Did You Know that the Boulder Shambhala Center has a Green Team?

Did you know that the Boulder Shambhala Center has a Green Team?

Did you know that that Green Team is dedicated to projects that will green our beautiful, historic Center further, as well as encourage our individual and collective behaviors to be ever-more sustainable, regenerative, and—best of all, lungta-raising?

Think of the BSC’s Green Team as a small seedling with roots that are reaching into the rich soil of our practice and sending up shoots that, mixed with the energy of the Great Eastern Sun, are sprouting leaves of activity that our community can joyfully engage in, such as:

  • Boulder County EnergySmart Program: The Shambhala community is invited to participate in a pilot that would assist members with home energy-efficient improvements. Participants earn points that reward the Boulder Shambhala Center with up to $2,500 for projects that green our center further. Meanwhile, EnergySmart offers participants Energy Advisors, rebates, and low-interest financing. Here is how it works:

    a) Go to the EnergySmart Rewards Portal to sign up, and join the Boulder Shambhala team.
    b) The EnergySmart online portal can then be used to track your sustainability actions between now and October 18th, 2019.
    c) Each completed and approved action will help us to reach the goal of 25,000 points and raise up to $2,500 for BSC’s Greening the Center Initiative. Thanks to David Takahashi, Eileen Malloy, Gary McGraime, and others, we have a blueprint for sustainability projects moving forward. *You can read about them below*
    d) We celebrate the lowering of our carbon footprint both at home and at our Center.
    a

For questions about the EnergySmart pilot contact: Emily Takahashi at [email protected].

For questions about the Greening Our Center Initiative contact Gary McGraime at [email protected].

  • Collaboration with Mindful Cinema’s Summer Eco-Film Festival: Joyful warriors with appetites for delicious, locally-sourced pot-luck dishes and a passion for caring for the earth have been gathering throughout the summer over a series of provocative, beautiful, sobering, and inspiring films. Curated and facilitated exquisitely by Andrew Getman and David Takahashi, this series continues bi-weekly on Friday evenings through Sept. 6. 
    a
  • Late Summer Book Club: Led by Christine Lincoln and George Ramsey, tender-hearted warriors gather to discuss groundbreaking activist and author Joanna Macy’s book, Active Hope. The group will meet in the BSC Community Room, every other Sunday from 2-4pm for five sessions beginning Sunday Aug. 18 and culminating October 13 in an open talk and discussion with Sherry Ellms, lead faculty at Naropa’s Joanna Macy Center.  For more information, please see the forthcoming BSC calendar.
    a
  • 11th Hour Interfaith Calling: In collaboration with our interfaith neighbors and friends, gleeful warriors gather on the 11th day of each month at 11 am for 11 minutes, to ring our glorious gong alongside churchbells, shofars, and other instruments of faith to call out for an urgent response to our climate emergency. For more information contact Marybeth Downing at [email protected].

 

Help us nurture our seedling into a great Bodhi Tree of enlightened action! Participate in one or all of these activities, and look for our Living the Change initiative to be introduced this fall.

With love,

The Shambhala Green Team:

Emily Takahashi, Christine Lincoln, George Ramsey, Gary McGraime, Lea Basch, Rick Merrill

 

 

*Green Team: Greening the Boulder Shambhala Center

One of the goals of the Green Team with your help is to preserve the history of the Boulder Shambhala Center while systematically upgrading its outdated plumbing, heating, cooling, and lighting with the latest energy saving technology.

Did you know we can achieve 24% energy savings by implementing energy saving opportunities AND every $1 invested in energy efficiency will save $3 over the lifetime of improvements? Fact!

The Green Team would like to propose a graduated approach to “greening” the Center by beginning with low cost opportunities that will provide a significant reduction in energy consumption as well as their associated expense. Much of the work can be accomplished by volunteers from the Green Team and interested community members, at no to low cost to the Center.

The first phase would consist of upgrading the ceiling light fixtures on the main floor hall with LED fixtures, insulating the accessible heating and domestic hot water pipes, and installing low flow faucet aerators. Special consideration will be taken to maintain a high quality of light in any fixture changes.

The second phase will address the lighting in the kitchen, the lower level hall, and offices that have not yet been upgraded while phase three would implement PC power management strategies and address the remaining lighting that warrants an upgrade. Ultimately, we would like to upgrade the heating and cooling that would result in a HUGE savings toward the Center’s overhead expenses AND the environment.

* The above suggestions were derived by the analysis of an Energy Assessment by Xcel and through recommendations and incentives offered by PACE (Partners for a Clean Environment) and the City of Boulder. Special thanks to David Takahashi for being instrumental in initiating our movement and for providing the Green Team with the Energy Assessment as well as a wealth of resources and inspirational data.