A winter-less winter has given way to the most pleasant spring weather imaginable here in Boulder, Colorado. A cloudless day in the low 70s brought the crowds out in droves on Pearl Street Mall Sunday afternoon. Boulder has been in a precipitation drought for as long as I can remember, and yet there have been no water restrictions since I moved here in 1999. That’s because there has been ample snowfall on the mountains immediately west to provide sufficient runoff for all purposes, including recreation. White-water rafting is extremely popular hereabouts, and in years such as 2010-11, when snowpack was at near-record levels, it was a case of too much white water, at least for rafting novices. This year’s snowfall was below normal, however, and so most of the ski resorts had to make do with artificial snow. It takes about 30 inches mid-mountain to keep the crowds coming, but the resorts have become so good at making the stuff that, in the worst year for skiing anyone can remember, total skier visits in 2011-12 appear to have been down only 15-20 percent. That’s a nasty hit for the resorts, to be sure, but it will be easily recouped next year if snowfall is normal.

I feel blessed to live here. Coming from one of the greatest cities of them all, San Francisco, and having grown up on a island resort in New Jersey — I had my doubts initially that I would grow to like land-locked Boulder as much as I do. Now, I can even envision settling down here, getting immersed in the local scene, and contributing what I can to make it a better place. My dream is to produce plays on a small scale, and to help Boulder reach the “critical mass” needed to attract the kind of talent that makes for great theater.

‘Re-Localizing’

I mention this because I am fired up about a panel discussion I’ll be joining on Monday that includes author and blogger extraordinaire Charles Hugh-Smith. In preparation for this radio event, produced by Financial Survival Network’s Kerry Lutz, I listened to a YouTube interview in which Charles extolled the virtues of “re-localizing.” In part, this means getting your money out of Wall Street and putting it into something local that you understand and believe in. This is as powerful an idea as I can imagine for those who have been searching for a way to end-run the corrupt and terminally dysfunctional financial system and Big Government that hold sway over our lives. Personal values no longer have meaning in either place, and so why invest your money, time and effort where they can actually make a difference – i.e., in your own community. I’ll furnish a link to the panel discussion when it becomes available. In the meantime, think local!