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Show public events and projects. His motives are beyond dispute and lack any hidden agenda. In short, I Lance says something or promotes an idea, that belief with all his heart. But we don’t Lance frequently posts information and THE CANYON COU: (fa Wen ant 3} PO BOX 327 Jim and others’) in emails to a number of friends and associates, so when an email came across my monitor titled, “Rich Weasels in Aspen can do something right,” I paused to give it a read. “Rich weasels” is a name I’ve used frequently in the Zephyr, so I had a personal interest. Here was Lance's observation: MOAB. UTAH 84532 Stiles, publisher 435.259.7773 www.canyoncountryzephyr.com Under the Pitkin County building code, every new and remodeled home in Pitkin Countymust meeta strict "energy budget" of approximately 40,000 British Thermal Units (BTU) per square foot. Nationwide, the average consumes 63,000 BTU per square toot per yeat. ceczephyr®frontiernet.net the artist John Depuy historic photographs Herb Ringer (1913-1998) Zephyr pilot & aerial reconaissance Paul Swanstrom advertising representative A Turiya zephyrads@sisna.com 259.9358 webmaster Gary Henderson to the Renewable Energy Mitigation Program. The $1.7 million collected in its first three years has been channeled into projects that oftset greenhouse gas emissions, ranging from car-sharing commuting programs to an energyefficient revamp of a local ice rink and providing solar hot water heaters in atfordable housing. At first glance, that sounds pretty encouraging to most people. In fact, I read the email to several of my friends 2 oe [= THE ZEPHYR, copyright 2005 The Zephyr is published six times a year at Moab, Utah. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of its vendors, advertisers, or even at times, of its publisher. All photos and cartoons are by the publisher unless otherwise noted (without commentary of my own) and each one of them nodded vaguely and said, “Well, they’re trying at least.” Maybe. You have to dig deep to recognize the absurdity Ok in all this. Pitkin County, Colorado is the home county of Aspen, Colorado—one of the wealthiest communities in the be BY J EM $11 United States. It has been called the town “where the billionaires are running the millionaires out of the valley.” Do THE GREENING OF WILDERNESS: a pat on the on the new home builders. Specifically--- Did anyone think to limit the number of square feet on new home or re-model constructions? When I first sat down to write the very long and difficult story that begins on page 12 of this issue, it was more than three years ago. The themes raised in this story have been nagging at me for even longer than that — I made my first attempt to discuss the changing urban west and environmentalists’ shifting strategies in April 2001 with the “It's Time to Look in the Mirror” edition. It received an Probably not. I doubt if it even occurred to anyone on the Pitkin County Commission. But it didn’t take me long to calculate that a wealthy Aspenite living in a 15,000 square foot bunker/home and using the mandated 40,000 BTUs of energy per square foot limit will consume 600,000,000 BTUs while a redneck tool pusher living in a less efficient 2000 square foot double-wide can . expect to use far less amount of feedback, the most in this energy—about 126,000,000 BTUs. publication’s history, from a wide variety of readers. What it did nof generate was any response whatsoever from the organizations in the environmental community for which it was mostly intended. Since then, any attempt to discuss the concerns raised in that article have been met for the most part with, at best, stony silence and at worst, downright hostility. The reason | delayed this story for so long is that J was angry too. Writing from a position of personal hostility is not the most effective way to deal with problems, though I freely admit that I have been guilty of typing with angry fingers from time to time. It was hard to accept that after two decades of being a friend and partner to most enviro groups in Utah, I found myself cast as something of a traitor and even a pariah, simply for asking what I thought were Listed Home in Aspen Colorado 6 hedrooms...6 baths...3 half baths 15,812 square feet...24 million honest, if not also difficult questions. When for example, I sent photographs to prominent Utah environmentalists of impacts significant enough to at least send out a monitor, one leader wrote: “Let's be honest: this email you've sent is nothing but part of your effort to demonize (us): No matter how we respond, you're obviously determined to use it against us. ” Within the conservation movement, there seems to be a growing dichotomy between the more idealistic Thoreau-types and the New Environmentalists who have embraced the kind of land preservation strategies that concern me so deeply. Pretty strong stuff. That wasn’t my intention at all and never has been. What would be the point? I don’t think even he believed I had decided, after 25 years, to suddenly oppose wilderness, and since his organization is one of many in Utah determined to create a good wilderness bill, the comments were more curious than hurtful. But I’ve always felt that candor and the truth are the most effective weapons we can hope to possess to support our point of view. And to me, candor and honesty have gone missing from ‘our side’ of the debate for a very long time. Or maybe it runs deeper than that. Perhaps candor is a PLOW, era deserve saving technologies than these guys? But what’s more important is noting the restrictions that were NOT imposed the ‘24 Hours of Moab’ bicycle race, an event that has grown to an incredible size and operates adjacent to proposed wilderness, and asked why no one had felt the possible What our perishing republic eee LSM SMSO NLL aye) Ola ac aL eee eM Mea O| CTRL these people or its government back? Who can better afford to employ the latest energy- te READ THIS FIRST extraordinary P Subscriptions & transcriptions Linda Vaughan circulation JA Bryan Lance Lawrence Turiya Mark Anderson Kathy Aldous home Homes that do not meet the energy budget must pay a fee moabzephyr®yahoo.com contributing writers Ken Sleight Martin Murie Scott Silver Barry Scholl Chinle Mille Ned Mudd Dan Rosen Cactus Rat Michael Wolcott Philip Hyde Wendell Berry Bianca Dumas _ Robert Funkhouser Erica Walz_ Bill Boyle know that when he stands behind always agree. analysis (his own matter of interpretation. Within the conservation movement, there seems to be a growing dichotomy between the more idealistic Thoreau-types and the New Environmentalists who have embraced the kinds of land preservation strategies that concern me so deeply. The two groups can look at the same tree and see different colors. Let me offer an example. Lance Christie has lived in Moab for 20 years, has long been a respected environmental leader, an intelligent and atticulate voice in the sometimes shrill and frenzied chaos that marks Moab politics. He has served on the Grand County Planning Commission and given tirelessly of his time and energy (along with his wife LaRue) to countless Somebody tell me where our credibility is. And it’s a safe bet that this “redneck” lives in his drafty trailer twelve months a year, while many of these energy-efficient Aspenites spend a fraction of their time there. How can we offer praise to some extravagantly consumptive part-time homeowner? Imagine how much energy it took to construct a castle like that. Consider the natural materials, the cost to operate the heavy equipment, the energy to transport the workers to the job site (it’s doubtful that any of the contractors could afford to even live in Aspen). The mind boggles. Still, Lance Christie’s praise for Pitkin County was sincere and well-intentioned and I respect him for that, and many, if not a majority, of environmentalists probably share his enthusiasm. I’m not one of them...1 can find no reason to celebrate or conclude, based on we're somehow becomin environmentally conscientious examples like this, that m nation. energy-awate, In fact, I think this kind of misplaced optimism does us harm. In fact, when it comes to figuring out where our allegiances lie, it’s getting more ambiguous by the day. Many of us don’t even know for sure what side we’re on. Recently, on two different occasions, I was chatting with a |
