Angels
To the woman at Carbondale’s City Market this past Sunday, I so greatly appreciate your returning my grocery cart to the store, but even more I appreciate you finding the cell phone that I accidentally left in the cart and returning it to the service desk. I was so relieved to find it, thanks to you.
There are angels that walk amongst us. Thank you again.
Janet Johnson
Carbondale
Trouble in Paradise
Cruising to Crested Butte a couple of weeks ago, soaking in the magnificence of our state in fall, the spell was suddenly broken by a familiar blot on the landscape — traffic. Lines of cars creeping along from Kebler Pass to the town of Crested Butte. On a Thursday!
Traffic was one of my favorite bands from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, but other than that, it’s been the bane of my existence. Thirty-one years ago, I left the Chicago area to get away from it and nine years ago the congestion on Grand Avenue in Glenwood Springs drove me out of there to Carbondale.
Living in downtown Carbondale, I’m relatively shielded, but if the situation on Highway 133 gets any worse, I may have to move onto Redstone, then Marble after that. I have no patience with sitting in a vehicle going nowhere, burning gasoline, while emitting carbon dioxide.
Adding lanes, widening roads, and otherwise making driving easier isn’t the answer. It’s time for our car culture to come to grips with the fact there’s just TOO MANY DAMN CARS. We have to get them off the road.
Aspen’s extreme traffic problems need to be met with extreme measures. I propose a toll gate at the east and west ends of town charging a stiff fee, say $10 or more. Those who don’t wish to pay can pull into a park and ride and take the bus. Those who are driving through town can get a voucher so they can get a refund at the other end. Those who need their car at work and can prove it can get a pass.
Fred Malo Jr.
Carbondale
Traffic 2
Whoa! The ongoing decades-long woes of the Aspen and Pitkin County economies troubling and overburdening the arteries of Highway 82, I-70, and Independence Pass are the ongoing tale of an unwritten Edgar Allan Poe short story. Perhaps all the widespread public anguish will lessen with the return of Aspen to a long-ago quaint, near-ghost town which Jim Markalunas knows as a true Aspenite with the tribal memory which nearly none have in present Aspen.
How could such a thing happen, you ask? Here are three insights of the many for you to picture:
The federal government doesn’t bail out companies and the rich.
Garfield County business activities outperforming Pitkin County businesses.
Aspen and Pitkin County becoming passé to celebrities and hungry realtors.
Emzy Veazy III
Aspen
Marble Distilling
As a distiller and business owner on Carbondale’s Main Street, I know the importance of the Crystal River to our community. Healthy, flowing rivers are essential to my business, to our community’s sense of identity, to the farmers and ranchers whose partnership we value deeply, and to our state as a whole — economically and environmentally. The beauty of the Crystal River and joy it brings all is only matched by these economic and environmental benefits.
Distilleries across western states face many of the same water issues that Colorado grapples with and cemented our decision 10 years ago to ensure Marble would distill sustainability and implement significant water saving initiatives and technologies to make our craft spirits.
Working with an array of engineers — many local, who care deeply about Colorado sustainability issues — Marble created a first of a kind Water & Energy Thermal System (WETS) which saves more than 5 million gallons of water a year and harvests more than 2 billion BTUs of energy off what would otherwise be waste heat. All of this energy is used to power Marble’s facility.
A typical bottle of vodka requires 100 bottles of the same size of water to produce one bottle of spirit. Marble Vodka (and other spirits) requires only the water used inside the bottle — so, one bottle of water! And of course, a clean, flowing Crystal River is essential to producing our spirits — not just because vodka is 60% water, but because without it, we also don’t have the high-elevation grains that come from local farms that also rely on the river.
Marble also utilizes low-water crops, such as triticale that we grow on the western slope, to create a one of a kind whiskey that ensures we are conserving while creating beautiful craft spirits.
Marble supports water conservation initiatives, such as the Colorado Water Plan Grant Program, which helps keep the Crystal River healthy and flowing, essential to the continued success of our business and economy. In 2022, the Colorado Water Conservation Board approved a grant for the Roaring Fork Conservancy to restore the Crystal River, improving ecological function and increasing public participation in water conservation. Grants that support projects like these aren’t just good for our rivers, but good for the businesses that rely on our rivers, and our community as a whole. Similarly, USDA supported Marble with rural development grants that helped build our WETS system and enabled Marble to purchase local equipment and use local contractors to further support the local economy.
Everyone must play their part in increasing Colorado’s resilience to drought and climate change, and investments into creative solutions and communities are essential. Marble is grateful that the CWP Grant Program has helped keep the Crystal River healthy so that businesses, farms and ranches, communities and the environment in the Roaring Fork Valley can continue to thrive — and we can continue making the world’s most sustainable spirit.
Drink sustainably!
Connie Baker
Marble Distilling