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News & Views
from the
S u s t ai n ab l e S o u t h w e s t
T he N ew M exico
H ealth E quity P artnership
A N et -Z ero P assive H ouse
in
T aos
W ater C onservation in S anta F e
U ranium C oncentrations
in N ew M exico G roundwater
C onnecting
April 2015
across
C ultures
Northern New Mexico’s Largest Circulation Newspaper
Vol. 7 No. 4
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Green Fire Times • April 2015
www.GreenFireTimes.com
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Green Fire Times • April 2015
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Green Fire Times • April 2015
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Vol. 7, No. 4 • April 2015
Issue No. 72
Publisher
Green Fire Publishing, LLC
Skip Whitson
Associate Publisher
Barbara E. Brown
Editor-in-chief
Seth Roffman
Art Director
News & Views
from the
Sustainable Southwest
Winner of the Sustainable Santa Fe Award for Outstanding Educational Project
Contents
Anna C. Hansen, Dakini Design
The New Mexico Health Equity Partnership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Copy Editors
Stephen Klinger
Susan Clair
Uranium Workers at the Roundhouse . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 8
Webmaster: Karen Shepherd
Contributing Writers
Drug Addiction: A Rising Scourge in Northern New Mexico . . .. . .. . .. . .. 11
Everyday Green: Are You a Nutritarian?. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .13
Consuelo Luz Aróstegui, María Gallegos,
David Gaussoin, Susan Guyette, Jessica
Jensen, Alejandro López, George Mandel,
Quita Ortiz, Rachel Preston Prinz, Seth
Roffman, Jinelle Scully, Bianca
Sopoci-Belknap, Stephen Wiman
A New Generation of Sustainable Aging: A Net-Zero Passive House in Taos . . .. 16
Contributing
Photographers
Acequias Are for Everybody. . . . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 20
Anna C. Hansen, Alejandro López,
Seth Roffman, Elise Trott, Raven Wolfe
PUBLISHER’S ASSISTANTs
Azlan White, Cisco Whitson-Brown
Advertising Sales
Solar Newsbites . . .. . .. . .. . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 18
Water Conservation Connects Santa Fe to Surrounding Communities . . .. . .. 19
Three Case Studies of Elevated Uranium Concentrations in Groundwater . . . . . 22
SF Community College Programs Offer Hands-On Experiences and Field Trips.
27
Sustainable Santa Fe Update. . . . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 29
Skip Whitson 505.471.5177
[email protected]
“Breaking Bueno” Transition Training in Albuquerque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Anna C. Hansen 505.982.0155
[email protected]
Sustainable Santa Fe Awards Announced. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 29
Robyn Montoya 505.692.4477
[email protected]
Aurore Loranger, 505-699-0461
[email protected]
Albuquerque: Shelley Shilvock, 505-492-5869,
[email protected]
Remembering Carol Decker . . . . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 33
Newsbites . . .. . .. . .. . .. . ... . .. . .. . .. . .. 13, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 28, 35
What’s Going On. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 38
Distribution
Barbara Brown, Susan Clair, Co-op Dist. Services,
Nick García, Andy Otterstrom (Creative Couriers),
Tony Rapatz, Wuilmer Rivera, Mark Schumann,
Andrew Tafoya, Skip Whitson, John Woodie
Circulation: 30,000 copies
Printed locally with 100% soy ink on
100% recycled, chlorine-free paper
Green Fire Times
c/o The Sun Companies
P.O. Box 5588, SF, NM 87502-5588
505.471.5177 • [email protected]
© 2015 Green Fire Publishing, LLC
Green Fire Times provides useful information for
community members, business people, students and
visitors—anyone interested in discovering the wealth
of opportunities and resources in the Southwest. In
support of a more sustainable planet, topics covered
range from green businesses, jobs, products, services,
entrepreneurship, investing, design, building and
energy—to native perspectives on history, arts &
culture, ecotourism, education, sustainable agriculture,
regional cuisine, water issues and the healing arts. To
our publisher, a more sustainable planet also means
maximizing environmental as well as personal health
by minimizing consumption of meat and alcohol.
Green Fire Times is widely distributed throughout
north-central New Mexico. Feedback, announcements,
event listings, advertising and article submissions to be
considered for publication are welcome.
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Santa Fe City Reservoir Under Construction
M
cClure Reservoir is one of two
municipal reservoirs in the Santa
Fe Watershed that ser ves Santa Fe
utility customers. It has a 3255 acre-foot
capacity. When capacity is reached, excess
water is captured by the downstream
Nichols Reservoir. Water is treated at the
Canyon Road Water Treatment Plant.
McClure Reservoir is currently empty for
a construction project to replace its intake
structures, leaving Nichols Reservoir,
which is 1/5 the capacity of McClure, to
capture the 2015 run-off. Based on flow
projections, Nichols is expected to be at
full capacity by May. Photo of McClure
Reservoir taken March 27, 2015. (See
articles on Water Conservation on page 19)
COVER: Top of the Stalk, gouache on paper © Douglas Johnson
Green Fire Times • April 2015
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Green Fire Times • April 2015
www.GreenFireTimes.com
The New Mexico Health Equity Partnership
Collaboration in Support of Healthy Children, Families and Communities
H
ealth doesn’t just happen as a result of visits to the doctor’s office, diet and
exercise. Policy and planning decisions that shape where people live, work,
learn and play impact quality of life, as well as physical, mental and spiritual
well-being. In New Mexico, the quality of health of many individuals, as well as
communities, can be traced to economic, environmental and social conditions
that are deeply rooted in historical trauma and the pronounced imbalance of
geographic resources.
The New Mexico Health Equity Partnership (NMHEP), funded by the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation and the Santa Fe Community Foundation, is working to
strengthen the capacity of low-income New Mexico communities and communities
of color to advocate for systemic and policy changes that address institutionalized
inequities based upon race, class, gender and geography. The Partnership’s goal:
healthy children, families and communities.
The NMHEP comprises local, state and national partners, including the National
Collaborative for Health Equity, New Mexico Alliance of Health Councils, New
Mexico Community Data Collaborative, New Mexico Department of Health–
Health Promotion, Human Impact Partners and Con Alma Health Foundation–
Healthy People, Healthy Places. The Partnership’s extended network includes a
broad base of community members, advocacy groups, civic organizations, youth
groups, faith-based organizations, nonprofits, legal service providers, universities
and other educational entities, government agencies and other allies working closely
© Seth Roffman
The partners evaluate how a proposed plan, project or
policy will affect community health if implemented.
L-R: The NMHEP team: Jessi Jensen, David Gaussoin, Jinelle Scully, María Gallegos
with NMHEP-affiliated organizations. NMHEP also recognizes that effective
policy change must have the support of key decision makers, powerbrokers and
other leaders.
Based on the belief that the solutions to New Mexico’s challenges lie within the
resilient fabric of the state’s diverse communities, the NMHEP strives to create
healthy conditions for families by actively engaging in advocacy that informs
decision-making processes. NMHEP’s work is structured around three key efforts:
• PLACE MATTERS (PM): national initiative of the National Collaborative
for Health Equity. There are four PM teams in the New Mexico counties of
Bernalillo, Doña Ana, McKinley and San Juan.
• New Mexico Tribal and Community Health Councils: Health councils work
with communities to address important local health issues based on local health
needs and resources.
• Health Impact Assessments (HIAs): There are 10 HIA teams in New Mexico.
HIAs are a structured process where NMHEP’s diverse partners come together
to evaluate how a proposed plan, project or policy—in a variety of domains
ranging from transportation to housing—will affect community health if
implemented. Recommendations based on community knowledge, narratives
and quantitative data are provided to inform and improve decision-making
processes.
Community Informed Decision Making
NMHEP uses a unique, multi-stakeholder statewide approach tailored to grassroots
community assets and need. This approach draws on the collective strengths of
diverse partners and allies. Cross-sector relationships foster the leveraging of
expertise and resources. Decisions are made collectively and transparently. The
Partnership highly values cultural knowledge and engages communities by building
on their assets to advocate for policy change. Groups directly affected by proposed
policies and projects are afforded a seat at the table, so they can participate from
planning to implementation. Community members directly impacted by health
inequities hold active leadership roles.
Community Narratives
The following recent cases demonstrate how NMHEP’s partners are actively
engaged in educational policy and advocacy in their communities to ensure that
health is considered in decision-making processes.
continued on page 8
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Green Fire Times • April 2015
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NM Health Equity continued from page 7
McKinley County:
Looking Within – An HIA on Uranium Mining
Uranium Workers at the Roundhouse
McKinley Community PLACE MATTERS uses a health-equity lens to address
environmental health disparities and explore how institutional racism and
multigenerational trauma impact community health. Over the course of two years,
great strides have been made in elevating community voices and concerns about
the health impacts of the uranium legacy in the county.
© Seth Roffman (4)
The soon-to-be completed HIA took into consideration health impacts related
to environmental contamination and pollution, relocation and displacement,
community efficacy and cultural relevance of the land. During the recent state
legislative session, McKinley Community PLACE MATTERS was one of the
sponsors of Uranium Workers’ Day at the Roundhouse, organized to focus public
attention on New Mexico’s uranium legacy. Over 200 people shared their stories,
advocated for policy change, and spoke about the health impacts of uranium
mining and milling.
San Miguel County: A Health Impact Assessment of the
Proposed Northeast New Mexico Adult Reintegration Center
Communities in San Miguel, Mora and Guadalupe counties struggle with
higher-than-average rates of unemployment, substance abuse, DWIs, poverty,
lack of access to health care and other basic services. These conditions lead to
higher incarceration and recidivism rates. The health inequities among those who
end up incarcerated are especially apparent. In spite of these challenges, these
communities demonstrate deep partnerships and embody diverse skill sets and
strengths, resiliency and determination to come up with solutions.
San Miguel County Health Impact Assessment Team
In 2014, the San Miguel County Detention Center and its Citizen Advisory
Committee, Las Vegas Peace and Justice Center, San Miguel County Family and
Community Health Council, New Mexico Highlands University Foundation,
NMHU School of Social Work students, community members who were formerly
incarcerated, and other stakeholders, with assistance from Human Impact Partners
and the NMHEP team, worked together to conduct an HIA on a proposed adultreintegration center in northeastern New Mexico. The assessment considered
potential impacts of the proposed center on addiction, violence and recidivism.
The assessment process served as a mechanism to develop evidence-based
recommendations for how the reintegration center should be implemented in
order to improve health in northern New Mexico. The group’s report made it
possible to effectively communicate with the San Miguel County Commission.
Proposed Lobos CO2 Pipeline HIA
Sometimes, the most unanticipated events can spur a group of previously
nonaligned—and even adversarial—individuals and organizations to respond to
a call to action and galvanize around an issue perceived as potentially harmful
to all. Such is the case with the proposed Kinder Morgan Lobos CO2 pipeline.
The landowners and Manzano Land Grant heirs of a sparsely populated frontier
county would be most impacted by the project.
It is a David-and-Goliath tale that pits the third-largest global corporation and
continued on page 26
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Green Fire Times • April 2015
Former uranium miners and workers and people from impacted communities held
a press conference on Uranium Workers’ Day at the New Mexico State Capitol
during the recent legislative session. They aired their concerns about continuing
negative health and environmental effects of uranium mining. The event was
sponsored by the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE), a
coalition of 23 organizations.
In the state Legislature, Rep. Doreen Johnson (D-McKinley, San Juan) introduced
House Memorial 70, calling for expanded compensation for all uranium workers
through proposed amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
(RECA). Rep. Georgene Louis (D-Bernalillo) introduced a memorial requesting
a baseline health study in impacted communities. On the federal level, U.S.
senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich have cosponsored reintroduction of
U.S. Senate Bill 331, to amend RECA. U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján is cosponsoring
a U.S. House companion bill. RECA is designed to assist those directly affected
by work in uranium mines and those who were exposed to above-ground nuclear
testing in the United States. The amendments seek to expand the eligibility to
affected individuals in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico
and Utah. When RECA was first passed in 1990, it was limited to individuals in
certain counties in Arizona, Colorado and Utah and it excluded uranium workers
who worked after 1970.
Speakers at the New Mexico capitol included:
Linda Evers, of the Post ’71 Uranium Workers Committee.
Evers, who lives in Milan, New Mexico, has been working for
decades to gain fair compensation for uranium workers not
covered under the current version of RECA.
Larry King, a volunteer
with Eastern Navajo Diné
Against Uranium Mining, who
was working for United Nuclear
Corporation in 1979 when the
largest uranium tailings spill in
the U.S. breached an earthen
dam in Church Rock, spilling
millions of gallons of radioactive tailings.
Edith Hood, a former mine worker, who lives between
two massive uranium tailings piles in the Navajo Red Water
Pond Road community.
Jordon Johnson, a coordinator for McKinley Community Place Matters.
Johnson has been working with community health agencies to study long-term
health impacts of uranium exposure such as increased risk of hypertension and
autoimmune diseases. Johnson says, “Research has documented that exposure to
dust, gases, exhaust and fumes, as well as lack of protective clothing and safety
measures, can result in nonmalignant and malignant respiratory diseases. The
disastrous effects of uranium mining and milling are stressors for individuals and
families.”
For more information, contact MASE: 505.577.8438 or [email protected]
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Farm
For Sale
on the Pecos river
You will purchase 509 ft. of river frontage,
35 min. to Santa Fe, an apple orchard, irrigation,
utilities, septic, comfortable home, cottage, library.
excellent condition – $229,000
call roger Jensen at 575.421.7000
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Green Fire Times • April 2015
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Green Fire Times • April 2015
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Drug Addiction: A Rising Scourge in Northern NM
Criminal Problem or Health Crisis?
Consuelo Luz Aróstegui
“I
Santa Fe-born Melissa Santos, 39, is worried that, when her 24-year-old daughter,
Yesenia, gets released from jail next week, she will relapse—or worse—because she
has nowhere to go, she has no money or job, and she has lost custody of her two
children to their fathers. Additionally, Melissa cannot allow her daughter in her
home anymore because it creates an unhealthy enabling situation that has brought
chaos into her and her family’s life. Melissa’s fears are exacerbated when Yesenia
informs her on the phone from jail that an Española woman, who was released
the week before, was found dead in an Albuquerque parking lot.
Poverty, cultural destruction and disempowered
communities play a large role in the addiction
epidemic in northern New Mexico.
Yesenia is a bright, articulate, talented young woman, with a powerful presence
and shining eyes, who wants to change her life, go to school and make the world
a better place, but the odds are against her. Natalie and Yesenia are two intelligent,
vibrant women who were traumatized by events in their childhood and never
received the vital therapy and counseling that could have helped them avoid their
ill-fated choice to ease their pain with hard drugs.
Poverty, cultural destruction and disempowered communities play a large role in
the addiction epidemic in northern New Mexico, as do the resulting rape, abuse,
alcoholic and addicted parents, domestic violence and dysfunction, and mentalhealth issues that arise out of these traumas, although this last group of root causes
knows no boundaries across the social spectrum. Wealthy families have tended to
provide financially, so their addict family members don’t have to steal to support
© Alejandro López
t’s like they want you to fail,” Natalie Martínez says, her voice breaking as if
trying to keep despair at bay. Natalie, a 35-year-old college-educated Santa
Fean, recently released from her umpteenth jail stay, is clean and sober and trying
to pull her life together. But, with a court-ordered monitoring bracelet that allows
her only one hour outside of her mother’s home, she picks up her daughter from
school and goes to the bank but does not have enough time to shop for groceries,
let alone go to the doctor, therapist, support groups, or find a job and her own
place to live. Natalie yearns to develop her writing skills and take responsibility
for her life and her two kids, 13 and 9. Because her options for treatment and
recovery are so limited and her probation requirements so restrictive, it is hard
for her to remain optimistic.
Therapist Dr. Arturo Ornelas (l) with northern New Mexico community members battling
substance abuse: an embrace to help strengthen their sense of connection to others.
their habits. They can also hire better lawyers to keep them out of jail, but even
that class difference is breaking down as the drug epidemic spreads, and middleand upper-class families become more aware of the harm they are causing by their
codependent enabling of the addict. In the end, drug addiction is a baffling disease
because two people can be brought up in the same family under the same apparent
conditions, and one will follow a healthy path while the other will turn to drugs.
But the key word here is disease. For the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s
full definition of this disease, go to http://www.asam.org/for-the-public/definitionof-addiction.
Genetics, brain circuitry dysfunction, family environment, history of trauma,
individual pathology, social stressors and lack of opportunities for cultural, human and
spiritual connections can combine to manifest drug addiction. The consensus in the
medical community is that without treatment or engagement in recovery activities,
addiction is progressive and will likely result in disability or premature death.
© Seth Roffman
Some Local Programs and Resources
HOT LINE: Toll free 1.855.662.7474, www.nmcrisisline.com
DETOX Care Connection, 505.913.4350, Mats Detox Program, Albuquerque,
505.468.1555
TREATMENT Santa Fe Recovery Center, 505.471.4985, Hoy Recovery Program,
Española, 505.852.2580
SOBER LIVING www.thelifeLink.org, includes counseling and case management,
505. 438.0010, www.oxfordhouse.org
HOUSING St. Elizabeth’s Shelter—Sonrisa,2-year family transitional housing,
505.982.6611, Casa Familia Women & Family Shelter, 505.983.2042, Family
Promises, 505.268.0331, www.familypromiseabq.org
WOMEN’S SERVICES Crossroads for Women, 505.242.1010, www.
crossroadsabq.org Maya’s Place, life skills, treatment, residential, reentry,
505.266.0110
NEW MEXICO HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT, Behavioral Health
Services Division, 505.476.9266
TWELVE-STEP PROGRAMS, Daily meetings, www.na.org for addicts
Al-Anon, for family members of addicts and alcoholics, www.al-anon.org
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Wendy Johnson, medical director of La Familia Medical Center in Santa Fe, discusses
drug overdose death rates in New Mexico at the Santa Fe Art Institute, March 2015
As chaplain and volunteer-services coordinator at the Santa Fe County Adult
Detention Facility, Robert Ortiz’s life mission is to help the inmates see their
worth and value, that they are not what society calls “criminal” and worthless. At
the volunteer orientations he leads, he reminds us, “I would say 95 percent of the
population at the facility are here because of drug-related causes, and many of them
have had horrifically traumatic childhoods.” Ortiz believes our community would
be better served if resources were diverted to treatment rather than punishment.
Yes, there are those for whom a stint in jail works to turn their lives around, but
the vast majority are caught in the revolving door and vicious cycle of drug use,
crime and jail, which goes on endlessly, creating wasted lives, parentless children,
continued on page 12
Green Fire Times • April 2015
11
Drug Addiction
continued from page 11
mourning families, stretched county and state budgets and a U.S. prison population
that has exceeded in number any in the history of the world and one that is
disproportionately black and Hispanic.
In the year 2000, the government of Portugal, facing an out-of-control drug
problem, convened panels of doctors, scientists and judges and agreed to follow
their recommendations. The result was decriminalization of drugs, diversion of funds
from criminal prosecution and imprisonment to excellent drug treatment and, most
importantly, the inclusion of programs to reconnect addicts to their communities,
such as subsidizing jobs or microloans, thus helping to overcome the stigma and
the low self-esteem that prevents addicts and felons from reintegrating into society.
Fifteen years later in Portugal, injection drug use is down by 50 percent, all addiction
is down, and overdoses and HIV transmission are also significantly lower.
Meanwhile, if there is an addict in your life who is expressing a desire to change,
you can direct them to the programs and resources
available locally. A few are listed on page 11. i
Consuelo Luz Aróstegui is a Santa Fe musician, activist and
writer whose life has been deeply affected by a family member’s
drug addiction and who volunteers at the Santa Fe Detention
Facility, leading support groups and creative writing workshops.
The names in this article were altered for anonymity.
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Green Fire Times • April 2015
www.GreenFireTimes.com
© Alejandro López
Johann Hari, author of a book on the history of the war on drugs, believes that
the root cause of addiction is humans’ existential thirst for connection. This idea
triggers excitement in Natalie and Yesenia, the two women introduced at the
beginning of this article. It shifts their self-perception and motivates them to try
hard to satisfy that thirst without the use of drugs and, in spite of the obstacles the
criminal and court system puts up for them, not to mention the lack of therapeutic
services and support programs. Maybe it’s time to follow the example of Portugal
here in northern New Mexico, and shift our strategy to supporting their recovery
efforts rather than sabotaging them.
EV ERY DA Y GREEN
Are You a Nu tritarian?
Susan Guyette and George Mandel
I
nterested in vibrant health, lots of
energy, less pain and a slim figure?
Now that we have your attention, here’s
the simple solution: you can eat as
much as you want, if your choices are
nutrient-dense. A nutritarian eats lots
of the maximum nutrient-rich foods.
The Bottom Line—Nutrition
While many diets are touted as the
solution to losing weight and keeping
it off, most are not healthy—truly—
and can even be damaging. Avoid
radical diets that do not follow a
balance of fruits, vegetables, grains,
legumes, meat or fish. Eating whole,
unprocessed foods, drinking lots of
water and exercising are the keys to a
healthy body.
Avoiding sugars, alcohol and transfats—predominant in processed
foods—is essential for maintaining
intestinal health, absorbing nutrients
and gaining the most from the food
you eat. You have heard the expression,
You are what
you absorb.
“You are what you eat.” It’s really a
matter of, “You are what you absorb.”
In other words, a person can eat good
foods, but if the intestines are wrecked
f rom eating sugars or consuming
alcohol, then the nutritious foods aren’t
absorbed. So this is an overall program
for eating well, absorbing well and
feeling well.
A Local Superfood Example
Blue corn might well be considered a
local superfood. Agribiz has developed
modern varieties of yellow or white corn
that contain up to 40 percent sugar and
are lower in phytonutrients than the corn
of several decades ago. We are fortunate
in northern New Mexico to have ready
access to local blue corn, a sacred plant
that is high in anthocyanins—with
30 times more antioxidant value than
modern white corn.
In her book Eating on the Wild Side,
Jo Robinson explains the nutritional
benefits. One of the anthocyanins
continued on page 14
Healthy Eating Guidelines May
Align with Agricultural Policy
U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) dietary recommendations, released every
five years, may, for the first time, in addition to addressing calories, sugars, fats and
sodium, take into consideration what constitutes a “sustainable diet,” how food is
grown, and what is healthy for the environment. An advisory panel to the USDA
and Health and Human Services (HHS) Department has been considering an
approach that is “more health promoting and associated with lesser environmental
impact than the current average U.S. diet.”
That may mean recommending that people consume more fruit, vegetables and
other plant-based foods, and less meat and dairy, a perspective backed by a 2014
National Academy of Sciences study that evaluated greenhouse gases produced,
nitrogen pollution of water, and the amount of water and land required for beef
production. The panel’s draft report, released last month for public comment, cites
many studies.
Miriam Nelson, professor of nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition,
Science and Policy at Tufts University, is one of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory
Council members. She said, “We need grazing animals, as they are important for
the ecosystem. But Americans eat too much meat.” Nelson also said that since the
dietary guidelines were first developed in 1980, providing access to safe, affordable,
quality food has been a focus. She added, “A sustainable diet is essential and a key
link to food security. Food security includes sustainable supply chains.”
A sustainable supply chain may require environmental and animal-welfare
stewardship. The idea of the government including broader sustainability
considerations as part of diet recommendations and integrating that approach into
school lunch and federal eating programs has outraged the industrial agriculture,
meat and dairy industries and those of like mind in Congress.
What are whole, unprocessed foods?
Whole foods look exactly like they do
in nature, when picked. Processed food
is any food that is altered from how it
appears in nature; that includes highly
refined flour—yes, that includes bread
and pasta—and sugars and highly
refined oils. Not all processed foods are
bad for us. Healthy processing methods
include smoking, drying, freezing,
refrigeration and dehydration. But we
should always be on the lookout for
hidden sugar, sodium and fat. Look
at the overall picture. It’s important to
read the nutritional facts label. Food is
a complex subject.
www.GreenFireTimes.com
In his new book, The End of Dieting,
Joel Fuhrman, M.D., explains the
basis of being a nutritarian—that it’s
not the quantity of what we eat but
rather the quality. Diet plans with
an emphasis on processed foods and
animal products are usually unhealthy.
Fuhrman’s new food pyramid suggests
a diet of 90 percent daily calories from
nutrient-dense whole, unprocessed
plant foods, including leafy greens and
nonstarchy vegetables. Leafy greens,
beans, onions, mushrooms, berries, chía,
hemp seeds and flax seeds are the eight
foods richest in anti-inflammatory and
healing micronutrients.
The USDA and HHS departments will review the proposed changes to the dietary
guidelines, then finalize and release them by the end of 2015. To read the report,
visit www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-scientific-report/
María Benítez Institute Partners with
Healthy Kids/Healthy Communities
The María Benítez Institute for Spanish Arts (ISA), in partnership with the Santa
Fe Public Schools, has joined the statewide Healthy Kids/Healthy Communities
initiative. The program is designed to increase physical activity to support obesity
prevention among vulnerable communities and to increase nutrition awareness. ISA
is working with five elementary schools to teach 3rd-5th graders techniques, dances
and guitar classes based on the long tradition of Spanish dance. Nearly 100 students
from mostly Southside schools are participating in ISA after-school classes.
ISA is also utilizing the Department of Health’s Healthy Kids 5-2-1-0 Challenge
curriculum. Students learn about healthy eating through experiencing Spanish,
Mexican, Central American and South American cuisines. Chef José Rodríguez of
La Boca and Chef Martín Ríos of Restaurant Martín will bring quality ingredients
and food preparation demonstrations to classrooms.
All the partner schools will participate in the ISA’s performance on May 17 at
2 p.m. at the Santa Fe Performing Arts Theater, 1050 Old Pecos Trail. For tickets,
visit www.institutespanisharts.org
Green Fire Times • April 2015
13
Everyday Green continued from page 13
in blue corn, a compound known as
cyaniding-3-glucoside (CG3), has
multiple health benefits. In studies,
CG3 slowed the growth of colon
cancer, blocked inflammation, lowered
cholesterol and blood sugar and even
reduced weight gain. White and yellow
corn varieties have no anthocyanins
and no CG3.
are more nutritionally dense, better
satisfying your hunger. The broader the
range of foods, the greater the range
of nutrients gained. Locally grown
foods are fresher than imported foods
because of the loss of nutrients due to
the additional time from farm to table.
A general rule to follow is, if it has
a bar code—the sign of commercial
processing—avoid the food. Eating
organically is crucial. Because pesticides are
hormone disruptors—think weight gain—
avoiding GMOs (genetically modified
organisms) is essential to your health. The
added-expense excuse just doesn’t hold
water. You can eat an organic, simplified,
nutritious, whole-foods diet for the same
price as a diet consisting of processed
food, eating out, soft drinks and alcohol.
Factoring in the hidden costs, processed
foods are actually very expensive.
Blue corn foods include tortillas,
posole, tamales and atole for breakfast.
Look in the bulk bins of local natural
food stores to find a wide variety of
cornmeal and organic corn products.
ICF Warehouse Inc.
(Formerly Reward Wall Systems of NM)
• NUDURA stocking distributor
• Scaffold Bracing & Ancillary products
• Same great service as always
• Phone (505) 474-4389
• Visit: ICFWarehouseNM.com
Simplify and Carry Along
One of the key ways to avoid the fastfood temptation is to carry your food.
My recipe made from local indigenous
foods is a good food for carrying with
you, and it’s nutrient dense.
Blue Corn Cakes
Eat well. Eat locally. And be well. i
1 cup (C) blue corn meal
¼ C quinoa flour
½ C piñón nuts
½ C currants
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
¼ C oil
½ C water
Susan Guyette, Ph.D., is of Métis heritage
(Micmac Indian/Acadian French). She is a
community planner specializing in cultural
tourism, cultural centers,
museums and native
foods. She is the author
of Sustainable Cultural
To u r i s m : S m a l l Scale Solutions and
Planning for Balanced
Development and coauthor of Zen Birding: Connect in Nature.
www.susanguyette.com
1. Grease or butter a large muffin pan.
2. Preheat oven to 350o.
3. Mix dry ingredients, and then add
in the egg, oil, and water until dough
is sticky.
4. Divide dough into 8 cakes, and pat
down with fingers.
5. Bake 15 minutes or until solid in
the middle.
6. Cool before removing from pan for
best results.
George Mandel is a nationally certif ied
Doctor of Oriental Medicine. He practices
a wide range of healing
modalities: acupuncture,
detoxif ication, Reiki,
Chinese and Japanese
diagnostic techniques, pulse
assessment, moxibustion,
tuina (Chinese medical
massage), herbal formulas
and Chinese nutritional therapy. www.
drgmandel.com
The answers to losing weight and feeling
good are connected to knowing our
place in nature. Wild and local foods
Beneficial Farms
Community Supported
Agriculture (CSA)
Serving families, farms, and
communities since 1994
• Eat FRESH Local and Regional Food
• Support Family Farms
• All year long
• Convenient weekly delivery
www.beneficialfarm.com
[email protected]
14
Green Fire Times • April 2015
505-470-1969
www.GreenFireTimes.com
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Green Fire Times • April 2015
15
A New Generation of Sustainable Aging
Net-Zero-Energy Passive House Moves into Taos Senior Housing Community
L
ongtime Taos residents Ross and
Kristin Ulibarrí are looking to the
future with their new, contemporary
prairie-style Passive House, designed
by the Santa Fe firm NEEDBASED,
Inc. Sited within a senior cohousing
community, their 3-bedroom/2-bath
“TAOhouse” will allow the couple to
actively enjoy the mountain town they
love and live at home surrounded by
engaged neighbors for decades to come.
The Ulibarrís have filled their life
pursuing diverse business, educational
and environmental endeavors. “Our
house was built with our spirit of
activism,” Ross Ulibarrí said. “We
not only wanted a beautiful home;
we were also interested in furthering
sustainable housing by building a
cutting-edge home that can be used as
an educational tool.”
Natural light spills through expanses
of glass that frame majestic views of
Taos Mountain and invite the outdoors
inside. The house’s open-concept
The development of
cohousing and
retirement aspects
along with zero-energy
building is compelling.
floor plan features earth-pigmented
plaster walls, floor-to-ceiling bamboo
cabinetry and stained-concrete floors.
A photovoltaic solar system,
along with in-floor hydronic
radiant heat, is employed. An
energy-monitoring gauge
allows monitoring of the
house’s efficiency. TAOhouse
is exceptionally well insulated,
tightly built and fitted with
high-performance windows.
It is one of only a handful of
North American buildings
to be certified by the Passive
House Institute in Germany.
As a net-zero-energy building,
on-site energy production
zeroes-out its total energy
use on an annual basis. This is
accomplished by prioritizing
conservation techniques—
passive strategies—over
complex mechanical systems
that require active operation
and maintenance.
“Mechanical systems
cost money to repair and
replace,” says Jonah Stanford,
NEEDBASED’s principal,
who has been board president
of Passive House Institute
U.S. and helped found Passive
House New Mexico. “The
fundamental performance of
a Passive House is just based
on physics and conservation,”
Stanford explained. “It is
more enduring and less
expensive to conser ve
energy than it is to create it.”
16
Green Fire Times • April 2015
Extreme energy conservation
is the foundational focus of
the International Passive
House Association’s building
standard, a global vanguard of
efficient design, demonstrating
energy savings of more than 90
percent relative to conventional
buildings.
The Ulibarrís are part of
a burgeoning trend of
homeowners who want the
ability to live at home well
into their old age. Their
TAOh o u s e i n c o r p o r a t e s
aging-in-place design, which
increases a home’s flexibility—
and thus usability—through
the broadest range of ages,
ambulatory abilities and life stages.
Social connectivity is an important
aspect of successful aging-in-place
design. A balanced relationship
between public and private spaces
is an aspect of project planning that
Stanford finds especially compelling;
that is, how architecture and design
can help create social sustainability
by being sensitive to how people
www.GreenFireTimes.com
experience their homes and how the
surrounding communities do, too.
Achieving these goals is largely
dependent on the location. The
Ulibarrís chose Valverde Commons
(valverdecommons.com), a senior
cohousing community, located a
15-minute walk from Taos’ historic
plaza. Valverde Commons’ bylaws
encourage sustainable building.
Twenty-eight home sites loosely ring
a commonly held 4-acre meadow
and border 10 acres of farmland,
community gardens and public-access
open space protected by a conservation
easement that will never be developed.
Horses, cows and goats graze in
nearby fields. Walking paths, just
steps beyond a patio wall, meander
between the homes, serving to connect
community buildings with the private
spaces, creating opportunities for
natural and healthy social exchange.
A common house—a cohousing
standard—includes a kitchen and space
for meals, classes and events. i
For more information
o n t h e Pa s s ive
House, contact
Jonah Stanford
at 505.577.4295,
Jonah@needbased.
com or visit the North
American Passive
House Network
website: www.
aphnetwork.org or
www.needbased.com
New Mexico Builders Create
Water-Efficiency Rating System
The HERS (Home Energy Rating System) rating has become the standard across
North America for measuring a home’s energy efficiency, where the lower the
number, the more energy-efficient the home. A HERS index of zero would be a
net-zero-energy home.
Another way to quantify a home’s efficiency is to evaluate its water use—obviously,
an important consideration in an era of ever-growing scarcity. Reflecting Santa Fe’s
national reputation as a leader in water conservation, experts from the Santa Fe Area
Home Builders’ Association’s Green Building Council put up some of the seed money
to design and develop a new mathematical model for measuring and scoring a home’s
water-efficiency performance. They worked in association with Santa Fe Community
College, Build Green New Mexico and the Green Building Coalition.
The Water Efficiency Rating System (WERS) is an easy-to-use software program
that gives consumers and builders around the country a way to compare the water
efficiency of homes. The WERS calculates typical water consumption based on
various appliances’ and plumbing fixtures’ gallons-per-minute or per-flush rating
and the level of household occupancy. Based on this information, fixtures can be
installed that will reduce water usage while suiting particular needs. The WERS
also encourages the use of rainwater and greywater for outdoor irrigation, as well
as—with proper health and safety protocols—for indoor use.
The pilot WERS tool is being discussed with the EPA and others regarding a likely
national release.
Kreger Achieves Passive House Certification
Architect/home builder Bob Kreger, of Kreger Design Build, has been building
innovative homes for more than 30 years. After rigorous training, Kreger is now
certified as both a Certified Passive House Consultant and a Certified Passive
House Builder, one of only two people in New Mexico to attain both certifications.
Kreger, who is based in Santa Fe, plans to help make New Mexico a leader in the
zero-energy home-building industry. His performance-driven design concepts
artfully incorporate the Passive House standard (www.PHIUS.org).
The Passive House standard targets a minimum of an 80 percent reduction in
heating and cooling costs. “This performance-driven design and building process
provides durable value, enhanced comfort and common-sense aging-in-place
strategies,” Kreger says. “A Passive House provides a costoptimal solution for energy and water savings over years of
ownership.”
Kreger, who produced the first custom LEED-Platinum home
in New Mexico in 2008, has also developed architecturally
enhanced and insulated rainwater-storage units, called
RainVessels, informed by the newly released WERS (Water
Efficiency Rating Score) standard. www.KregerDesignBuild.
com, www.Facebook.com/RainVessels
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Renewable Taos Project Wins RMI Invite
The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and its Electricity Innovation Lab
(eLab) Accelerator have selected the Renewable Taos project to join teams from
throughout the United States who are “…leading the most impactful and innovative
projects at the distribution edge of the electricity system.” The teams are creating
groundbreaking system solutions based on new utility-business models for building
and distributing locally generated renewable energy. The 12 teams met at Sundance
Mountain Resort, Utah, from March 23-26.
Renewable Taos Project’s successful application was based on establishing the Kit
Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC) service area as a new Energy Innovation
District. Renewable Taos began working with RMI in 2014 to determine ways
to supply Taos-area energy demands with renewables such as a locally operated
microgrid that could produce income from solar power generation in excess of
demands. Renewable Taos co-founder Bob Bresnahan said that the group’s work
also involves policy and contract changes plus community outreach to dispel
misinformation about costs, reliability and grid impacts of renewable energy.
Core team members are Luís Reyes, CEO of KCEC; Valerie Espinoza, New Mexico
Public Regulation Commission; Andrew Gonzales, Town of Taos councilor; Jay P.
Levine, Levine Mesa Web; and two other business and industry principals who have
not yet been announced. Energy consultant Bill Brown is the team coordinator.
http://renewabletaos.org, http://www.rmi.org/elab
Green Fire Times • April 2015
17
solar NEWSBITEs
SolarCity Arrives in New Mexico
SF County Approves Two PNM Solar Arrays
SolarCity has a unique business model. It requires no money down to install the
systems and uses long-term financing that works like a power-purchase agreement.
Based on a person’s credit rating, the company provides direct 30-year loans at
4.5 percent interest, making the payments seem more like monthly electric bills.
Payments are based on the amount of energy the customer’s system produces. If
the customer sells the home, the loan agreement can be transferred to the buyer.
SolarCity owns the PV panels it installs. The homeowner buys the power the panels
generate. The customers own their solar system when their loan is repaid. Thousands
of homes generating electricity make SolarCity itself a utility. The company says it
can ensure customers electricity at 15 to 20 percent less per kilowatt-hour than the
fossil fuel-fired utility companies offer.
T or C Developing New Energy Grid
One of the nation’s top solar-power providers, SolarCity, has begun taking orders in
New Mexico. The company will design, install, maintain and finance residential and
commercial solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces
and surrounding areas. Additional locations are planned.
Brothers Lydon and Peter Rive, cousins of Tesla founder Elon Musk, launched
SolarCity in California in 2006. Musk chairs SolarCity’s board. The company also
installs charging stations for electric vehicles and is partnering with Tesla to test
battery systems for storing solar energy. Last month, the company announced the
launch of “GridLogic,” a microgrid product with built-in energy-storage capability
using new lithium-ion Tesla batteries. Software-based monitoring and control
systems help manage power flows between the panels and batteries, as well as manage
the connection with the utility grid. GridLogic can operate either in conjunction
with or independent of the grid during blackouts or natural disasters.
New Mexico is the 16th state where SolarCity is operating. The company intends to
initially hire up to 50 employees in New Mexico for sales, installation and related
jobs. www.solarcity.com
Positive Energy Solar
Reflects Solar Business Boom
Electricity from rooftop solar systems is now less expensive than utility rates in 42 of
the 50 largest cities in the United States. From 2009 to 2014, the average cost per watt
for installed solar systems declined from $4.34 to $1.60. In 2014, according to data
released by the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department
(EMNRD), New Mexicans spent $30 million installing rooftop solar panels, $23
million of which went to labor. Since 2008, New Mexico residents and businesses
have spent more than $134 million on rooftop solar.
The EMNRD has recognized Positive Energy Solar as the state’s leading residential
installer. The company employs 80 people in Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa
Fe and added 30 new employees in 2014 alone. On March 26, the employee-owned
company opened a new facility at 3600 Pan American Freeway NE in Albuquerque.
Positive Energy is also the largest certified Benefits Corporation (B Corp) in New
Mexico. The B Corp distinction is earned for things such as providing good wages,
benefits and growth opportunities for team members, and contributing to schools
and nonprofits. www.positiveenergysolar.com
Sol Luna Solar Expands Territory
Sol Luna Solar is now offering residential and commercial solar-integration options
in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos and surrounding areas. The company has secured U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grant
funding for rural businesses, thus allowing commercial adopters of solar to fast-track their
return on investment with the combined value of state and federal tax credits, accelerated
depreciation and a 25 percent USDA grant reimbursement on the cost of a solar system.
“The USDA offers an attractive renewable energy program, which has not been utilized
due in part to the fact that most consumers are unaware it exists,” said Megan Johnson,
Sol Luna Solar’s marketing manager.
Founded by Los Ebanistas, Inc., Sol Luna Solar is part of an organization that has
served New Mexico clients for over 30 years. “Providing coverage to Albuquerque and
Santa Fe is a natural progression, which has allowed our company to grow positively,”
said Sol Luna Solar Vice President Mark Johnson. “We pride ourselves on being a
debt-free company with strong supplier relationships. This has allowed us to pass
more savings on to the customer.” www.sollunasolar.com
18
Green Fire Times • April 2015
On March 23, the Santa Fe County Commission unanimously approved PNM’s plan
to build two solar projects that will generate a combined 15 megawatts. One of those
projects, a 10 MW solar farm south of Santa Fe that will be visible from Interstate 25,
will use 40,000 rotating solar-tracking panels set on about 75 acres. The other project
will use 20,000 panels on a 40-acre site west of Santa Fe, off of Caja del Río Road. The
commission approved that project despite a list of concerns raised by neighboring
landowners Philip Baca and his son, Matthew Baca, related to archaeological, zoning
and other issues. PNM expects the two projects, at a projected cost of $30 million, to
be completed by the end of this year or early next year.
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, has purchased 6,100 solar panels to develop
a new energy grid. Two firms, Affordable Solar and Array Technologies, Inc., are
jointly developing the project. It is the first utility-scale project they have worked on
together in New Mexico. Array Technologies makes solar trackers for national and
international markets at a 50,000-square-foot facility in Albuquerque.
Xcel Adds Solar to Its New Mexico Portfolio
Xcel Energy has signed power-purchase agreements with affiliates of NextEra Energy
Resources, which plans to build two solar farms near Roswell. Xcel spokesman Wes
Reeves says that the cost of solar has come down, and tax incentives have helped make
it more competitive with gas-fueled generation. Most of the utility’s renewable energy
currently comes from wind generation. Through its subsidiary Southwestern Public
Service Co., Xcel serves nearly 385,000 customers in New Mexico and Texas. The
agreements require the approval of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission.
Plug.Solar App Wins SXSW Competition
Plug.Solar, an Albuquerque company, whose products use smart-grid technology
to allow you to plug into electrical outlets to demand solar energy from the grid
anywhere, has won a major business competition. In March, Plug.Solar won the
Fallon Starterkit event at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. The event featured
five entrepreneurs pitching their business plan to a panel of judges. Plug.Solar will
now work closely with Fallon, a Minneapolis-based advertising group, to create a
crowd-funding campaign. Plug.Solar is also a candidate to appear on the television
show “Shark Tank.”
Plug.Solar offers a new app that allows users to demand solar to charge their smart
phone. The company’s technology uses the system of solar credits utility companies
accumulate from energy produced by solar farms and allows consumers to specify
that they only use that solar power. Plug.Solar hopes to have its product ready to
sell by the end of the year. The device is expected to cost between $30 and $50 for a
year’s worth of solar energy. www.plug.solarT or C Developing New Energy Grid.
Making Solar Power More Affordable
One unintentional aspect of the green movement in relation to clean energy is that
it tends to be tied to a well-educated middle- or upper middle class demographic.
Most low-income Americans have not acquired solar power because they simply
can’t afford it. Many don’t own their homes, so they can’t have solar power systems
installed on roofs they don’t control. This population could benefit from solar power
because they would pay less for electricity. In fact, solar power systems in community
gardens could provide free electricity for some small neighborhoods.
The George Washington University Solar Institute has released a new study called
Bridging the Solar Income Gap. Below are some of the study’s recommendations:
1. Emerging community and shared solar policies are a particularly promising
pathway to further low-income solar and should be adopted by more states.
2. More tools are needed to enhance credit, lower credit risk, and leverage private
capital including: establishing a federal low-income green bank; expanding state
credit enhancement programs; expanding on-bill repayment and commercial
property assessed clean energy financing options.
3. Solar should be fully integrated into existing energy efficiency and energy assistance
programs, including the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
4. Solar deployments in lower income communities will require utility partners,
whether directed through state legislation, utility commissions, or induced
through creative value propositions.
5. Substantial outreach and education will be necessary to reach lower income
communities.
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Water Conservation Connects Santa Fe
to Surrounding Communities
© Anna C. Hansen
Quita Ortiz
T
he city of Santa Fe has led the nation in water conservation with one of the
strongest, most comprehensive water-conservation ordinances. Years ago, the city
strategically implemented a rate structure incentivizing utility customers to drastically
reduce water consumption. Our building and landscape codes have also become smarter
about water. Since the mid-1990s, the city’s efforts have resulted in significant reduction
of per capita water use among residents. Successful as it has been, the Santa Fe Water
Conservation Office is encouraging folks to reinforce their dedication to water-wise
practices. Collectively, we can continue to weave the path of exemplary water conservation
and cultivate a deeper awareness and appreciation for water.
Nichols Reservoir
When you consider that the hottest and driest years on record took place in the past
four years and that tree-ring data illustrate that our region has experienced long-term
drought in the distant past, it becomes reasonable to assume that the wet periods of
the ’80s and early ’90s were unusual outliers and are unlikely to return any time soon.
We lack certainty about future precipitation, but it’s probable that we’ll be plagued
with long-term water scarcity. So it is up to us to manifest a deep devotion to water
conservation by planting seeds of contagious thought in the minds of all Santa Feans
about the true nature of how limited our water supply is.
Lowering your water bill shouldn’t be the sole motivator for conservation. How we view
water is ultimately a human choice. Some perceive it as a commodity with an attached
dollar value, while others are humbled by their recognition of water as a precious,
life-giving resource worthy of reverence. Santa Fe has the power to demonstrate its
support for wildlife habitat, river and watershed health, and surrounding agricultural
communities by exercising water-efficient lifestyles.
Although the city’s utility customers have done quite well with respect to reducing per
capita water use, making Santa Fe a national leader in water conservation, long-term
water scarcity implores us to challenge ourselves to become even more water wise. i
Quita Ortiz, a water conservation specialist with the city of Santa
Fe Water Conservation Office, is a geographer with a background in
Geographic Information System, acequias and New Mexico water
resources. [email protected]
NM’s Water Checking Account Overdrawn
In 2014 the Santa Fe area received about 9.5 inches of rain, 30 percent below normal.
February’s snowstorms helped lessen what was initially a rather grim outlook. However,
overall water availability remains limited, and the cumulative effects of drought are
extensive and evident. So, although city water managers are relieved by the muchneeded, late-season precipitation and expect to meet demands this year, it remains ever
critical for Santa Feans to exercise mindfulness of daily water-conservation habits.
New Mexico is faced with a scarce and coveted water supply that must navigate a
path of a broad geography to satisfy many uses. Even if blessed with ample snowpack
in a given year, conservation is absolutely critical because its effects have far-reaching
implications. For example, Santa Fe has one of the best farmers’ markets in the nation
and also boasts many restaurants dedicated to serving local food. There is clearly an
increasing demand to support these endeavors, so it’s important to note that our local
food system is reliant upon water availability. So, conceivably, water conservation
among city residents can help safeguard a supply for irrigation in surrounding acequia
communities to sustain their rural livelihood and local agricultural production. These
greenbelt regions also contribute to groundwater recharge and support a riparian
corridor along rivers and streams, providing wildlife habitat.
Santa Fe is rooted in a larger cultural landscape, valued for its enriching experiences.
Surrounding scenic mountain ranges and irrigated valleys are part of the treasured
features of the area. All of these regional characteristics that we take for granted owe
their existence to water.
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Sam Fernald, director of the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute,
thinks that, if water were dollars and New Mexico a bank, the state’s checking
account would be broke and digging into savings. “This situation is dangerously
out of balance,” Fernald says. “We’ve been using our groundwater as a checking
account. But, because of the drought and lack of surface water, the groundwater
has not been recharging. So now we’re tapping into our reserves.”
Fernald made the comment at a news conference convened by the nonpartisan
public-policy organization New Mexico First, requesting actions by state agencies in
formulating water policy. Watershed restoration, brackish-water research, incentives
for conservation and other policy priorities were discussed at a town hall that New
Mexico First sponsored in Albuquerque last year. That event brought together more
than 300 people from 31 counties, representing rural, urban and tribal interests.
Albuquerque-Bernalillo County
Rainwater-Harvesting Pilot Project
Six applications have been selected from more than 100 individuals and businesses
that applied to participate in the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility
Authority’s rainwater-harvesting pilot project. The project is part of the 2024 Water
Conservation Plan Goal, which focuses on conserving water and lowering water bills
by using stored rainwater, captured from rooftops, on landscapes. Rain barrels fill up
quickly in storms. The project facilitates the installation of above- or below-ground
cisterns and tanks that hold 1,000 gallons and are connected to an irrigation system.
The project is being presented in partnership with the New Mexico Water
Collaborative, which, through donations, is paying some of the costs. Participants
pay a fee based on a sliding scale according to household income. Based on
information it gets from the program, the ABCWUA will launch a study to assess
the feasibility of expanded rainwater-harvesting rebates and programs. For more
information, visit www.abcwua.org or www.nmwatercollaborative.org
Green Fire Times • April 2015
19
Acequias Are for Everybody
Rachel Preston Prinz
Some of the “lost”
acequia water passes
into the ground and
finds its way into the
aquifers.
The rains and snows that fall on the
Rocky Mountains are the source. They
flow as streams, pulverizing stone and
leaves and wood, adding vitamins and
minerals to the water as it carves its
way through solid rock. Where the
mountain joins the plain, almost a
thousand years ago, the Puebloans built
their communities. They were moving
f rom a nomadic, hunter-gatherer
lifestyle to a settled agricultural one,
and they selected this place to build
their village, partially because of the
access to water afforded by such a
stream. They paid attention to nature.
Beaver were abundant then, and maybe
they learned from them that you could
dam up a stream and save some water
for later. And, in doing so, they created
some of the earliest forms of irrigated
agriculture in northern New Mexico.
they learned from the Moors, who
learned it f rom the Romans, who
learned it from the Greeks, Egyptians
and Mesopotamians. The acequias we
know derived from precedent ideas
nearly 7,000 years old that were carried
across four continents to get here. Most
amazingly, we are but one branch on
that enormous family tree.
Here, in the Hispanic villages, the
acequias got their own day each year,
at which time the men would clean
and clear the ditches while the women
would prepare a feast for the evening,
when they came back together to
celebrate another year of having access
to the life-giving water.
The Americans that came 200
years ago often settled in the larger
Hispanic towns on trade- and railroad
routes, drawn there because of their
sophisticated infrastructure. The only
problem was, the traditional linear
agricultural fields were often broken
up into a patchwork of lots that people
built fences around. And when they
looked on the laterals and ditches
starting to fall into disuse, it was easy
to say, “I don’t have water rights, what’s
in it for me?” But we know now that
the value of the acequias is greater
than that.
snow at the gauge at all, for
the first time ever, or at least
for as long as anyone alive
could remember.
And yet, people keep coming
to New Mexico and staying.
They drop great straws into
our aquifers, taking water
at unsustainable rates and,
now, from Questa to Mora
to Belen, wells are running
dry because there is not
enough water recharging
the aquifers.
But what’s this got to do
with acequias? Well, one
of the interesting things
about acequias is that an
unlined ditch can lose up to 80 percent
of its water. Some of that is lost to
evaporation, which feeds the water
cycle. Some is lost to too many trees
and overgrowth. But some of the “lost”
water passes into the ground and down
through layers of rock and gravel and is
scrubbed clean as it finds its way into
the aquifers.
Working acequias promote local
agriculture, access to water and flood
control. They allow us to adapt to
climatic variations, and they promote
healthy ecosystems. If you look at a
Our grandparents reminisce still about
satellite image of New Mexico, the only
the days of abundant snows in winter,
green you will see is along the rivers,
raging rivers in spring, fertile fields in
streams and acequias. Ten feet or so
summer and great harvests in fall. We
on either side of the acequias, there are
Further downstream in Hispanic
all know that there is nowhere near as
insects, birds, mammals, wildflowers,
villages—some of which are now
much snow feeding the cycle of life in
fungi, trees and berries, which provide
nearly 400 years old—they too chose
New Mexico anymore. Recently, when
a sense of place and beauty that we’d
these places because of water, and they
the mayordomos of Taos went up to
otherwise not get. And healers trained
built upon the older tradition. They
the mountain in spring to check the
in ancient traditions can wildcraft to
designed acequias using surveying,
snow gauge to see how much water
harvest nuts, fruits, berries, leaves and
agriculture and engineering, which
they would have to allot, there was no
roots to make medicines that address
our health in sustainable
th
Taos’ Acequia de los Lovatos Celebrates its 300 Year ways.
In 1715, Gov. Flores Mogollón, in Santa Fe, received a letter concerning
a petition for a land grant in the Taos Valley, submitted by Francisca
Antonio Gijosa, the widow of Antonio Moya. The stipulation for receipt
of the land grant was that it needed to be occupied as residence within
six months.
On September 20, 1715, Taos Mayor Juan de la Mora Pineda wrote a
letter of response to the governor that identified the boundaries of the
land grant: south from the Camino del Medio going to Picuris, west
to the black rocks, and east from the acequia, which was already in use,
documented and identified as the Acequia de los Lovatos.
Celebrations are planned to celebrate this acequia’s history and impact
on the community throughout the late spring. Look to upcoming
publications for announcements.
20
Green Fire Times • April 2015
The acequias were
truly sustainable before
sustainable was cool.
Being sustainable was
necessary to survive. They
worked then, and they can
work again. Many of the
acequias are completely
overgrown and abandoned.
To restore them seems
nearly impossible; they say
there is not enough money
© Seth Roffman
T
hey would call the first irrigation
ditch in each village the
Acequia Madre, or Mother Ditch,
as if the Hispanic settlers wanted to
acknowledge the acequias as a source
of life, of sustenance, and even the
foundation of community.
and manpower. But we have the power
to change it in our hands. Those ditches
were built by the hard work of many
people. It is said that the first ditch
in New Mexico took 1,500 people to
build. It will take the entire community
to repair them, too. All we have to do is
show up for work one weekend a year.
Then, we can share what we know,
and we can align with the coalitions
working to protect the acequias and
approach lawmakers—at local, state
and national levels—and ask for
laws and policies that ensure that the
acequias are included as part of an
overall water-management plan.
We can look to the past and honor
that rich history and then look to the
present and the future. We can take a
lesson from the Native Americans and
think about access to water for those
born seven generations from now, so
that our grandchildren’s grandchildren
can look to their working Acequia
Madre—their Mother Ditch—and
they can know that water is the source
of life, of sustenance and of community.
And the bonus is, by approaching
the acequias as a part of how we
perceive sustainable community, we put
ourselves on the path to become one.i
Rachel Preston Prinz is
an architectural researcher
and preservationist. Her
newly released book is
Hacking the Earthship:
In Search of an EarthShelter That Works for
Everybody. Archinia.com
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Museum of the Acequia Interest Sought
Acequias are beautiful, functional and fragile systems integral to northern New Mexico’s past and vital to our future. They are
glistening examples of time-tested, sustainable water management that not only provide water for agriculture but also allow
us to directly engage with our environment.
Communities that developed around acequias—their history, customs, legends and laws—are unique to the Hispanic world.
Celebrating their rich history, as well as their contemporary role in protecting Earth’s natural water cycles, fosters a public more
informed about how we all benefit from the acequias, which leads to their preservation.
Taos entrepreneur Mary Domito and some friends came up with the idea of starting a Museum of the Acequia (MOTA) in
Taos, to tell the story of these important resources. The vision of a modern repository for preservation and interpretation of
historic, acequia-related artifacts and research includes year-round programming for local residents and schools, as well as an
attraction for Taos’ many ecotourists. The educational offerings would bring direct exposure and support to the functioning
acequia systems irrigating more than 25,000 acres of the Taos Valley. With multiple oral-history and living-history opportunities
that could be led by parciantes and mayordomos, as well as modern botanists, healers, landscape architects and designers, the
possibilities for how this museum could protect, preserve and promote the use and preservation of our acequias are limited
only by our imaginations.
This proposal announcement is offered here to help the MOTA team measure public sentiment for this project. If sufficient
support is evident, subsequent efforts will require the setup of a more formal group structure and professional leadership. If
you are interested in supporting this effort with your time, funding or expertise, contact Mary Domito at [email protected]
or Paul Figueroa at [email protected]
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Green Fire Times • April 2015
21
Three Case Studies of Elevated Uranium
Concentrations in Groundwater
Stephen Wiman, Ph.D.
Introduction
T
he mention of dissolved uranium in drinking water supplies brings to mind its
most infamous use: enrichment for producing nuclear devices.That is particularly
true in northern New Mexico because of Santa Fe’s geographic proximity—about 23
miles, straight-line distance—to Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL), which
was founded in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project and for the express purpose
of building the atomic bomb. This paper presents the results of several technical
projects in which my company has participated with LANL and New Mexico
Environment Department (NMED) scientists to characterize the distribution
of uranium in this area, efforts to differentiate naturally occurring uranium from
anthropogenic (man-made) occurrences, characterization of an area with multiple
sources of natural uranium and uranium uptake in garden vegetables.
More than half the wells tested in the Santa Fe
and Española areas contain concentrations in
excess of the drinking-water health standard.
The uranium forensic work may be applied to other areas where anthropogenic
uranium might be present in conjunction with natural uranium—such as at the
abandoned nuclear-production facility at Rocky Flats, west of Denver, Colo.—or
where uranium mining has occurred and uranium-rich tailings may be redeposited
by surface runoff or by subsurface water movement in shallow aquifers, as well as
human involvement in the movement of uranium. A recent example is radioactive
leakage from a storage drum in an underground limestone cavern developed by
the U.S. Department of Energy near Carlsbad, New Mexico. That anthropogenic
uranium was transported by truck from LANL and placed for storage in the Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) facility. Because we live in the shadow of nuclear
production in northern New Mexico and also happen to have natural uranium
derived from several sources, many consumers want to know the origin of the
uranium in their water and how we know that it did not originate at LANL.
Health effects of uranium
and remediation options
For information about the toxicology of uranium, which varies primarily with the
type of exposure, the reader is referred to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
and specifically the ATSDR website on uranium. According to the CDC, most
uranium dissolved in water is eliminated from the body, but a small amount can
be absorbed into the bloodstream and carried to organs. The CDC identifies the
kidney as the organ of greatest risk from uranium ingested in water.
Most residents associate uranium risk with its radiation properties, but the CDC
downplays the risk of acquiring cancer from uranium radioactivity other than
by increasing the overall risk of developing cancer over a lifetime. Customer
reactions to the presence of uranium in drinking-water supplies range from
acceptance to panic, particularly from residents who have recently moved to this
area and appreciate our geographic proximity to LANL. It is not uncommon for
customers to request a quote for whole-house uranium removal, even when labtested concentrations are below the MCL.
What is uranium?
Uranium is a radioactive element that is naturally present in nearly all rocks,
soils and air. It can be redistributed in the environment through wind and water
erosion and can be released through volcanic eruptions. Natural uranium is a
mixture of three isotopes: U-234, U-235 and U-238. The most common is U-238,
constituting over 99 percent of natural uranium. All three isotopes behave the
same chemically, but they have different radioactive properties (ATSDR [Agency
for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry] ToxFAQs™ for Uranium).
The U.S. EPA has set a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for (total) uranium
at 0.030 mg/L (30µg/L, micrograms per liter or ppb). Figure 1 is an illustration
of how the agency’s MCLs for arsenic, fluoride, nitrate and uranium—the four
most common health-risk constituents in local groundwater—compare with the
commonly more protective standards in other developed countries. These MCLs
are not the most protective of human health—and especially so for uranium—but,
rather, are established to balance human health-risk considerations with the costs
to achieve compliance, bearing in mind that many small public water systems are
financially challenged. Because of the high cost of uranium remediation, most
smaller public systems in this geographic area are noncompliant for uranium.
22
Green Fire Times • April 2015
Figure 2. Constituents found in northern New Mexico groundwater and the efficacy
of membrane filtration in remediation
Figure 2 is an illustration of the constituents that commonly occur in local
groundwater, illustrated in relative scale proportional to their molecular weight.
The diagram also indicates whether individual constituents are classified by the
U.S. EPA under either national primary drinking-water regulations (MCLs) or
secondary regulations, that is, cosmetic and aesthetic effects. Constituents are
also color coded as to the percent reduction expected by membrane filtration,
according to the Water Quality Association. This diagram has been particularly
useful in explaining which contaminants may exist in local groundwater and, to
a lesser extent, in our municipal water supply, to which the contribution of city
wells ranges from 20-40 percent per year.
Uranium is a relatively large molecule,
easily removed from drinking water with
an under-counter reverse osmosis (RO)
or nanofiltration drinking-water system.
The state-of-the-art Buckman Direct
Diversion system (http://bddproject.
org/), the local water-treatment facility
that came online in 2011, extracts and
treats surface water from the Río Grande,
www.GreenFireTimes.com
including Colorado River Basin water from the San Juan-Chama Project,
and filters it down to only 0.1 micron. When customers compare the removal
capabilities of RO and nanofiltration membrane filtration, membrane filtration
drinking-water systems are very seductive (see Figure 2). But when customers
seek point of entry (POE) or whole-house solutions, the recommended option
for uranium remediation is adsorption media.
For many well customers, whole-house RO is widely used because there are also a
multitude of other contaminants, including iron, manganese, silica, high hardness
and high TDS (total dissolved solids). The secret to success with membrane systems
lies in specifying the pretreatment array to match the water-chemistry parameters.
A current lab test, or a waiver, is always required prior to specifying treatment for a
private well. But unless other constituents in the lab test indicate that membrane
filtration is warranted, the recommendation is for adsorption over whole-house
membrane filtration because of the initial and maintenance costs of RO systems
and the requisite pretreatment system(s).
Case study 1: natural or man-made?
From participation in regional testing programs and from collecting lab tests for
clients, it is clear that the highest concentration of elevated uranium levels occurs
in wells along the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains east of Santa Fe. But
elevated uranium levels are not confined to the foothills area and, despite public
presentations, published articles and newspaper columns on the subject, at least
half of local residents assume that elevated levels of uranium in local groundwater
originate at LANL—never mind the geologic impossibility of conveying it through
aquifers that are not stratigraphically connected.
Occurrences of uranium in groundwater on the 25,000-acre LANL property itself
are very well documented and clearly associated with nuclear production activities
during and after the Manhattan Project. But is anthropogenic uranium found
outside LANL and on the opposite (eastern) side of the Río Grande? Several
parties interested in answering this question put together a research project to use
the latest technology, plus redundant sample testing, to replicate the results of a
1995 NMED investigation in which the authors concluded that the uranium in
rocks and groundwater east of the Río Grande—in the Santa Fe-Española area—is
naturally occurring. The well waters contained U-234 to U-238 ratios that were
consistent with natural geologic uranium.
The maximum contaminant levels balance human
health risks with the costs to achieve compliance.
Wells known to have a wide range of uranium concentrations from previous testing
were selected. One method used to distinguish between natural and man-made
uranium is to test water for its different isotopes. The uranium isotopes U-234,
U-235 and U-238 are naturally occurring, but U-236 is a man-made isotope that
does not occur in nature. The ratios of natural isotopes and the presence or absence
of U-236 can be used to fingerprint sources of uranium. A technical proposal was
put forth and financing secured for this uranium-isotope work through the New
Mexico Small Business Assistance (NMSBA) program at LANL.
Thirteen wells from Santa Fe north to Española were sampled and analyzed by the
New Mexico Scientific Laboratory Division—the sole public health, environmental and
drug laboratory for New Mexico—and by two different water-testing labs at LANL.
There was close agreement of test results among the three labs. Uranium concentrations
ranged from nine to 776 ppb. Ratios of U-234 to U-238 confirmed naturally occurring
ratios. Ratios of U-235 to U-238 also were consistent with natural geologic sources.
Anthropogenic U-236 was not detected in any sample; there is no reason to believe
that the elevated uranium levels in the wells was man-made or originated at LANL.
Case study 2: explaining elevated uranium levels
concentrated around Nambé
It has been known by geologists for decades that sandstone outcrops in the Santa Fe
and Española areas contain levels of uranium sufficient to set off a Geiger counter (see
Figure 3). The orange, yellow and brown mineral coatings on sand grains are not rich
enough to be mined at the present time, but virtually all water wells in the area contain
detectable uranium. More than half the wells tested in that area contain uranium
continued on page 24
www.GreenFireTimes.com
New EPA Storm Water
Requirements for Los Alamos
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that storm
water discharges from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and urban areas
of Los Alamos County may be contributing to the degradation of water quality
and therefore require a Clean Water Act permit. The EPA’s preliminary decision
was in response to a petition filed by the Taos-based conservation organization
Amigos Bravos, which outlined the connections between storm water discharges
from urban areas to tributaries that drain directly into the Río Grande.
A March 5 response to the petition stated, “EPA has made a preliminary
determination that discharges of storm water from municipal, separate storm
sewer systems on LANL property and urban portions of Los Alamos County result
in or have the potential to result in exceedances of state water quality standards,
including impairment of designated uses, or other significant water quality impacts
such as habitat and biological impacts.” The EPA also found that Los Alamos
canyons are “impaired” with radioactive materials and other contaminants.
“This preliminary decision by EPA is an important first step towards protecting the
Río Grande and tributaries on the Pajarito Plateau from contaminants such as gross
alpha (a measurement of overall radioactivity), heavy metals and PCBs (polychlorinated
biphenals),” said Rachel Conn, interim executive director of Amigos Bravos.“Regulation
of these discharges will help ensure that downstream communities receive clean water
for drinking, agriculture and recreation.”Two of New Mexico’s largest cities—Santa Fe
and Albuquerque—divert drinking water downstream from Los Alamos.
If the designation is finalized, EPA will issue a draft discharge permit, which is
subject to a public comment period and public hearing that will outline steps
and deadlines that LANL, the county and the New Mexico Department of
Transportation will have to take to ensure storm water discharges are not causing
water-quality violations. Los Alamos County Manager Harry Burgess, in a
statement responding to the EPA finding, said, “A full-time engineer would be
needed to plan, design and complete a project of this magnitude.” A statement
from LANL said, “The Laboratory has an extensive storm water monitoring and
control system in place for regulated industrial activities and construction sites,
including extensive use of storm water control structures…The Laboratory will
determine whether additional corrective actions are needed to manage runoff from
the urbanized sections of Laboratory.”
Groundwater Pollution in Southern NM
According to NMSU’s Dairy Extension Program, 7.1 billion pounds of milk are
produced annually in New Mexico, mostly in the southern part of the state.
The New Mexico Environment Department says that shallow groundwater
beneath and beyond boundaries of dairies along the Interstate 10 corridor between
Anthony and Mesquite is contaminated with nitrate—nitrogen, chloride and
dissolved solids, primarily from dairy operations. At a hearing the NMED held in
March, a consortium of 11 dairies and the coalition Río Valle Concerned Citizens
resolved that the industry will monitor additional wells and increase the frequency
of sampling. The settlement is unrelated to hearings scheduled this month in
Roswell regarding changes to the state’s groundwater rule that governs any entity
that discharges water.
Mining Water-Cleansing Technology Released
Each year, the oil and gas industry generates about 70 billion barrels of water
contaminated with oil and gas particles, chemicals, metals and salts. Current
technologies to clean “produced” water mostly just filters out the most toxic
elements before the water is reinjected underground. The process is energy intensive
and expensive, accounting for up to 10 percent of production costs.
After three years of development, IX Power Clean Water, a Los Alamos-based
startup, has begun to sell its breakthrough technology. IX Power (pronounced
“Nine Power”) claims its 1,500-lb., easily transportable OrganiClear machine can
make wastewater clean enough for agricultural use and reduce costs for doing so by
up to 90 percent. The machine, which is currently assembled at the Sandia Science
and Technology Park in Albuquerque, sells for $225,000 and can treat up to 1,000
barrels of water per day. The company has scheduled commercial demonstrations to
oil and gas firms up and down the Río Grande and from West Texas to Wyoming
and is also looking to international markets.
The OrganiClear machine filters water with an absorbent mineral called zeolite,
cleanses it in a bioreactor with micro-organisms and then cleanses it further
through a vapor-phase bioreactor that removes volatile, or airborne, organic
compounds. The system was developed by LANL in collaboration with the New
Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and the University of Texas.
Green Fire Times • April 2015
23
Three Cases continued from page 23
concentrations in excess of the drinking-water health standard
of 30µg/L, and some wells contain hundreds of ppb of uranium.
The area with the greatest number of wells with elevated uranium
levels is around Nambé, about 15 miles north of Santa Fe on
highway US 84-285 (see Figure 4).The Nambé area is well known
for high uranium concentrations in private water wells, one of
which was laboratory tested to be about 60 times the EPA’s MCL
of 30µg/L (ppb). It seems unlikely that the preponderance of high
uranium levels in this area is coming from a single natural source.
Geoscientists at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral
Resources, New Mexico Tech, the NMED and LANL have
addressed this issue and published the results in a New Mexico
Geological Society Guidebook (McLemore et al., 2011. 62nd
Field Conference, pp. 399–408).
The authors concluded that there are actually four potential sources
of natural uranium in Española Basin groundwater that converge
around Nambé: volcanic ash beds that accumulated within the
Tesuque Formation (the principal aquifer); the alteration of
volcanic and granitic detritus within the Tesuque Formation;
uranium-bearing (albeit noncommercial at this time) igneous and
metamorphic rocks in the San José Mining District northwest
of Nambé and Nambé mining district to the northeast; and the
Precambrian granitic rocks in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
east of Nambé.
While we would like to be able to say that there is a direct
correlation between well depth and uranium concentrations, no
such correlation has been confirmed, although relatively shallow
wells near ancient streambeds do seem to have the highest
concentrations of uranium. This is an old area of settlement, and
many well owners do not have information about the depth of
their wells, many of which were drilled before well records were
required by the Office of the State Engineer.
Results of another uranium-uptake study from clients in Española,
located about 25 miles north of Santa Fe, come from an area also
known for elevated uranium concentrations. The clients had the
uranium levels of three types of vegetables irrigated by uraniumrich water tested for their uranium content. From independent lab
testing—two commercial labs, as well as a LANL lab—the average
uranium concentration in the clients’ water, based on three uranium
tests over two years, was 75.9µg/L. Three types of vegetables were
dissolved chemically at a specialized lab, and the residues were run
through a mass spectrometer. The residual uranium concentrations
for each vegetable were as follows: potato - 17.9 µg; cucumber - 12.0
µg; and beet - 13.4 µg.
This concerned me because many of the vegetables, including those
represented as organic at our local farmers’ market, are grown in
the Nambé and Española areas. Informal research—speaking
with vendors—indicated that most of the growers use a variable
Figure 3. Uranium-bearing, sandstone
channel deposit east of Oxide Buttes, blend of well water and acequia (irrigation ditch) water and were
unaware of the uranium-uptake issue. An offer was made to the
northern Santa Fe County, NM
institute that oversees the market, explaining the possible problem
and offering discounted uranium testing to market growers. No
one accepted the offer. As such, growers may unknowingly use
contaminated water to irrigate food crops. Is the public adequately
protected against uranium contamination or other constituents of
possible health concern when we purchase and consume certified
organic fruits and vegetables? In a review of the criteria for U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s organic certification, I learned that
the use of sewage sludge and irradiation are prohibited, but water
chemistry for radionuclides and metals is not specified. What we
don’t know may hurt us!
Acknowledgements
e author gratefully acknowledges collaborators in this work:
Th
aqueous geochemist Dr. Patrick Longmire, Environmental
Geochem LLC (formerly of LANL) and geologist Dennis
McQuillan, NMED. LANL colleagues involved in these
Case study 3: uranium up take in
garden vegetables and commercial Figure 4. Occurrence of uranium in projects include Dr. Hakim Boukhalfa, Becky Coel-Roback,
well water in the Nambé area, Santa Fe Michael S. Rearick, Michael T. Murrell and Lisa Henne
food crops
(formerly of LANL). i
Customers express concerns about ingesting uranium County, NM
through drinking water, but is water with elevated uranium
Stephen Wiman, Ph.D., is owner of Good Water Company, which has been a leader in designing,
concentrations safe for irrigating garden vegetables? The uptake of uranium in
installing and servicing residential, commercial and industrial water-treatment systems in Santa
garden vegetables irrigated with uranium-rich water is well documented in a study
Fe and throughout northern New Mexico since 1988. He has a background in earth science
(geology), is a member of the city of Santa Fe’s Water Conservation Committee, the Sustainable
conducted near Nambé by two LANL environmental scientists and a researcher
Business Roundtable, and he writes a monthly column, Our Water Quality, for the Santa Fe New
from the Department of Radiological Health Sciences at Colorado State University
Mexican. [email protected] Reprinted with permission of Water Conditioning
and published by LANL (Hayes, Frésquez and Whicker, 2000. LA-13614-MS).
& Purification International. © Jan. 2015. Any reuse or republication, in part or whole, must
In this study, uranium concentration in plants increased linearly with increasing
be with the written consent of the publisher.
uranium concentration in irrigation water.
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Green Fire Times • April 2015
CO2–Capture Technology Invented by
New Mexico State University Researcher
A New Mexico State University researcher has patented a new technology to capture
and store carbon-dioxide emissions from the air. Nasser Khazeni, a doctoral student,
has secured a provisional patent for the sponge-like metal-organic material he’s
developed that attracts and binds CO2 100 times more than other similar structures.
The captured CO2 can then be transported and reused.
Climate scientists blame excessive CO2 generated by burning fossil fuels as a major
contributor—along with methane—to global warming. Two thirds of the CO2
generated in the United States is attributed to power plants alone.
Khazeni’s work was done in conjunction with NMSU’s Arrowhead Center business
accelerator, which is working to commercialize the technology. Technologylicensing associate Theresa Lombard noted, “It’s going to radically impact the
world, with regard to carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. It’s exciting.”
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Tierra Sagrada Pottery
Lia Lynn Rosen, MA, Clay Artist & Arts Educator
Classes, Tutorials and Workshops on the Turquoise Trail
505.428.0668
[email protected]
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through Clay & Culture
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[email protected]
Green Fire Times • April 2015
25
NM Health Equity continued from page 8
a federal agency against community members from a traditional Hispanic land
grant. These families are steeped in a culture and way of life that are inextricably
linked to the land, water, mountains and forests rich with sacred sites. Joining
these land grant families are not only ranching families but also retirees who
migrated to the area attracted by the availability of large tracts of unspoiled
affordable land and an active arts community. Together, they formed a citizens
group, “Resistiendo,” and reached out to other communities for support. The
Partnership for a Healthy Torrance Community and the New Mexico Department
of Health–Health Promotion specialist responded to the call. That initiated the
HIA process. Human Impact Partners provided technical assistance and expertise.
The NMHEP team contributed mentorship and the opportunity to network with
other HIA teams around the state. The local steering committee and all involved
have given voice to a marginalized population, as well as purpose and direction
to the Community Health Improvement Council. The participants report that a
sense of empowerment has come from engagement in collective action around
a common goal.
Other proposed plans and projects where HIAs are being used:
• Bernalillo County Comprehensive Plan
• Food and funding distribution formula within the Statewide Emergency Food
Assistance Program Plan
• Nuestra Santa Fe
• Sunport Boulevard Extension (Albuquerque)
• Taos place-based, strategic funding
• Trail access from Cuba to the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail
• Viva Doña Ana Comprehensive Plan (Doña Ana County)
In 25 years, what will New Mexico look like as a result of NMHEP’s efforts?
Quotations from a few of NMHEP’s partners describe the Partnership’s vision:
“… a New Mexico where there is widespread community leadership and
engagement informing policy—all of it made under an umbrella of cultural
competence and inclusivity; policy-making by the people for the people!”
Where… “everyone’s voices are heard…” and “residents see their solutions,
vision and diversity reflected in neighborhoods, resulting in a sense of place and
community that is resilient, empowering and nurturing of all its residents’ potential,
from the very young to the oldest.”
The New Mexico Health Equity Partnership is based at the Santa Fe Community
Foundation, 501 Halona St., Santa Fe, NM 87505. For more information about the
Partnership and upcoming gatherings, visit www.nmhealthequitypartnership.org i
Contributors to this article include NMHEP; Santa Fe Community Foundation Team; Jordon
Johnson, coordinator, McKinley Community PLACE MATTERS; San Miguel County Health
Impact Assessment Team; and Steering Committee of the Lobos CO2 Pipeline Health Impact
Assessment Project.
26
Green Fire Times • April 2015
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Santa Fe Community College Programs
Offer Hands-On Experiences and Field Trips
S
anta Fe Community College’s Alternative Fuels (biofuels) program prepares
students for employment in science, agriculture and energy fields and for
further studies in agriculture, biology and engineering. Hands-on applications and
field trips to facilities in operation provide networking opportunities at potential job
sites and universities. Instructor Luke Spangenburg sees the experiential aspects of
the program as “a way to inspire the next generation to develop cross-disciplinary
thinking skills to be able to face climate, food, energy and water challenges.”
A Trip to the New Mexico Consortium
A trip to the Biolab and greenhouse facility at the New Mexico Consortium
(NMC) in Los Alamos gave students a look at current research in energy and food
security. The NMC comprises a group of scientists from New Mexico’s national
laboratories and universities, led by Dr. Richard Sayre. Some SFCC students have
interned with the NMC.
Tour led by Dr. Richard Sayre (center). Students (l-r) Mauricio Mendoza, Matthew
Encinias, Sam Pearson, Cisco Whitson-Brown and Kat Vindas
Student Comments
Giovanni Echave, inspired to do a summer internship with the NMC after visiting
the facility: “Microalgae has the potential to produce more fuel than any other
feedstock…They are doing some non-GMO selection. It is sort of like selective
raising of sheep for wool.”
Matthew Encinias: “The NMC had a lot of information about where the algae
industry is going. I now know more about potential problems to consider when
I try growing algae.”
James Stapleton: “The trip tested my memory of SFCC’s genetics class.”
Diana Melin: “We had three presentations from working scientists. I was excited
to be able to understand what they were saying and see that there is work in this
field. I felt inspired to be in a science degree program. It seems like finding ways
to manufacture end products out of a cell is a new ‘industrial revolution.’ ”
A Trip to ABQ’s Wastewater Treatment Facility
SFCC’s Biofuels and Microbiology for Wastewater Technologies class toured
the Albuquerque Southside Wastewater Treatment and Anaerobic Digester
Facility. The field trip was an informative look into the orchestra of turning waste
into water. The plant treats 55 million gallons a day; that is, approximately 636.6
gallons a second, 24 hours a day. They followed the water from entry to the exit
that drains into the Río Grande and saw where the treated water comes out. They
noticed that, because the river was so full of sediment, there was a visual boundary
between it and the treated water.
Student Comments
Cisco Whitson-Brown, a student in the Biofuels II and Microbiology for
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Wastewater classes, has completed the Greenhouse
Management program, is working toward an associate’s
degree in Sustainable Technologies, is an intern with
the Biofuels program and is also providing research
data for the NM-EPSCoR Bioalgal Research Team.
His design for a mobile water-purification station
won a poster prize at the New Mexico Academy of
Science Research Symposium. Whitson-Brown said
that the field trip was “a very interesting and stinky
adventure. I never knew processing poop could be so
complicated. Each acre of structures is integral to the
overall success of the final result: clean water. It is a
long process of solids removal, bacterial cultures, fatskimming, aeration, anaerobic digestion, ultravioletlight cleaning stations, chemical additions, thousands
of miles of pipe and tubing, along with billons of tons
of concrete.”
Biofuels II student Sam Pearson: “Albuquerque’s
wastewater-treatment plant generates up to 70 percent
of its energy requirements through a pair of massive
combustion generators fueled by methane produced
during anaerobic digestion of sludge that is removed
In the belly of the digester
from the sewage. Instead of having radiators cool the
engines, heat is pumped away to maintain optimum
temperature in the digesters and other components of the treatment process.
Digestate is sent off to
be used as fertilizer, soil
or compost inoculator.”
Kat Vindas: “Methane
runs one engine full-time
and the other engine
about eight hours before
switching to natural gas.
Heat from the engines
is also used to keep the
sludge at the desired
temperature through
the use of boilers. In
addition, this hot water
Southside Wastewater Treatment Facility tour guide with
is used for radiant heat
SFCC students
in the winter.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: On Feb. 27, about 6 million gallons of partially treated sewage
spilled into the Río Grande at the Southside Treatment Plant when a power surge
knocked out the facility’s power and the backup system failed to come online. The spill
put high levels of E. coli into the river, creating a health risk and also violating the
plant’s EPA permit.
continued on page 28
Green Fire Times • April 2015
27
SFCC
continued from page 27
A Trip to Tesuque Pueblo Farms
Tesuque Pueblo Farms is a 40-acre Certified Organic farm
and orchard. William Torres Longo, an agronomist from
Puerto Rico and an SFCC Biofuels intern, has been working
with the farm to incorporate hydroponic greenhouses to
make possible a longer growing season and alleviate yearto-year inconsistencies in fruit production. Torres Longo led
a collection of students from the Greenhouse Management
and Biofuels programs on a work-study visit to the farm
last November.
Tesuque Pueblo Farms: Orchards grow fruit incorporating medicinal plants under the trees.
Student Comments
Cisco Whitson-Brown: “This farm project’s director is a plant geneticist named
Emigdio Ballón, a Quechua from Bolivia. The farm primarily serves the people
of Tesuque Pueblo. It has 40 acres of traditional Native American crops, some
found only in this part of the world. There are 10 beehives that pollinate the farm.”
SFCC Alternative Fuels students’ work-study visit to Tesuque Pueblo Farms. Hydroponic
greenhouse: (l-r) Israel Tercero, James Stapleton, Sam Pearson, Matthew Encinias, Giovanni
Echave, Cisco Whitson-Brown, instructor Luke Spangenburg and Feliciano Vargas.
April 13—Natural Agriculture Presentation
a simple, sustainable method that cooperates with nature
“Natural Agriculture,” developed by Mokichi Okada in Japan in the 1940s, is an
approach to farming and gardening matched to local environments, without using
fertilizers, manure, compost, aggressive pest control, or crop rotation. Natural
Agriculture—also known as Nature Farming—encourages continuous cropping,
rather than crop rotation, based on the understanding that each generation of seeds
improves and adapts to its particular soil and environment and that soil also adapts
to particular crops. Farmers are encouraged to experiment to see which crops work
well for the soil, rather than trying to force the land to produce an unsuitable crop
for their own economic designs. By paying close attention to the cycles of nature,
crops prone to infestation can be harvested slightly earlier or grown in greater
quantities to allow for losses.
Alan Imai in Zambia with
a farmer and her Natural
Agriculture maize (the main
crop of rural, semiarid Zambia)
e results, according to Alan Imai, director of
Th
the Shumei Institute’s International Natural
Agriculture programs (www.shumei-na.org), are
nutritious food, abundant yields and the promotion
of biodiversity and without pollution of soil or
groundwater. This method has been successfully
applied in small backyard gardens and large
commercial farms in Japan, the United States and
Europe. Imai has spent 11 years widening the scope
of Natural Agriculture, helping indigenous people
in Zambia, Nepal, Brazil and other countries break
free of the economic burden of GMO seeds and
fertilizers and to develop sustainable farming based
on local crops.
Imai will explain Natural Agriculture and tell stories of its successes at a free
presentation on April 13, at 7 p.m., at the First Unitarian Church, 3701 Carlisle
Boulevard NE, Albuquerque. For more information about the presentation, call
505.281.4888, or email [email protected]
28
Green Fire Times • April 2015
Giovanni Echave: “Tesuque Farms was built to help sustain the native people in
the area. The underground seed-storage facility was built completely out of wood,
mud, sand and hay.”
Sam Pearson: “Tesuque Pueblo Farms
is a good example of a minimalist, oldfashioned agriculture operation. Seeds have
been accumulated from both native and
nonnative crops to create a very impressive
heirloom seed bank. Two orchards produce
fruit. Medicinal crops are planted in
alternating seasons in these orchards as a
biological soil-remediation process. Two
greenhouses are home to a highly productive
strawberry horticulture operation. A variety
of peppers and other medicinal plants are
also grown there. A beautiful passive-solar
adobe building with a water-catchment
system provides a permanent location for SFCC Biofuels students assisted in the
the seed bank, which also includes a south- design and construction of the greenhouse,
facing greenhouse for year-round crop installing hydroponic vertical systems for
growing strawberries even in November.
production. Most of the water for the farm
is supplied by a well. Compost and other waste are used as fertilizer.”
Santa Fe Community College offers Sustainable Technologies degree and
certificate programs in Alternative Fuels, Water Technology and Greenhouse
Management, as well as Solar Technologies and Green Building. For more
information, email [email protected] or visit www.sfcc.edu/programs/biofuels i
NMSU Offers Sustainability Minor
New Mexico State University has caught on to the universal movement transforming
the job market for graduating students – a movement that benefits the student, the
university and the planet. By implementing four sustainability minors in the colleges
of Engineering; Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; Business;
and Arts and Sciences, management professor and faculty coordinator David Boje
is “greening the curriculum.” The 18-credit, university-wide undergraduate minor
offered in three tracks allows students to explore challenges in local and global
sustainability. A graduate minor in sustainability will serve as a master of business administration
minor and will eventually be added to any NMSU graduate program degree.
A graduate certificate offering an integrated series of courses that comprise a
multidisciplinary study of the environmental, social, cultural and economic
dimensions of sustainability will be available soon.
“Accounting, Engineering and Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management
are really focused on getting their students placed at major institutions and
corporations,” Boje said. Sustainable careers are expanding in agriculture
and forestry, energy, environmental protection, governmental and regulatory
administration, green construction, manufacturing, recycling and waste reduction,
research, design, transportation and consulting services. The program was tailored after the Arts and Sciences’ existing sustainability minor
in NMSU’s Anthropology Department. Boje’s goals are to expand the courses in
the College of Health and Social Services and to help the College of Education
identify courses to implement into their curriculum. http://greening.nmsu.edu/
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Sustainable Santa Fe Update
Climate Action Task Force Makes First Recommendations
Bianca Sopoci-Belknap
O
n March 11, former Mayor David Coss presented to the Santa Fe City Council
a set of recommendations developed by Santa Fe’s Climate Action Task Force
focused on the energy efficiency and renewable energy the city can undertake to help
it prepare for future impacts of climate change. The task force is co-chaired by Coss
and Councilor Peter Ives, and its sub-committees are comprised of over 70 energy
and environmental experts from throughout the community, including members of
the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission.
The task force made six recommendations:
1. Establish goals and benchmarks to reduce citywide energy consumption and
greenhouse gas emissions.
2. Pursue energy savings performance contracting for city facilities with an energy
service company.
3. Scale-up solar distributed generation projects on city facilities.
4. Strengthen and expand energy-efficiency programs and solar-energy projects in
the commercial and residential sectors of our community, in addition to supporting
policies and regulations that would help to scale-up those industries, as well as
opposing policies and regulations that would have a negative impact on them, such
as PNM’s proposed rate increase.
5. Educate and inform the public about available programs.
6. Utilize creative financing options to pay for programs and projects.
During the presentation, former Mayor David Coss told the governing body, “It’s
been the goal of the task force to identify the types of strategies and programs the
city should consider undertaking to create a healthier, more resilient, adaptable and
vital community. Many of these can be undertaken within six months and can be fully
implemented by the end of the year.”
“Breaking Bueno” • Transition Training: April 10-11
transition from oil dependency to community resilience
Echanting, elusive 360-degree views, sunshine,
Georgia O’Keeffe clouds, art and culture. These are
among the reasons we love our home in New Mexico.
And then there is the underbelly, the social indicators
of poverty: DWI, teen pregnancy, low literacy rates,
job losses and dropping GDP. How does New Mexico
move up from 47th, 48th and even 50th among other
states? What are the factors and behaviors necessary
to improve our rankings and our quality of life?
It will take a new vision. Government and business interests will not solve New
Mexico’s problems. Citizens, that is, local folk, working together have the potential
and inspiration for re-visioning New Mexico.
Transition is an international movement that began in 2005 in Totnes, United Kingdom.
It postulates that the current economic crisis, coupled with climate change, has created
a challenge that can only be addressed locally. Reducing our addiction to oil means
building strength and resilience in our neighborhoods through methods that minimize
reliance on fossil fuels. More gardens, beekeepers, farmers’ markets, local business
development, public transit, bicycling, water collection, barter and time banks are
some of the things that have come to the fore as people grapple with the challenge of
how to stay local and become sustainable.
Transition Training is a big cauldron to collect various community efforts. It will take
place in Albuquerque April 10-11, at the Unitarian Church, located at Comanche and
Carlisle NE. The Open Space Technology process will be employed, to allow everyone
a voice in the examination of “What steps do we take now to create sustainability—
personally, in our community, in our state?” Mark Juederman of Transition Houston
(Texas) and Kat Steele of Transition Big Sur (Calif.) will join Dr. Bruce Milne of the
University of New Mexico and Maggie Seeley of Transition New Mexico in facilitating
the dialogue. WWW.TransitionABQ.org is the place to register for the two-day
training. For more information, call Maggie Seeley: 505.268.3339. i
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Santa Fe City Council: March 11, 2015
After the presentation, Mayor Gonzales introduced a resolution directing staff to
work with a variety of stakeholders in the community, including the task force and
Sustainable Santa Fe Commission, to develop and draft a 25-year Sustainability Plan
that would include a variety of strategies to reduce Santa Fe’s carbon emissions and
energy consumption on a yearly basis to achieve the city’s goal of becoming carbon
neutral by 2040. The Sustainable Santa Fe Commission has been drafting the Santa
Fe Sustainability Scorecard, a report containing several sustainability and energy
related data benchmarks that will serve as a basis of the plan’s development.
To learn more or get involved, visit www.sustainablesantafe.wordpress.com. The
commission can also be found on Facebook at SustainableSantaFeNM. Monthly
commission meetings are open to the public and take place the third Tuesday of
every month from 2:30-4:30 p.m. in the Councilors’ Conference Room at City Hall.
More Solar for the City of Santa Fe
The city of Santa Fe’s latest solar installations are now fully operational. The 600
kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic (PV) array at the Genoveva Chávez Community Center
is providing about 40 percent of the facility’s electricity, and the 81 kW array at the
City Water Division includes two solar-powered electric car-charging stations to
serve the division’s growing electric vehicle fleet. The two installations are expected
to help avoid many gallons of water use and reduce carbon emissions.
2015 Sustainable Santa Fe
Award Winners Announced
april 8, 5:30-7 pm • awards gala at la fonda hotel
This year’s Sustainable Santa Fe Awards Gala, hosted by Green Drinks, will
celebrate projects that are helping Santa Fe reduce its ecological footprint,
mitigate carbon emissions and build resilience in the face of climate change.
The award winners will be on hand to share their projects and answer questions.
The partners who sponsor the awards are the city of Santa Fe, Sustainable
Santa Fe Commission, the Green Chamber of Commerce, Green Fire Times
and La Fonda Hotel. The free event in La Fonda Hotel’s New Mexico Room
is open to the public.
The 2015 Sustainable Santa Fe Awards have been selected and the winners are:
• Santa Fe Habitat for Humanity for Affordable Green Building
• Fruit of the Earth Organics for Green Economic Development
• Four Bridges Traveling Permaculture Institute for Environmental Justice
• Tesuque Pueblo Agriculture Department for Ecosystem Adaptation
• Eldorado/285 Recycles for Solid Waste Reduction
•Ann Alexander and Richard Khanlian for Renewable Energy
• Fiberspan Concrete Elements for Green Product or Technology
• Water Efficiency Rating System Development Team for Water Adaptation
• AlphaGraphics Santa Fe for Triple Bottom Line
• S anta Fe Public Schools and Reunity Resources for Outreach and
Education
• NM Dept. of Transportation District 5 for Low-Carbon Transportation
• Santa Sidra Hard Cider for Food System Adaptation
• New Energy Economy for Environmental Advocacy
• Student Wellness Action Team for Youth-Led
Green Fire Times • April 2015
29
Eco-Delivery Services • 505.920.6370
The Zanjeras continued from page 25
30
Green Fire Times • April 2015
www.GreenFireTimes.com
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Green Fire Times • April 2015
31
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Green Fire Times • April 2015
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Remembering Carol Decker
A Cultural Bridge
Alejandro López
M
northern New Mexico’s demographics
were now so complex that to not work
at creating areas of deep commonality
was to forfeit the opportunity to create
a flourishing culture of mutual respect
and compassionate understanding.
Like an iconic landmark, Carol
Decker—teacher, writer, cultural
interpreter and celebrated Santa Fe
Living Treasure—always seemed to
“be there,” especially at community
gatherings, many of which she planned
herself. Through several decades and
the comings and goings of an entire era,
she worked at the things she loved best:
© Raven Wolfe
any people come to northern
New Mexico looking to find
something akin to the Holy Grail or
the philosopher’s stone, and when
they don’t find it, they leave feeling
disillusioned. Carol Decker, a selfproclaimed “white, overeducated,
New England Puritan Yankee female,”
who recently passed away at age 87,
was originally from Massachusetts,
resettling in Santa Fe about 35 years
ago. She did not come here looking
for anything; rather, she came to give
something. As a result of her deep,
personal investment in the place, she
stayed.
Carol’s cheerful disposition aided her
desire to massage points of tension
within Santa Fe and northern New
Mexico’s body politic, much like a
masseuse works to release blockages
on a human body. Carol was motivated
by her ardent desire for the people of
the region’s varied cultures to grow in
sensitivity and understanding toward
one another rather than resorting to the
poisons of racism, disdain and injustice,
which she had witnessed on more than
a few occasions in her beloved City
Different.
teaching the Spanish language, writing
books, talking with people and keeping
up with her copious correspondence
and a newspaper article-clipping
mania.
Carol reasoned that New Mexicans of
all persuasions now live in such close
proximity and in such numbers that it
is highly unlikely the clock will ever
be turned back to a time when Nuevo
México—like Tibet or Afghanistan—
was at the edge of the world and the
Native American and Indo-Hispano
people were once again left alone to
resolve their own affairs. To Carol,
Most of her time, however, she
dedicated to trying to crack the ageold dilemma of how different ethnic
groups living side by side can come to
value, honor and support one another
instead of exploiting, oppressing or
annihilating each other, as has so
frequently happened throughout the
history of the world. To this end, she
founded her own organization, Vecinos
www.GreenFireTimes.com
She worked to dispel
prejudices and
stereotypes, and to forge
new relations of trust
and respect among
different ethnic groups.
del Norte (Neighbors of the North). Its
mission was “to bring people together
across cultural lines, to explore and
celebrate our respective heritages,
to consider current issues, to build
personal relationships and to help us all
in working together for our common
future as more sensitive and caring
neighbors and vecinos.”
For years, Carol organized many
gatherings of people from the various
cultures of northern New Mexico to
dialogue on issues that both join and
separate us. She formed alliances across
the region’s cultural spectrum and
often provided direct material, moral
support and assistance to individuals
and families undergoing hardship.
Through Vecinos del Norte, Carol
and her co-workers organized visits to
Pueblo, Navajo and Nuevo Mexicano
communities to dispel prejudices and
stereotypes, as well as to forge new
relations of trust and respect. Carol
participated in many service-learning
projects, such as the replastering of the
Pajarito family chapel near Black Mesa,
and serving as a docent at Pecos Pueblo
National Monument.
Just as important, she kept a record
of her findings and insights over
several decades. Her efforts recently
culminated in the publication of
Connecting Across Cultures – Turning
Neighbors Into Friends and Allies, a 170page book that delves deeply into the
hopeful workings of the intercultural
mosaic that is northern New Mexico.
This document, now more than ever,
can serve as a valuable guide for those
wishing to continue her work.
It is likely that had Carol not mastered
the Spanish language at an early age
and traveled to many Spanish-speaking
countries, she would not have tackled
the work to which she ultimately
dedicated her life. Her associations
took her to a world she did not wish
to leave, that is, a world in which one
continuously learns from all one’s
experiences and not just from those in
one’s comfort zone with those who are
like ourselves.
Carol recognized that, as cultures
intersect, there was bound to be
conflict. In one section in her book, she
The book delves deeply into the hopeful
workings of the intercultural mosaic
that is northern New Mexico. ©2015
Sunstone Press, www.sunstonepress.com
describes a series of meetings between
Navajo people and Anglo county
government officials. Although both
groups wanted to work toward the
same ends, the meetings had mainly
been exercises in futility, owing to
seemingly unbreachable approaches
to communication. It was not until
an elderly Navajo woman took charge
and began a meeting by sharing her
life and her people’s lives on the
reservation that the energy shifted.
Following her open sharing, she asked
the Anglo officials to do the same.
After two shaky attempts, they revealed
themselves from behind their titles.
The meal that followed was the first
the groups had shared that was jovial
and full of life. A spirit of common
understanding, mutual appreciation
and respect marked the proceedings
that ensued. Not surprisingly, that day
they reached the accord they had been
seeking for weeks. Like the elderly
Navajo woman in her story, Carol was
unafraid to venture into uncharted
territory, to take risks that would soften
and humanize interactions among
groups and individuals, all the while
hoping to make a difference. And that
she did. i
Alejandro López is a
writer, photographer
and educator.
Green Fire Times • April 2015
33
r
34
Green Fire Times • April 2015
www.GreenFireTimes.com
NEWSBITEs
Proposed Santolina Development
Draws Opposition
A large crowd of demonstrators that included farmers arriving on tractors held a rally and
march through downtown Albuquerque on March 25. About 150 of them then packed a
Bernalillo County Commission meeting to oppose the proposed Santolina development
west of Albuquerque. The development would cover nearly 22 square miles and include
an urban center, industrial park and residential villages for 90,000 or more people.
Court Rejects Navajo Mine Expansion
Last month, a judge in Colorado rejected a federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM)
plan to expand coal mining at the 13,000-acre Navajo Mine near the San Juan River
in northwestern New Mexico. Navajo and conservation groups had sued the OSM
over the plan, which would have allowed strip mining of 12.7 million tons of coal
on a 714-acre expansion.
U.S. District Judge John L. Kane held that the OSM environmental assessment violated
the National Environmental Policy Act by ignoring cumulative impacts and indirect effects
that would result from the expansion, including mercury from burning the mined coal at
the nearby Four Corners Power Plant and disposing of coal ash waste.
“With this decision, we hope OSM seizes the opportunity to address the legacy
of pollution from the Navajo Mine and Four Corners Power Plant,” said Mike
Eisenfeld of San Juan Citizens Alliance. “With so many of New Mexico’s lakes and
reservoirs contaminated by mercury and other coal pollution, we are pleased that
the court agreed that it is essential to take a serious look at the intertwined impacts
of mining and burning coal,” said Rachel Conn of the water conservation advocacy
group Amigos Bravos.
© Elise Trott
“The Diné people who reside near the power plant and Navajo Mine have suffered
the burden of coal impacts for far too long,” said Colleen Cooley of Diné CARE.
“This is our home, and we cannot just move away from our communities, so we are
grateful that the court rejected this plan.”
ABQ to Launch Bike-Share Program
Opponents say it would divert important—and limited—water resources, negatively
impact the river, bosque, acequieros, ranchers, farmers and nearby communities.
The developers have objected to a recommended water-use limit on the area and
have hired a high-level public relations firm. At the hearing, a spokesman said that
the development team might pursue financing mechanisms such as tax-increment
development districts (TIDDs), which would allow tax revenue to be diverted to
reimburse the developer for building infrastructure.
After more than 11 hours of comments over two days, the commission postponed
making a decision. The next hearing will be at 4 p.m. on May 11. https://
contrasantolina.wordpress.com
Groups Sue Over Drilling in Northwest NM
A bike-share program makes bikes available for short-term rentals. Austin, Denver
and Phoenix have such programs. In a first of its kind for New Mexico, a bike-share
will be launched with stations in downtown Albuquerque by May 15. Payments may
be processed on a website or by smartphone apps. Some sites offer memberships or
discounts for 30- to 45-minute uses.
Downtown ABQ MainStreet Initiative, the Mid-Region Council of Governments, the
city of Albuquerque, the incubator FatPipe ABQ and private businesses are among those
partnering on the pilot program, which will begin with 35 to 50 durable, lightweight bikes
designed for city streets. A $15,000 PNM grant is helping to start the program. The bikeshare may eventually go citywide and help support Albuquerque Rapid Transit.
A bike-share program for Albuquerque fits in with other initiatives such as the 2030
District; Urban ABQ, which advocates for more walkable and bikeable city corridors;
and the city’s Complete Streets legislation, which requires that streets be designed to
serve pedestrians, cyclists and mass-transit users, as well as vehicles. Lola Bird, with
Downtown ABQ Mainstreet, the project’s organizer, says that cities with bike-share
programs report increased residential and commercial property values. For more
information, visit www.abqmainstreet.org/bici
Last month, a coalition of environmental and Native American groups filed a
federal lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Department
of the Interior, challenging the BLM’s approval of at least 130 oil and gas drilling
permits in northwestern New Mexico. The groups cited alleged violations of the
National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.
They contend that additional development and fracking could harm the area, which
includes the Chaco Culture National Historic Park and Navajo communities.
Many archaeological sites and areas sacred to tribes lie outside the park boundaries.
Environmental and tribal groups have also been fighting a proposed 130-mile-long
oil pipeline that would pass through the region.
On April 23, WESST Santa Fe is launching a free series of workshops to help
creative entrepreneurs generate supplemental income by starting an online shop to
sell handmade products to an international audience.
Faced with an expected Mancos shale oil boom, the BLM is in the process of updating
its management plan for the San Juan Basin. The coalition wants the agency to
postpone approving drilling permits until the new plan is in place.
Applicants should have the ability to develop a line of products to make their website
competitive. Fifteen qualified artisans will create their ETSY site while learning business
basics like accounting, research, pricing, competitive marketing, shipping and more.
Santa Fe Startup Weekend – April 17-19
The next Santa Fe Startup Weekend will take place April 17-19 at the Santa Fe
Business Incubator. Passionate people will come together to network, bridge the
gap between trades, expose potential and see actual results. “This type of innovative
collaboration is extremely important to the economic growth of all of northern New
Mexico,” said SFBI’s program director, Sean O’Shea. Anyone can pitch an idea on Friday evening. Teams are then formed around the
ideas that elicit the most excitement from the registered participants. The rest of the
weekend will be spent turning the idea into a startup that is pitched to a group of
local investors and startup experts. The winning team receives a prize package from
the incubator and the ABQid accelerator program, among others. Registration is
$50, with some discounts available from community sponsors, including the Santa
Fe Chamber of Commerce, Santa Fe Economic Development Division, Creative
Santa Fe, IN Santa Fe, MIX-SF and First Citizens Bank. For more information,
email soshea.sfbi.net or visit www.santafe.startupweekend.org
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Craft Entrepreneurship Workshops
for Creative Entrepreneurs
The workshops will be held on six consecutive Thursdays. The classes will be taught
by Charlene Jacka, who has been instrumental in the development of the ETSY
network, NewMexiEtsy. The network has nearly 250 members statewide. WESST
is the only New Mexico organization teaching the ETSY Craft Entrepreneurship
Program. Contact [email protected] to receive an online application.
Spring Harvest Festival at Tierra Wools, April 25
Renovations have recently been completed at Tierra Wools in Los Ojos, New Mexico,
just in time for the annual Spring Harvest Festival, which will showcase spinning,
weaving, dyeing tours, music and local food.
Founded in 1983, Tierra Wools is a hand-weaving and dyeing workshop, local wool
marketing shop, as well as a place for local artisans to consign their goods. Thanks in
part to a grant from the Northern Río Grande National Heritage Area, local workers’
renovations included walls and door repairs, finer gravel for easier, safer walking, a
new propane tank, new hoses for the natural dye setup, restroom renovation and,
most important, replacement of the kiln for hand-dye heat.
Green Fire Times • April 2015
35
910
G.L. Runer Electric Inc.
Honest Quality Work at Competitive Prices
505-471-3626
We provide testing, and
troubleshooting for Santa Fe, NM
and the surrounding areas.
www.glrunerelectric.com
36
Green Fire Times • April 2015
Green Fire Times is available at
many locations in the metropolitan
Albuquerque / Río Rancho area!
For the location nearest you,
call Nick García at 505.203.4613
www.GreenFireTimes.com
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Green Fire Times • April 2015
37
What's Going On!
Events / Announcements
April 16, 11:30-1:30
The Tao of Quirky: Unleashing the
Economic Power of Uniqueness
Hotel Andaluz, 125 2nd St. NW
ALBUQUERQUE
April 1, 5:30-7 pm
Green Drinks
Hotel Andaluz, 125 Second St. NW
Network with people interested in doing
business locally, clean energy alternatives
and creating sustainable opportunities in our
communities. Presented the first Wednesday
of each month by the ABQ and Río Rancho
Green Chamber. info@nmgreenchamber.
com, www.greendrinks.org
April 4, 11 am–12:30 pm
Composting with Worms
Open Space Visitor Center
6500 Coors Blvd NW
Food scraps, junk mail and paper products make
up about 30% of garbage. Learn vermicomposting; how to use red worms to turn organic waste
into high-quality compost. Free. Registration:
505.897.8831 or [email protected]
April 10
Merchants of Doubt
Century 14 Downtown
Entertaining exposé about professional deniers who manipulate public perception and
help block progress on climate change. Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ii9zGFDtc
April 10-11
Transition Training
First Unitarian Church
3701 Carlisle NE
Presentations, workshops and training on
transition from oil dependency to local resilience. $180. Info & registration: info@
transitionabq.org, www.transitionabq.org
April 11, 10 am-5 pm
Vegetarian Food Festival
ABQ Rail Yards, 777 1st St. SW
“Naked Food Fair” with local restaurants,
chefs, cooking demos, seminars, yoga classes,
vendors. 10 am-12 pm: Tasting ($30/$10 ages
12 & under) General admission: $10. Free
parking. 505.510.1312, Dean@BlueRiver
Productions.com, www.nakedfoodfair.com
April 12, 1-3 pm; April 18, 1-2:30 pm
Rainwater Harvesting Basics
Free classes with Joanne McEntire of Querencia Green. Learn essential water-harvesting
strategies. Conserve water, support healthier
plants and restore ecological processes in your
landscape. 4/12: Open Space Visitor Center;
4/18: Juan Tabó Library. querenciagreen@
gmail.com, Querenciagreen.org
April 13, 7-9 pm
Natural Agriculture Presentation
First Unitarian Church
3701 Carlisle Blvd. NE
Learn the science and methods of this Japanese approach to farming and gardening in
semi-arid areas from Alan Imai, director of
Shumei International Natural Agriculture
programs. Free. (See newsbite, page 28) Info:
505.281.4888, www.shumei-na.org
38
Urban Land Institute NM luncheon presentation by Ed McMahon, Charles E. Fraser
Chair on Sustainable Development at the
Urban Land Institute, Washington, D.C. He
will present an argument for economic, psychological and social value of a community’s
uniqueness. $55/$20. Registration: http://
newmexico.uli.org
April 23, 7:30-9:30 am
Reinventing Our City 2.0:
Growing ABQ’s Startup Economy
ABQ Convention Center
401 2nd St. NW
Join ABQ Business First and a group of
high-profile startup entrepreneurs, funders
and experts. 505.348.8326, tfenstermaker@
bizjournals.com,
www.bizjournals.com/
albuquerque/event/115931#register
April 25, 9:30–11:30 am
Home Composting Basics
Habitat for Humanity ReStore
4900 Menaul NE
Learn the science, materials and methods of
drought-proofing your garden soil in order
to grow vegetables, fruits and berries. Free.
Registration: 505.359.2423 or register@
nmcomposters.org
April 25, 8 pm
Masters of Contemporary Dance
Popejoy Hall
April 2
Business Expo & Job Fair
SF Place Mall
12th annual event. One of the largest of its
kind in NM. Presented by the SF Chamber
of Commerce. 505.988.3279, www.santa
fechamber.com
April 6, 6 pm
Decline of the Chaco World:
The Risks of Growth
Hotel Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars lecture by author/
UNM Professor of Anthropology Dr. David E. Stuart. $12. 505.466.2775, Southwest
[email protected], SouthwestSeminars.org
April 7, 8:30 am-12:30 pm
Planned Giving Boot Camp
SF Community Foundation
Fundraising workshop. Sliding scale: $15-$45.
Registration: 505.988.9715, www.santafecf.org
April 8, 5:30-7 pm
Sustainable SF Awards Gala
La Fonda Hotel, New Mexico Room
Celebrate the projects that have made SF
more sustainable. Free public event. Hosted
by Green Drinks, city of SF, Green Chamber
of Commerce, Earth Care, Green Fire Times
April 9, 6:30 pm
Merchants of Doubt
CCA Cinematheque
Martha Graham Dance Company. Tickets:
$59-$20. 877.664.8661, Popejoypresents.com
Entertaining exposé about professional
deniers who manipulate public perception and help block progress on climate
change. $10. Trailer: www.youtube.com/
watch?v=j8ii9zGFDtc
May 11-13
Native American
Economic Summit
April 11, 10 am-2 pm
Plant Trees
Río de las Vacas
9th annual event showcases successful Native American and non-native entrepreneurs.
Topics: government contracting opportunities, housing, financing and N.A. women
politicians and leaders. High school student
competition. Presented by the American Indian Chamber of Commerce–NM and the
state of NM Indian Affairs Dept. Open to
non-chamber members. Info: 505.766.9545.
Registration: www.nmnaec.com
Through May 31
El Agua es Vida: Acequias in
Northern New Mexico
Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, UNM
Groundbreaking, multidisciplinary exhibit.
Free. 505.277.4405, maxwellmuseum.unm.edu
Daily
Our Land, Our Culture,
Our Story
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
2401 12th St. NW
Historical overview of the Pueblo world and
contemporary artwork and craftsmanship
of each of the 19 pueblos. Weekend Native
dances. 866.855.7902
SANTA FE
April 1, 7 pm
Mary Chapin Carpenter
The Lensic
Singer/songwriter. Benefits the Española Valley Humane Society. $55/$25. 505.988.1234,
TicketsSantaFe.org
Green Fire Times • April 2015
Help WildEarth Guardians plant native riparian vegetation, which helps improve water
quality and wildlife habitat. Additional dates
available. [email protected]
April 11, 18, May 2, 10 am
Community Gardening
Workshops
Railyard Park Community Room
4/11: Seed starting with Abby Feria, agriculturalist; 4/18: Home water audit with
Bob Wood, master arborist, city of SF Water Conservation Div; 5/2: Tree planting
with Bob Wood. Free. Presented by Railyard
Stewards. [email protected]
April 13, 6 pm
Decline of the Chaco World:
The Risks of Growth
Hotel Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars lecture by archeologist
Larry L. Baker, co-editor of Anasazi Puebloan
Adaptation in Response to Climatic Stress.
$12. 505.466.2775, Southwestseminar@aol.
com, SouthwestSeminars.org
April 14, 5:30-7 pm
How Do We Increase Renewable Energy Use in NM?
SFCF, 501 Halona St.
Panel presentation on the uses of renewables,
the true costs of fossil fuels, legislative and
regulatory policies. Free. The panel: Denise
Fort, professor emeritus, UNM School of
Law; Nellis Kennedy-Howard, Beyond Coal
Campaign, Sierra Club; Doug Howe, former
PRC commissioner; Noah Long, Natural Resources Defense Council. Free Registration:
www.santafecf.org/registration
April 14 Deadline
Piñón Award Nominations
SF Community Foundation awards recognize excellence in the nonprofit sector. Awards ceremony dinner on Oct. 6.
https://www.santafecf.org/document.
doc?id=2379&erid=901292
April 14, 4-6 pm
Eldorado/285 Recycles
ECIA Conference Room
Eldorado area recycling advocacy group
monthly meeting. All welcome. 505.466.9797,
[email protected]
April 17-19
SF Startup Weekend
SF Business Incubator
3900 Paseo del Sol
(See newsbite, page 35) Ph: 505.424.1140
April 18, 2-4:30 pm
Green Our Schools Sustainability Education Summit
Genoveva Chávez Center
Join students, teachers and community to learn
about transforming curriculum, the green
schools movement and environmental education. Free admission. Green Our Schools is
fiscally sponsored by Partners in Education.
505.501.5826, GreenOurSchoolsNM@gmail.
com, www.greenourschools.org
April 18, 2 pm; April 22, 6:45 pm
Movies That Matter
Jean Cocteau Cinema
418 Montezuma Ave.
“Lunch Hour” (www.lunchhourmovie.org) examines America’s National School Lunch Program,
which exposes children to unhealthy foods at a
young age. Wednesday screenings include a panel
discussion. Presented by the SF Farmers’ Market
Institute. Tickets: $10/$7/$5. 505.466.5528 or
www.jeancocteaucinema.com/buy-tickets/
April 19, 11 am
Efforts to Ban Fracking
in the Chaco Canyon Area
Collected Works Bookstore
202 Galisteo St.
Presentation by Rebecca Sobel with Les
Lakind and Xubi Wilson. Free. http://
journeysantafe.com
April 22, 7 pm
Jobs Not Jails
The Lensic
An evening with Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy
Industries with SF Mayor Javier Gonzales. Presented by SF YouthWorks! Father Boyle works
with disconnected youth and young adults in Los
Angeles. Tickets $12: 505.988.1234, ticketssan
tafe.org. Also, meet & greet Father Boyle, 5:306:45 pm at Manitou Gallery, 123 W. Palace ($75
includes Lensic admission)
April 23-May 28 (Thurs.)
ETSY Craft Entrepreneurial
Workshops
WESST, 3900 Paseo del Sol
A series of 6 half-day sessions. Qualified
artisans can learn to start an online shop,
as well as business basics like accounting,
research, pricing, marketing, shipping and
more. Application: [email protected]
www.GreenFireTimes.com
April 24, 10 am
NM Acequia Commission Meeting
La Ciénega Community Center
136 Camino San José, SF 87507
For agendas or for people with disabilities
in need of aid or services to participate in
the hearing, call Sandra Ortega at the Local
Government Division: 505.827.4983, or visit
www.nmacequiacommission.state.nm.us
Additional info: 505.603.2879 or molino
[email protected]
April 25-26
Contemporary Clay Fair
SF Women’s Club, Old Pecos Trail
Features 30 ceramic artists. contemporary
clayfair.com
Through April 26,
Th.-Sun., 11 am-3 pm
Morphing Nature
SF Botanical Garden, 715 Cam. Lejo
Students from IAIA and SFUAD have created site-specific sculptures made from
recovered plant materials from the garden and found objects. Free. 505.471.9103,
santafebotanicalgarden.org
April 26, 11 am
Why NM Doesn’t Use More
Renewable Energy
Collected Works Bookstore
202 Galisteo St.
Presentation by public utilities attorney
Bruce Throne with attorney Denise Fort.
Free. http://journeysantafe.com
April 28, 6-7:30 pm
Practical Solutions
for Safe Use of Electronics
La Montañita Co-op Community Room
Discussion of potential health problems of
wireless pollution and products to neutralize
electromagnetic radiation. Free. 505.780.8283,
[email protected]
May 4, 6 pm
Azlan in the Southwest:
Archaeology and History
Hotel Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars lecture by Stephen H.
Lekson, University of Colorado professor or anthropology and author of A History of the Ancient
Southwest. $12. 505.466.2775, Southwestsem
[email protected], SouthwestSeminars.org
May 9, 10 am-10 pm
CommUNITY Day
Santa Fe Plaza
El Día de la Gente. Nonprofit organizations
and government agencies will have information tables and giveaways until 3 pm, and local talent will perform until 10 pm. Exhibit
applications: 505.955.6979, bjmossman@
santafenm.gov, www.santafenm.gov
May 9-10
Kindred Spirits Open House
3749A Highway 14
Animal sanctuary for senior dogs, horses and
poultry. Demonstrations by wellness caregivers. 505.471.5366, www.kindredspirtsnm.org
May 16, 8 am-3 pm
2nd Annual Green Festival
El Museo Cultural
555 Camino de la Familia
Experience new renewable energy technologies,
electric vehicles, organic food, water harvesting, interactive exhibits for kids and much more.
505.428.9123, [email protected]
May 16, 2 pm; May 20, 6:45 pm
Movies That Matter
Jean Cocteau Cinema
418 Montezuma Ave.
Growing Cities, a documentary film that
examines the role and potential of urban
farming
(www.growingcitiesmovie.com).
Presented by the SF Farmers’ Market Institute. Weds: $10/$8/$6; Sat: $7/$5/$6. Tickets: 505.466.5528, www.jeancocteaucinema.
com/buy-tickets/
Saturdays, 8 am-1 pm
Santa Fe Farmers’ Market
1607 Paseo de Peralta (& Guadalupe)
Northern NM farmers and ranchers offer
fresh greenhouse tomatoes, greens, root veggies, cheese, teas, herbs, spices, honey, baked
goods, body care products and much more.
www.santafefarmersmarket.com
Through April
Virgin of Guadalupe Exhibition
Museum of Spanish Colonial Art
750 Camino Lejo, Museum Hill
Retablos, bultos and three-dimensional
nichos. Admission: $5./under 16 free/NM
residents free on Sunday. 505.982.2226
TAOS
April 9, 7:30 pm
Scrap Arts Music
Taos Community Auditorium,
145 Paseo de Pueblo Norte, Taos
Internationally renowned percussion ensemble
from Canada. Music starts out as scrap, turns
into art and then transforms into unforgettable
sound. $20; TCA members: $17; 18 and under:
$10. 575.758.2052, tcataos.org
April 10
2015 Taos County Farming
& Ranching Fair
Taos County Agricultural Center
202 Chamisa Road
“An opportunity for renewal.” Information
booths, demonstrations, discussion regarding agricultural land classification, roundtable discussions with local farmers and
ranchers (10:30 am and 1:30 pm), job opportunities. Entertainment, refreshments. Taos
County Extension Service: 575.758.3982
April 17, 5-7 pm Reception
Past, Present and Future:
Celebration of the
Taos Art Colony
Taos Town Hall
Free reception. 60 entries from Taos County and northern NM artists in honor of
the 100th anniversary of the Taos Society of Artists. Exhibition through July 17.
575.779.8579, http://taosartscouncil.org/
taos_art_colony_past_present_future/
HERE & THERE
April 9, 5:30-7 pm
Green Drinks/NMSEA
Little Toad Pub, 200 N. Bullard St.,
Silver City, NM
Monthly meeting of the
Southwest NM Green
Chamber of Commerce and
the NM Solar Energy Association-Silver City Chapter.
Held every second Thursday of the month.
575.538.1337,
[email protected]
April 10 Call for Papers Deadline
Earth USA 2015
8th Annual International Conference on Architecture and Construction with Earthen
Materials Conference will be held at the NM
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Museum of Art in Santa Fe, Oct. 2-4. Organized by Adobe in Action. Earthusa.org
April 11-May 15
“Women’s Work”
María Saroni Community Gallery
Rowe, NM
Women artists from NM celebrate the
work done by women in our communities. Organized by the Tarnoff Art Center.
505.919.8888,
[email protected],
www.tarnoffartcenter.org
April 15 Application Deadline
Chautauqua Program
Statewide
The NM Humanities Council is looking
for individuals who perform living history
and/or deliver a talk on an intriguing humanities topic. The free programs take place
at nonprofit organizations. Applications:
505.633.7371, [email protected], www.
nmhum.org
April 17-19
Ecological Restoration
Volunteer Project
Cebolla Canyon, El Malpaís
Conservation Area near Grants, NM
Join the ABQ Wildlife Federation to help
build riparian restoration structures to restore a wetland area as part of a comprehensive ecosystem restoration effort. rioscial@
gmail.com, http://abq.nmwildlife.org/
Through April 19, 10 am-5 pm
Traditional New Mexico
Arts/Santos Show
Tomé Art Gallery
2930 Hwy. 47, Los Lunas, NM
17th annual show features santeros and traditional NM artists. 505.565.0556
April 25, 9 am-4 pm
Los Alamos Book Fair
Fuller Lodge
Authors, publishers and talks including LPD
Press/Río Grande Books co-founder Barbe
Awalt, on Books 101: Tips and trends from
the NM Book Co-op. Free. 505.344.9382,
[email protected]
May 1st Drawing
Chama Peak Land
Alliance Raffle
Benefit raffle for conservation-minded
landowners in the southern San Juan
Mountains of Colorado and northern NM.
970.335.8174,
[email protected],
www.chamapeak.org
May 3-6
International Seed
Library Forum
Tucson, Arizona
Diversifying Community Access to Healthy
Foods. An effort to coalesce efforts by public libraries, nonprofits, universities and
food banks to increase the quality of seed
resources with free or affordable access
to low-income households. Registration:
[email protected]
May 8 Application Deadline
Paid AmeriCorps Opportunity
Join Rocky Mountain Youth Corps working on projects in NM. RMYC is looking for
young adults 16-25 to work on conservation,
historic preservation and trail maintenance.
Dedicated people are needed to supervise
crews and projects. 575.751.1420. Program
descriptions and applications: www.youth
corps.org
Earth Day Events
ALBUQUERQUE
April 22, 2:30–5 p.m.
Celebrate Earth Day 2015
NM Museum of Natural History and
Science – Kiwanis Learning Garden, 1801
Mountain Rd. NW (east side of 18th St.)
After-school program for the whole family.
Discover urban native plants and animals, create an Earth flag, have fun with wind power, get
your hands dirty planting and pulling. No registration required. Free with museum admission.
505.841.2800, www.nmnaturalhistory.org
SANTA FE
April 18, 9:30 a.m.–2 p.m.
Earth Day Celebration
Genoveva Chávez Center,3221 Rodeo Rd.
Entertainment and educational activities for
all ages. Solar art projects, free tree saplings,
recycled art for kids, music, dance, yoga,
archery, leave-no-trace games, green business expo. Free. Presented by Keep Santa Fe
Beautiful and the Outdoor Recreation Section of the City of Santa Fe Parks and Recreation Department. 505.955.4000, lfgulotta@
santafenm.gov, www.chavezcenter.com
April 22, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
Youth Service Earth Day
Earth Care, Zona del Sol site, corner of Jaguar and Country Club Rd.
Healthy cooking, organic gardening, composting, mural making and climate action
led by Earth Care’s Food Justice and Environmental Stewardship AmeriCorps members. SF Public School classes and community volunteers welcome. 505.983.6896,
[email protected]
HERE & THERE
April 18, 10 a.m.–2 p.m., Film at
6:30 p.m.
Earth Day Celebration
Gough Park, Silver City, NM
Activities for all ages. Educational, nonprofit and governmental organization exhibits,
craftspeople, food vendors. Drawings for
prizes. Recycling will be a big focus. Film
screening of “Wrenched,” about the late
environmental activist Edward Abbey, at
the Buckhorn in Piños Altos at 6:30 p.m.
Sponsored by the Gila Resources Information Project, Silver City Food Co-op, NM
Wilderness Alliance and the Town of Silver
City Office of Sustainability. 575.519.8987
April 25, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Earth Day Celebration
Aztec Ruins Visitor Center, 84
County Rd. 2900, Aztec, NM
Park staff, land management agencies, environmental groups, community organizations and local business will present activities and interactive displays on sustainable
technologies, land and water conservation,
alternative energy and fuels and sustainable
agriculture. Games, crafts, Pueblo dancers.
Free admission. Lunch available for purchase. Morning “Not Quite 5K Earth Day
Family Fun Run.” www.facebook.com/pag
es/Aztec-Trails-Open-Space/241155326175
April 25, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Earth Day Festival
Los Alamos Nature Center, 2600
Canyon Rd., Los Alamos, NM
Entertainment, food, activities, planetarium shows, information booths and more.
Recycle Man will present two interactive
shows. The Hill Stompers will present music
and dance. Free. Park at the Aquatic Center,
Mesa Public Library, take the free bus from
the Justice Center on Central Avenue or ride
your bike to the festival. 505.662.0460, www.
peecnature.org
Green Fire Times • April 2015
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Green Fire Times • April 2015
www.GreenFireTimes.com