Aspen and Telluride. Two mountain towns with biodiesel-powered public transportation, carbon-neutral festivals, bike-commuters galore and electric vehicles humming down the streets.

So what happens when two progressive towns go to the mats to see which is greener? 
We shall see.

Telluride and Aspen have issued a challenge to see which town, per capita, can make the biggest reduction in its plastic bag use.

The challenge began on Saturday and will run through July 4.

Sheep Mountain Alliance’s Dave Allen, who organized the challenge with help from Aspen’s Nathan Ratledge, said Telluride’s going to win — but not without a commitment.

“We have to prove to the state of Colorado that we are the most progressive community in the state,” Allen said. “And it’s up to our locals do that on a voluntary basis.”

Sheep Mountain Alliance has enlisted the help of all three local grocery stores — The Village Market, Clark’s and The Market at Mountain Village — in this effort.

The challenge will be gauged like this: for each reusable bag a person uses, each grocery store will give 5 cents to the Green Fund (which goes to fund sustainability projects in the region). At the end, the town that earns the most money, per capita, by shopping with reusable bags will come out on top.

And the runner up — “which is going to be Aspen,” Allen adds — will purchase two solar monitor sets for the school district of the winner.

These solar monitors can then be used as an educational tool for local kids, Allen said.
Over in Aspen, grocers Clark’s and City Market are taking part in the challenge.

Ratledge, who is the Climate Coordinator for Aspen’s Community Office for Resource Efficiency (Aspen’s version of The New Community Coalition), said this is a way that both communities can take a lead in reducing plastic bags.

“It is our goal for Aspen to continue to be a green leader. Significantly limiting or banning disposable shopping bags is a major step in that direction,” Ratledge said in a press release. “Ideally, Aspen and Telluride will continue to partner on this issue.”
Back in March, Allen approached the Telluride Town Council with his ideas about a campaign to eliminate the use of plastic shopping bags in town.

His idea was to start off with an educational and voluntary campaign.

The idea of a challenge with Aspen is for people to make this reduction on their own will, Allen said.

Allen pointed to an analysis done in Australia that concluded among of the methods of trying to get a population to decrease its use of plastic shopping bags, a voluntary effort is ineffective.

“I believe that our community is capable of proving these statistics wrong,” Allen said. “But it’s going to require each individual to change their habits … It’s easy, it’s walking into a grocery story with a reusable bag.”

Telluride Mayor Stu Fraser seemed pretty confident in Telluride’s winning abilities.
“I’m really looking forward to the school district getting two solar monitors from Aspen,” he said.