Laws of Notion

There's a popular saying in Craig, Colorado: "Coal keeps the lights on."

But in 2020, the electrical utility Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association announced that it would close its coal-fired power plant and coal mines in Craig by 2030. The news was like an earthquake. Hundreds of jobs would be lost. The town now faces the prospect of massive economic disruption as its primary industry disappears.

In our first episode, we...

In our second episode, we travel inside the Craig coal-fired station to learn more about the science and economics of coal amidst a rapidly changing renewable energy landscape. For centuries, society has relied on coal because it's been dependable. Reserves can be stored indefinitely and burned as needed to meet electricity demand in any weather, any time of day.

But coal has been losing ground to renewables like wind and solar for...

Why is Colorado phasing out coal? Simply put: Planet Earth is warming up. Fast. For decades, scientific evidence has pointed to significant human influence on our climate, dating back to the Industrial Revolution. Burning fossil fuels like coal releases significant amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming. 

Climate change increases the volatility in our systems. And the c...

Think about timber mills closing in rural areas of the Pacific Northwest. Or fisheries collapsing in New England. Or Midwestern automotive factories moving offshore. Some of those co...

This story from late September looks at sidewalks. (Yes, sidewalks.) Denver’s sidewalks are in a sorry state. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to live in a neighborhood...

There are estimated to be more than a thousand ghost towns in Colorado. Each one represents a failed economic transition. So for Craig, Colorado, the stakes are clear. Transitions require resources and support.

In 2019, Colorado created the first state-level Office of Just Transition in the nation. It was designed to help coal towns like Craig strategize for the...

Coal enabled a way of life in Craig that many cherish. A close-knit small town community is still a draw. But for those growing up here now, knowing big changes are ahead, will that feeling be enough for them to stay?

In this episode, we look beyond coal and energy to examine some of the other opportunities that Craig will need to build out to retain and attract...

The Yampa River is the lifeblood of northwestern Colorado. It's one of the last wild, undammed rivers in the American West.

Nobody appreciates the Yampa's transformative power more than Tom Kleinschnitz. Now the director of Moffat County Tourism, he's spent a lifetime on the river. He knows that outdoor recreation and tourism can be an important part of Craig's post-coal future by creating jobs and driving economic activity.

But th...

Utilities will play a key role in the pace and implementation of Colorado's energy transition. In this special bonus episode, we wanted to share a few extended excerpts from an interview with Alice Jackson, President of Xcel Energy Colorado. In our wide-ranging conversation, recorded in late summer 2021, we talked with her about our state's changing electricity ...

Science was revolutionized by Newton’s laws of motion.

But how can we revolutionize our ideas?

Laws of Notion is a podcast by the Institute for Science & Policy at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, where we push against our preconceived beliefs and think critically about the world around us. Each season, we’ll tell a story about an issue facing a community, where there are no easy answers. We’ll explore the interconnections be...

A 40-year-old calculation on the back of an envelope fuels something of a gold rush in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. But instead of gold, the attraction is water. And the plan is to move it and sell it to Colorado’s growing – and thirsty – metro areas on the Front Range.

But how much water is there really? And how do we decide who gets it and who doesn't? This is ...

One of the most controversial pieces of real estate in the San Luis Valley isn’t because of anything it’s got above ground, but because of the water below it. Water is needed for all living things to survive. It can also be controlled and has been by civilizations for millennia. So how is it decided where the water goes and what it can be used for? 

In order to ...

When people learn that 91% of Colorado’s water is used for agricultural purposes, farmers are the first to blame for its overuse. But there’s a lot more baked into this figure than many realize. There are compromises that farmers are making, trying to ensure they are in the black financially while adapting to drought and a changing climate, in order to ensure we all eat. So as Colorado approaches 6 m...

The need to use every drop of water – multiple times over – matters. In Colorado, 80% of the precipitation falls on the western side of the continental divide, but 90% of the population lives to the east, in the Front Range. As the urban corridor continues to grow rapidly, the need for water is even more urgent. And often that water is coming from somewhere else. 

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