Colorado’s Island–Boulder

Most folks view Colorado as a very special place with almost unmatched natural attractions. There is a Kodak moment at almost every turn of the road. The skiing is the greatest and white water rafting is an exciting summer diversion. We have wildlife, cowboys, cattle and buffalo ranches and hiking trails to last a lifetime. If a break from the unmatched beauty and natural attractions is needed Colorado provides that also.

The City of Boulder can provide the type of zany interest that the Marx brother did at one time with their whacky movies. Boulder is beautifully located on the edge of the plains, right next to the start of the Rocky Mountains. The mountains rise abruptly straight up on the
West side of town with a formation known as the Flatirons. The town has somehow attracted a population that has little resemblance to the rest of Colorado

There is more passion for various causes than you would suppose could be crammed into such a small town. Free Tibet, Live Green, Ride a bike to work, Solar Power as well as efforts to create peace and justice in the world are a few of the worthwhile efforts that occupy the time of a significant part of Boulder’s population. These seemingly admirable efforts take unusual off road trips in Boulder.

Last week one of the weekly tabloids reported as a major article A Green Burial now being offered. The casket is made of pine that has been killed by pine beetles called (beetle- kill). The beetle – kill pine saves existing living trees. The green burial uses the casket for a burial that does not use embalming. A biodegradable shroud is used and the whole process is advertising as producing a reduced carbon footprint with less energy involved. The description of the process said “ Green burials provide a way for people who have lived in an environmentally conscious way to see that their burial does not add carbon or toxins to the environment”. Hmmmmmm.

Turning the page I found an article about an administrator at the University of Colorado who has a proposal that he thinks will shut down the oil spill on the Gulf. He is advocating a nationwide meditation effort which he will lead, to get the shut off valve on the well to work He stated that his meditation has fixed things in the past. He has a friend that had a malfunctioning flip video camera. A day of meditation and the camera started to work better. A big Hmmmm needed here.

The Boulder Peace and Justice Center no longer has daily anti –war vigils in the center of town now that Obama is in charge. A new effort is to convince the Boulder City Council to set aside sections of the public parks so that homeless people have a comfortable place to sleep in the summer. The multi million dollar Boulder homeless shelter built a few years ago shuts for the summer on May 1st. The Peace and Justice advocate feels that justice requires us to provide summer resting places for these folks.

Seldom do I need an alternative amusement to the natural attractions of Colorado. When I do Boulder is sitting there ready to amaze me in a totally unusual way. The Marx brothers could have made a movie a week in Boulder

The really great thing about Boulder is that there really are some excellent coffee cafes and if you drive 10 minutes in any direction after you finish your latte you are back into Colorado.