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1 month ago | 
eptrail.com | Judi Smith
There was a time when independence reigned. Farmers grew food. Individual artists made usable items such as furniture, dishes, clothing, toys, etc. You bought goods and services from your neighbor, who also bought from you. No packaging was needed. With the advent of industrialization, people created more collectively. Artists designed and companies created goods for sale, farther and farther away from the purchaser.
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1 month ago | 
eptrail.com | Judi Smith
When I was a child in the 1950s, everyone voted at the polling place … in a “closet” … behind a secret curtain. I went in with Mama. There was a row of tiny little levers, about 2 inches long, one for each candidate. Mama pushed down the ones she wanted and when she opened the curtain all the levers jumped up where they belonged – and her vote was counted. Our parents attended forums, read newspapers, listened to the radio, and discussed the candidates with each other and with friends.
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1 month ago | 
eptrail.com | Judi Smith
Plastic is a durable, lightweight, liquid impervious material that came into common use after WWII. I can remember the excitement over Melmac: “unbreakable” children’s dishes – well less breakable – dropped from standing onto the hard kitchen floor, it still shattered, but it was hailed as a god-send to young families. Since the 1950s, the variety of plastic resins have proliferated, a vast improvement over that melamine-formaldehyde product.
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1 month ago | 
eptrail.com | Judi Smith
Estes is a village. The world used to be made of such villages. But, today, the villages have grown to be towns, and the towns have grown to be cities and the cities have grown to be megalopolises. Somehow, “big is better” became a watch word. But it isn’t. The Town of Estes still functions as a village where people care about each other. We (my household) were new residents when the 2013 flood occurred, still unacquainted with our new location. As newbies, the reaction shocked us.
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2 months ago | 
eptrail.com | Judi Smith
In large cities like Fort Collins, Loveland, Denver, Boulder, Longmont, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Grand Junction, there are many, many people disposing of many, many things and it is easy to justify a broad expanse of options for when one has too much. This is more difficult in the small mountain towns that dot the landscape of Colorado.
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2 months ago | 
eptrail.com | Judi Smith
An ecological system of survival, for any house or business, takes constant attention: awareness, adjustment, and the nurturing of new habits — with every change of opportunity. “Leave no trace” is a laudable goal. To achieve it we must continue to eliminate our own traces, to refuse and reduce, to reuse and repurpose and repair and to go to extra effort to recycle (including composting) before we resort to the landfill. Have I truly accomplished that?
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2 months ago | 
eptrail.com | Judi Smith
We live in a strange new world, existing in a state of uncertainty, feeling unprepared and distracted, reeling from one shocking moment to the next. Uncertain, we know not where to turn or what to do. Will this (or that) help – or make the situation worse? Still, some things remain constant. The Earth is warming, to the extent that the Denver Zoo has decided to move the Rocky Mountain goats to a cooler climate at the Zoo in Tacoma, Washington.
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2 months ago | 
yourvalley.net | Judi Smith
City of Peoria Posted Thursday, March 13, 2025 5:26 pm By Judi Smith, candidate for Peoria mayor Peoria leaders spent $3.5 million on a Bell 505 helicopter, promising it would enhance public safety, speed up emergency response, and assist in search-and-rescue operations. Yet when a 20-year-old man went missing in north Peoria, the city’s helicopter was nowhere to be found — it was on display at a corporate trade show in Dallas, Texas. Instead of utilizing the aviation unit Peoria residents...
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Mar 7, 2025 | 
eptrail.com | Judi Smith
I am discovering that environmental protection (ecologically) has, day by day, become more of a concern to our leaders and to our citizens. This winter (in Colorado) has been drier – and warmer – than usual — even the new usual. After recent fires, building insurance has doubled, or, as often as not, been canceled. Larimer County’s air pollution exceeds EPA limits and Colorado is concerned, meaning new regulations may be looming in the near future.
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Feb 20, 2025 | 
eptrail.com | Judi Smith
When the world is faced with a worldwide problem, it is best addressed with a worldwide solution. After WWII, we formed the United Nations to settle conflicts diplomatically instead of turning to another World War. Today, the UN pursues 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including the erasure of poverty and hunger, the availability of sustainable water and sanitation, the recognition and acceptance of all people, and several goals promoting and sustaining climate action.
