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Satellites can calculate groundwater disappearance by measuring a decrease in gravitational attraction. With less water in the ground, there is less mass and less attraction. The Colorado River Basin has lost 17 trillion gallons since 2004, mostly groundwater. Our water use is steadily growing, but groundwater losses take millennia to be restored by nature. Seventy percent of the basin's water supply goes to water-intensive agriculture, and much goes to population growth in cities. Solutions:

• municipal conservation
• reuse
• grey water treatment
• irrigation efficiency

For more information, read this Common Dreams article.

Come see films about rhinos, condors, pandas, hawks, and orangutans; films about native cultures: Mayans, Inuit, Nuxalk, Micronesians, and Hawaiians; "Damnation", about dams; and "Burden of Dreams", about the making of Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo" in the Amazon. The Festival is run by the Boulder County Audubon Society, a voice for migratory bird and wildlife conservation through habitat protection, political action, and education. When: October 17-19, 2014 Where: Boulder Dairy Center for Performing Arts Tickets: Dairy Center for the Performing Arts ticket office and website Informational contact: Steve Jones More info: Living in Nature: First Boulder Rights of Nature Film Festival

Some people here in Boulder are trying to get the city to take its money out of JP Morgan Stanley, claiming that immoral or unethical acts by that bank harm people and society. Good banks and credit unions invest and loan locally. They avoid laundering money, screwing customers, and investing in polluting and damaging companies. There are similar socially responsible mutual funds and companies. Learn more:

• Ethical banking - Wikipedia
• Green America's Guide to Socially Responsible Investing: Choosing a Bank that Makes a Difference
• Global Alliance – For Banking on Values ~ Socially Responsible and Green Banks as a Vehicle for Socio-economic Development and Change

Help elephants! Please write to newspapers, your representative, senators, and president, asking the sale of elephant ivory products to be banned in the US, Japan, and China. Poachers kill 30,000 elephants per year for their ivory tusks. Ivory products are sold in China, Japan, and the US. Ask that countries burn their ivory stockpiles. Ask countries to decrease the demand, disrupt the trafficking, "follow the money", and set an example. Learn more: http://eia-global.org/blog/crush-the-ivory-trade-not-just-the-ivory

Breaking update: Governor Hickenlooper cut a secret deal with the oil and gas industry to take away your right to protect your family and future from fracking. After months of closed door negotiations, Governor Hickenlooper, Congressman Polis and the oil and gas industry announced last Friday that they had made a deal to address fracking. But one key piece of the legislation would take away the ability for a Colorado community to ban or place a moratorium on fracking. They want to pass this measure in a special session of the Colorado Legislature in the next few days. Tell your legislators to oppose this backroom deal! Find the names and contact info of your state senator and state representative here. Please tell them that you do not want this "backroom deal", where Gov. Fracken blooper and the oil and gas companies are trying to preempt the votes of the citizens. Also, please tell Rep. Polis that you want him to stop this deal of a special session of the legislature. Call (202) 225-2161 or send him a message. Tell him to allow the past votes to stand and sign the petition to get initiative 75 for local control onto the ballot. Please oppose the Hickenlooper fracking deal. It will take away the hard won victories - the moratoriums and bans on fracking in Fort Collins, Boulder, Lafayette, and Broomfield. These bans and moratoriums allow us time to find out the results of health and scientific studies. Then we can make an informed choice, instead of letting the powerful and greedy oil and gas industry to grab profits before we know for sure whether they are harming our health, the water, and our future. For more info go to fractivist.org, frackfreecolorado.com, deargovernorHickenlooper.com, and 350colorado.org.

To make your home more energy efficient:

• Stop the air infiltration by sealing the holes and cracks (except for the amount needed to get air to burn gas in the furnace and hot water heater).
• Insulate the ceilings, walls, and maybe the foundation or basement.
• Orientation: have south facing windows with eaves that shade them in the summer. And with the main roof beam going east-west, you can have photovoltaic panels and hot air or water on the roof, plus a trombe wall or greenhouse on the south side.
• Have fresh air from a heat exchanger, heat recovery ventilator, or a moisture and heat recovery ventilator.

Here are some more interesting things to try:

• Use local heat such as a hot water bottle, hot tea, hot chocolate, coffee, an electric blanket, a space heater, a sweater, hat, or walk, bike, and exercise to stay warm.
• Put clear plastic over the windows. 3M has plastic that you tape over a window.
• In hot times, you can drink a lot of fluids, wear clothes that provide shade, increase air flow at night through the house via opening windows, fans, exhaust fans, etc.
• Plant deciduous tress and install shades, eaves, or awnings for shade.

Mother Earth News has more ideas on how to heat and cool your home: insulation, energy efficiency, thermal shades, swamp coolers, etc. Also check out Finehomebuilding.com, Greenbuildingadvisor.com, and Amory Lovins' Rocky Mountain Institute. An energy audit can show what is most effective in reducing energy use. Local governments and utilities often subsidize them. What do you find effective for conserving energy? Pete Seeger got warm twice, by splitting his own wood. If you have any other tips for making homes more energy efficient, please share them in the comments below!