Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Community-supported agriculture is becoming a more widely known practice, but what about a community-supported bakery?

Imagine fresh bread made by local bakers with a certain number of community members committed to buying bread there each week.

What else could thrive with such a model?

These are the questions that Sarah Jones, executive director of the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council, hopes will circulate at the discussion at February’s Talking Green event Tuesday.

At the event, which begins at 5:30 p.m. with a slow-cooker potluck at Olympian Hall, the Sustainability Council will be screening “In Transition 2.0,” an hourlong documentary about various communities organizing movements to transition into a more sustainable local economy and lifestyle.

“We’re showing it because we feel like YVSC, we have lots a different programs, but one of the things we really want to work on that the transition movement emphasizes is the community: building a sense of community, getting to know your neighbors and working with your neighbors to do things that are good for the community,” she said.

And Jones thinks Steamboat already is well on its way, highlighting YVSC programs like ReTree Steamboat and the community recycling day.

But there’s still a long way to go toward a more sustainable Steamboat, and a Transition Steamboat movement already has been formed. Paul Potyen, who launched the movement, is on the Sustainability Council board, and Jones said Transition Steamboat soon will become a program of the Sustainability Council.

Jones said she’s looking forward to the brainstorming session that will follow the film screening because community members often bring ideas that haven’t been brought up before.

“There’s a group of people who always talk to each other, so to hear others’ voices is really important because there might be things we miss,” she said.

Jones sees a transitioned Steamboat as a place where local food is readily available and where there’s more sustainable transportation options and locally produced renewable energy.

But these are things that don’t have to happen from the top down. The transition movement emphasizes grass-roots changes on a community level.

“There’s things where they have energy-efficiency education, neighborhood by neighborhood,” Jones explained. “It’s, ‘Hey neighbor, this is what we’re doing in our house; this is what it could look like in your house.’”

To reach Nicole Inglis, call 970-871-4204 or email ninglis@ExploreSteamboat.com