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La Plata Sustainability Dialogues

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The Sustainability Alliance's La Plata Sustainability Dialogues are held on the second Thursday of every other month, January through November.  The evening meetings provide a forum for local stakeholders, experts, and the public to brainstorm about ways to achieve greater sustainability in La Plata County and the region. The meetings are held from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at the Durango City Council Chambers at 949 E. 2nd Ave.

Local & Regional Policy

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Mission

The mission of the Policy Committee is to track local and regional sustainability issues, formulate policy responses, and advocate for them with local government and other agencies.

Goals for 2010

  • Continue La Plata Sustainability Dialogue series, which aims to engage local policymakers and the wider community on critical sustainability issues. Past topics have included sustainability policy, green jobs, local food, and the local economy.
  • Continue monitoring and participation in major community policy initiatives:

    --Climate and Energy Action Plan

    --La Plata County Comprehensive Plan update          

    --City of Durango Land Use and Development Code update

  • Focus on developing sustainability metrics, particularly with a view to having them included in the Region 9 biennial Community Indicators report
  • Parking Lot: ideas for later consideration

Minutes and Notes

Meeting minutes and notes are available here.

Participate

The Policy Committee customarily meets on the fourth Thursday of each month, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. in the downstairs meeting room of the Durango Coffee Company (730 Main Avenue). The agenda for the upcoming meeting usually is posted here about one week in advance, but meetings are subject to cancellation or rescheduling subject to the availability of committee members and sufficient business. If you are not on the Policy Committee email list, contact Dick White to join the list or to confirm the meeting schedule.

Contact Us

For more information or to participate in our activities, please contact Dick White.

Essay: Re-establishing Citizens Rights in America

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 04/22/2010 - 22:00
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Tom Riesing“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”   - The Declaration of Independence of the United States.

With these words Colonial America swept away English culture and law and began a new chapter, a new experiment in American self government. Or so they thought.

Policy Committee Minutes and Notes

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OP-ED: "E-mails Do Not Change the Laws of Physics"

Submitted by redhat707 on Wed, 12/16/2009 - 13:05
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by Dick White, Sustainability Alliance Policy Chair and Scientist
Durango Herald
December 14, 2009

The illegal hacking of an e-mail archive at a British climate research center has produced a feeding frenzy among climate deniers. Because they have no compelling scientific arguments, they have resorted to attacking the scientists.

The physics of heat-trapping by carbon dioxide and other atmospheric gases is incontrovertible. As I taught introductory astronomy students for nearly 30 years, it explains why Earth is not permanently frozen... [Read Full Article]

La Plata Sustainability Dialogue Recap: Taking Control of Our Local Food System

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"The current upwelling of support for localizing our food system, for higher quality, sustainably produced, more nutritious food, for fair prices for producers, and for access to good food for all, calls for a reordering of priorities in our food system—essentially taking ownership and control starting on the local level."

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