Posts tagged experts
CU: New colleges, including a J-School are proposed. Others are environment and sustainability
0May 1, 2013
University of Colorado Boulder Provost Russell L. Moore today announced the campus will be taking the first steps needed to formally propose the creation of the first new colleges on the campus in 50 years: a college focused on media, communication and information, and a college designed around CU-Boulder’s strengths in the environment and sustainability. Both would require the approval of the Board of Regents.
“These proposed new colleges will create exciting synergies among related disciplines,” said Moore. “They will build on CU-Boulder’s programmatic strengths and excellence, attract new high-quality students and faculty, and facilitate scholarship and teaching that will prepare students for careers in a wide range of exciting fields.”
Moore said the college or school devoted to media, communication and information would house programs in journalism, advertising and design, communication, film production and film studies, media studies and a new department in information studies.
“If approved by the Board of Regents, this college will create exciting opportunities for our students and will bring together a dynamic and creative faculty in these disciplines,” said Moore. “From this college, we will create working journalists, editors and media professionals, communication scholars, media experts, advertisers and media designers, filmmakers and film theorists, and experts in the emerging field of information architecture and design. The possibilities are truly exciting.”
A college of the environment and sustainability, Moore said, if approved, will “bring together some of the finest researchers and teachers on the campus” in disciplines and programs that include environmental science, environmental policy and environmental design while “drawing upon assets from some of the campus’s most dynamic institutes,” including the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) and the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI).
“This will bring together in one college a concentration of faculty who represent some of CU-Boulder’s mostly highly ranked, and highly successful, research in environmental sciences,” said Moore. “The graduates of the college we envision will be highly sought after in fields ranging from design of the built environment to alternative energy development to the formation of environmental and energy policy.”
In both cases, said Moore, the move to create the colleges is supported by three years of work, by recommendations from internal and external committees who reviewed existing programs and structures on the campus, and above all, “by the clear economic, workplace and research demands of the world around us.”
“This isn’t adding to an ivory tower – it’s breaking apart the ivory tower and investing in a bright and very real future for our students and our faculty,” said Moore. “This will challenge us to rethink how we teach, how we organize ourselves as a research and scholarly community, how we generate and use resources, and how we deliver graduates into the job market or into realms of further scholarship.”
Moore said the next step in this process is to form implementation committees to create blueprints for forging the colleges, examining such issues as funding and fundraising, administration, curriculum development and how to integrate the work of the institutes with the role and mission of the new colleges. The goal is to submit proposals to form the colleges to the CU Board of Regents within the next 12 months, and to form the new colleges and begin enrolling students by 2015.
Moore also thanked a host of individuals who drove the internal and external processes to help envision the colleges, including “Merrill Lessley, who chaired the ICMT Exploratory Committee, Andrew Calabrese who chaired the Information Communication Journalism Media and Technology Steering Committee, Helmut Muller-Sievers and Bob Craig who organized conversations in the social sciences and the humanities and arts around these issues last summer, Michele Jackson who conducted an online discussion group, and Sharon Collinge who chaired the Environmental Studies Visioning Committee.”
CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano lauded the work of the committees.
“Forming new academic entities is no small task,” said DiStefano. “From the volunteer committee members who gave their time, to our faculty who gave their time and input into those committees, we have seen the best of what CU-Boulder is about: passion, vision, energy and ingenuity. We are confident our new colleges and schools will embody these same values.”
-CU press release-
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CU study: 66 million years ago, an asteroid turned Earth into a crispy critter
0March 27, 2013
A new look at conditions after a Manhattan-sized asteroid slammed into a region of Mexico in the dinosaur days indicates the event could have triggered a global firestorm that would have burned every twig, bush and tree on Earth and led to the extinction of 80 percent of all Earth’s species, says a new University of Colorado Boulder study.
Led by Douglas Robertson of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, the team used models that show the collision would have vaporized huge amounts of rock that were then blown high above Earth’s atmosphere. The re-entering ejected material would have heated the upper atmosphere enough to glow red for several hours at roughly 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit — about the temperature of an oven broiler element — killing every living thing not sheltered underground or underwater.
An artist’s rendition of the asteroid air strike 66 million years ago
The CU-led team developed an alternate explanation for the fact that there is little charcoal found at the Cretaceous-Paleogene, or K-Pg, boundary some 66 million years ago when the asteroid struck Earth and the cataclysmic fires are believed to have occurred. The CU researchers found that similar studies had corrected their data for changing sedimentation rates. When the charcoal data were corrected for the same changing sedimentation rates they show an excess of charcoal, not a deficiency, Robertson said.
“Our data show the conditions back then are consistent with widespread fires across the planet,” said Robertson, a research scientist at CIRES, which is a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Those conditions resulted in 100 percent extinction rates for about 80 percent of all life on Earth.”
A paper on the subject was published online this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, a publication of the American Geophysical Union. Co-authors on the study include CIRES Interim Director William Lewis, CU Professor Brian Toon of the atmospheric and oceanic sciences department and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and Peter Sheehan of the Milwaukee Public Museum in Wisconsin.
Geological evidence indicates the asteroid collided with Earth about 66 million years ago and carved the Chicxulub crater in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula that is more than 110 miles in diameter. In 2010, experts from 33 institutions worldwide issued a report that concluded the impact at Chicxulub triggered mass extinctions, including dinosaurs, at the K-Pg boundary.
The conditions leading to the global firestorm were set up by the vaporization of rock following the impact, which condensed into sand-grain-sized spheres as they rose above the atmosphere. As the ejected material re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, it dumped enough heat in the upper atmosphere to trigger an infrared “heat pulse” so hot it caused the sky to glow red for several hours, even though part of the radiation was blocked from Earth by the falling material, he said.
But there was enough infrared radiation from the upper atmosphere that reached Earth’s surface to create searing conditions that likely ignited tinder, including dead leaves and pine needles. If a person was on Earth back then, it would have been like sitting in a broiler oven for two or three hours, said Robertson.
The amount of energy created by the infrared radiation the day of the asteroid-Earth collision is mind-boggling, said Robertson. “It’s likely that the total amount of infrared heat was equal to a 1 megaton bomb exploding every four miles over the entire Earth.”
A 1-megaton hydrogen bomb has about the same explosive power as 80 Hiroshima-type nuclear bombs, he said. The asteroid-Earth collision is thought to have generated about 100 million megatons of energy, said Robertson.
Some researchers have suggested that a layer of soot found at the K-Pg boundary layer roughly 66 million years ago was created by the impact itself. But Robertson and his colleagues calculated that the amount of soot was too high to have been created during the massive impact event and was consistent with the amount that would be expected from global fires.
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CU SNR team: Natural gas development to get a hard look
0October 2, 2012
NSF awards CU-Boulder-led team $12 million
to study effects of natural gas development
The National Science Foundation has awarded a $12 million grant to a University of Colorado Boulder-led team to explore ways to maximize the benefits of natural gas development while minimizing negative impacts on ecosystems and communities.
Led by Professor Joseph Ryan of CU-Boulder’s civil, environmental and architectural engineering department, the team will examine social, ecological and economic aspects of the development of natural gas resources and the protection of air and water resources. A part of NSF’s Sustainability Research Network initiative, or SRN, the project will focus on the Rocky Mountain region, where natural gas development, as well as objections to it, are increasing.
“We all create demand for natural gas so we have to accept some of the outcomes of its extraction,” said Ryan. “Our goal is to provide a framework for society to evaluate the trade-offs associated with the benefits and costs of natural gas development.”
The SRN team assembled by Ryan includes air and water quality experts, social scientists, human health experts, information technology experts and a substantial outreach and education effort. The SRN team will be advised by an external committee that includes representatives of the oil and gas industry, regulatory agencies, environmental organizations, local governments, academia and Native American tribes. Preparation of the SRN proposal to the NSF was fostered by CU-Boulder’s Office for University Outreach, which supported the creation of the Colorado Water and Energy Research Center, said Ryan.
As part of the effort, Ryan said team members will review industry practices for hydraulic fracturing, which involves pumping pressurized water, sand and chemicals deep down well bores to crack rocks and free petroleum and natural gas for easier extraction. The team will evaluate the current state of drilling technology, the integrity of well bore casings and natural gas collection mechanisms and processes.
- Drill pads around the Roan Plateau
- Hydraulic fracturing requires large volumes of chemically treated water — most wells require between 3 million and 5 million gallons of water each, say experts. The fracturing fluid left in the ground, as well as the fluid that returns to the surface, known as “flowback,” present potential ecological and health risks if not handled properly, Ryan said.
While oil and gas extractions from hydraulic fracturing also result in atmospheric emissions of some greenhouse gases and volatile organic compounds, natural gas is nevertheless seen by many as a “bridge fuel” that leads away from dirty coal combustion toward cleaner sustainability methods, said Patrick Bourgeron, associate director of the SRN and a fellow at CU-Boulder’s Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research.
As part of the project, a team led by CU-Boulder Professor Harihar Rajaram will be investigating the hydrologic processes tied to potential risks of natural gas and oil extraction, including groundwater and aquifer systems. The team also plans to assess the risk of natural gas and oil extraction to water quality and mitigation strategies that involve improvements in current water treatment technology.
Professor Jana Milford of CU-Boulder’s mechanical engineering department will lead a team monitoring and modeling the potential risks of natural gas and oil development to air quality. Professor John Adgate of the Colorado School of Public Health in Denver will spearhead a team assessing the potential risks of natural gas development to public health.
Natural gas waste pit
Other partners on the CU-led NSF project include the Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Michigan and California State Polytechnic University Pomona.
Attitudes toward natural gas extraction using hydraulic fracturing vary widely around the West, said CU-Boulder Professor Mark Williams, a co-investigator on the project. One classic Colorado example is Boulder County and adjoining Weld County to the northeast. “The geology doesn’t change, the price of gas doesn’t change and the extraction methods are the same,” he said. “But for the most part, Boulder County opposes hydraulic fracturing while Weld County generally embraces it.”
Ryan said the network’s research findings eventually will be shared with the public through an extensive outreach and education effort led by SRN co-investigator and CU-Boulder Professor Patricia Limerick of the Center of the American West. The effort includes a “citizen science” component in which the public is encouraged to make science measurements, including air quality readings made with portable instruments compatible with smart phones, and share the results with the SRN research team.
“The citizen science aspect of this effort will result in a stronger connection between the public and the science used to make regulatory decisions,” said Professor Michael Hannigan of CU-Boulder’s mechanical engineering department and one of the co-investigators on the SRN project.
Natural gas production, especially the use of hydraulic fracturing, has become the subject of intense controversy, said Limerick. “Some people living in proximity to well sites are understandably worried and anxious, often feeling powerless as they confront a possible threat to their health and to the quality of their lives.
“Environmental advocates find themselves pulled between the climate benefits of natural gas, which releases significantly less carbon in combustion than coal, and the disturbances associated with natural gas extraction,” she said.
Outreach events will include periodic town hall meetings around the West. There also will be SRN meetings involving engineers, natural scientists and social scientists to stay abreast of the latest technologies and evolving socioeconomic factors regarding natural gas production, Limerick said.
“Unraveling complex processes involving Earth systems, especially the coupling of human activities and climate, depends increasingly on partnerships among natural science, philosophy and ethics, economics, social science, mathematics and engineering,” says Marge Cavanaugh, NSF acting assistant director for geosciences.
The CU-led research team and a second team from Penn State were chosen from more than 200 SRN proposals by the NSF as part of its Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability program. The $12 million award to CU-Boulder is for five years.
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Leading quantitative conservation biologist named CU’s first Colorado Chair in Environmental Studies
0October 1, 2012
The University of Colorado Boulder has hired its first Colorado Chair in Environmental Studies, an endowed chair awarded to Daniel Doak, a conservation biologist known for his quantitative analysis of how different government policies could affect the populations of species ranging from sea otters, California condors, corals and rare plants.
The endowed chair in environmental studies was made possible by $4 million in gifts made anonymously in 2009 and 2010 toward the chair.
Dr. Daniel Doak
Sharon Collinge, professor and director of the CU-Boulder Environmental Studies Program, called Doak a perfect match. “He epitomizes what we’re looking for,” she said.
Doak is especially skilled in interdisciplinary research, she said. He brings expertise in policy to his analyses of risks of energy development, for example. And he is widely cited for his research in quantitative conservation biology, which combines sophisticated computer modeling with varying policy scenarios to project changes in populations of rare species.
For instance, the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science recently published a study co-authored by Doak concluding that the California condor is chronically endangered by lead exposure from hunters’ spent ammunition.
While the free-flying condor population has risen in the last three decades, that increase has been achieved through captive breeding, monitoring and veterinary care, the study found. Meanwhile, the primary threat to the endangered bird — lead poisoning from bullets and shotgun shells lodged in carrion — has gone largely unmitigated, the study said.
Doak and his fellow researchers found no evidence that California’s 2008 partial ban on lead ammunition yielded any decrease in lead exposure and poisoning in condors.
Since 2007, Doak has served as a professor of zoology and physiology at the University of Wyoming. Previously, he was a faculty member at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Scholarly papers have cited his work more than 3,000 times since 1998.
Doak said he was drawn to CU-Boulder’s Environmental Studies Program because of its breadth, spanning disciplines ranging from biogeochemistry to political science to philosophy. This interdisciplinary focus is necessary to confront some of the world’s most intractable problems, Doak and Collinge said.
“That’s the only way we can really address and resolve some of the major environmental challenges that we face,” Collinge said.
Working with experts from a wide range of disciplines, Doak added, provides a motivation and opportunity “not once a year but every day to confront your own ignorance and thus to appreciate and learn new ideas and approaches.”
It is not that interdisciplinary work is always best, he added. “We need to train ourselves and our students to determine when the problem we are confronting requires an interdisciplinary approach. If you want to build a bridge that won’t fall down, you don’t need an interdisciplinary team. You need a good engineer.”
The critical question, he said, is the following: “Is this problem a nail that requires a hammer, or is this a problem that requires a lot of tools? And most environmental problems require an entire chest of tools and the different people who know how to use them.”
Collinge said students sometimes grasp this distinction better than professors do. “Students who are interested in the environment understand very deeply that they have to know something about politics and policies and how we make choices and why we make choices,” she said. “They’ve essentially pushed us, encouraged us to provide that broad and deep training for them.”
Of the donor’s gift, Collinge said, “This was incredibly generous. And we are really grateful.
“For me, it validates or speaks to the importance of what we’re doing,” she said. “With more than 1,000 undergraduate majors in environmental studies and 50 graduate students, enthusiasm was abundant even before the gift that enabled the endowed chair.”
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WWII warplanes at Boulder Municipal Airport
0June 16, 2012
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#Boulder Live from airport days TV
Navy Trainer T-38
2:05
4:07
10:17
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Boulder Street alcoholic found dead in creek
0April 27, 2012
by Boulder Channel 1
in News
Boulder police investigating body found in Boulder Creek
arly this morning, a passer-by walking along Boulder Creek in the area of 13th and Arapahoe called police to report a body in the water, near the bank.
The man was deceased. He was a homeless person known to police, but his identity is not being released until authorities can determine whether the man had any family who should be notified.
According to a homeless man who spoke to police, he and the deceased man were drinking with a small group of transients until the early morning hours. Around 4 a.m. the group split up.
Police were not called until 6:30 this morning, when the passer-by noticed the body.
At this time, circumstances do not appear to be suspicious. The Boulder County Coroner has been notified.
The police department press release does make the connection between the street alcoholic drinking by the creek and his body being found in the creek. This is not an unusual demise for this population. To say that they are homeless or transient is misnomer according to experts who work with chronically addicted street people. They are no more transient than the student population at CU or IBMers who work in Boulder on monthly contracts. To call them homeless implies that all homeless are like this.
Some homeless are situationally homeless because of loss of job. This is seen more and more in Boulder. Many of them do not have a drinking problem. They just need and want work. Some so called homeless are mentally ill and are on the streets because they cannot cope in society, but they all don’t have alcohol problems.
Nationally, approximately 70% of “homeless population” are adult males in a dominant addiction such as alcoholism. They are homeless by choice: ie they would rather fly a sign for drinking money and stay by the creek. The other 30% are out of work people and the mentally ill.
Alcoholism is a serious problem in Boulder for the “homeless” and the employed alike
In this rare press release, it is unusual that the Boulder Police department makes a connection between this kind of death and drinking, but it is more likely than not in most homeless deaths in Boulder.
Chronically addicted males on Boulder streets account for millions of dollars spent each year in emergency services, hospital services and homeless shelter services.
Those who have information but wish to remain anonymous may contact the Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or 1-800-444-3776. Tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers website at www.crimeshurt.com. Those submitting tips through Crime Stoppers that lead to the arrest and filing of charges on a suspect(s) may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000 from Crime Stoppers.
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City of Boulder Backs CU in shutting down 420 pot fest : the whole story
0April 18, 2012
The Boulder city council voted 7-2 to back the University of Colorado in it’s move to keep a bunch of pot smoking hippie outsiders off their campus on Friday April 20th 2012. The day, which lives in infamy in Colorado history is the day when Klebold and Harris gun down 13 high school students in Denver. It is also Hitlers birthday.
2012 Boulder City council
The city of Boulder is under fire by the US attorney for allowing ”pot shops” near schools. They have closed ten MMJ drug dealing operations this past month.
The city is also under fire from the DEA for it’s lax attitude toward illegal drug sales. The DEA has promised to target Boulder in the same way it id certain cities in California for massive busts under the Federal controlled drugs acts.
The council was almost reluctant in its 7-2 vote, but had to support the university if for political reasons. The two notoriously don’t get along and the city has tried to extend an olive branch over the past decade. Not supporting the 420 shutdown would have been a huge blunder.
Health professionals see the city council as largely responsible for Boulders burgeoning drug addiction problems when it allowed 100s of pot selling operations to open in the past 10 years.
Boulder also has so called Pain Clinics where class two narcotics can be purchased in the same way marijuana is sold. A phony diagnosis by a corrupt doctor and a prescription. The city too has enormous number of liquor outlets and more coming this year.
Boulder is know world wide as the biggest party school in the USA. Boulder has an extremely high drug addiction rate and alcoholism rate. It has since the feds started doing studies in the 1950′s The University has to be trying to put a stop to that notion.
A lot of drug addicts spoke at council last night in support of more drugs on campus, but their pleas fell on deaf yet sympathetic ears. The council has long been known to be a bunch of pot smoking elder hippies.
But in the end this years 420 pot binge is expected to be a nice party for CU students only on campus with music food and fun. No one else is invited.
University of Colorado closed to unauthorized visitors, non-affiliates on April 20
The University of Colorado Boulder announced today it will be open to students, faculty and staff on April 20, but closed to unauthorized non-affiliates due to the disruption caused by the 4/20 gathering.
“The gathering disrupts teaching and research right in the heart of the campus,” said CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano. “The size of the crowd has become unmanageable, and limits our faculty, staff and students from getting to class, entering buildings and doing their basic work. It needs to end.”
Further the event is attended mostly by CU freshman from campus. The outsiders come from all over the state. It has been their premier rally for legalizing marijuana in the USA. Pot lobbyists and activists use the event to promote drug use. With nice weather crowds could exceed 50,000. The university does not want to be know as the hippie pot smoking capital of the universe. With larger crowds expected, rampant illegal drug dealing, the university has finally had enough.
The ACLU has taken up the pot smokers cause, but legal experts say it is a lost cause: The university has a right to shut down in the face of massive criminal activity .
Law enforcement officials say they are prepared for 1000′s of arrests if need be. Over 1000 police are expected. 300 swat officers will be held in reserve and over 5000 National Guard will be held in ready reserve able to deploy in 1 hours notice. One legal official told us the fines are so steep for everything that it won’t be worth it to even attempt to come to Boulder. DUIs cost an estimated $20,000. State patrol will be targeting hippies driving in from Denver.
Boulder County will have out door jail space for 10,000 ready to go. One university official said: We aren’t fooling around.
On Friday, April 20, CU-Boulder’s normal academic activity will continue as scheduled, but the following measures will be in place:
- Students, faculty, staff and all CU-Boulder affiliates will need their Buff OneCard IDs to get on, and around, the campus. Those not affiliated with CU-Boulder will not be permitted on campus and face tickets for trespassing. Those cited for trespassing face punishment of up to six months in jail and a $750 fine. District Attorney Stan Garnett has discussed April 20 enforcement operations with CU Police officials. His office will handle the prosecution of those who receive tickets. “As always, the District Attorney’s Office will work to support the efforts of the CU Police Department,” Garnett said.
- For those visitors who have tickets for CU events on April 20 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., or who are participants in academic meetings, symposia, conferences or other officially sanctioned activities, limited access to campus will be provided via a special registration program. Visitors will check in at the CU-Boulder East Campus Administrative and Research Center at 3100 Marine St. Please register for this service by going online to http://www.colorado.edu/april20 beginning Monday, April 16 at 8 a.m. or call the CU information line at 303-492-4636. After 6 p.m., no special access to the campus is required, though visitors should be advised that traffic getting into and out of the campus is likely to be heavy.
- Police will be checking for Buff OneCard IDs, and have checkpoints set up at all major campus entrances.
- Norlin Quad lawn areas will be closed to all people. Anyone, regardless of campus affiliation, who enters these areas may face a ticket for trespassing. Closure signage will be clearly displayed in this area. All areas of the campus – including other fields – will be closed to non-affiliates.
- Visitors will not be allowed to park on campus. Attendants will check those traveling to campus for BuffOne IDs and parking permits.
- CU Police issued tickets for marijuana possession last year. Officers will do the same this year. However, this year people will see a larger presence of officers.
- Those who smoke marijuana can face a ticket, which can result in a $100 fine, revocation of a person’s medical marijuana registry card upon conviction, and sanctions against students who receive tickets by CU’s Office of Student Conduct.
- A large presence of police officers from CU-Boulder and regional agencies will be present. The Colorado State Patrol will conduct enhanced patrols on U.S. 36, Colo. 93, the Diagonal Highway and other highways throughout the day, looking for drivers under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.
- The Colorado Department of Revenue’s Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division will have a team of officers deployed on campus and throughout Boulder to monitor medical marijuana centers and ensure compliance with licensing regulations.
- CU organizations and academic units have been advised to move non-essential meetings and gatherings that require visitors, partners and stakeholders to more convenient times later in the spring semester.
- Regent Drive will be closed to through traffic from approximately 1:30 to 6 p.m. Buses will be allowed to use Regent Drive, but drivers should plan alternate routes.
- The Buff Bus and RTD Stampede, 209, and J routes will be impacted between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Please seehttp://www.colorado.edu/pts/news/index.html for details on how these routes will be altered and/or delayed.
The university announced on April 3 that a concert with the performer Wyclef Jean, sponsored by the CU Student Government in partnership with CU-Boulder’s Program Council, will be hosted at the Coors Events Center. Doors open at 2 p.m. and all CU students with BuffOne cards are invited to attend. The show is expected to end at 7 p.m. No non-CU students will be admitted.
The city of Boulder shut down the Halloween Mall Crawl in 1990 after crowds of over 50,000 became wild, a media circus and put huge financial strains on the city. It is hoped with this new shut down that CU students who want to celebrate 420 will do it quietly and not turn it into a national sensation embarrassing the entire University of Colorado. Parents who see this will be less likely to send their kids to CU and this event sends the wrong message. Which is if you are a doper CU is the place to come.
Drug addiction has been a problem on the CU campus since the late 1960s. Shutting down 420 will help to solve this health issue too.
by BC1 staff
CU News services contributed to this story
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New CU J-school is getting ready for the (digital) revolution
0February 20, 2012
CU-Boulder symposium explores digital media impact on politics, journalism and historical preservation A University of Colorado Boulder symposium Feb. 27-29 will examine how the revolution in digital media is changing global politics, journalism and the way history is preserved. Journalism and Mass Communication at CU-Boulder is sponsoring “The Content and Context of Digital Culture” symposium, which is free and open to the public. It will be held at various sites across campus and a complete schedule is available at http://www.icjmtsymposium.org/schedule/.
“This symposium provides the CU community with an excellent opportunity to explore new political and cultural terrain opened up by digital media,” said symposium organizer Andrew Calabrese, a professor of journalism and mass communication. Among the speakers will be Columbia University Professor Todd Gitlin, who will present “Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street: Why 2011 Was Not 1968” on Feb. 27 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in room 150 of the Eaton Humanities Building. Gitlin’s upcoming e-book, “Occupy Nation: The Roots, the Spirit and the Promise of Occupy Wall Street,” looks at how that movement differs from the uprisings of previous eras. Mark Briggs, who coined the term “Journalism 2.0,” will talk about a new breed of ‘journopreneurs’ who are launching startups that break from traditional advertising models to find new sources of revenue for delivering news and information. Briggs is the director of digital media for KING-5 TV in Seattle and the Ford Fellow in Entrepreneurial Journalism at the Poynter Institute. His session is on Feb. 29 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in room 150 of the Eaton Humanities Building. 
Experts at the conference also will discuss new ways of archiving digital records and how these collections are being used in places such as libraries and museums. Librarians and archivists are looking for new ways to preserve such records, according to symposium organizers. The symposium runs in conjunction with an effort to create a new interdisciplinary school or college at CU-Boulder that may include studies in communication, technology, multimedia storytelling, commercial design and the digital arts and humanities. The effort is called the Information, Communication, Journalism, Media and Technology, or ICJMT, initiative. Journalism and Mass Communication is sponsoring the symposium in support of the ICJMT initiative, with additional support from CU’s Keller Center for the Study of the First Amendment, the Department of Political Science, the English department, the Film Studies Program, the Center for the Humanities and the Arts, CU Libraries and the Advertising A2B certificate program. For more information including speakers and event locations visit http://www.icjmtsymposium.org/.
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TV weathermen don’t want to know which way the wind blows
0January 23, 2012
American Meteorological Society Delays Vote on Climate Change Statement
Members of drafting committee have reportedly threatened to resign;
Forecast the Facts campaign calls on the AMS Council to offer a full explanation
New Orleans, LA – On Sunday, January 22, the Council of the American Meteorological Society voted to delay passage of its new statement on climate change, deviating from its plans to release a new statement by Feb. 1, 2012. Daniel Souweine, director of the Forecast the Facts campaign—a new initiative to hold T.V. meteorologists accountable on climate change reporting—said this in response: “The AMS Council is calling this a ‘routine’ delay. But the statement is taking considerably longer than expected, and members of their drafting committee have threatened to resign. Something isn’t adding up.”
Forecast The Facts staff attended the Council meeting, where AMS Council member Peter Lamb explained that the Council had sent the statementback to the drafting committee because of unspecified “concerns.” Councilor Lamb indicated that the drafting committee was frustrated by the process, and that multiple committee members had threatened to resign. On Friday, January 20, the AMS posted an update on their blog about the statement’s release. The AMS is the leading national organization for meteorologists, with over 14,000 members. Its information statements are “intended to provide a trustworthy, objective and scientifically up-to-date explanation of scientific issues of concern to the public at large.“ According to a national survey, T.V. meteorologists trust information from the AMS more than almost any other source, including climate researchers, making their statement on climate change a closely watched document in the meteorological community.
The current statement, passed in 2007, was originally set to expire onFebruary 1, 2012. The new statement, being drafted by a panel of experts, requires approval by the 21-member AMS Council. The Council’s decision to delay the vote means that the process for drafting will take longer than the AMS’ internal guidelines, which state that: “The period of time from appointment of the drafting committee to approval by the Council must not exceed eight months.”
The issue of climate change denial among television weather reporters has gained increasing attention of late, especially with the release of a national study by George Mason University in March 2010. The study found that 63% of T.V. meteorologists think climate change is due to natural causes, and a full 27% think global warming is a scam.
Recent increases in extreme weather have added further impetus for meteorologists to report on climate change. In 2011, the United States experienced a record twelve “billion-dollar” extreme weather events, including flooding from Hurricane Irene, unprecedented tornadoes in the Midwest, and crippling droughts and wildfires in the Southwest. Most scientists believe that climate change exacerbates extreme weather, a conclusion affirmed by the International Panel on Climate Change’s November 2011 report on the subject.
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CU Boulder trains new generation of “greenies”
0November 9, 2011
CU-BOULDER PROVIDES ‘GREEN’ JOBS TRAINING
IN GROWING FIELD OF SUSTAINABILITY
The Sustainable Practices Program at the University of Colorado Boulder offers individual courses and a sustainability management certificate to help workers and job seekers meet the growing need for green knowledge and credentials in the workplace.
“This is a megatrend, similar to electrification or manufacturing,” said program manager Kelly Simmons. “The public and private sectors are realizing that sustainability-driven practices make constituents happier and save money, in addition to the obvious boon of helping to protect the environment.”
About 290 people have enrolled in CU’s Sustainable Practices Program since its 2007 inception, including a journalist who now covers the “smart grid” energy system, and professionals updating their credentials in LEED standards — a U.S. benchmark for “green” building design, construction and operation. The program is open to the public.
Chris Berry, a former mayor of Lafayette, Colo., earned a professional certificate from the program last year and now works for Trane, an international energy services company.
“The Sustainable Practices Program gave me a boost on my resume that helped me move into the kind of work that I wanted to do, where there’s a lot of opportunity,” said Berry. “I use what I learned in class to talk with public, private and nonprofit groups about sustainability — making assessments, planning and how to get things done. The groups are very interested in energy and water conservation to reduce their carbon footprint and save money.
“I think there are success stories throughout the Sustainable Practices Program in terms of participants and how they’ve been able to use the training to further their careers,” he said. “Mine is definitely one of them.”
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment this fall selected the CU-Boulder program as an official provider of green jobs training for Coloradans.
Among an array of statewide sustainability training opportunities, CU-Boulder’s program is the only public university offering for which participants may receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funding. Some scholarships remain for Coloradans interested in the statewide programs, which can be applied for through state workforce centers.
Fifty-year-old Nikki Jackson of Denver, who hasn’t held a full-time position in three years, is in the process of applying for the Sustainable Practices Program. She thinks it would put her ahead professionally and have a domino effect on the Colorado job market.
“As somebody who’s in the position of many people — middle-aged and having to recreate themselves in this economy — enhancing my sustainability expertise at CU would give me more than an edge. It would make me credible,” said Jackson. “The program would help me to not only create my own job, but to create many jobs for others.”
Jackson is launching a communications firm called Sustainable Storytelling. The move comes after years of work in television news, public relations, marketing and political campaign management, as well as a period of caring for her husband, who now is in cancer remission.
The Sustainable Practices Program’s interdisciplinary courses, taught by industry experts, range from “Understanding the U.S. Energy Landscape” to “Creative Financing of Sustainability Initiatives.” Participants need not be registered at CU-Boulder and may apply for and begin the program at any time.
Classes, which are not for university credit, can be taken individually, or as part of a professional certificate track. Most courses are one day and held on campus on various dates throughout the school year.
Most courses are worth 10 program credit hours. To earn the professional certificate, 100 program credit hours are required including the completion of three core classes: “Organizational Change for Sustainability,” “Communication Strategies for Sustainability” and “Tools and Techniques for Sustainability.” The average cost of each course is $265.
For more information on CU-Boulder’s Sustainable Practices Program visit http://sustainable.colorado.edu/.
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Boulder tour of sustainable Homes Sunday Oct 2
0September 30, 2011
Tour of Sustainable Homes
Join the Center for ReSource Conservation on a extraordinary tour of some of the most sustainable homes in our community!
The 2011 Tour of Sustainable Homes will occur on
Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
Buy your tickets today! Ticket price is $7 through September 30th and will be $8 the day of the tour. Registered volunteers will receive free entrance.
Click here to learn more about related seminars we have on September 28th and October 5th.
BGBG Building On-Site Seminar: EnergySmart Retrofit Project
Learn how the new EnergySmart program in Boulder County has helped this homeowner increase both comfort and efficiency.
Wednesday, September 28th , 2011 from 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Understanding & Leveraging Green
Understanding Green/Sustainable homes and how they contribute to improving the environment as well as adding to the health and comfort of homeowners and their families.
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 from 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
On this year’s tour, the CRC has partnered with other non-profits and government groups in the County to showcase technologies, tactics, and services that help make our community more sustainable. Energy conservation, water conservation, waste diversion, local food production, transportation, community programs, and more will be featured from the perspective of the homes and community centers that will be on the tour in Boulder, Louisville, and Lafayette. The CRC is committed to showcasing and introducing the latest technologies in energy and water conservation while also highlighting some of the most effective, interesting and practical ways that people in our community are reducing waste and living sustainably. The tour includes bus and biking options. Purchase a ticket for the tour and visit community stops, talk with local organizations, and learn how to take easy steps in your life.
We will demonstrate that there is tangible value in making conservation improvements to your home and lifestyle.
The 2011 Tour of Sustainable Homes will occur on
Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
Buy your tickets today! Ticket price is $7 through September 30th and will be $8 the day of the tour. Registered volunteers will receive free entrance.
WHO: The Center for ReSource Conservation (CRC).
WHAT: Tour of Sustainable Homes – 16th Annual, formerly known as the Tour of Solar Homes.
WHEN: Sunday October 2nd, 10am – 4pm.
WHERE: The Tour starts at the CRC offices at 2639 Spruce Street, Boulder. All tour participants will need to first check in at tour headquarters to receive their wristbands, tour guide and map.**Anyone wanting to start with our Louisville/Lafayette cluster should check in at Steinbaugh Pavillion at 824 Front Street in Old Town Louisville. Registration opens at 10am.
WHY: Learn from experts how you can save money AND conserve resources! This is the premier opportunity for Boulder County residents and homeowners to see first hand that sustainable homes are comfortable, practical, reliable and affordable! Tour participants have the opportunity to interact with homeowners, builders, contractors, installers, sustainability nonprofits—and fellow community members—who have the experience and knowledge in making homes sustainable and make it easyto understand ways to live sustainably. Come see who, what, and how!
HOW: Register for the tour and visit the tour’s Facebook events page athttp://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=189612224425341
Special this year: the Hop bus is going rogue! The City of Boulder Local Environmental Action Division (LEAD) is providing free bus guided tours on the north side of Boulder from 10:00am to 1:00pm and on the south side of Boulder from 1:00 to 4:00pm. Register for the tour today indicate your preference for this first come first serve option.
Special this year: take the tour on a B-cycle! Through a promotion offered by Boulder B-cycle, have the opportunity to register for the tour and ride to tour stops with one of the stylish, comfortable Boulder B-cycle bikes. Bikes are available to tour participants on Sunday, October 2nd. Register for the tour today and enjoy a bike ride around town.
And here’s a preview of the tour homes, community points of interest, and our partners:
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Cropland Policy Advisory Group to discuss genetically engineered crops
0August 5, 2011
Boulder County, Colo. – The Cropland Policy Advisory Group, appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, will meet Wednesday to discuss and learn about issues related to genetically engineered crops.
When: Wednesday, Aug. 10, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: Plaza Longmont Hotel Conference Center, 1850 Industrial Circle, Longmont
No public comment will be taken, but forms will be available for written comments, which will become part of the public record. Future hearings will provide additional opportunities for the public to comment on the proposed policies.
Three experts will address the questions and concerns of the advisory group.
- Dr. Michael McNeill, Crop Consultant
- Kent Davis, Crop Consultant
- Dr. Philip Westra, Professor of Weed Science and Extension Specialist, CSU
Cropland Policy
The effort to develop a Cropland Policy for county-owned croplands began in 2010 with public outreach including farm tours, an open house, a Sustainable Agriculture Forum, and a Farm and Ranch Panel Discussion.
In 2011, the commissioners convened the Cropland Policy Advisory Group to advise Boulder County staff in developing the policy. Through discussion and proposed policy statements, the members of CPAG provide guidance and advice for developing a final policy.
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GIFT ESTABLISHES ENDOWED CHAIR IN FINANCE AT CU’S LEEDS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
0July 7, 2011
The Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder announced today that alumnus Richard “Dick” M. Burridge Sr. (’51 finance) has made a $2.5 million gift that, combined with other commitments, will establish a new chair, the Burridge Chair in Finance, the first to be established within the school.
“This endowed chair is one major step in my drive to advance not only the finance division, but the entire Leeds School to the forefront of business education,” said Dean David Ikenberry. “Given the remarkable Colorado-based investment community, it is fitting and appropriate that this gift be named for one of the pre-eminent experts in investment finance and that, in turn, it will help Leeds educate future leaders in key areas of finance. Gifts such as this are indeed vital for the Leeds School to compete at the highest level.”
Through this gift, Burridge, whose early philanthropic efforts in 1997 also helped establish the Burridge Center for Securities Analysis and Valuation at Leeds, is extending his ongoing support for the school and the center through volunteering and philanthropy. “My gift enhances the efforts of new dean David Ikenberry to expand the depth and quality of the school’s finance faculty,” said Burridge. “It will also help the dean realize the goal of being one of the top business schools in the country.”
The center creates and shares knowledge relating to financial markets, principally the U.S. financial markets. The center also encourages professional investment managers, finance scholars, policymakers and the investing public to exchange ideas, and ultimately helps stimulate relevant financial research to help both markets and investors.
“Dick Burridge Sr. is a longtime supporter of the Leeds School as well as the University of Colorado Boulder campus,” said Phil DiStefano, chancellor of CU-Boulder. “His investment in the endowed chair will enhance the visibility and reputation of the school and further elevate an already very strong finance faculty.”
“Over the past three decades, no one has had a greater commitment to the success of the university, and the Leeds School in particular, than Dick Burridge,” said Michael Leeds, co-chair of the Creating Futures campaign for the Leeds School of Business.
“He has been a true partner to the school and the CU Foundation as the Investment Policy committee chair. It is no surprise that Dick is spearheading the recent public announcement of the Creating Futures campaign with this wonderful gift,” said Leeds.
The Burridge gift is one of the first major gifts announced during the public phase of the Creating Futures fundraising campaign launched in April 2011. Since inception in 2006, the campaign has raised over 200,000 gifts toward a goal of $1.5 billion to support teaching, research, outreach and health programs on the University of Colorado’s four campuses.
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Boulder Global Wildfire Awareness Week: ‘Your Home…Your Responsibility
0May 3, 2011
by Boulder Channel 1
in News
‘MISSOULA, MT, May 3, 2011 –/WORLD-WIRE/– The International
Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) announces Global Wildfire
Awareness Week, from May 1-7, 2011 in the Northern Hemisphere, with a
theme of “Your Home…Your Responsibility.
Wildfire affects residents, businesses and governments on every
continent and we are using our resources to link and assist those
groups,” said IAWF President Chuck Bushey. “This is a key time to
share wildfire prevention information with the world,” he added. The
IAWF’s full proclamation and a growing body of resources are available
on a new website – wildfireworld.org — orientated towards
homeowners, firefighters, communities and governmental organizations
throughout the world.
We are excited to globally link wildfire professional to share
information, research, and practical tools in the effort to reduce
wildfire impacts,” said Bushey. This dynamic site allows sharing of
community wildfire profiles, fire prevention materials and real-time,
global fire occurrence information. “The site will build as time
goes on and will become more vibrant with submissions from all parts
of the globe,” he continued. The Southern Hemisphere Awareness Week
kicks off October 1.
This initiative grows from IAWF’s mission to foster leadership and
communication for the wildland fire community. This bi-annual
campaign seeks to expand IAWF’s commitment to wildfire prevention
around the globe. As the Proclamation notes, “Our vision is a
global society that is not only vigilant but also knowledgeable on
how to live in fire-prone environments. We ask for your
participation, not only through this week, but throughout the
year.”
“Wildfires are a growing problem, globally and locally,” said
IAWF Board Member Ron Steffens. “The first year of Global Wildfire
Awareness Week we are building a clearinghouse of current, evolving
information.” The new site showcases community profiles such as
Greece, home to massive wildfires in 2010, and Washington state
(USA), with more profiles being added over the coming months. Fire
prevention and home safety evaluation resources are available along
with links to global wildfire news. Wildland firefighters are
encouraged to upload their “Community Profile” as we observe
globally how each local community prevents unplanned wildfires.
About the International Association of Wildland Fire.
The IAWF is a nonprofit, 501(c) (3) professional association
representing members of the global wildland fire community
(www.iawfonline.org <http://www.iawfonline.org/>
and http://wildfireworld.org <http://wildfireworld.org/>
) and is uniquely positioned as an independent organization whose
membership includes experts in all aspects of wildland fire
management. IAWF’s independence and breadth of global membership
expertise allows it to offer a neutral forum for the consideration of
important, at times controversial, wildland fire issues. IAWF produces
Wildfire magazine, the International Journal of Wildland Fire, and
FireNet.
1418 Washburn Street
Missoula, MT 59801 USA
www.iawfonline.org <http://www.iawfonline.org/>
Contact:
Paula Nelson,
Public Affairs Officer
publicaffairs@iawfonline.org <mailto:publicaffairs@iawfonline.org>
or 406-821-0042
Boulder County Environmental Sustainability Plan available for public review
0Boulder County, Colo. – After years of collaborative work with county staff, elected officials and local partners, Boulder County has released a draft of its Environmental Sustainability Plan for public comment and feedback prior to its adoption on Jan. 3.
Once adopted, there will be an extensive public review process to continue to tweak parts of the plan and develop an implementation strategy for each of the elements of the plan.
What: Public hearing to adopt the Environmental Sustainability Plan
When: Thursday, Jan. 3 at 11 a.m.
Where: Commissioners’ Hearing Room, Boulder County Courthouse, third floor, 1325 Pearl St., Boulder (map)
Comments may also be submitted to commissioners@bouldercounty.org.
The plan was drafted to articulate Boulder County’s vision to create a more environmentally sustainable community as well as provide a blueprint for achieving the county’s collective environmental sustainability goals. In addition, it’s intended that the plan will act as a launching point to help set communitywide environmental priorities and develop shared resources to achieve more regional environmental sustainability goals.
The plan addresses county internal operations as well as the environmental services provided for residents and businesses. It is broken into nine categories including air quality, climate, ecological health, energy and buildings, health and wellness, local food and agriculture, transportation, water and zero waste.
Each section concludes with policy priorities and actions that employees, residents and businesses can take to positively impact Boulder County. More specific timeframes, funding sources, selection of implementation leaders and/or partners will be addressed in an implementation plan, which will guide Boulder County employees in executing the strategies in the Environmental Sustainability Plan.
The next phase of the environmental sustainability planning process is to solicit feedback and insight from the community including key stakeholders and experts on what is missing from the plan and how to best carry out the strategies outlined.
For a copy of the plan, please visit: http://www.bouldercounty.org/sustainability/bc/pages/envsustainabilityplan.aspx
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