Cool Boulder Event on January 31st - Recap, Q&A’s & Recording!

Photo credit @ Leah Kelleher.

Cool Boulder recently held its first event of 2023!

Thank you to everyone who attended Cool Boulder’s Biodiversity, Climate and You event, both in-person and virtually! We reached full capacity for this free event, so were very happy to offer a remote option to follow along on a livestream. On the night of the event, we had up to 70 attendees present in person to listen to the presentation and panel, as well as participate in an activity to personally get involved in climate and biodiversity action!

Photo credit @ Leah Kelleher.

If you were unable to attend this event - fear not! We have a recording of the livestream for you to watch and learn about biodiversity action from the international and national scales to locally within our community.

• To watch the recording, simply scroll to the bottom of this page!

  • The feed starts about 16 minutes and 30 seconds into the recording, so fast forward to that time stamp to view the beginning of the recorded event.

• View a summary of the event posted on the City of Boulder’s website to read more!

• Transcribed questions and answers from the event are also featured at the end of this page!

If you are unfamiliar with the event that took place at the end of January, read on to find out more!

Biodiversity, Climate and You: An International Agreement and Local Actions

Photo credit @ Leah Kelleher.

The world’s governments met in Montreal last month to hammer out an agreement with specific goals and targets to save the world’s biodiversity. Why are the world’s living systems critical to each of us and how is protecting biodiversity deeply connected to climate change and solutions that address both? But most important, why should an international agreement matter to us and what can each of us do to make a difference?

Photo credit @ Leah Kelleher.

Cool Boulder convened its partners along with community members at the Junkyard Social Club in person (along with a livestream for remote attendance) for a presentation and panel of speakers that highlighted how communities are joining together to take action. In-person attendees enjoyed delicious pan pizza from Dry Storage, a Restore Colorado / Zero FoodPrint associated business, serving sustainable food and collecting small donations to fund local regenerative agriculture and carbon farming. Mara King, from Dry Storage spoke about how Dry Storage takes advantage of sustainable food systems, such as organic and regenerative agriculture, to nourish soils, combat climate change, and produce delicious, sustainable food. Our panelists spoke about their local biodiversity efforts, and in-person attendees made their own “sow-bag” out of native seeds to grow native grasses and wildflowers to plant this spring, expanding pollinator habitat in our community.

Event Details:

• What: Presentation & Panel: Closing the Gap Between International & Local Biodiversity Action

  • Panelists:

    • Amy Yarger - Director of Horticulture, Butterfly Pavilion

    • Mark Guttridge - Farmer & Owner, Ollin Farms

    • Zach Hedstrom - Founder & Owner, Boulder Mushroom

    • Mara King - Director of Fermentation, EI Hospitality

  • Sow-Bag Making Activity: Led by Andrea Montoya

    • Sow-bags are small, reusable bags that are used to make germinating seeds easier during the cold winter - like a mini greenhouse! Sow-bags are easy to prepare, and can be a fun, quick activity to give back to the planet (and you can give them as gifts)! Learn more by visiting Cool Boulder's recent blog post on "How to Prepare Sow-Bags"!

Q&A’s from the Presentation and Panel:

Presentation Q&A’s:

• "How did you feel when you were at the UN summit, and how did you feel when you got home? Did you feel more hopeful, did you feel more overwhelmed, did you feel more despair? What did you feel?"

  Rella’s Answer:

  “I was really lucky to have an amazing experience, because my manager Brett KenCairn, asked a UN veteran to join me to provide guidance and help navigate. That gave me the opportunity to talk to people involved in different ways and from different levels of government from local government staff to the top officials of national governments. I met people from the UN agencies who have been working for over 30 years on the Biodiversity Convention to build and implement the global biodiversity framework, including guidelines to restore and protect ecosystems. They’ve worked tirelessly to get local communities and indigenous people a seat at the table and to develop practical tools, organizing and finances since the majority of the work is going to take place on the ground.

  The one thing that gave me so the most hope was that no matter who I talked to - whether they were from the global south and developing nations, or the affluent nations – is that we may have different challenges, different cultures, and different levels of wealth, but people are people and we all connected on our common challenges and saw value in working with each.

  There's also a lot of interest in Boulder because of the amount and different different types of land we have, and the fact that we're willing to be innovative and try new approaches, open to working with researchers, and our community members to try and provide the research and evidence to show what works. People were also very interested in how the city is partnering with the community to create change together.

  So there's this real enthusiasm by people to connect and work together, seeing that we have a lot in common, and we can learn from each other even when it doesn't seem, for example, like a tropical country has a lot of similarities to Boulder.”

• "What were people negotiating on at the Biodiversity Convention?"

  Rella’s Answer:

  “That's a good question. The focus was on finding agreement for each of the biodiversity targets - and there are documents that we can share on the website because it’s the framework and targets are actually really interesting. The biodiversity framework itself is solid. Much like we saw COP27 just a few weeks earlier, a major area of negotiation was get wealthy nations who have caused the majority of climate-related damage at the expense of developing nations, to pay for what we've done and for the costs of mitigation. The same thing was true for the COP15 negotiations. The developing nations are incredibly concerned about how they are going to protect biodiversity without funding.

  At one point people some delegates from developing nations just walked out and that lasted for a couple of days. The president of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity or the CBD [Huang Runqiu], the environmental minister from China, did a great job leading. He tasked a couple of county representatives to hammer out an agreement before anyone would be allowed back in session. Many of the negotiators worked round the clock.

  So they worked on big issues like this example and targets that that were less controversial. One controversial target that was heavily negotiated is the use of genetic resources, DNA sequencing, and that kind of technology, where industries want to be able to just march in to developing nations, take whatever they want without permission, and not reimburse these people for the profits that they make. This issue, by the way, is the main reason that the U.S. hasn’t signed on to the Convention.”

• "Given the ongoing failure with the process to deal with climate and biodiversity, what alternatives do communities like Boulder have for engaging with the biodiversity/climate crisis on a global level?"

  Rella’s Answer:

  “This is where those mechanisms and tools that people have been working on for years come in, including the recently launched Cities with Nature platform. Brett spoke earlier about the UN Desertification Convention, and the UN agency Habitat is focusing and doing a lot of work on ecological restoration that touches on all three Rio Conventions (Climate, Biodiversity and Desertification). Some of these people who worked on these frameworks are now interested in working with us here in Boulder so we can implement some of these guidelines and provide feedback as a case study. The platforms provide methods to track progress, metrics, and reporting out, so we'll be exploring these tools this summer we hope, and we’re also planning to partner with other cities. And as we partner with cities, I don't just mean us city bureaucrats - I mean our community members too. We'd love for the city’s community partners to connect with other local communities.”

• "Facing exponential increasing human population while limiting development to cars and massive upgrades to existing residential infrastructure, how are we to motivate property owners to increase energy efficiency and/or incentivized transitions to renewable energy at the local level?"

  Rella’s Answer:

  “I have colleagues in the Climate Initiatives department who are doing a really amazing job with this work. I also think that as we see our energy bills continuing to rise, it might get more people interested in making changes.

  This in my personal opinion and I think the opinion of some of my colleagues - what we've discovered is that you can't just put the burden on individuals when we have a system that makes it so difficult to implement some of these energy saving measures. We have a big opportunity for all of us to voice our ideas when the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan is updated in 2025. In a year or so, outreach will begin and our community will decide to either go down the path of the same things we've been doing for a while, or we can choose as a community for transformational change, and decide to start implementing some of these ideas that other cities are using to deal with these issues.

  For us to be successful, it’s critically important that every voice is included, and doing things the way we're used to doing them doesn't include everyone. We risk missing the wisdom and ideas, and we're going to be leaving people behind if we don't figure out ways of making sure everybody is a part of creating the path forward.”

• "How is Boulder making sure that open space and biodiversity are secured for all residents, especially those with the least income?"

  OSMP Answer:

  “Boulder citizens voted in the 1960’s to tax themselves through sales tax to purchase open space land – and open space land around the Chautauqua area was actually purchased as early as 1898. Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) land belongs to all Boulder citizens, and the areas that are open to public access (some areas are not open seasonally, temporarily or long-term for a variety of reasons) are open to all people (Boulder citizens and people from outside of Boulder). There are many miles of trails on OSMP with some being easy to access for walking, biking, wheelchair access, and other uses. Other trails are more remote and more challenging in terms of steepness and roughness. Many trails can be accessed using public transportation, and some are within walking distance from parts of the City. Trailhead parking areas have dedicated accessible parking spots for people with mobility limitations. Parking lots are often full and that is an ongoing issue for OSMP to address. A fee is charged at select trailheads for vehicles not licensed in Boulder County.

  The OSMP website provides information about trails (including accessible trails for wheelchairs and other mobility-limited visitors), educational programs, opportunities to volunteer, and natural history/biodiversity.

  The ongoing work by OSMP paid and volunteer staff to restore and preserve OSMP’s remarkable biological and geologic diversity is guided by the City Charter Open Space Purposes that have been framed by the Boulder community. (Boulder City Charter and Open Space | City of Boulder)

  OSMP land (excluding conservation easements, which are privately owned) is preserved as open space in perpetuity under the City of Boulder charter.”

  See our recent blog post on “How OSMP Utilizes Native Seeds for Ecological Restoration!”

• "Thanks for such an inspiring event! I am wondering if there is a way to keep us updated on the things that Cities with Nature are working on, and any other ways the City is collaborating with other cities, counties, NGOs, etc. around existential crisis issues and economic democracy. My sense is that these collaborative local efforts are the way we will move toward the fundamental changes we need to make and it would be so helpful to know they are happening - a way to lift our spirits in the face of so much horrific news."

  Rella’s Answer:

  “As the city learns more about the Cities with Nature tools and platforms, we will share and keep the community engaged in the process and the implementation. The only way we can address and find solutions to biodiversity, climate and social challenges is by working together. Cities and communities are not organized or equipped to deal with issues of this magnitude, and that’s why it’s so important that we share ideas and combine resources, not only within our own community, but with communities in the Front Range, throughout the country and the world. We can share what works for us and learn from other communities so we can all make progress together. Although a single action won’t solve these problems, many small actions collectively can create a major impact, which then motivates others to join.”

Panel Q&A’s:

• "What is the scalability of using mycelium in a forestry setting for handling woody biomass?" (summarized)

  Zach’s Answer:

  “So that's what we're trying to work on right now, and that's trying to address the scalability question more than anything. There's some pilot research that has come out of the Coalition for the Upper South Platte Watershed (CUSP) with a mycologist by the name of Jeff Ravage, and he did some pilot trials in small plots where he did NC2 inoculation of woody biproducts of forestry operations. He got a couple of really interesting pieces of data, and one of the most interesting was the moisture retention. The wood chips which were not treated were at about 35% moisture holding capacity and the treated wood chips were at about 65% percent.

  When you talk with foresters there's a lot of debate around the flammability of wood chips when they're left in the wilderness, so that's a really significant thing - especially in our climate. An untreated wood chip can take 50 years to decompose if it doesn't have the proper moisture percent, whereas they were seeing phase 2 to phase 3 decomposition within the second year when they were treated with native fungi. So, it's a substantial difference in the moisture holding capacity and the decomposition rate of the chip.  

  One of the things that we're looking at is how do we do that at scale, and Boulder Watershed Collective is one of the organizations that we're working with to do the scaled research. The problem with the CUSP trials is that they were very small, and they didn't have the facilities to be able to do this at scale. So, for example, we're starting to do multiple acre trials in order to be able to replicate that at, you know, 50, 100, 1,000-acre parcel treatments via mostly the use of liquid inoculation techniques. Essentially if you had crews out there that were cutting and chipping and leaving the material on site, and then to be able to come there afterwards with spray in order to inoculate it. There are ways to do that at scale, where you do maybe 4 acres in a day or something, so it's absolutely something that we're trying to build datasets out on, and it's a long process, but absolutely it's underway - and that's also part of this work that I mentioned with the city. We're working with the city foresters, and some county folks as well, in order to get their biomass down here for the ag (agricultural) land, but also trying to run a little bit more involved trials on the on-site decomposition.  

  So, the answer to all of your questions is - yes, but it's still considered a very new application which needs time to get data."

  Relevant Links:

  • Coalition for the Upper South Platte – A healthy watershed – now and in the future.

  • The Boulder Watershed Collective

  • The Coldfire Project – Ecology First

• "If we just moved here from Southern California, and want to plant native pollinator plants in our huge yard, how do we learn when to plant and what to plant?"

  Amy’s Answer:

  “Oh boy, do I have some exciting things for you coming up! I just want to say that there is a great wealth of resources in terms of the native plant community here in Colorado, and so, so many resources are available from awesome handouts and books, all the way to conferences and classes. So, I just want to highlight some that are coming up, because I want to get people to take advantage of these while they're still available.

  February 25th is the Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference, there are two tracts - the "New to Natives" and "Knows the Natives", so if you're new to Colorado natives we have a tract just for you where you can learn all about how to transform your property or your landscape from something that is conventional and boring and doesn't have cool bugs on it, to something that's like really cool! It's such a wonderful educational opportunity and it's going to be virtual again this year. The other thing is at Butterfly Pavilion, we do a lot of pollinator habitat and gardening education in our horticulture department, and we are offering this year a series of courses called "Habitat Gardening Bootcamp" and it's a series of 5 courses that take place throughout the year, kind of walking people through the process of converting a conventional landscape into something that's more biodiversity-friendly.

  So, all those like, intimidations, and questions, and concerns, and like 'what do I do, the weeds have taken over' - we'll be holding your hand along the process, so it's a great opportunity, and you can go to the Butterfly Pavilion website to learn more about that. So those are just some resources, but there's tons more!”

  Moderator’s Follow-Up:

  “Thanks Amy, I also just want to call out that the state legislature last year passed a bill that is actually going to start creating funding for removing lawns and putting in these kinds of habitats. And we also have an organization in town, Resource Central, that has a program that you can sign up for to have them come in and run the turf cutters and remove those areas, and I'll just say that my dear partner, Emily, has done that in our front yard and it has absolutely transformed the land that we live on from being a kind of lovely, but very sterile place, to being a place of such immense life.”

  Amy’s Follow-Up:

  “I just want to add that through the Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference, we offer a grant program for residential gardeners, and quite a few grants are available for people who do remove their lawns, so not only is there motivation from the state, but there's motivation from these local non-profits that work on these conferences.”

  Relevant Links:

  About - Resource Central

  Landscaping With Colorado Native Plants Conference | Saturday, February 25, 2023

  Habitat Gardening Bootcamp

• "There are a lot of restrictions from the city for mowing your lawn and allowing native plants to grow. What kind of things done on a local level can change some laws so HOA’s don’t have to have bluegrass?" (summarized)

  Moderator’s Answer:

  “Absolutely. This is an area where we are just starting to bring more attention and focus. In the City of Boulder is going to start looking at our landscaping codes and ordinances again to start seeing how we should amend them so we can support this. The Natural Climate Solutions Team is also working on something that we are calling Climate Resilient Landscapes which is going to start calling out the kinds of species we want to be bringing into our changing world. Getting involved in your local jurisdictions and asking them to start looking at these kinds of policies is really important.”

• Final Remarks from Mark - "The only way this important work is gonna get done is to get out, volunteer, and be part of the solution..."

  “Kind of going back to the question about how do these things get funded: how can Zach dedicate his time to growing this specific mycelium, getting out there right now - it's around grants. I know him and Ollin Farms and lot of our research rely on some county grants, city grants, private donations, non-profits, but at the end of the day, the change isn't gonna come from the top down. Like, COP27, COP26, it's been 26 years and feels like zero [action], like what are we even [doing], where are we headed?

  I'm tired of the conferences and the talking, the good things are coming just making good connections, but at the same time the only change that we're really gonna see is from the ground up, it's from the bottom up and has to be youth incorporated. A big part of what we do at the farm is design educational programs from preschoolers to young kids, to high school leadership programs, the elderly getting them back connected to nature. And that's how the work gets done. Zach can grow that mycelium, but to get all that mycelium out on to all those wood chips is gonna take a ton of boots on the ground, and the only way that boots on the groundwork is getting done is because in Boulder County what I've seen is that there's a growing effort of people wanting to get out, get their hands dirty, be part of the solution. And we have to do it, the only way this important work is gonna get done is to get out, volunteer, and be part of the solution.

  The other part - you vote every day with your fork. If agriculture is the biggest culprit and also the biggest potential, every time you eat a meal, ask - 'is this meal increasing biodiversity on this planet, or is it part of an extractive mentality, decreasing biodiversity on this planet?' And it's hard, I try to do that in front of my meals, and I had some drive-through tacos as pastor today that we're awesome, but they came from a tortured pig, I gotta admit. And so, you have to weigh that every meal and see where you are in that scale.

  There are so many great farmers in this community, there's so many great mushroom growers growing and doing amazing things, and if you support them, and their businesses thrive, they can keep working. Get a CSA share with somebody growing soil, find Zach at the farmer's market, or find Zach at the restaurants where his stuff is being served, or support those restaurants. The more we vote with our forks every day, the faster we're gonna see biodiversity come back in this county.”

  Relevant Link:

  • Ollin Farms

Livestream Recording: