{"id":12848,"date":"2013-10-03T20:50:34","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T02:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/?p=12848"},"modified":"2013-10-14T19:45:17","modified_gmt":"2013-10-15T01:45:17","slug":"macon-cowles-lawyer-candidate-and-environmental-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/?p=12848","title":{"rendered":"Macon Cowles, Lawyer, Candidate and Environmental Advocate"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first in a series of candidate profiles written by students in Instructor Jeff Browne\u2019s CU News Corps course at CU-Boulder. Lars Gesing is a graduate student from Hamburg, Germany, where he worked for several print and online publications, including the daily regional newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>

from cowlesforcouncil.net<\/p><\/div>\n

Macon Cowles\u2019 t-shirt carries a simple message: “Save the earth.”<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to ruin the planet, you don\u2019t have to do anything. We already have the perfect business model for that,\u201d says Cowles. He is seeking yet another reelection after six years on the Boulder City Council.<\/p>\n

The re-running candidate is passionate about banishing the demons of climate change. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050 is the essence of what Cowles preaches on this fall\u2018s campaign trail. \u201cThe largest source of greenhouse gas emissions is the electricity that we use. That is why forming a municipal utility is so terribly important.\u201d<\/p>\n

For most of his time as an active City Council member, Cowles has been on the forefront of proponents in the heated electrical municipalization debate. \u201cOn the first day that this utility starts operating, we can drop our emissions by half and increase the share of energy we get from renewable resources from under 20 to over 50 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leslie Glustrom, co-founder of the non-profit group Clean Energy Action<\/em>, supports Cowles\u2019 push in favor of a municipal utility: \u201cIt is not until we address the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions\u2014which is Xcel\u2019s current electric generation mix\u2014that we can even think about meeting the Kyoto Protocol and reducing our carbon emissions on a scale that begins to match the scale of the climate crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cowles\u2019 wife Regina, an Italian from the Bronx, doesn\u2019t leave Macon\u2019s side these days. Her support is not exclusively tied to marital obligations. Regina, a political consultant, also manages her husband\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

What makes the candidate Macon Cowles a good husband, then? Regina bursts with laughter. \u201cI think every woman in Boulder should know that Macon makes great pies. And he cleans the floors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Switching back from being a grateful wife to being a campaign manager in reelection mode, she adds: \u201cHe deserves another term because of his experience as a City Council member and a lawyer, representing people who are in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawyer Mark Harris has worked with Cowles on many legal cases. \u201cIn all the years, never once have I seen him switch to the negative when things go awry with a strategy or plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macon Cowles\u2014the son of a former congregational minister and a social activist\u2014and then-disc-jockey Regina met in Steamboat Springs, Colo., in 1980. Three years later, the couple moved to Boulder, and ultimately to the Whittier neighborhood, where they own a house.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis house was built in 1847, but we completely rebuilt it over the course of the last year.\u00a0 It now qualifies for the highest level of energy efficiency,\u201d says Cowles. He mentions this fact for good reason: \u201cFighting climate change is not just about how we generate electricity, but also about how we build our houses and what materials we use.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Toto (from Facebook)<\/p><\/div>\n

Toto\u2014the family\u2019s Terrier dog\u2014rests his head on Cowles\u2019 knee. \u201cHe abides by the open space rules,\u201d Regina Cowles says, jokingly. The couple loves to recreate on hikes or during camping trips\u2014especially in the winter, when the two of them and Toto board their Volkswagen Eurovan <\/em>and travel south.<\/p>\n

For now, no such trips are scheduled though. Macon Cowles wants to win (another) reelection.<\/p>\n

Whittier, he proudly proclaims, serves as a \u201ctextbook example\u201d for a 15-minute-neighborhood, a neighborhood \u201cwhere people can reach everything they need within a 15-minute-walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former City Council member Steve Pomerance dismisses the idea of this type of neighborhood as \u201cstupid.\u201d He says there was a simple reason why the approach wouldn\u2019t keep citizens out of their cars: \u201cPeople don\u2019t work where they live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan Dings, one of Cowles\u2019 contenders in this fall\u2019s election, is also among those who argue against a prioritization of the 15-minute-neighborhood on the campaign agenda. \u201cThe way I see it, things are evolving in the developed areas. The major changes should happen on land that is underdeveloped.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crystal Gray\u2014another former City Council member\u2014backs Cowles\u2019 stance: \u201cThe goal of a 15-minute-neighborhood is not only good for reducing carbon emissions. It also builds the community when you connect with neighbors and local businesses along your walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Customizing people to walk, bike or use public transportation propels the policies of the enthusiastic cyclist Macon Cowles. The retired lawyer is one of Mother Nature\u2019s most passionate and profound advocates.<\/p>\n

Because ultimately, his message is as simple as this: Save the earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the first in a series of candidate profiles written by students in Instructor Jeff Browne\u2019s CU News Corps course at CU-Boulder. Lars Gesing is a graduate student from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1160,"featured_media":12866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[881,3],"tags":[11,821,495,864],"class_list":["post-12848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2013-cc-candidates","category-featured","tag-city-council","tag-election-2013","tag-macon-cowles-2","tag-regina-cowles-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12848"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12873,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12848\/revisions\/12873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}