated too long or at too high a temperature,” Pottorff warns in
her article — so be mindful of the temperature of the soil as you heat it. “These toxins can cause poor seed germination, plant growth abnormalities or plant death.” Answering questions on GardensAlive.com, Mike McGrath, host of Public Radio’s You Bet Your Garden, writes that a gardener’s biggest concern with reusing soil should be the oh-so-sensitive tomato. “Potting soil that was used to grow tomatoes should not be used to grow tomatoes the following two years. But that soil can be used to grow flowers, bush beans, peppers, salad greens — whatever you want,” as long as it’s not tomatoes, writes McGrath. “Conversely … soil that hasn’t ever been used for tomatoes (or that hasn’t seen their roots for a few seasons) can be used to grow this year’s love apples.” McGrath suggests labeling two plastic trash cans, one with a ‘T’ and the other without, to store soil over the winter. As for reconditioning soil, if you’re planting in a container, you’re going to want to make sure that your medium is light and fluffy and able to drain easily.To achieve this, add some fresh soil-free mix (also called professional mix, seed-starting mix or sterile growing medium) to every pot that gets filled with old soil.This mix is generally composed of milled peat moss, perlite, vermiculite (naturally occurring minerals that are heated to form little balls) and a bit of compost. Fill about a third of the total space of the container with new soil-free mix if the dirt if very old, and a bit less if the soil is still fluffy. “Always add fresh compost to the tune of one-quarter of the container,” writes McGrath. For some tips on composting, visit www.ext.colostate.edu/sam/compost. html for a list of links to composting guides. Happy gardening. Respond: info@boulderganic.com September 25, 2014 15
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Boulderganic Fall ’14 Boulder Weekly
Soot on snow A Colorado native researches how ‘black carbon’ from increased wildfire is changing snowmelt, and consequently water supplies, in the West by Christi Turner Christi Turner
Susan Kaspari and her team use snowmobiles to journey into Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington to sample black carbon. There’s evidence suggesting this soot from increased wildfires is affecting snowpack, and water supplies, in Western states. Christi Turner
Kaspari’s team collects samples of snow in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington to test for black carbon. Particle for particle, black carbon can trap a million times more heat than carbon dioxide while it’s airborne.
Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
Christi Turner
A
blur of fire-blackened trees line the trail through the snow-covered Table Mountain burn zone in the Okanogan-Wenatchee Susan Kaspari is digging her way to National Forest. With every answers on just how extensive the effects of black carbon may be on uphill turn of the snowmosnowpack and the people who rely biles, the wind whips harder, on that snow for water. temperatures slipping. Fat snowflakes swirl from gray skies. Even through masked helmets and thermal layers, the cold early-April air seeps in. The duo of snowmobiles has climbed to over 6,000 feet elevation, halfway to the study site where researcher Susan Kaspari and her small team will dig into six feet of snow and sample for soot, more accurately known as black carbon. There’s evidence suggesting black carbon from increased wildfire activity is affecting snowpack and melting here in the eastern Cascades — much like dust on snow is affecting Colorado. Kaspari is digging her way to answers on just how extensive those effects may be — for the ecosystem and for the people who depend on the snow for water. Dan Pittinger, Kaspari’s graduate assistant, pulls up alongside Kaspari and her colleague, paleoecologist Megan Walsh. They’ve stopped to check out dark patches in the snow among the blackened trees. “I just want to get a quick look,” Kaspari says, springing from the rear of the snowmobile and pulling a small shovel from the bundle strapped to the back. “This dark layer at the top is really interesting.” She gets on her knees to inspect the grayish snow and begins digging a hole. Pittenger takes over and the pit is soon a few feet deep. The site isn’t ideal — it’s too close to the trail, for starters — but Kaspari only has funding to sample a handful of sites in Table Mountain a few times a year, and doesn’t miss a chance for impromptu sleuthing on the way to the actual research site. “This is considerably darker, what we’re seeing right here at the surface,” Kaspari says, once the pit is deep enough to show weeks of past snowfall. It’s hard to say why with a cursory dig: “This is either from there not being a lot of snow and a whole bunch of black carbon accumulating, or we’re seeing stuff that started to melt and consolidate at the upper surface.” She emphasizes, not for the first or last time: There’s still so much we don’t know. She’s been studying climate history through snow and ice since her college days, drilling cores from the Tibetan Plateau to the Himasee BLACK CARBON Page 18
September 25, 2014 17
BLACK CARBON from Page 17
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layas to the Swiss Alps. A 2004 NPR interview with climatologist and global warming maverick James Hansen inspired her to focus on the black carbon in her samples — both the thermogenic kind, from fossil-fuel burning, and the biogenic kind, from biomass burning, like wildfire. Wildfire has become more of a concern across the West, from her Colorado birthplace to her home in Washington, prompting her to examine the implications of black carbon on ice and snow here in the Northwest, where few have done so before. Only a handful of scientists study black carbon on snow at mid-latitudes, in part because funding for this sort of work outside the Arctic and Antarctic is scarce. And on a global scale, black carbon — the partially combusted, light-absorbing particulate matter that spews from smokestacks, vehicles, agricultural burns and wildfires — is still among the least understood factors of climate change. A 2013 study called it “the second-most important individual climate-warming agent after carbon dioxide,” estimating it may contribute more than twice as much to global warming than previously thought, with about two-thirds the warming effect of carbon dioxide. Black carbon stays in the atmosphere for a far shorter time — about one to three weeks — than CO2, which can remain there for 100 years or more. Yet particle for particle, black carbon can trap a million times more heat while it’s airborne. Once it lands on the ground — on ice and snow, in particular — the nuances are even less understood. But the implications are troubling: Black carbon drastically reduces the albedo, or reflectivity, of ice and snow, because a darkened surface absorbs more sunlight and melts more. And as dark melt-water spreads across whiter snow and ice, the effects spiral: Less sunlight is reflected away, more light is absorbed, and surface melting can accelerate in a runaway cycle of melting and warming. Scientists in places like Svalbard, halfway between Greenland and the North Pole, say black carbon is
contributing to major climate signals like earlier seasonal melting and thinning Arctic sea ice. Melting land ice is another climate signal linked to black carbon, as studied by Jason Box’s Dark Snow Project in Greenland. Box’s research suggests that black carbon on the surface was to blame for one unprecedented summer day in 2012, when the entire ice sheet was melting simultaneously. In both places, increased wildfire activity is suspected as having an outsized influence, with soot from massive wildfires as far away as Canada reaching Greenland, and multimillion-acre Siberian wildfire soot reaching Svalbard. Kaspari is looking at soot on snow from wildfires closer at hand. And unlike Svalbard and Greenland, this snowpack serves as a reservoir, providing nearly half the yearly water demand in Washington’s Yakima River Basin. It’s one of the most intensively irrigated agricultural areas in the U.S. and home to more than 300,000 people. In September 2012, the Table Mountain wildfire burned 43,312 acres of lodgepole pine and Douglas fir forests between the towns of Cle Elum and Ellensburg, where Kaspari and Walsh teach at Central Washington University. The smoke smothered their town for a week, keeping Kaspari indoors but providing an ideal post-fire study opportunity. Her initial data suggests a strong correlation between black carbon, deposited by the fire, and an otherwise unaccountably high rate of melting. In the forests around her Table Mountain study site, fire in various forms is a natural part of the ecosystem, yet studies show that as Washington’s spring snowpack is declining, wildfires are increasing in frequency, size, intensity and duration. It’s still unclear the extent to which snowpack is affecting wildfire, and how black carbon may in turn be exacerbating the declining snowpack. Her work is seeking answers. It’s another hour through snow and charred trees on the snowmobile, then a snowshoe through dense forest before reaching the study site. Pittenger begins digging, and when he
Boulderganic Fall ’14 Boulder Weekly
hits bottom, standing six feet tall, his head barely pokes out from the pit. He climbs out and Kaspari drops down in his place. She props a measuring stick against the wall of the pit where she’ll sample. Pittenger starts taking notes while she talks. Walsh opens a bag of vials and Whirl-Pak baggies, and hands down plastic gloves, a glass scraper and a few of the vials. Kaspari smooths the surface where she’ll be sampling from the bottom up, with each vial of snow representing a set period, covering the entire snow year. “She does snow and I do mud, but it’s the same concept,” Walsh says. “The new stuff’s on top, the old stuff’s on the bottom, and it’s a time series as you move down.” Walsh’s expertise is reconstructing long-term regional fire history and forest structure by measuring charcoal and pollen in lake sediment cores, but no one has done that kind of work around Table Mountain. She hopes to complement Kaspari’s work with a fire history study of this area. Meanwhile, the latest National Climate Assessment predicts that across the Northwest region, water availability will be reduced and wildfires will continue to increase. “There’s some visible black in here,” Kaspari calls, handing Walsh the first vial of snow. She tells Dan to mark this as a melt layer with visible charcoal. Later, she’ll carve a brickshaped chunk from this layer and seal it in a Whirl-Pak for more detailed analysis. Snowflakes are beginning to cover the pile of baggies and vials. Pittenger, immune to the deepening cold, fills the page with notes with ungloved hands as Kaspari scoops snow into vials and calls out observations. “Just collecting snow — that’s the easy part,” Kaspari says. “I just take it home and stick it in my freezer, and then bring it into school.” That’s not the case with her ice cores, like the South Cascade Glacier core which took months of planning, tens of thousands of dollars, several mules and one helicopter to drill and transport the core in its frozen state, and which Pittenger has been processing for the bulk of his graduate research. He’ll spend hours running these
new snow samples through instruments that precisely analyze black carbon and minimize interference from other impurities like dust. There’ll be lots to study back in the lab: various forms of visible black carbon, suspected melt layers, snow
crystals of all sizes and chunks of “caddywhompus” — Kaspari’s playful term for the less-readily identified impurities. She’ll try to tease out nuances, such as how the size of black carbon particles affects albedo, and researching anecdotal evidence
like snowfall reports, wind direction and wildfire records for the region. If her next round of proposals is funded, she’ll drastically scale up her snow research. She’ll know by next winter. Respond: info@boulderganic.com
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Boulderganic Fall ’14 Boulder Weekly
The pros and cons of industrial-scale solar The world’s largest solar thermal power plant is intended to lessen reliance on traditional forms of energy, but some question whether the environmental impacts outweigh the benefits by Christi Turner
I
Christi Turner
t’s an undeniably gruesome avian fatalities between January image: A bird soars over the and June of this year, of which Mojave desert, and sud133 were related to flux. denly, revoltingly, catches fire, But to put the issue in perstreaks momentarily like a spective, of the 10 to 20 billion small meteor, and then seems birds thought to live in the U.S., to disappear, leaving only smoke. multiple millions die every year Seen from afar, some are calling from human causes.The numbers, them “streamers.” insofar as they’re available, point This is what has been hapto windows, cars and cats as the pening in the skies over Dry big-time bird killers in North Lake, Calif., just across the state America. Many hundreds of milline from Nevada, at the Ivanlions of birds die from collisions pah Solar Electric Generating with glass windows — experts say System — at 3,500 acres, it’s the glass kills perhaps more than 900 largest industrial-scale concenmillion, more than any other hutrated solar power project in man related factor.The Audubon the world. Ivanpah blankets what Society says house cats kill an estiIvanpah Solar Electric Generating System, at 3,500 acres, is the largest industrial-scale was once nearly pristine desert. The concentrated solar power project in the world. Some environmentalists are concerned about mated 100 million birds. Cars and Now it hardly bears resemblance the facility’s effect on nearby wildlife, such as birds and the Mojave desert tortoise. trucks kill another 50 to 100 milto a desert landscape: Nearly lion. Bird hunters kill upwards of 350,000 mirrors, or heliostats, to 800 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists species. Only about one-third of the 100 million, according to the Fish form concentric circles around three speculate that birds might be drawn birds (47) were identified as having and Wildlife Service. As many as 174 identical concentrated solar power million birds die from collisions with to the facility because this swathe been killed by the solar flux. Another towers, each one 459 feet high, as of desert now resembles a sea, an 24 died of impact trauma — probably electric transmission lines. Agricultural tall as a 33-story building. This isn’t pesticides poison up to 67 million birds illusion created by superheated air from colliding with a heliostat — and solar photovoltaic, where crystalline — called a solar flux — between the cause of death of nearly 50 of the yearly. Collisions with communications panels convert the sun’s energy into towers (such as cellular network towthe mirrors and the boiler. The bird carcasses was undeterminable. electrical current. Atop each conceners) claim the lives of up to 10 million. descriptions of the deaths can be The report makes clear that there trated solar power tower, a massive Even oil and gas extraction, which grisly: “feather damage ranging from were challenges to data collection: rectangular boiler glows white-hot, facilities like Ivanpah are ostensibly singeing to charring,” skin burns, wing Carcasses degrade rapidly, scavenas reflected light from the hundreds helping us rely on less and less, cause 1 curling and melting, and of course gers (like hyper-efficient ravens, who of thousands of precisely calibrated to 2 million bird deaths per year.Wind “streamers.” appear to be residents at Ivanpah) turbines, often demonized as major mirrors shine directly on it, turnGruesome as it may sound, at remove carcasses, and “searcher bird slayers, are estimated to kill up to ing water in the boiler into steam this stage it’s hard to say how many efficiency” isn’t perfect across such 330,000 birds per year. energy. The steam is forced down the birds are dying (or being otherwise a vast and massive-mirror-covered But of course, utility-scale solar tower where it powers a turbine that injured) at Ivanpah. The best data terrain. like Ivanpah is still new territory and produces electricity, which is then available is laid out in a report by the “The numbers of dead birds are its long-term environmental impacts transmitted directly into the grid. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forenlikely underrepresented,” the report are unknown. The sea of computerized mirrors sics Lab, intended for internal use but reads. “Perhaps vastly so.” Ivanpah is “These are big, giant experiments follows the angle of the sun throughmade public in April via a Freedom of now implementing an Avian and Bat out daylight hours. From tens of miles Information Act request. The report Monitoring and Management Plan ap- that we’ve never done before on areas that are virtually ecologically away, visible rays of light shine on chronicles the cause of death of 233 proved by state and federal agencies untouched,” says Ilene Anderson, each of the three boilers. The glow bird carcasses collected at three solar and required by permit, and already senior scientist and desert public is almost heavenly — but the glow facilities in October 2013, 60 percent the numbers appear higher. Under reaches blistering temperatures of up of them at Ivanpah — 127 birds, 49 the plan, Ivanpah has reported 321 see INDUSTRIAL SOLAR Page 22 Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
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Scientists speculate that birds might be flying to their death at Ivanpah because the space between the mirrors and the boiler creates a “solar flux” that resembles a body of water. The descriptions of the deaths can be grisly: “feather damage ranging from singeing to charring,” skin burns, wing curling and melting. INDUSTRIAL SOLAR from Page 21
lands expert with the California office 300,000 acres of solar energy zones, of the Center for Biological Diverbut also left 19 million acres of public sity. When plans were being laid for lands “open” to possible future inIvanpah, it was the Mojave desert dustrial solar facilities. Western Lands tortoise, an ancient reptile listed as Project says the government did not threatened under the Endangered adequately explore the alternatives to Species Act since 1989, thought to industrial solar in desert habitat, such be the most imperiled by Ivanpah, as distributed generation in urban arwhich is actually sited within the eas — a photovoltaic panel on every Christi Turner Northeastern Mocommercial rooftop. jave Recovery Unit The U.S. District designated for the Court judge ruled in tortoise. Although favor of the governthe Center for ment and the case Biological Diversity went to appeal in had its doubts about the Ninth Circuit. Ivanpah in the devel“It’s an utter opment stages, the transformation of organization reached that landscape — a settlement with that’s what’s so BrightSource Energy, alarming about this the owners of the project,” says Janine The Ivanpah Solar Facility uses nearly 350,000 mirrors to focus facility, agreeing not Blaeloch, director solar rays on boilers located on to sue in exchange of Western Lands three centralized solar power towers. The steam produced for BrightSource’s Project, who says turbines and produces commitment to take drives such massive and energy. major actions to long-term projects reduce impacts on as Ivanpah amount the tortoise. to privatization of public lands. “It’s a A much smaller environmental or- blight in every way. It’s not just that ganization, the Western Lands Project, birds are being burned, but if that’s did file suit — not against Ivanpah, what it takes to get the public attenbut against the federal government tion” — then so be it. for making Ivanpah and many future To be clear, the Center for Biologindustrial-scale solar projects posical Diversity is concerned with the sible. The lawsuit took issue with a industrial-scale approach to solar as document called the Programmatic En- well. It calls the Interior Department’s vironmental Impact Statement for Solar approval system “rather dysfunctionEnergy Development in Six Southwestern al,” granting solar companies permits States, in which then-Secretary of the in ecologically sensitive areas. Interior Ken Salazar approved about “We live in a society with a utilityBoulderganic Fall ’14 Boulder Weekly
centric model of energy production and distribution that tends to favor large-scale private projects on public lands over smaller-scale local projects,” the center writes in the document explaining its settlement with BrightSource. “If we had a better incentive and regulatory structure, more projects would likely be proposed on disturbed or fragmented lands close to communities rather than in more remote desert locations, more houses and industrial buildings would be retrofitted with rooftop solar panels, and no new construction would be allowed that did not contain rooftop and parking lot solar or other attendant renewable power on site.” “We need to do renewable energy that doesn’t do further damage to wildlife that’s already being impacted by climate change,” Anderson of the Center for Biological Diversity says. The center has filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the federal government for failing to protect the endangered Yuma clapper rail from harm at two other industrial-scale solar (photovoltaic) facilities in the California desert, Solar Gen 2 and Desert Sunlight. For its part, Ivanpah is addressing the bird fatality issue. More than 25 biologists are employed full-time on site at any moment, including several focused solely on administering the Avian and Bat Monitoring and Management Plan. A number of contractors have been hired to implement a range of avian deterrent systems, like anti-perching devices, heliostat repositioning techniques (to randomly scatter light from mirrors that are not in use), and replacing the facility’s lights with LED bulbs to attract fewer insects (another possible attractor for birds). Jeff Holland, communications director for NRG Energy, which manages Ivanpah, says NRG has already spent upwards of $30 million on environmental impact mitigation. NRG aims for a fully transparent environmental monitoring process: Monthly compliance reports to the California Energy Commission and the Bureau of Land Management are posted to the California Energy Commission website, among thou-
sands of pages of related documents. But it’s still far from clear which bird deterrent methods are yielding actual results. More research is needed, Holland says. While there does not have to be an either/or choice between renewable energy and conservation, Ivanpah
is making it clear that the tradeoffs can be considerable. Perhaps Ivanpah’s dramatic “streamers” will help focus public attention not just on the plight of animals that soar above the desert, but also those who plod, amble and scramble through it. And to consider not just the effect on animals, but
the unknowable consequences of industrial-scale solar projects on the entire desert landscape. “We want to make it so the public understands that there is a different way to do this,” Blaeloch says. Respond: info@boulderganic.com
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Profile of a sustainability hub
The century-old Alliance Center in Denver emerges from a renovation more sustainable than ever By Christi Turner Christi Turner
I
t’s been 10 years since the Alliance lines the lower level hallway. Center took up residence as a multiAnd it’s as smart as energy-smart gets. tenant co-working space on Wynkoop Digital interfaces recessed in walls on each Street in Denver; grassroots powfloor indicate which of the center’s 18 conerhouses like Conservation Coloference rooms are available, which are in rado have anchored the center since it use and by whom, in real-time. Every door opened its doors in 2004. But this August, and room is equipped with sensors that it emerged from eight months of multidetect when people are present, and heat, million-dollar renovation as a true bastion cooling and electricity automatically adjust of sustainability. At 100-plus years old, the accordingly. Lights are LED, toilets are lowcenter is now the world’s first historic flow, appliances are Energy Star, even the building to earn two LEED (Leadership in roof is white — designed to deflect sunlight Energy and Environmental Design) certifiand decrease solar absorption caused by cations, and a living example of some of the dark surfaces — and its solar panels will best approaches to sustainability — and soon be flanked by two wind turbines. Natural light from south-facing windows gleams on recycled-material collaboration — in existence. It’s admirably, diligently eco-friendly. But furnishings in bright earthy greens and oranges in the lobby — or the It makes its home in the heart of lower Hub Café — which is wired and open to the public. it’s not just about being green, the folks Christi Turner downtown Denver, lovingly operated by at the Alliance say. With natural light on the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado, every floor, painstaking thought put into its a nonprofit dedicated to “transforming community-centric infrastructure and rigorsustainability from vision to reality.” It also ous tenant selection, the center is designed happens to be a quick walk from Union to be good for the sustainable soul. Tenants Station, another of Denver’s newest historic even abide by the Community Covenant facelifts, itself a model of green public trans— with sections ranging from “Be a Good portation and on track for LEED status — Neighbor” to “Sustainable Work-Life a groundbreaking achievement for such a Choices” — and there’s every reason to major hub. believe they should. The tenant application The Alliance Center is setting out to process ensures they aren’t just sustainablebe the hub for sustainability in Colorado ish, but sustainable-obsessed. and beyond, a place where anyone and Even the terms of lease are more “suseveryone dedicated to sustainability can tainable,” from a nonprofit sector stand“connect, innovate, discuss and activate the point. It isn’t actually a “lease,” however: The sustainability movement” and get inspired center doesn’t lease its space, it licenses it. by the center’s new ethos. That means a less binding contract, attracIt’s an inspiring space, oozing eco-chicThe Alliance Center is dog friendly, and of course it’s also bike friendly: tive to nonprofits, which often depend on Ample bike storage lines the lower level hallway. done-right. Natural light from south-facing grants (not necessarily a consistent revenue windows gleams on recycled-material stream) for their operating costs. Licensfurnishings in bright earthy greens and room for 200. It takes a moment to recognize that ing allows them the flexibility to change oranges in the lobby — or the Hub Café — wired the artwork featured on every floor is actually cre- the scope of their use of the Center’s office space, and open to the public. The café’s uber-sustainable ated from sculpted layers of reclaimed cardboard. even while maintaining access to all conference Marley Coffee will be joined by an equally susHydroponic planters grace the walls and purify rooms and common areas. And of course, energy tainability-focused beer and wine bar, hopefully by the air. Chalkboard walls relay positive messages efficiency is worked into the licensing structure: year’s end. Exposed brick walls and massive beams, among tenants. Tenants wander in and out of the Smart rates for energy usage outside of normal all original, contrast with a frosted glass wall that café for a latte, unleashed dogs by their side — this business hours (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) promote efficiendivides the lobby from the main conference space, is Colorado, after all. The center is dog friendly, and see ALLIANCE CENTER Page 26 or folds aside to open up an event space with of course it’s also bike friendly: Ample bike storage Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
September 25, 2014 25
ALLIANCE CENTER from Page 25
cy and responsibility and keep costs Denver Foundation early this year down for everyone. — the first such loan the Foundation It wasn’t cheap to get this green, has ever issued — gave the Alliance but the funding that did it is being the capital it needed to invest in its praised as a super sustainable investLEED-Platinum renovation of the ment. A $7.5 million loan called a center. In-kind contributions, sponBBB.Boulder Weekly_Layout 1 9/18/14 AM Page individual 1 Program Related Investment via the 7:55 sorships, donations and
historic tax credits rounded out the funds. As investment tools go, the Program Related Investment is uniquely suited for the Alliance Center. It boasts a super low 1 percent interest rate (versus commercial loans that
Join us Thursday Nov.13th, 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm at the Hotel Boulderado Featured Speaker: Jemele
Hill
In her daily work as an ESPN columnist/ TV personality, Jemele Hill bravely and publically supports the rights of sexual assault surivors.
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$50 General Admission | $25 Students/Seniors/Non-Profit Employees & Volunteers To purchase tickets, call 303.443.0400 or go online to www.MovingToEndSexualAssault.org. ME S A is a program of Mental Health Partners
26 September 25, 2014
generally hover around 5.5 percent), the ability for the Denver Foundation to re-grant the funds as the Alliance pays them back, and a metric of success that takes social impact benefits into account. It seems appropriate, then, that one of the newest tenants at the Alliance Center — and its only forprofit tenant thus far — is a financial services institute devoted to sustainable investment. Chief Investment Officer Phil Kirshman says Cornerstone Capital Group has sustainability infused in its DNA, founded on the idea that investment should be a tool used to promote social change. Kirshman leads the new Denver branch of New York City-based CCG. The Alliance makes perfect sense as an office, he says. “If you really look at what will drive sustainability efforts going forward, I think you really need a multipronged effort,” including a mass shift toward corporate responsibility and sustainable investment strategies in the for-profit sector, according to Kirshman. Already, Kirshman says, being a tenant at the center has brought new possibilities for collaboration and is helping Cornerstone Capital Group get a nuanced sense of funding needs in Denver’s nonprofit sector. And take heed, Boulder investors and non-profits:You’re in Cornerstone Capital Group’s sustainable investment purview, too. The renovations to the Alliance Center expanded its usable space by 60 percent — and it’s still growing. With 28 permanent tenant organizations employing more than 110 people, the center aims to hit 60 percent capacity (about 31 organizations, or 155 employees) by December, and 85 percent by the end of 2015. That’s for permanent tenants; the Center also boasts new “hot desks,” designed for individuals and groups who want short-term access to a robust, sustainable co-working space. For a tried-and-true Boulderite, sounds like an ideal option for a business day in Denver. Respond: info@boulderganic.com
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Boulderganic Fall ’14 Boulder Weekly
Marijuana Growing Practices So, what exactly are you smoking? By Melissa Schaaf
Y
our next blunt or pot brownie may have ing out big money for potentially untested product. some undesirable additives, including neuFor the entire first half of the 2013 to 2014 fisrotoxins, molds and heavy metals. Arsenic, cal year, Boulder County recorded nearly $21.7 milanyone? lion in medical marijuana sales, adding to Colorado’s The passage of Amendment 64 in Colototal of nearly $216 million. rado legalized recreational marijuana for those 21 Recreational marijuana sales are bringing in the years of age or older, and House Bill 1317 initiated dollars too. With approximately 686,000 yearly mandatory potency testing — but only for the users and 485,000 monthly users, the Marijuana Enrecreational stuff. Unless specifically requested, neiforcement Division released a study in July estimatther recreational nor medicinal marijuana is tested ing marijuana demand by Colorado adult residents for potentially harmful toxins, including pesticides, will reach 121.4 metric tons in 2014. fungicides, herbicides and molds. The demand for both recreational and medicinal Matt Haskin, co-founder Courtesy of Organic Alternatives/Sean Bradley marijuana has put pressure of quality assurance teston growers and producers ing laboratory CannaSafe to grow faster with higher Analytics, says the most yields, which may lead to common toxins found on some growers compromiscannabis are pesticide resiing quality in order to meet dues, including avermectins the demand. and miticides. In high enough “There are fantastic doses, these can affect the growers out there right central nervous system. now, and a lot of horrible Based in southern California, ones,” says Randy Haskin, CannaSafe Analytics was the Matt Haskin’s father and first cannabis-testing laboralaboratory director for Cantory in the nation accredited naSafe Analytics. “Always by the International Organiquestion whether or not the zation of Standardization. product has been tested.” “One of the biggest Ask specifically, Randy Neither recreational nor medicinal marijuana is tested for potentially harmful toxins, including says, about the presence of [pest] problems with canpesticides, fungicides, herbicides and mold. nabis is spider mites,” Matt plant growth regulators. says. “We’ve found traces “Plant growth regulaof certain pesticides that cannabis growers use [to tors were developed to increase the flowering of control spider mites] that are not allowed in any ornamental plants and make them grow bigger and agricultural farming situation and are mostly used faster,” he says. “This is fine for ornamentals. If for ornamental flowers that won’t be consumed by they’re used on cannabis, the buds will be bigger people. These miticides are neurotoxins that can and the plant will look healthy, but it will be full of build up in the body. It’s very rare that laboratory metal, including mercury, zinc and arsenic.” growers want to test for residues, and there are no Although traces of extremely harmful chemicals regulations in place that require them to do so.” are rare, laboratories are only able to test whatever Molds can also be an issue with cannabis. Acsamples certain registered growers and dispensaries cording to California-based Steep Hill Labs, Inc., send in, leaving users to question how many choose the most commonly seen mold is mildew, which not to, and why. is also the least harmful. Aspergillus, however, is Sean Bradley, lead grower for Organic Alternaalso found on cannabis and can have highly toxic tives Medical Marijuana Dispensary in Fort Collins, carcinogenic properties that damage the kidneys. says he believes that all marijuana, recreational and Users who already have a compromised immune medicinal, should be tested and upheld against the system may be exposed to additional contaminants industry standard. of untested cannabis. “We test every single one of our batches for Based on the Colorado Department of Revenue potency and for contaminants,” he says. “The repusales numbers, medical marijuana patients are shelltation of the industry is at stake when it comes to Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
that kind of thing. Consistency should be standard — this is legitimate of any industry, not just marijuana.” Organic Alternatives markets all of their products as grown and produced organically. Despite clean, organic growing practices, there is no cannabis product that can be technically labeled organic according to the United States Department of Agriculture or the Food and Drug Administration because it is still illegal at the federal level and classified as a Schedule I substance. Randy Haskin explains that cannabis is grown in three different ways: outdoors, indoors or in a greenhouse setting. Even if outdoor growers opt out of using chemical pesticides and herbicides, the plants are susceptible to cross contamination from chemicals used by nearby farms. To deter any sort of contamination and ensure an organic product, he says that the marijuana would have to be grown in a clean room where individuals would have to wear hazmat suits. Although this method would produce the cleanest product, he says that it would also cost more and generate smaller yields. Bradley, of Organic Alternatives, has a slightly different view on what it means to grow organically. “Whether it’s marijuana or a tomato, I would define truly organic as having it be outdoors, living off the sun and the nutrients provided in the ground, how nature intended it,” he says. “To say we’re organic but we’re growing indoors is a controversial topic, and we’re very aware of that. The fossil fuels used for the lights could be argued unsustainable and non-organic — we use a lot of electricity and in turn we pay for wind and solar credits to try and create a balance.” Bradley agrees that it costs the company two to three times the amount in production costs to grow as organically as possible, and that “the yield is less, but the product is superior.” Organic practices, such as making microbial teas brewed with water, oxygen and raw materials (earthworms, and bat and bird guano), allow the plants to take up these non-chemical fertilizers from the soil, creating a living colony of beneficial bacteria for the plant. Any chemicals used, including pesticides, fungicides and cleaning materials, are all certified organic. While things may be murky now, there is talk of required testing regulations for both recreational and medicinal marijuana, for potency and for contaminants, slowly being phased in over the next year. “All states should require full testing,” Randy Haskin says. “Colorado is not there yet, but it will be. We’re predicting it will happen by spring 2015.” Until then, it’s up to the consumer to inquire about testing before toking. Respond: info@boulderganic.com September 25, 2014 29
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Zero waste heroes
Courtesy of Lyndsey Manderson
One sustainably minded couple’s quest to open a zero-waste grocery store by Gloria Dickie
T
he tortilla chips had to go. It wasn’t a matter of cutting calories or pinching pennies for the Manderson family, rather the salty snack was beginning to interfere with a different kind of diet — a plastic diet. Lyndsey and Jesse Manderson couldn’t find an alternative for the crinkly, plastic bag that enveloped one of their favorite snacks. Eventually, they concluded it was time to part ways with the processed food. Such plastic purging is slowly catching on in North America as awareness about plastic pollution and negative health effects grows. But for many practitioners, divesting their lifestyles of plastic waste can be challenging — and inconvenient. The Mandersons hope to change that. Using their firsthand knowledge of the daily struggles associated with living plastic-free, the Mandersons plan to open a zero-waste grocery store in Denver within the next year. The Mandersons say ZERO market will offer nontoxic, preservativefree groceries, organic and locally grown produce, cruelty-free body care and eco-friendly household products — all in bulk and without disposable packaging. Such zero-waste markets, which employ the bring-your-own-container concept of shopping, aren’t entirely a new idea — there’s the Austinbased in.gredients and Germany’s Original Unverpackt just opened in Berlin this past summer. In addition, many farmers’ markets, like Boulder County’s, are zero waste in their practices. But permanent, year-round
If they get the funding they need, Lyndsey and Jesse Manderson plan to stock tooth powder instead of toothpaste, bars of shampoo instead of plastic bottles, and DIY sunscreen, deodorant and moisturizer at their Denver zero-waste grocery store.
stores are few and far between. For Lyndsey and Jesse, their journey of paring down plastic to the point where they can fit eight months’ worth of trash into an oversized mason jar has taken years. “The first thing we did was get rid of all the trash cans in our house except for the kitchen,” recalls Lyndsey. “If we were in the bathroom and we had to throw something away, we had to think [about it] and how we could change next week.” The family also kept a small pad of paper beside the garbage can where they would record any and all refuse deposits. At the end of the week, they would comb through the list to see where they could improve. “There’s no way we could have just done everything in the first week,” Lyndsey says. “It’s just way too overwhelming; we have two kids, fulltime jobs and a life to live.” Like Lyndsey and Jesse, Mike SanClements attempted to live without plastic. SanClements is a scientist at the National Ecological Observatory Network at the University of Colorado’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and author of the book Plastic Purge, which details the dangers plastics pose to human health, his own difficulties living a plastic-free life and ways others can purge plastic from their lives. “If the markets themselves can make it more convenient and easier for the consumer to avoid plastic, that’s a huge step,” he says. The plastic industry is the third
Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
largest manufacturing industry in the United States, generating more than $380 billion annually in global shipments and employing close to 900,000 workers. For many small businesses, it’s nearly impossible to work around. But big bulk stores like Costco have managed to cut packaging on their products and passed on the discounts to the customer. That offers hope to people like SanClements. “The potential for corporations to save money on packaging is a way to get them to buy into reducing packaging,” he says. In the meantime, it can be difficult to find zero-waste suppliers, says Lyndsey, because there isn’t a huge demand for it. But Coloradan consumers are certainly taking notice of the Mandersons’ business venture. In addition to their own savings, the couple launched an Indiegogo campaign that has already amassed over $20,000 in financial support for ZERO market. SanClements, who has been studying plastic for years, believes people are finally taking notice of the material’s harmful effects, thanks to increased media attention on issues like microbeads entering the water system and even the search for Malaysia Airlines 370, which highlighted the amount of plastic trash cluttering the ocean. When it comes to microbeads, the tiny plastic pellets found in exfoliants are specifically designed to pass through water filtration systems, ending up in the bellies of fish and working their way through the food chain. In 2014, Illinois became the first
American state to ban cosmetics containing microbeads. “Plastic has endocrine disruptors which can cause changes in the hormonal function of our bodies,” SanClements explains. “It’s been linked to all sorts of things ranging from birth defects and developmental disorders to obesity to even some cancers.” Many of the chemicals found in plastic are unregulated, and while most people are now aware of the dangers of BPA, even BPA-free plastic has been found to pose similar risks. “Plastic is considered by many health professionals to be one of the biggest experiments ever done on humankind,” says Jesse. It makes sense, then, that the Mandersons would turn to tooth powder instead of toothpaste; that they would use bars of shampoo instead of pouring the liquid from clunky, persisting plastic bottles; and that they plan to stock all the fixings for DIY sunscreen, deodorant and moisturizer at their Denver store, in addition to waste-free food. But Jesse notes it’s important to remember there aren’t zero-waste alternatives to everything — sometimes when you get down to the bottomline you just have to part ways with a product forever. And sometimes, plastic is a necessary evil. “We need plastic in our lives. There are reasons for plastics. It’s always going to be out there,” he says. “But as a far as containing our food and water, maybe we should be looking in other directions.” Respond: info@boulderganic.com September 25, 2014 31
W
hat if we just woke up one day and corn was outlawed?” asks Eric Hunter, president of the Rocky Mountain Hemp Association. “Imagine if 80 years down the road corn was illegal. There go chips, corn syrup, plastic cups. Hemp is just as harmless as corn — why should it be illegal?” Although illegal at the federal level, small steps are being taken toward legalization of industrial hemp farming in the U.S. In 2014, Colorado and Kentucky regulated legal hemp cultivation as part of the Farm Bill, allowing growers to register farmland dedicated to the crop. As of August 2014, Colorado had 55 commercial registrants with 1,461 acres and 73 research and development registrants with 237 acres. Despite the number of acres and individuals registered, many fields are void of the crop due to seed accessibility issues. Of the 1,698 registered Colorado acres dedicated to cultivating hemp, 300 of those belong to Ryan Loflin’s farm in Springfield. “Unfortunately, I’ve only been able to plant a little over six acres,” he says. “I wasn’t able to get seed — it got held up at customs.” Loflin joins several registered farmers facing barriers during the inaugural year of hemp farming in Colorado. Ron Carleton, deputy commissioner for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, explains this is due, in part, to regulation inconsistencies. In addition to the Farm Bill at the federal level, the passage of Amendment 64 in Colorado legalized the cultivation, processing and sale of industrial hemp and allowed farmers to register with the state either as commercial growers or research and development growers. “There are difficulties getting seeds because industrial hemp has essentially been illegal since the 1950s,” Carleton says. “The only seed they can get is from other countries 32 September 25, 2014
Caren Kershner
Of the 1,698 registered Colorado acres dedicated to cultivating hemp, 300 of those belong to Ryan Loflin’s farm in Springfield.
Hemp Industry Overview The first year of legal hemp farming in Colorado proves difficult for farmers by Melissa Schaaf because of the conflict with state versus federal law. Hemp and marijuana are considered to be one in the same, and seeds cannot be imported without an import permit from the [Drug Enforcement Agency]. And they’re not issuing any.” Hunter says another hurdle lies with seed breeders refusing to export their seeds. “Because it’s illegal, there’s no patent protection; they would have to be registered as part of the national seed database,” he says. “Until that happens, there’s really nothing to do.” If farmers are lucky enough to get ahold of seeds, it’s not cheap. Seeds are typically imported from Canada, China and the European Union. Loflin estimates that seeds are being sold from Europe at $4 to $5 per pound
and has even heard of an Italian seed going for $12 per pound. Last year he imported about 1,500 pounds of hemp seeds from Europe to plant 300 acres. The seeds were shipped in 55 pound bags for $250 per bag. He planted six acres this year with seeds he harvested last year. “This year, I tried to do it completely legitimately through the Farm Bill,” he says. “I want to focus on seed production and establish good, climatized seed genetics. We’re not sure what the policy will be next year and getting seeds could be a problem again.” Even if seeds are acquired and planted, farmers gamble with the potential potency of the hemp they’re cultivating. Under Farm Bill regulation, the Department of Agriculture
reserves the right to test the crops to ensure the delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, is below 0.3 percent. If a crop tests beyond the limit, the farmer cannot legally harvest the hemp and may be required to destroy it, resulting in a major financial loss. With high prices and strict regulations, the reintroduction of hemp in Colorado has been difficult on farmers. “In the first developing years of hemp plants being re-established in American soil, there could be THC spikes and changes,” Loflin says. “I think if they raised the level to 1 percent that would give every farmer peace of mind not having to worry. It costs me $300 per month just to water — if you put all that money into it and are told to destroy it in the end, it’s a big loss.” The United States has historically had a love-hate relationship with Cannabis, the genus encompassing both hemp and marijuana. In 1937, Congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act which effectively began the era of hemp prohibition. The tax and licensing regulations of the act made hemp cultivation difficult for American farmers. The bombing of Pearl Harbor in World War II, however, was a game changer. It cut off foreign hemp from the Philippines, so the federal government subsidized and encouraged hemp cultivation during this time, leading farmers to grow more than 1 million acres. After the war ended, the government quietly shut down all hemp processing plants, and the industry faded away again. And, in 1970, the country severed all ties with the crop by categorizing all cannabis as a Schedule I substance per the Controlled Substances Act, freezing any sort of hemp cultivation, processing facilities and consumer sales. Hunter believes reverting back to federal legalization would mark the end of what he considers an unneces-
Boulderganic Fall ’14 Boulder Weekly
Helping Grow Business... sary era. Medical Hemp Act of 2014 was in“Legalization would be a return troduced to Congress on July 28. Acto normalcy,” he says. “I laugh when cording to the Act, it would exclude they say legalization is an experiment “therapeutic hemp” and “cannabidiol” — prohibition is the experiment.” from the definition of marijuana in Although hemp is a cousin to the Controlled Substances Act. marijuana, the psychoactive constituThe separation of hemp from ents are a notably smaller percentage marijuana in the Controlled Subof hemp’s chemical stances Act could Courtesy of Ryan Loflin makeup. Recreational reclassify or and medicinal mariremove it from juana have a higher Schedule I claspercentage of THC sification, potenusually ranging from 3 tially leading to the to 30 percent, whereas federal legalization cannabis with THC of hemp. Farmers levels of 1 percent or would then be able lower is considered to freely cultivate hemp. Hemp also the crop on a has a higher ratio of larger scale. Colocannabidiol (CBD) to rado farmer Loflin THC. Cannabidiol is sees that as a way found in both hemp to create employand marijuana and is a ment opportuninon-psychoactive comties and improve pound typically used the economy. for medical purposes. Although illegal at the federal “Ultimately, level, small steps are being taken this is a job-creatThe most famous toward legalization of industrial example of medicinal hemp farming. In 2014, Colorado ing crop, and what and Kentucky regulated legal hemp use is that of we need more cultivation as part of the Charlotte Figi, a 5-year- hemp than anything right Farm Bill. old girl who suffers now is jobs,” he from Dravet syndrome, says. “Leading the causing her to have hundreds of nation is pretty exciting — we’re seizures every week. In 2012, a strain right at the tip of the iceberg as far as of hemp was developed in Colorado the future goes. Farmers have been Springs to help Charlotte. Through struggling for years, and this is giving cross breeding hemp varieties and them hope again.” landrace strains of cannabis, a new With Colorado on the forestrain emerged yielding extremely front of the changing hemp industry, high levels of cannabidiol and very Deputy Commissioner Ron Carleton low levels of THC, 20 percent and 0.5 also sees promise for the future of percent, respectively. Consumed in hemp farming despite the hurdles hemp seed oil form, this strain eased many farmers faced in 2014. Charlotte’s seizures from hundreds “Industrial hemp has a lot of per week to only a few per month promise and potential as a commodand was christened Charlotte’s Web. ity crop for our farmers,” he says. Using Charlotte’s example and “I think it may take us a little while research studies on the medicinal to get to the point where a lot of it benefits of hemp oil, representatives is being cultivated and economically are going to bat at the federal level viable, but it has every intention to be to separate hemp from marijuana by a profitable crop.” legal definition. The Charlotte’s Web Respond: info@boulderganic.com Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
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The need for seaweed Why sea vegetables make your thyroid happy, and why a happy thyroid means a healthier body by Kristin Savory
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e honest: how much do you and transfer nutrients across cell or a plant serves the body in much really think about your thymembranes. Enzymes just won’t work the same way that the plant acts in its roid? Chances are, unless you without the presence of key minerals. natural environment. suffer from thyroid disease, “A robust dose of marine minerals, “Wherever seaweeds grow, that butterfly-shaped gland specifically iodine via the potent variety they do not simply absorb and in your neck probably doesn’t cross of sea vegetable, is the most effective concentrate toxins,” Paul Pitchford your mind too often. way to increase iodine naturally and writes in Healing with Whole Foods. The thyroid is an important “com- balance the thyroid,” says Sue Van Raes, “Rather, they detoxify and transform municator” in the body, a manager, a nutritional therapist, health coach and a certain amount of toxic metals, if you will, secreting hormones that founder of Boulder Nutrition. converting them to harmless salts, control the rate of many bodily However, the body can’t produce which the body excretes through the activities, including how fast you burn minerals on its own, so humans have intestines.” Seaweed consumption calories and the speed at which your to get them through food. Essentially, is known to soften hardened areas heart beats. and masses (think Kristin Savory Taking care of your fibroids, nodules or thyroid is a big win for cystic tissues), and your hormones. A healthy detoxify the body. thyroid will boost enMost likely due to ergy, balance moods and their high mineral increase libido.You might content, eating seabe surprised, but a healthy weed tends to get thyroid will even give you things moving in the a youthful glow. body and kick bioSo, if you knew there chemical reactions was a food loaded with into gear. valuable nutrition that “Because iodine could support your thyfrom sea veggies roid, would you run out comes from a whole and grab some? food, it is readily Sea vegetables — with absorbable and asexotic names like kombu, similates easy, making nori and arame — are it the most effective Arame is just one variety of seaweed you can incorporate into your loaded with iodine (neces- diet to help balance your hormones. Arame salad is an easy-to-presource of iodine,” pare side dish to start with. sary to the production says Van Raes. “This of thyroid hormones), rich dose of iodine calcium, magnesium, B-vitamins and minerals come from the earth. is integral in regulating the metabolic iron that can help rev up metabolism. Healthy soil is about 45 percent activity in every cell in the body and But the best part about seaweed is mineral rich, but modern farming influencing how we feel and function that they’re mineral dense, with 10 to practices have taken a toll on mineral every day.” 20 times the minerals of land plants. concentrations. Studying U.S. DepartSo if your hair is getting a little Although they may not sound as ment of Agriculture data from 1950 thin, or you’d like to slim down just a warm and fuzzy as vitamins, minerals and 1999, a team at the University bit, adding dishes like arame seaweed perform critical functions — like spark of Texas at Austin found a marked salad to your diet can help by supporting your thyroid gland. plugs in a car, minerals are the starting decline in numerous nutrients in 43 Arame, also known as sea oak, has point for combustion in your body. fruits and vegetables, meaning that a a subtle, semi-sweet flavor and firm All nutrients — vitamins, proteins, well-balanced diet could still leave a texture. Known for its use in Japanese enzymes, amino acids, carbohydrates body in need of a mineral boost. cuisine, arame is easy to work with and fats — need minerals to help In Chinese medicine and other and mixes well into casseroles, soups them do their jobs inside the body. natural healing modalities, there’s and muffins. Minerals are necessary to build a theory called the Doctrine of Feeling lost about how to incorhealthy bones, produce hormones Signatures, which states that an herb Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
porate seaweed into your meals? This salad is a snap to make and, after a little time marinating in the fridge, gets even better the next day. If you’re not a fan of the seaweed flavor, you can always tone it down a bit by serving it over a light bed of greens, such as Romaine leaves.
ARAME SEAWEED SALAD
You can add any of your favorite veggie combinations without going wrong. Prep time: 15 minutes For the salad: 1 cup arame filtered water for soaking ½ red pepper diced 2 scallions chopped fine 2 carrots grated 1 daikon radish grated For the dressing: ¼ cup Bragg’s apple cider vinegar 2 TBSP coconut aminos 1 TBSP sesame oil pinch of red pepper flakes pinch of sea salt 1. In a medium bowl, cover arame with more than enough water. Soak for 15 minutes. While soaking prep your veggies and dressing. 2. In another medium sized bowl, add the red pepper, scallions, carrots and daikon radish. 3. In a small bowl, combine all of the dressing ingredients. 4. After 15 minutes of soaking, drain the water from the seaweed using a fine mesh strainer. Squeeze the remaining water out by using your hands. 5. Add the arame to the veggies and mix well. Add the dressing and mix again. Kristin Savory is a licensed acupuncturist in Boulder, Colorado. Find this recipe and other recipes to support your hormones at www.kristinsavory.com. Respond: info@boulderganic.com September 25, 2014 35
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Boulderganic Fall ’14 Boulder Weekly
Get in a hot tub, get healthy Boulder nutritional pharmacist and radio show host Ben Fuchs offers a different perspective on medicine and staying healthy by Maalikah Hartley
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ack in the Middle Ages, when public health, immunization and plumbing weren’t realities of daily life, things like feces, urine and butchered animal’s blood and guts would be left out in the streets. The black plague would soon follow. “So says the book [The Great Mortality] anyway — I wasn’t there,” says Ben Fuchs, a nutritional pharmacist from Boulder and host of the radio show The Bright Side on the Genesis Communications Network. “So I’m reading this [book] and I’m thinking, ‘How can people be so stupid?’ And then I realize … we poison people to get them better,” Fuchs says, referring to treatments like chemotherapy. “It is the most asinine … backwards system.” The radio show host of nearly 20 years studied biochemistry and graduated from pharmacology school at the University of Colorado Boulder in the ’80s — after receiving a broadcast journalism degree at Syracuse University. He believes in a different medical philosophy, not centered on homeopathic or allopathic, but nutrional supplementation, digestive health and proper diet. Fuchs explains that humans would die without essential nutrients such as magnesium, or vitamins A and C, and says that although those things are impossible to extract from the body all at once, when the body starts depleting itself of these essential nutrients, or basic elements such as water and oxygen, that is when degenerative diseases kick in. “Starvation, suffocation, toxification and then inflammation,” Fuchs says. “Your blood pressure will change, your bones will get weaker, you’ll be a little confused, you’ll have muscle fatigue, you’ll have anxiety.” As a former pharmacology
Courtesy of Ben Fuchs
student and renates with what search assistant I recommend to at Blistex (started patients.” by a CU profesFuchs now sor), Fuchs says holds steadfast he would study to the idea that the toxic nature drugs can’t heal of drugs while and that the studying the “numbers” used medicinal properto indicate good ties of vitamins health markers and minerals. are a hat trick When he got a that don’t address the root job at a K-mart cause of the pharmacy shortly problem. He after school, he doesn’t like to would question be called a health why toxins would Radio host Ben Fuchs, a pharmacist with a degree in journalism, believes nut either, but be administered in a medical philosophy centered on nutritional supplementation, digestive someone who to heal the body. health and proper diet. has just figured “I was comout the “noplicit. People brainer” of good nutrition. would come in with a bunch of pill He cringes and strays away from bottles … and you’d have to fill 15 talking about himself, but is wideto 20 pill bottles. They’re each indieyed when talking about the history vidually poisonous, let alone 15 to 20 of these things [used in combina- of biochemical advancement in the tion],” Fuchs says. “One day I just… I 1900s, what he calls the “McDonald’sfelt terrible and started recommend- ification” of the medical school curriculum by Abraham Flexner (whose ing nutrition to people. ‘You might Flexner Report, published in 1910, is wanna take some vitamin C with widely seen as the key document that that, some probiotics.’ Needless to say, K-mart was not happy with me.” reformed medical education in the United States), and the drug compaFuchs laughs when he recalls nies that would soon make “phenombeing fired for not being “K-mart enal margins” by working with the material,” but he would later go on to open up a pharmacy school, work schools. But Fuchs won’t bash on drugs in the natural skin care business, and all day. He believes there are two he is soon to open his own skin care kinds of medicine: heroic and ambubusiness called The Truth. latory. “It’s almost like getting a mas“Heroic medicine is if you get hit ter’s in nutrition just by listening to him,” says Dr. Bonnie Friehling, who’s by a car, if you have a heart attack, practiced as a medical doctor for 34 need stitching. Nobody is putting that down, that is a marvel, and years and resides in Columbia, Mo. Friehling currently uses Fuchs’ newly surgeons who do that are technicians of the highest degree,” Fuchs formulated scar cream. “I learned says, adding that emergency drugs things from him that I never learned in medical school or any of my train- like pain pills, antibiotics and antimicrobials are necessary in correct ing. Most everything he says reso-
Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
doses. “[But] ambulatory medicine is the kind of medicine where you walk. You walk into the office and you walk out of the office. This is the kind of medicine that addresses what you need nutrition for, what you need food for, what you need lifestyle choices for. This is dishonest, this isn’t fair. … This is 80 percent of the cost of our healthcare — ambulatory, degenerative disease they call it. This is where I come in.” His philosophy addressed at the beginning of his radio show The Bright Side, which airs weekdays from 9-10 a.m. at www.GCNlive. com, talks about the design of the human body and how its biochemical system can regenerate itself on a moment-to-moment basis. He offers natural solutions to better health and tries to wean his audience off of polypharmaceutical medicine — or medications containing several drugs. Topics range from the meaning of hormones, to the trickery of fancy Latin-named diseases, to protein smoothies, to the health benefits of apple cider vinegar, to gut health, to the elimination diet (eliminating problematic foods from your diet). And for the upcoming cold season, Fuchs says ditch the flu shot and strengthen your immune system by getting efficient zinc, vitamin C, water and sleep. He highlights the importance of not stressing the body and staying away from chronic fearful or negative thoughts. “Love your body. Take care of it. Activate the parasympathetic nervous system — nutrition, stable blood sugar, respiration, taking a load off the body, repairing digestive issues, absorption. It’s the same stuff over and over again,” he says. “Get in a hot tub — God wants you in a hot tub.” Respond: info@boulderganic.com September 25, 2014 37
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It’s about what goes in, not what comes out A Boulder-based adventure junkie takes a look at ‘detoxifying’ cleanses by James Dziezynski
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t the start of spring, I tried a seven-day cleansing and detoxifying supplement program. I was feeling tired, stressed out and low-energy — conditions that seem to come with the territory of being over 30 years old. The kit I purchased contained a three-part system that would supposedly clean the toxins from my liver, purge my kidneys and load me up with fiber. According to the instructions, I was told I needed to eat only vegetables for the first two days, then add in fruits, then eventually healthy lean meats and beans. As any good scientist knows, changing multiple variables in an experiment can lead to vague conclusions — how could I know if it was the cleanse supplements or the improved eating that was working its magic? I went ahead with the plan — which included cutting caffeine — and spent two miserable days hungry, irritable and well acquainted with the bathroom. Three or four days in, I began to feel markedly better and by the end of the seven days I indeed had more energy, a bit more focus and had even lost a few pounds. The problem was, I didn’t know what exactly did the trick. NBC News reports that natural and alternative supplements and medicines are a $40 billion per year business. And any industry that big is bound to have a twisted way of marketing its product. It was time to do
Popular “detoxifying” cleanses such as the “Master Cleanse,” claim to increase energy and health by cleaning toxins from the liver and purging the kidneys and bowels of noxious buildup — but health professionals say it’s more about what goes into the body than what comes out.
some nitty-gritty research and find out what science has to say about the physiological benefits of both alternative supplements and simply eating a healthier diet. I figured I’d start with the headiest source I could — the Mayo Clinic. “Detox, or detoxification, diets are popular, but they’re not scientifically proven,” says Katherine Zeratsky, a registered and licensed dietician at the Mayo Clinic. Detox diets are touted as a way to remove toxins from the body. Specific detox diets vary, but typically a period of fasting is followed by a strict diet of raw vegetables, fruit and fruit juices, and water. In addition, some detox diets advocate using herbs and other supplements along with colon cleansing (enemas) to empty the intestines. Some people report feeling more focused and energetic during and after detox diets. However, there’s little evidence that detox diets actually remove toxins from the body. Indeed, the kidneys and liver effectively filter and eliminate most ingested toxins. The benefits from a detox diet may actually come from avoiding highly processed foods that have solid fats and added sugar. The more research I did, it became apparent that ingredients supposedly designed to “detoxify” the
Boulder Weekly Boulderganic Fall ’14
kidney and liver (such as milk thistle and various organic laxatives) have no scientific evidence of actually purifying anything. A wealth of studies published on the National Center for Biotechnology Information website enforce the notion that detoxification of the liver and kidneys simply doesn’t happen from these products. When functioning properly, both of these organs are incredibly effective at cleaning waste from the body. Laxatives can help clean up constipated bowels, but as far as detoxifying the entire body, there’s little evidence to back it up. It became clear that it isn’t about what comes out of the body but about what goes in. Because the human body is marvelously efficient at discarding wastes doesn’t mean it’s exempt from penalties for poor diets. Hormone levels of insulin, red blood cell production and many other processes go into proper nutrition and digestion. The more “filler” foods and processed sugars find their way into our systems, the harder the body has to work to extract the good and eliminate the bad, which is why so many people feel so lethargic when eating poorly. Many folks herald the wondrous benefits of juicing, though Jennifer K. Nelson, also a registered and licensed dietician at the Mayo Clinic, notes, “Juicing probably is not any
healthier than eating whole fruits and vegetables. Juicing extracts the juice from fresh fruits or vegetables. The resulting liquid contains most of the vitamins, minerals and plant chemicals (phytonutrients) found in the whole fruit. However, whole fruits and vegetables also have healthy fiber, which is lost during most juicing.” “Some juicing proponents say that juicing is better for you than is eating whole fruits and vegetables because your body can absorb the nutrients better and it gives your digestive system a rest from working on fiber,” says Nelson. “They say that juicing can reduce your risk of cancer, boost your immune system, help you remove toxins from your body, aid digestion and help you lose weight. However, there’s no sound scientific evidence that extracted juices are healthier than the juice you get by eating the fruit or vegetable itself.” It seems the bottom line is that the idea of a “cleanse” is somewhat misleading. It is at the start of the process — not the end — where the most important changes are made. By shifting to a healthier, balanced diet, the body will slowly but surely adapt, which will present noticeable increases in energy and focus, promote better sleep and generally make you feel a lot better. However, depending on how far you are from an ideal diet, these changes can take a frustratingly long time — expect anywhere from five days to several months to feel the full effects of a move to a healthier diet. More recently, I made a commitment to try the week-long cleanse without the cleanse supplements — two days of eating raw veggies, slowly adding in fruits then finally eliminating unhealthy foods. And wouldn’t you know it, I felt the same positive changes. Cleanses may not be all they are cracked up to be — much like fad diets — but the science that accompanies most cleanse programs proves that eating healthy and simple foods are the surest ways to ultimately feeling better. Respond: info@boulderganic.com September 25, 2014 39
Run for your life Done the right way, running just three miles a day can provide serious health benefits by James Dzeizynski
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ave Gaudette, owner of benefits to your workout, try runlin to help glucose enter cells.” Front Range Boxing, lays ning in the morning before breakWhile the exact causes of insulin it on the line: if you’re not fast. A 2010 study published in the resistance are not completely unwilling to put in the time to Journal of Physiology assigned 28 derstood, scientists think the major run three miles, you’re not healthy young men to two groups: contributors to insulin resistance are serious about your fitness training. one which ate a big, carbohydrate excess weight and physical inactivity. Given the wealth of distractions heavy breakfast before exercising “By losing weight and being more available in day-to-day life, reassignand another that had a calorically physically active,” reads the institute’s ing 20-30 minutes a day to running similar breakfast after their workwebsite, “people can reverse insulin is not a huge sacrifice. And unlike out. The results: the group who ate resistance and prediabetes, thus preother forms of exercise, running breakfast before exercising not only venting or delaying type 2 diabetes,” three miles a day, five days a week, gained weight but developed insulin primarily through eating a healthy can provide results in a reladiet, maintaining a health weight Courtesy of WikiCommons/Kris Krüg tively short time. and increasing physical activity. If you’re looking for a modA second benefit to exercisest commitment to fitness, try ing before eating is increased starting each weekday with a human growth hormone, an three-mile run. By running five agent that greatly aids in new days a week, your body will muscle creation, fat burning efadjust in several healthy ways ficiency and bone strength. Along that can improve energy, mood with proper sleep, the adjustand promote weight loss. ments your body will make while Should you accept the fasting will be amplified with a three-mile challenge, get ready simple three-mile run. Fasting to harvest a wealth of benefits. and exercise also help both men First and foremost, you’re going and women produce natural to be burning calories. How testosterone, a hormone that many calories are burned is deincreases energy, improves libido pendent on how hard the runand reduces body fat. ner goes — the old myth that Perhaps the best part of the walking and running burn the three-mile run program is that same amount of calories has it is easy to “stay on the wagon.” long been disproved. A detailed Even if you miss your mornTo get the most out of your run, research suggests study conducted by California ing run, you only need 20-30 running in the morning before breakfast. State University and published minutes to sneak it in — and it’s a good excuse to get your dog in 2012 shows that both men moving as well! Audiobooks and muand women burn more calories resistance, meaning their muscles sic can help those who find running when running versus walking. Put weren’t able to pull sugar out of relatively boring, while more focused simply, the more oxygen a body pro- the bloodstream efficiently for use runners can enjoy the meditation of cesses, the more calories it will burn. as energy. The group that exercised the task at hand. Since running increases respiratory before breakfast gained almost no A 2009 study published by Duke rate, it in turn burns more calories. weight and showed no signs of insuUniversity graduate students in On average, a modest run will burn lin resistance. Psychosomatic Medicine proves that between 300-350 calories while a According to the National Instimorning exercise is as good for your harder pace can burn between 350tute of Diabetes and Digestive and mind as it is for your body. Moving 400 calories, especially if interval Kidney Diseases, “In insulin resisthe body increases blood flow and training — incorporating alternating tance, muscle, fat, and liver cells do this is good for the brain, whose job periods of high-intensity exercise not respond properly to insulin and it is to power each of the systems with a low-intensity recovery period thus cannot easily absorb glucose involved in the exercise process. The — is added to the mix. from the bloodstream. As a result, If you want to add increased the body needs higher levels of insu- mental benefits of running for adults 40 September 25, 2014
range from improved attention and fast mental processing to more efficient high-level thought processes, such as strategic planning and organizational skills. But running alone isn’t enough: there are two other pieces to the puzzle that are important to the three-mile challenge. First, the challenge of getting a good night’s sleep — something that many of us have a hard time doing. Sleep is a component of good health that is often neglected because many of our lives are clogged with busy commitments that are amplified by endless distractions. While sleep needs are highly individualistic, most studies show that a base of seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep a night is optimal. The second piece of the health puzzle is making an honest commitment to get up and run — simple in theory, but often difficult in practice. Which brings us back to the beauty of the five-day timespan for the challenge. If you really want to see and feel changes, three miles of running a day is the perfect middle ground — it’s hard enough work that your body will thrive on it, yet it requires only modest commitment. For those inclined to study their results, keeping a fitness journal (or utilizing an app like Map My Run) can track the physical side of things. As many athletes can attest to, the mental side of improved alertness and better focus may be self evident, especially when paired with a prebreakfast workout. The three-mile challenge may not be the ultimate answer to top fitness but it is a fantastic start that is within reach for most people. Combined with good sleep and healthy eating, it gives your body all it needs to optimize physical and mental systems — and if nothing else, gives you an excuse to spend a little more time with Fido. Respond: info@boulderganic.com
Boulderganic Fall ’14 Boulder Weekly
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