‘Here Comes the Sun’
On Sunday, Sept. 21, 350 Roaring Fork invites the public to celebrate solar power and learn how to take advantage of existing financial incentives to make your home more energy efficient! This informational, fun gathering will be in Chacos Park at 4th and Main from 11am to 1pm as part of nationwide Sun Day events.
Music with local talent, free ice cream, a chance for kids to draw the things they like to do in the sun and information about all the existing financial incentives to help people do solar installations and efficiency renovations will be available!
Carbondale has 245 to 295 days of sun per year! That sun powers the plants that become our food and powers quite a few public buildings as well as businesses and homes. Learn about our solar history: the first town hall in Colorado to have PV, the first educational program in solar technology at CMC and Solar Energy International. Speakers will share the past and help us plan for a future with even more renewable energy.
Presenters include Ken Olson from Sol Energy and a co-founder of Solar Energy International, Soozie Lindbloom will share her experience teaching kids how to wire solar suitcases to send to schools in Masai territory in Kenya so those kids can have computers in their schools. AnaSophia Brown, president of Roaring Fork High’s Environmental Club will bring us up to date on the club’s goals for this year.
CLEER and CORE will provide information about programs that exist to help you make your home more energy efficient and perhaps even add a solar array. You have to act fast because the federal government ends solar incentives Dec. 31, 2025. Businesses have until July to install solar with a tax incentive.
Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and The Third Act has a new book celebrating the worldwide increase in clean energy, “Here Comes the Sun.” He hopes to come this winter to cross-country ski and share more positive information on how fast solar power is growing. Come have some ice cream and join the nation in celebrating clean energy now and in the future!
For a preview of new solar on Colorado farms come to the library Friday, Sept. 19, from 5 to 6:30pm for a documentary on agrivoltaics — mixing solar panels with crops and farm animals.
Illène Pevec
Carbondale
Gardening celebration
I want to share some good news! Recently, the spirit of Carbondale was celebrated by the Carbondale Community Garden, the longest-running community garden in Carbondale. We had a gardener potluck on Sunday, Sept. 7. It was a smashing success. Over 20 people attended. Each gardener shared their garden bounty in a variety of dishes, including kale salad, some with quinoa, some with farro, some with cranberries and some with halloumi cheese. Also, a variety of zucchini casseroles, green chili and tomatillo dishes, lots of garlic and, of course, rhubarb crisp was enjoyed.
Some of the attendees were part of the original garden, which was founded decades ago. The love and joy of gardening in Carbondale was in full bloom.
Janet Earley
Plot #13
R.I.P. Ernie Gianinetti
My sincere condolences to the Gianinetti family. I grew up here in the Roaring Fork Valley and I have been to several of the events put on by those who have used their beautiful place for different purposes down on the bottomland. Ernie was a solid, devoted person for all of the items mentioned in his obit. Thank you Sopris Sun for saying what we all feel. We will miss this giant of a man. My grown children are friends to everyone of the Gianinetti family. The Spaulding family will be sending prayers to each of them. If there is anything we can do to help lift your family, please feel free to contact us.
Audrey Jane Spaulding
Cabondale
Library Report
I went to the Library Board meeting last Thursday, and I was so pleased. Although they came from different ideologies there was no friction, only cooperation and respect for each other’s opinions. They had already agreed not to change library regulations, and they are working on ways to allow citizens to voice their opinions. Four citizens spoke for up to three minutes; there were different opinions, but no rancor. The meeting lasted less than two hours, discussing finances, library hours and new members of the Oversight Committee. Two librarians were recognized for awards they received from the state.
After two contentious years of library meetings arguing about book banning and the First Amendment and parent rights, it was delightful to experience this cooperation and goodwill.
Cooperation and goodwill — how do we get our leaders and influencers to embrace those qualities?
Udelle Stuckey
Carbondale
Charlie Kirk
Many of us received the news of Charlie Kirk’s assassination with horror. We understand unequivocally that political killing is never justified and should not be celebrated.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the response from prominent leaders on the left was universal condemnation. The response from many right-wing figures, however, was fundamentally different. Trump blamed the “radical left” and said that “we just have to beat the hell out of them.” Republican Senator Nancy Mace said “Democrats own what happened today” and falsely indicated that the perpetrator was a trans person. Steve Bannon, former Trump advisor and far-right commentator, alleged that Kirk had been under constant threat from “evil people” on the left. Conservative activist Isabella Maria DeLuca, a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter, posted, “They couldn’t beat him in a debate, so they assassinated him.” Thousands of posts from the right called for a civil war. Elon Musk posted, “The left is the party of murder.”
Then the shooter was arrested: a 22-year-old cisgender white male who grew up in a Mormon household in Utah with Trump-supporting parents. Available evidence indicates he is not a leftist, and had likely been radicalized in the far-right corners of the internet. The rhetoric changed vertiginously, from demonizing the left and calling for war to encouraging people to pray for this man. It is almost as if they are disappointed to not have a better target at which to direct their hatred. One neighbor of the shooter said the quiet part out loud: “This is not who I wanted it to be.”
We are at a dangerous point in the U.S. Though the vast majority of us do not want further violence, we are fed lazy, hateful and divisive propaganda that is often devoid of evidence. Most of us want to solve problems, like the extremist radicalization of our young men, with the tools of a healthy democracy: civility, cooperation and productive dialogue. This will not be possible if we do not demand more of ourselves and our leaders.
Britton DeFord
Glenwood Springs
Two wolves
One evening, an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes inside people. He said “My Son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.”
One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
Robert Mineo
Up the Crystal
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