Dear Reader,

I wonder how many of you are like me when it comes to climate change. We hear the buzzwords. We see all the political jargon of people arguing for and against. Then sadly, we become tone-deaf to the facts. I confess; that was me.

My initial spark of wanting to understand came through my daughter, her husband and my grandchildren. They are all so knowledgeable about these topics. They are passionate about wanting us to have clean air and a healthier atmosphere. During my time living next door to them in Colorado, I have often heard their conversation and I have witnessed their efforts along these veins. My granddaughter, at three years old, told me she was sad because of the straws in the ocean that hurt the underwater creatures.

I listened. Yet, I always felt like I was sitting on the sidelines. I wasn’t in the game. Like many, I thought, “really what can I do…a woman in her 60s, sitting in a wheelchair – what difference does my choices make?”

Now, I have my answers. I hope you are as excited as I am when I tell you this story. For several years, one of my dear friends, Frank Bruno, CEO of Via Mobility Services and I would discuss these issues. We talked about the path of discovery as people – (my finger pointing directly at me) come to grips with climate change and what it means for all of us. What I admire about Frank is that, through his work, he has given me an opportunity and a way to be an agent of change. We often say, “When we know better, we do better”. Well, now I know! Reader, are climate change and pollution issues important to you? Why or why not?

Let’s start our story with Richard Polk. He is 72-years-old and has cared about our environment for most of those seven decades of his life.  From the time he was a young boy, our climate, recycling, and solar energy mattered to Richard.

He was born and raised in a suburb of Chicago called Evanston, Illinois. In 5th grade, Richard had to complete a science project. He wanted to learn about how something works so he chose solar energy. As part of his project, he wrote to climate-concerned national leaders to understand more about solar energy. Richard’s project won first place.

This was one of Richard’s earlier steps towards a lifelong philosophy about “going green”, he said. It is still a priority of his to find efficient renewable energy sources.

Richard was raised in a family that knew business organizations well. They were the largest retailer of appliances in the Chicago area.

As a young man, when Richard first came to Colorado, he discovered Earth shoes. These are non-athletic shoes that are built for comfort and biomechanics. He started buying some to sell, and they sold out immediately. He then bought a larger volume and they too sold out. Reader, what was your career? Are you an entrepreneur?

Richard recognized the business opportunity and established Pedestrian Corp. The company opened Pedestrian Shops – stores that retailed comfortable shoes. Now fifty years later, Richard still retains the title of President. His daughters are his business partners and leaders in the company. His daughter, Lauren, is vice-president, and his daughter, Zoe, is operations chief. They have two shops in Boulder and one in Denver. As well, www.comfortableshoes.com is their website.

Richard likes to encourage folks to walk. His reasons begin with the obvious which is for your health – both physically and socially. However, it also follows suit with his principles of caring for our environment. He is part of “Walk with a Doc” at Boulder Community Hospital, a program where people young and old can walk. Richard personally walks over 10,000 steps a day. Reader, do you have a healthy exercise routine? What do you do?

Richard is also the curator of Decarbonization, Innovation and the Arts. It is a group with a common denominator of caring about decarbonization. (For those with only a vague understanding of that word, we will tackle it in a few minutes.)

Richard encourages people to use “green options”. However, he also stresses that the key is to do the right thing, and when it is possible, to do so for a lower cost. “If it costs more, you shouldn’t do it,” he explained.

Here are some of Richard’s examples of how we could make “green” choices: electric cars, use of solar energy where possible, heat pumps instead of furnaces, small air crafts and lawn mowers. Richard said that anything that you used in the past five decades that had a small combustion engine can be made to run with electricity. He encourages creating our electrical energy with solar or wind. Reader, have you used any items that run on wind or solar energy?

While making more environmentally-safe choices is best, Richard recognizes that change does not happen immediately. He’s not saying to throw away everything in our house that is not running with clean (non-carbon) energy. Rather, he encourages people to ask the question, “when it comes time to make a choice, can I purchase something that is better for the environment?”

But little ol’ me, still learning about all of this, kept hearing the word in my head, “Why? Why? Why?”

So, my next conversation was with Lisa Curtis. She is the Director of Development and Community Outreach for Via Mobility Services and has been with the company for six years. Before coming to Via, her previous fourteen years were with the Space Sciences Institute.

Lisa is now the mom of two children with special needs. She joined Via because she “wanted to do something more aligned with serving people in that community,” Lisa said. Lisa recognized a heart-connection to Via because it is a transportation service that also serves those with special needs. Reader, I am one of Via’s biggest fans and a rider. Because of my paralysis, I can no longer drive. Via gets me where I need to go! Lisa said, “I wanted to be involved with an organization that helps to meet those needs.” Reader, what is a career choice you made that supported your values?

As a mom, Lisa said that she feels anxiety about the future of her children. One of her major concerns is wondering what the world will be like because of climate change. Sadly Reader, this was not one of my top concerns. My advocacy efforts focused on racial issues, meeting the needs of the disenfranchised and those who were older or had disabilities.

Now, I too had to look at a problem that may be greater than I imagined – decarbonization. Oops, there’s that word again. After reading many definitions, in my layman language, decarbonization means reducing the amount of carbon emitted into our atmosphere. Again, my brain says, “Why? Why? Why?” Reader, what is something that you question or don’t understand about climate change?

I started reading a lot of articles about climate concerns. I jumped on websites. I watched a lot of news segments. However, the source that finally made me understand it in its most basic form came from a few videos that Lisa shared with me – Sciencemom.com. Created by scientists who were also mothers, these climate change experts broke down my questions in simple language that I could understand. (Contact info at the end of the blog). I’m going to share with you some of what I learned.

 

Dr. Melissa Burt, atmospheric scientist from Colorado State University explained that extreme weather such as drought and wildfires are a symptom of climate change. She said, “drier conditions lead to more wildfires. Drier conditions impact the food that’s growing in areas that we are in, and that leads to food shortages. Climate change is making droughts more severe and long lasting and more dangerous.”

Now that I can understand. I live in Colorado. When the wildfires were raging in my state, smoke covered my city. Some days, my deck was covered in white ash that looked like dirty snow had fallen. As residents, we are often reminded of drought conditions that impact Colorado. My state is not unusual. Around the world, 99 percent of the scientists are in agreement that climate change is impacting our planet Earth. Reader, how has your region of the country been impacted by climate change?

So, that term we throw around – climate change – what does it mean? Going back to the videos, I heard “as we continue to produce more fossil fuels, burning things in factories and driving cars or airplanes, we are putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and that carbon is becoming like a carbon pollution blanket.”

Reader, picture a darling little baby snuggled under his or her blanket. Except, the picture isn’t pretty because that baby is us and the blanket is pollution. The scientist said, “that blanket is trapping in heat. As that blanket gets thicker and thicker our planet is warming and warming.” The scientist explained that things will get worse if we don’t take action now. Reader, would you cover your baby with a dirty polluted blanket?

That started to make sense to me. I’ve seen the Alaskan towns where the coastland is being destroyed because of the warmer water trends. I’ve read about businesses such as fishing going belly-up because the warming climate no longer supports their efforts.

So, what can I do? One of the solutions recommended by scientists is to switch to clean energy. Clean energy, Reader, means an energy source that doesn’t spit out the carbon as a by-product. This means that we need to transform the way we make electricity using things like solar energy or wind energy.

Gas emissions into the air = that warming dirty blanket of pollution.

Solar and wind energy = less carbon in the air = a cleaner atmosphere and less pollution.

Remember 2020; the world shut down because of the pandemic. What did many of us see? We saw pollution lessen its hold on Earth. Less cars were on the roads. That equals less carbon in our atmosphere, and worldwide, we saw photos of earth – and it looked healthier – less polluted. But only for a short time. Reader, what can we do better to protect Earth?

Via Mobility Services, in response to the climate concerns, has started concentrating much effort towards a goal of net zero emissions from its bus fleet. This is an enormous task. Currently, Via serves eight counties and the interest is growing for services in other areas of Colorado. The company provides close to one million rides each year.

So, they have set attainable goals: 1) by 2030, their public transit busses, called the HOP, will be transformed to operate with near zero tailpipe emissions; 2) by 2035, Via’s smaller busses and vehicles will also operate with net-zero transmissions; 3) address the facility needs to accommodate these changes. Currently, they are on their way to reaching that goal. Four of the fifteen HOP busses are now electric and four more have been ordered.

So, is it as simple as just changing out the mechanisms in a bus to go from running on fuel to running on solar electric? Oh, I had so much to learn.

A huge part of making this plan economically and environmentally successful is to create a microgrid. What? Well in layman’s terms, this huge system of solar panels will store the energy needed to power the bus batteries used in Via’s fleet of vehicles. It will also provide the electricity needed for Via’s offices to operate.

 

Additionally, as the need for transportation continues to grow, such as their recent move into the Denver region, Via is in the process of purchasing other properties to house more of their fleet with plans to switch to renewable energy sources over time. Reader, does the carbon emissions that our vehicles spit out bother you? What could we each do differently?

Image Description: Certificate show that Via Mobility Services is a Clean Air Champion

Why does this affect me? The Rocky Mountains and the beautiful land of Colorado are important to all of us throughout our country. Via is leading the way into how we as a nation can begin to eliminate the pollution we are breathing in our environment. I look forward to the day when we can see that these choices Via is making reduces the carbon emissions in the Metro Denver area and along the Front Range. As well, they will model the way other agencies nationwide can address climate change. 

What can you and I do? Via is running a $35 million capital campaign. Even with the government grants they will receive, Via will still need more contributions to reach their goal. If you would like more information about how you can help, please contact Zoe DeVito, Director of Marketing and Communications. She can be reached at zdevito@viacolorado.org or 720-507-8606. In the meantime, I hope you also go to Via’s Net Zero fund page at www.viacolorado.org/netzero and give your donation.

Throughout this blog, you’ve heard my journey in understanding the serious need to become a contributing member of our society that helps, not hurts, our environment. As a regular rider on the Via Mobility Services busses, I love knowing that every time I give a donation, I am helping to lessen the carbon in the air that I breathe, that my children breathe and that my grandbabies breathe. That is motivation enough for me.

At the beginning of each ride, I put a donation in the drop box on each vehicle. Throughout the capital campaign, I give donations, and yearly, I give a donation to the general Via budget. Why? As the saying goes, I want to “put my money where my mouth is” and give where I know my dollars will change our environment and provide a much-needed service to our community.

Thank you, Reader, for going on this learning journey with me. I look forward to your comments and please share ways that you are helping to address climate change in your community.

Last month, I introduced you to teacher and therapist, Bobbie Nesheim. She was one of my most requested people that readers asked me to interview. Of course, there were lots of comments in enjoyment of Bobbi and her activities. Many people told me how much they enjoyed the blog. As well, here are some specific thoughts from our readers.

Maria said, “Good blog! I too have always loved reading; I don’t remember who introduced me to reading, but probably my mother. She bought books like Five Little Peppers and classics like Heidi from those door-to-door book salesmen which made me happy! I have two of the books from my early years, Heidi and The Bobbsey Twins!”

Nette said, “You know so many interesting people. Thank you.”

Donna said, “Thank you Debbie for shining a light on one of Longmont’s gems! Bobbi is a friend and an inspiration!”

Laura said, “I’m so glad you convinced Bobbi to share her story. She is an amazing being.”

Sky said, “Wonderful article about a truly remarkable person. Longmont and the Longmont senior center is lucky to have her.”

Until next month, may peace be at your side,

Debbie Noel

We have several ways to interact with Debbie!

• Instagram: Find me with the handle @dropinwithdebbie or visit https://www.instagram.com/dropinwithdebbie/

• Facebook: Tag me with @DropinwithDebbie or visit https://www.facebook.com/DropInWithDebbie/  to like and follow!

• Email her at DroppingInWithDebbie@gmail.com

• Register with the site (very bottom of the page) to have your comments viewed online

• Send your letters to:

Debbie Noel
C/o Longmont Senior Center
910 Longs Peak Avenue
Longmont, Colorado 80501

If you enjoy podcasts as much as I do, I recommend that you listen to the interview Justin Long (actor) does with Jeff Corwin (TV personality and conservationist). It is entertaining and informative. I was blown away by his facts about snakes, bats, insects and other critters and how they are signs that tell us so much about our environment. The podcast is called “Life is Short” and the episode was published on February 21, 2021 – Jeff Corwin. If you listen to it, let me know what you think! I was shocked!!

If you would like more information about how you can help, please contact Lisa Curtis. She can be reached at lcurtis@viacolorado.org or 303-444-3097. In the meantime, I hope you also go to Via’s Net Zero fund page at www.viacolorado.org/netzero and give your donation.

In the Science Moms videos, their audience members are moms who are asking questions because they want to understand and do better for their children. However, the information in applicable for all of us. Here is their website https://sciencemoms.com/

You can learn about me and the Decarbonization innovation & Arts network at :(32) Richard Polk | LinkedIn