Resource! Colorado Springs Utilities on Facebook

Colorado Springs Utilities is on Facebook.  Lots of regular updates on local news, tips, and sustainability in general.  We'll try to share often on the PPLD Green Team Facebook page.

2016 Sustainability Season!

Welcome back!  As described in the right column, this is the Pikes Peak Library Green Team blog--your source for regional organizations, resources, events, classes, etc.  While our Facebook page is a constantly updated site with much of the same information, we hope you will find this blog readily searchable if you are trying to track down that previously mentioned organization, website, or local resource.

We started the blog about a year ago, knowing that early spring is the busiest time for many green living groups in the Pikes Peak Region.  Sure enough, it has been a quiet winter, but everyone's gearing up now for a full spring of recurring and new programs and events.  Below are just a few of the events planned around the region for March.  Remember, you can search for just organizations, resources, events and classes by clicking on those label options to the right.

EVENTS FOR MARCH 2016

Pikes Peak Urban Gardens CLASS #3 "How to Grow The Best Cool Season Vegetables... All Season Long" SaturdayMarch 19,10 AM - 11:30 a.m.


Colorado Springs Utilities has posted a full list of summer classes on Xeriscaping, landscape design and outstanding plants.  They're free. 

Catamount Institute has posted the Sustainability in Progress speaker series gathering, planned for Wed. March 16 at 6:30 p.m.

And the Pikes Peak Library District is offering the following programs on gardening.

Also, save the dates:  coming up in April:

The Big Cool Science Festival at Colorado College, Saturday, April 2, 2016.

Save the Date!  UCCS office of Sustainability, Sustainnovate: Sustainable Mobility Summit, Wednesday, April 13th 7:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

Looking forward to Spring!

Stay tuned for more information about a fun, free upcoming program. The PPLD Green Team and the Healthy Living Committee will host Master Gardener, Valerie Brodar, for a hands-on demonstration of making your very own urban garden! You will learn how to build your own raised garden bed, learn how to recognize good soil, and how to plant seeds. You will leave with some free garden supplies and tons of helpful gardening information.

We will meet at the Green Team Urban Garden at the Penrose Library, located near the lower parking lot on West Pikes Peak Avenue. More details coming soon. Registration is not required, but highly recommended to make sure you get your own supplies at the end!

If you have access to any land, even a small patch in the grassy strip by the street - you can become an urban farmer!

Organization! Pikes Peak Community Foundation and Peak Alliance for a Sustainable Future

About Peak Alliance:

Looking to Our Future: Pikes Peak Region 2030 (PPR2030) is a strategic road map for achieving sustainability in the region by 2030. The roadmap was developed by a broad based collaborative effort representing volunteers, professionals and community leaders from nearly 100 organizations. The PPR2030, which was finalized in March 2012, provides a framework by which our local governments, institutions, businesses, and individuals can coordinate, collaborate, and find regional solutions to regional challenges.
The PPR2030 roadmap was initially administered by PPACG under the name of “Pikes Peak Regional Sustainability Project” but is now referred to as “Peak Alliance for a Sustainable Future” (Peak Alliance), a component fund of the PPCF. Peak Alliance will build upon the momentum and enthusiasm generated through the 2 + year process that resulted in PPR2030. The mission of Peak Alliance is to promote regional sustainability and advance the PPR2030 through regional collaboration and outreach.

 And here's the Facebook page for Pikes Peak Community Foundation

Happy New Year! Sustainability in February

Happy 2016.  We took January off, but there are some nice things coming up, and it's going to get more exciting as spring approaches.  Here are a couple events this month:

Pikes Peak Urban Gardens is continuing a series:
CLASS #2 "All You Need to Know to Start Your Vegetable Garden": Garden Planning and Design, Preparing Soil and Site, Seed Starting, Container Gardening and More"
Saturday, February 20, 2016:
10 AM - 11:30 Am (doors open at 9:15 AM, please come early to visit all our local garden vendors and so we can get everyone in the door before the class starts at 10 AM)
Cost: $10 per person (pay at the door)
Designed to instruct the gardener on what needs to be done in the next 30 days to have a successful garden come planting time. Topics will include details on Larry's favorite varieties that grow well in this region, affordable season extending and hail protection structures that you can build now, seed starting in details, small space gardening, keyhole garden beds, planting perennial veggies and fruits like rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries. Learn Larry's secrets to have an abundant strawberry crop year after year and more.


Sustainability in Progress
February 17 @ 7:30 am - 9:00 amEach month the Peak Alliance for a Sustainable Future hosts a morning speaker series Sustainability in Progress, also known as SIP. The Peak Alliance for a Sustainable Future promotes regional sustainability and advances the PPR2030 through regional collaboration and outreach.



And for the most current updates, be sure and follow our Facebook page.

Resource! Colorado Springs Utilities "Re: Sources" Blog

This post is worth it just for the photo!  Be sure and check CSU Re:Sources blog for great tips, news, and other information.  This post is about Range Anxiety.  Do you know what that is?  Hint: it's nothing to do with the cow in the photo.

Class! Taming Energy and Water Waste

Don't miss the last session in a 4 part series on Saving Money:  Taming Energy and Water Waste. Downloads from previous sessions are available.  From their website:

Session 4 will focus on residential renewable energy.  The basics of how solar and wind energy systems work; how much do they cost; what’s the return on investment; “are they right for me?”– limitations of these systems.

Guest speaker:  Mr. Phil Brodhagen, Owner, El Paso Green Energies. Local installer certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP)

The Southeastern Colorado Renewable Energy Society (SECRES) presents a series of 4 energy efficiency seminars designed to help residents and businesses make wiser decisions with their energy and water use. Choose one or all of the seminars to become more aware of your consumption, explore the benefits of saving resources, both financially and ecologically, and discover how you can become an energy producer, rather than just a consumer.