Our Action Team focuses on the Environment.
The following are a few ideas for your consideration.
In Arvada, look around you. See how much of the city is paved over with non-permeable blacktop and concrete. Think about where rainwater goes -not back into the soil or aquifers.
How many fewer birds do you see now compared with two years ago? Many large city trees have been removed. The City and homeowners are using pesticides, neither of which support birdlife.
Locally, what can you do?
Encourage better building practices and less urban sprawl.
Contact the City about their practice of removing old-growth trees and replacing them with twigs. Don’t use poisons on your lawn or garden and educate your neighbors about the birds and the bees!
State-wide, what can you do?
The legislature of Colorado is in session from January to May, but many Bills are considered and drafted months prior to the session opening. You can attend town halls and contact your representatives during the summer to influence the Bills you want to be introduced.
In the past two sessions Bills were introduced that would eliminate Daylight Savings time in Colorado. Both failed, but from an environmental point of view, reverting to “sun” time would be beneficial. When we awake to a dark house in the morning, we need to turn on lights just to get ready for work/school. Driving at sunrise is dangerous because of headlights competing with sun glare. In the warm months, which are getting more frequent, if the sunset one hour earlier, we could eliminate the need for an hour or more of air conditioning. With Daylight time children go to bed when it is still light outside leading to the possibility of disturbed sleep patterns. Daylight time has a negative impact on our mental health and our environment.
Turn off your idling engines! When you are stuck in traffic, or at a traffic light, you should, of course, keep your engine on. You do not need to keep your engine running while you check your GPS, eat lunch, talk on the phone, or wait for your spouse to come out from a shop. Restarting your vehicle does not burn more fuel than leaving it idling. Idling for just 10 seconds wastes more fuel than restarting the engine. Warm-up your vehicle by driving (slowly), not by idling.
Idling vehicles contribute as much or more air pollution as moving vehicles. Your car is not a horse and does not need to be kept alive until you move together again!!
Use electric-powered lawn equipment instead of gas-powered. They save money, fuel, and pollution.
Protect our State Parks from oil drilling and mining. Our beautiful open spaces are precious and are intended to be used by all Coloradans, not those who would spoil the resources for personal gain.
Over 300 Bills are introduced every session. You can read them and focus on those that affect our environment at:
Bills at the Colorado General Assembly
Nationally, what can you do?
Our nation is under siege from many sources, but especially our environment. When citizens must march in the streets to get lawmakers’ attention about pollution and dangerous practices affecting water, soil, air, crops, and medical conditions, it is time to pay attention to ourselves.
Consider flying less often. During the aftermath of 911, when our skies had no aircraft for a few days, our pollution levels dropped dramatically. Aircraft engines burn a huge amount of fuel and you can see the exhaust in the contrails that criss-cross the sky. Encourage your company to use Skype or Zoom instead of flying employees to meetings. Don’t eat meat, especially beef, because cattle produce a lot of pollution and the same amount of land planted in crops can feed 20 times more people than one cow.
Listen to the news, read publications that cover environmental practices, and write letters to Congressmen/women from your district. They care about being re-elected and if enough people write about the environment, they will pay attention.
Without clean air and clean water, nothing else matters.