Climate Advocates’ Monthly

Edition II 18 April 25

For new subscribers, please see the newsletter vision at the end and help make this a community effort.

- Climate news can be discouraging and wear us down. But positive action and engagement can be uplifting and energizing – and most importantly – a way to get more citizens involved in solutions.

This month’s theme is composting and its multi-faceted benefits. Rick Lynch (above) holds a seed sprouting from compost that he pulled from his outdoor compost tumbler. In his other hand is a kitchen scrap container bought about 20 years ago after visiting friends.

“We thought it was weird that they had one in their kitchen, but the idea stuck with us and the compost really helps our poor Colorado soil. We’ve also been surprised by peach pits sprouting in our compost tumbler. They’re now very productive peach trees!”

Rick and Gloria live near downtown Colorado Springs and have been composting since that visit 20 years ago. Last summer they had a bumper crop of peaches, plums, pears and grapes that they donated to Food to Power (featured below). They’ve also planted trees that shade their house to keep it cooler and flowers grow among their lettuce, tomatoes, squash, peppers, and other crops. Rick adds “If you have a question or would like to join us for a garden tour late in the summer, let us know in the comments to this newsletter.”

I. Upcoming Events

Just in! Today thru Wednesday, 23 April: Citizens Climate Lobby is facilitating a mass letter drop-off at Representative Jeff Crank’s office, urging him to vote to retain clean energy tax credits that would benefit his constituency, not to mention the climate. If you would like to participate, email coclimadvocate@yahoo.com to receive templates and background. I’ll compile emailed letters and send them to the CCL team NLT 22 April.

Saturday 19 April: The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center is hosting a free Earth Day Celebration (10:00-2:00) with wildlife and environmental exhibits – great day to wear your climate shirts at an indoor Earth Day event (the weather looks dodgy) and bring the young.

- Earth Day, 22 April: The Climate Table will be at Poor Richards Downtown from 10-2:30

- Earth Day, 22 April: Richards Rubbish Roundup Native Seed Bomb: 3:00-5:00 (RSVP via their website: Richards Rubbish Roundup | 322 North Tejon Street Suite 206, Colorado Springs, CO, USA )

- Sunday 27 April: Tentative – The Climate Table will be at the Farm & Arts Market at 6449 Omaha Blvd on the East Side, in front of the Sourdough Boulangerie.

II. Worth a Look

Worried About the Climate? Get Off the Couch. The Data Supports It.

Eat grass-fed beef, help the planet? Research says not so simple

III. Contributions (achievements or experiences, new connections or partnerships).

- Thank you to our local FOX channel for covering our efforts! Objective media coverage is critical to illuminate the need to slow climate deterioration. The small, but mighty, climate advocacy community | FOX21 News Colorado

- Thank you Sarah Grant for hosting us at the Pikes Peak Wellness Society’s Herb Fest at the Westside Community Center. We met many of you there. Please stay in touch, we are on the look-out for more events to promote climate awareness and engagement.

- Citizens Climate Lobby/Citizens Climate Education (CCL/CCE) hosted a fascinating presentation on the security implications of a warming Arctic on 25 March at UCCS. Stay tuned for future educational opportunities from CCL/CCE and other climate organizations.

IV. Featured Article:

Many visitors to the climate table ask “how can I help?” or are looking for a way to volunteer. Below, you can learn of Food to Power’s effort and needs.

- Our local climate and food justice Non-Profit Organization, Food to Power is a stellar example of positive climate action with community benefits. Please read this write-up from Food to Power and help support their very impactful, local effort.

“The United States throws away about 30% to 40% of its entire food supply, thereby losing critical nutrients taken from the soil through growing. That is almost 219 pounds of food waste per person thrown into landfills each year. Additionally, Colorado’s waste diversion rate (16%) is half the national average, indicating that Colorado’s waste diversion systems need more support to meet sustainability standards and goals.

Composting can improve these rates, reduce greenhouse emissions, decrease energy consumption, preserve landfill space, support growing, and help prevent droughts, wildfires, and famine. As climate change worsens, diverting organic waste from landfills is critical to creating healthy and sustainable communities.

However, Colorado is further from reaching its waste diversion goals than ever before. The state’s most populated county lost its only commercial composting facility in 2024. This left a huge gap in the Pikes Peak food and environmental ecosystem; without a facility to process large quantities of compostable waste into the nutritious compost needed for healthy topsoil.

The implications of this facility’s loss to El Paso County’s local food and environmental ecosystems are serious. Local landfills are filling up with more greenhouse gas-producing food waste and growers have fewer options to source topsoil-repairing compost. As fresh, nutritious food becomes more unaffordable and less accessible, the ability to grow fresh food in clean, nourished soil is not only an environmental imperative, but also a social, economic, and health one as well.

Food to Power Compost is changing this. We’re filling the gap left in 2024 by collecting more than 250 tons of food scraps from over 700 households and businesses. Everything we collect is diverted from land- and air-polluting landfills and instead turned into local livestock feed or soil-repairing compost. And we give back a portion of the compost made onsite to our Compost members to promote local soil health and growing. But it's not enough. We need more Compost members to be able to regenerate, heal, and sustain the Pikes Peak environment in the face of a changing climate. Join us today by becoming a FTP Compost Member!"

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The Climate Monthly Vision:

1: This is our newsletter. Your suggestions, lessons learned, new information/connections, recommended readings and encouraging experiences will be needed to make this useful and to help to grow a local climate community. To provide inputs, please send via email to coclimadvocate@yahoo.com

2. This is the ultimate team effort. Far too many key players remain on the sidelines. We need to pull them in – those who know it’s a crisis but aren’t acting yet. Those who don’t think or know it’s a crisis, and ultimately, those who deny it’s a crisis because of disinformation and misinformation.

3: This is our challenge. It is hard to acknowledge our own collective responsibility, that thing that compels us to change habits and how we’re accustomed to living. It is a challenge we can struggle to accept because of its seeming complexity or distance. Thinking about the worst-case scenarios creates anxiety, so we compartmentalize to keep the crisis safely out of mind.

4. Share what you are doing

We all have different talents, schedules, resources and perspectives. But someone else might learn from your progress, learning and actions. We all need encouragement, pointers and the knowledge we are not alone.

1. We only use first names unless given permission to share more and will not share email addresses unless given permission for specific purposes.

2. Positivity in public, please vent anger or despondence privately.

3. Carefully review submissions of articles, anecdotes to avoid offending those with different viewpoints – highlight differences politely.

4. Timeliness – please provide inputs/feedback by the third weekend of the month for inclusion in the following edition. Images welcome!