Hats off to the Women Democrats of Mesa County! Last night they honored me by hosting a candidate “meet and greet.” I can’t remember the last time I was in a room as full of powerful, independent, thinking women. They filled my head with facts, figures, and concepts that I hadn’t quite grasped previously.
It never occurred to me that part of the problem with extractive industries is the invasion into previously roadless areas by noxious weeds. As equipment breaks ground in previously untouched areas, the seeds of noxious weeds are spread. The seeds spread when they are gathered up into the tracks of construction vehicles. Noxious weeds crowd out the habitat needed by the deer and elk and rabbits and other small mammals that are food for both man and other species, like the American bald eagle. That conversation was with a wonderful woman who works for the Forest Service trying to control noxious weeds.
And I knew that school funding was under attack, but I didn’t know much about the formula that dictates where state funding goes. There were lots of teachers in the room who made sure that I knew that Mesa County is next to the bottom in the per-student school funding.
These wonderful women shared with me the work they are doing to protect affordable health care locally by donating time and labor to renovate a building used by the Marillac Clinic. They were looking for women to paint the newly renovated building, so if you are reading this and have the time, please volunteer.
I shared with them stories of working with other women to meet the challenges we face in everyday life. I told the story of how the Women’s Bean Project started out with one woman believing that she could help homeless women learn job skills. One dedicated business women had a dream of leaving a history of women who made a difference in Colorado, and founded the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
And to top it all off, we had wine and chocolate!
Homework:
http://marillacclinic.org/
http://www.womensbeanproject.com/
http://www.cogreatwomen.org/ßnote that their 25th anniversary is March 18.
It never occurred to me that part of the problem with extractive industries is the invasion into previously roadless areas by noxious weeds. As equipment breaks ground in previously untouched areas, the seeds of noxious weeds are spread. The seeds spread when they are gathered up into the tracks of construction vehicles. Noxious weeds crowd out the habitat needed by the deer and elk and rabbits and other small mammals that are food for both man and other species, like the American bald eagle. That conversation was with a wonderful woman who works for the Forest Service trying to control noxious weeds.
And I knew that school funding was under attack, but I didn’t know much about the formula that dictates where state funding goes. There were lots of teachers in the room who made sure that I knew that Mesa County is next to the bottom in the per-student school funding.
These wonderful women shared with me the work they are doing to protect affordable health care locally by donating time and labor to renovate a building used by the Marillac Clinic. They were looking for women to paint the newly renovated building, so if you are reading this and have the time, please volunteer.
I shared with them stories of working with other women to meet the challenges we face in everyday life. I told the story of how the Women’s Bean Project started out with one woman believing that she could help homeless women learn job skills. One dedicated business women had a dream of leaving a history of women who made a difference in Colorado, and founded the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
And to top it all off, we had wine and chocolate!
Homework:
http://marillacclinic.org/
http://www.womensbeanproject.com/
http://www.cogreatwomen.org/ßnote that their 25th anniversary is March 18.
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