I have wrestled with my own energy consumption in my stone carving studio and in my home for several years. In October 2017, I went to an Open House for the new Foothills Solar Array in MeHaffey Park in Loveland, CO, where I live and work.  The experience was inspiring!  It is just what I needed to motivate me to invest more money and convert all the electricity for my home and studio into renewable, sustainable energy.

Greenswitch

I joined a program through Loveland Water and Power called Greenswitch, which provides my home and studio with wind-generated electricity rather than coal-generated electricity. What a great feeling! No more Ellen-the-Polluter! My art and my life are as clean as I can make them at this time.

Granted I still must use fossil fuel for my heating, but someday I will figure out how to make that go away. Then I will be all renewable, all sustainable, all for the health of our world and all who live here. I hated being part of the problem, and I am joyfully empowered to be part of the solution.

Endangered Species

I am a huge advocate  for all animals, especially endangered species, of which I have carved many. Most recently I created Run! a stone sculpture of Alaskan wolves. I am now making a Grasshopper Sparrow, the Florida sub-species of which is probably the most endangered species in the US due to habitat loss of the Florida Prairie where it lives.

All of our iconic animals are either endangered or threatened. What does that say about humans as a species?? It says “Go Green!” to me.