"Every Day is Earth Day in Boulder"

Hello again from Boulder! Can’t believe we are already almost done with the 3rd AmeriCorps NCCC project. Although I am so excited for my 4th project and to be reunited with my original teammates of Water 4, I am trying to soak in every last moment I have in Boulder.

This past weekend, we had an awesome opportunity to do some independent volunteer service. Everyone on my team helped with the Climate Smart Energy Sweep in Longmont, Colorado. We partnered up with Boulder County and went door-to-door giving away free energy efficient products. We swapped incandescent light bulbs (old-school) for compact fluorescent lights (exciting and energy saving!), gave away water saving shower heads, clothes drying racks, and a $30 gift certificate to be used for more energy efficient items at the local hardware store. It was such an incredible experience to be able to help the environment and help lower-income families save money on their electric and water bills. We met some amazing people and had a memorable experience. We were able to give away hundreds of dollars of energy saving items and it was greatly appreciated.

On Sunday, there was a big festival for Earth Day in downtown Boulder. There was live music, food, and tons of booths set up advertising local, organic, green, or otherwise environmentally conscious companies. It is so mind blowing to be living in a city that cares so much about preserving the beauty of the planet.

We headed back to work on Monday. After a couple weeks of cleaning irrigation ditches, it was back to invasive species removal. While we walked along the fields at the bottom of the foothills of Boulder removing Mediterranean Sage and Myrtle Spurge, we also came across 5 rattlesnakes, 1 bull snake, and a frog. Seeing and hearing my first rattlesnake was breathtaking. I literally was only 2 feet from a 3-foot rattlesnake that had no intention of letting me get any closer. We all were wearing Kevlar snake chaps and steel toed boots, but it was still a very intense experience to be walking through a field that was littered with poisonous snakes.

After work, a couple of us went to hang out on Pearl Street. We then went to a concert next to the University of Colorado campus. It was a venue called, ‘The Fox.” Tons of well-known artists have played there before they really got big. There were pictures of Dave Matthews, The Killers, Ziggy Marley and tons more. We went to see an up and coming ‘indie’ band called ‘The Antlers.’ It was an awesome show and we got all the way up to the front row.

As you can see, life is great here. We are spending a majority of our time helping Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks with their invasive species removal and irrigation ditch maintenance and still have enough time to explore and take advantage of all the amazing opportunities in Boulder.

~Ian