 From left to right: John Callahan, Hamilton Mehlman, Jon Gibans, Mike Maple, Steve Marolt, and Mike Marolt at the foot of Noijin Kansang.
Tibet and PeruThe show will concentrate on two expeditions to “no-name peaks”, Coropuna in Peru; Noijin Kansang in Tibet. After spending the previous 8 years climbing the more popular 8,000 meter peaks, and dealing with the hoards of adventurists, we wanted to get back to the root of what we do. We were looking for high, remote peaks with little or no other groups. That is exactly what we found.
The presentation will start out with a short 20 minute video diary, Coropuna, No One Around, and then will end with a slide show of the trip to Tibet as seen through the camera of various members, Jon Giban, John Callahan, Mike Maple, and Mike and Steve Marolt.
Free Members
$4 Non Members 1/06/2010 Hallam Lake 7:30pm at Hallam Lake 
Roaring Fork WatershedThe Roaring Fork Watershed is under increased pressure from development, diversion and the impacts of increased population in both this valley and beyond. The recently-completed State of the Watershed Report provides a comprehensive picture of current conditions in the watershed and lays the foundation for the Roaring Fork Watershed Plan which is currently underway. Two years in the making, the Report offers an encyclopedic catalog of water quality, quantity and impending threats. Presenting highlights from the Report will be Sharon Clarke of the Roaring Fork Conservancy, the principal author of the Report, and Mark Fuller, Director of the Ruedi Water and Power Authority, sponsors of the Roaring Fork Watershed Plan.
Free Members
Free Non Members 3/12/2009 Hallam Lake 7:30pm 
Wild UtahPlease join the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) for a breathtaking journey through the
famous redrock country of Southern Utah. Presented by SUWA’s Western Regional Organizer Barbara Eubanks, WILD UTAH: America’s Redrock Wilderness is a multi-media slideshow featuring stunning images by noted wilderness photographers and narrated by Robert Redford.
Free Members
Free Non Members 3/05/2009 Hallam Lake 7:30pm 
Getting Green DoneIf sustainability were quick and easy—as many consultants suggest—we'd have done it by now. Everyone's talking green, but global carbon dioxide emissions are climbing, and climate scientists tell us we have under a decade to solve the problem. We need fewer visionaries, and more grunts. It's time to make stuff happen. Auden Schendler, a sustainability foot soldier with fifteen years in the trenches, shows the way in this witty, human and contrarian book. Brutally honest and hopeful, Getting Green Done is
the first sustainable business book to offer a peek under the hood of
the "green" movement, showing what it means to implement sustainability
in the real world. You'll learn—from the grunts on the ground—that this
is more like trench warfare than surgery—and that we're going to have
to do a lot better than we've done if we hope to solve climate change. Auden will give a short presentation about his new book and then be available to answer questions and sign books.
Free Members
Free Non Members 2/26/2009 Hallam Lake 7:30pm 
Our Amazing Backyard BatcavesOne of the largest populations of Townsend’s big-eared bats in Colorado – and perhaps in the Western United States – has been discovered in the Crystal River Valley of northwestern Colorado.
Wildlife Biologist Phil Nyland of the Aspen Ranger District reports the exact number of bats using the mine is not available, but studies are under way to survey them and determine how often they use the mine. The mine apparently was a gold mine in the 1880s. Horizontal passages in the mine reach into a hot-vapor cave. Join Phil Nyland to learn more about these secretive creatures!
Free Members
2/19/2009 Hallam Lake 7:30pm 
Rock GlaciersThe highest topography in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado is characterized by a unique set of landforms that are not present at lower elevations. These features ranging in scale from meter-wide circles of sorted stones on the tundra to U-shaped glacial valleys tens of kilometers in length. At an intermediate scale are rock glaciers, lobate or tongue-shaped masses of boulders and interstitial or buried ice. The weight of the overlying rock and ice causes ice at depth to deform, and the entire mass gradually flows downhill, creating broad block fields that have the general morphology of ice glaciers. The high mountain valleys and cirque basins around Aspen have one of the highest concentrations of rock glaciers anywhere in the state, so anyone hiking above tree line has likely seen these striking features. This presentation will discuss the basics of the alpine landscape and then focus on the current state of knowledge regarding rock glaciers: how they form (a surprisingly controversial subject!) and develop with time, their importance in the evolution of this alpine landscape, and what they can tell us about changes in climate over the past few thousand years.
Free Members
Free Non Members 2/12/2009 7:30pm 
Nature's AspirinMichael Soulé is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz. He was born, raised, and educated in California. After spending much of his youth in the canyons, deserts, and intertidal of San Diego and Baja California, and after graduating from San Diego State, he went to Stanford to study population biology and evolution under Paul Ehrlich. Upon receiving his Ph.D. at Stanford, Michael went to Africa to help found the first university in Malawi. He has also taught in Samoa, the Universities of California at both San Diego and Santa Cruz, and the University of Michigan. He has done field work on insects, lizards, birds, and mammals in Africa, Mexico, the Adriatic, the West Indies, and in California and Colorado.
Michael was a founder of the Society for Conservation Biology and The Wildlands Project and has been the president of both. He has written and edited 9 books on biology, conservation biology, and the social and policy context of conservation. He has published more than 170 articles on population and evolutionary biology, fluctuating asymmetry, population genetics, island biogeography, environmental studies, biodiversity policy, nature conservation, and ethics. He continues to do research on ecosystem regulation by highly interactive species. He is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, is the sixth recipient of the Archie Carr Medal, was named by Audubon Magazine in 1998 as one of the 100 Champions of Conservation of the 20th Century, is a recipient of the National Wildlife Federation’s National Conservation Achievement Award for science, and the recipient of the Conservation Medal for 2007 from the Zoological Society of San Diego. Now living in Colorado, Michael speaks and writes on morality, conservation, serves on the boards of several conservation organizations, including the Wildlands Project, and consults internationally on nature protection. He is also co-chair of the Science Council for Australia’s WildCountry Project and is completing a book about conservation and human nature and practical means of saving the world.
Free Members
Free Non Members 2/05/2009 Hallam Lake 7:30pm 
Bringing Home the BaconJerome Osentowski, founder and director of the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute in Basalt, CO, is a widely known and respected leader and teacher in the art of permaculture, or “permanent agriculture”, especially as it is practiced high in the Rocky Mountains. Jerome’s institute, www.crmpi.org is a world leader in the dissemination of practical knowledge in sustainable, regenerative food production.
Michael Thompson is a local Architect and Jerome’s partner in Eco Systems Design, Inc., a design concern specializing in greenhouses and energy-efficient and energy-productive buildings, as well as edible landscapes and permaculture developments. Michael is the co-founder and director of Fat City Farms, Inc., a 501c3 NGO dedicated to “Growing Farmers” for a new era of healthful local agriculture, through their CSA Farm School. http://www.fatcityfarms.org/newsite/ Danny Brown, local filmmaker and charter student in the first year of the CSA Farm School, is the co-founder of Aspen Homegrown CSA http://aspenhomegrown.com/Home.html - a new subscription farming business started in the Summer of 2008, from within the Farm School. Danny knows what it takes to “Bring Home the Bacon” (or the Broccoli, for the vegetarian diet).
Free Members
Free Non Members 1/29/2009 Hallam Lake 7:30pm 
BeetlemaniaKelly Rogers
Grand Junction District Forester Colorado State Forest Service *Kelly will talk about basic bark beetle ecology and the role of bark beetles in forest succession. Clint Kyhl United States Forest Service Bark Beetle Incident Commander Arapahoe-Roosevelt, Routt, Medicine Bow, and White River National Forests *Clint will talk about the current bark beetle outbreak and what its effects are, the so-what of the outbreak. Jessica M. Clement, Ph.D. Program and Research Associate Colorado Forest Restoration Institute Department of Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship Colorado State University Fort Collins *Jess will talk about community responses to mitigate the effects of the outbreak.
1/22/2009 Hallam Lake
Danish Women Bike in HeelsThe Sopris Foundation's purpose is to find and disseminate innovative ideas in sustainability.
To this end, Piper Foster, director of the Sopris Foundation, will discuss current research on European best practices. Her presentation illustrates communities with locally produced energy, widely accessible transportation systems, and wise waste management. Since 1994, the EU has mandated that at least 60% of packaging returns to the producer for recycling; In the last decade Sweden has decreased its carbon emissions by 10% while growing its economy by 50%; Between 2004 and 2006, Germany employed 250K people in green collar jobs. This is the future. American leaders and entrepreneurs --- take note!
Free Members
Free Non Members 1/15/2009 Hallam Lake 7:30pm  |