Earth Care 2006 Sustainable Santa Fe Guide by FlavorGrafix Design

Sustainable Santa Fe Balancing Cultures, Economics and Ecology

A R E S O U R C E GUIDE 20 0 5â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2006

Showcasing innovations and time-honored traditions:

Community Business Development Agriculture Energy Tranportation Education Environment Food Finance

An Earth Care International Publication

able of Contents

Printed on recycled paper with soy-based ink to beneﬁt the earth. Printed in Santa Fe to strengthen our local economy.

How Do I Use This Guide? The Cover Artist - Renferd Koruh Who Created This Guide? Publication Credits About Earth Care International What Is Sustainability? - Seth Roﬀman The Immediate Task: Restoration - Kenny Ausubel

3 5 8 9 10 12 15

Community & Society Sustainable Santa Fe - Margo Covington Santa Fe’s Sustainable Living Sector - Diego Mulligan Wendell Berry’s 17 Rules For The Healthy Functioning Of Sustainable Local Communities A Bioregional Vision Of Sustainability - Miguel Santistevan From The Air - Pamela Mang Launching A Self-Fulﬁlling Prophecy About Sustainable Living - Jan-Willem Jansens

20 21 24

Ecology & Land Ethic Acequias - Estevan Arellano Wilderness Preservation In New Mexico - Nathan Newcomer The Santa Fe Watershed - Alex McDonough The Mind of a Place - David Abram

36 37 40 42 44

Agriculture & Food Traditional Native American Farmers Association - Clayton Brascoupe A Permacultural Paradigm - Nate Downey Earth-friendly Ways Of Managing Insect Pests - Linda Wiener Hunger Is Not Sustainable - Mark Winne

46 47 51 54 56

Business & Production, Economy & Finance Sustainable Production - Lowell Center for Sustainable Production Economic Development Is A Lot Harder Than Many Think - The McCune Charitable Foundation Socially Responsible Investing - Robert A. Rikoon Strategies For Natural Investors - Cliﬀ Feigenbaum and Hal Brill

62 63

The Built Environment & Energy Sustainability In The Interior Environment - David K. Sargert Conversations To Build On - Heath Blount The Institute of American Indian Arts’ Initiative for a Sustainable Future - Margaret Tiﬀt Janis, Jennifer Foerster, Alexi Dzurec Bringing It Home: Localizing Energy For A Sustainable Santa Fe - Benjiman Gillock and Bianca Sopoci-Belknap The Cheapest Clean Power You Can Buy: An Introduction To Utility-interconnected Solar Electricity - Allan Sindelar Household Practices For Energy Independence - Randy Sadewic Development & Growth Restorative Gardening: Redeﬁning Our Role In The Landscape - Craig Sponholtz and Steve Vrooman Water And The Future Of Development In Santa Fe - Dharma Living Systems

27 29 33 34

64 67 68 70 71 72 74 87 88 89 92 93 96

Landscape Water Conservation: The Seven Principles Of Xeriscape - The Xeriscape Council Of New Mexico

Transportation Biofuels - Charles Bensinger Getting Around In Santa Fe

100 101 102

Education 104 Sustainability Education At Monte del Sol Charter School - Tony Gerlicz 105 Center For Community Sustainability - Kris Swedin, Craig Fiels, Mark Sardella 107 Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority / Earth Care International Summer Teen Project - Heidi Zellie 108

Social Sustainability Social Capital: The Strength Of A Healthy Community - Geoﬀ Chesshire No One Is Worth Throwing Away: Social Sustainability Gets Personal - Kenneth K. Goodrow II Capoeira: Liberty For All - Pete Jackson

110

Index Of Advertisers

116

Resource Listings

117

111 112 115

ow Do I Use This Guide?

Valid question. This first-annual Sustainable Santa Fe: A Resource Guide was created for the people of Santa Fe and northern New Mexico. Some communities are now publishing ‘green’ guides, and while we think this is great, we’ve chosen a ‘sustainability’ guide because it allows us to include not just environmentally-friendly initiatives, but those that cross the boundaries of culture, economics, education and social justice. We can showcase more voices and you can have more fun reading it all. Santa Fe has a lot to offer! We decided that instead of trying to squeeze all the articles into cut-anddry categories, we would instead let them flow across the pages. This not

only represents the interconnected nature of sustainability, but it makes for a much more interesting read. We discovered some new connections in the process and hope you will too. The Guide is loosely organized from the big-picture perspectives down to the speciﬁcs. Want to read the cool visions for a sustainable Santa Fe from our very own local visionaries? Start at the beginning. Want to get down and dirty with powering up your own house, using grey water and buying goods and services produced right here in northern New Mexico? Try the middle. Looking for responsible places to shop? Try the Resource Listings. Like us, you probably skip around a bit when reading a magazine - we encourage

this! With over 40 articles, there is plenty to browse. To make it all a little bit easier on you (sustainability, daunting as it may appear, should be easier - really!), we’ve included an oﬃcial Table of Contents. We hope you visit the local advertisers who helped make this Guide possible; all proﬁts from advertising fees are part of a fundraiser for E-Vision 2005, Earth Care International’s second annual youth sustainability conference. When you’re done reading, pass it onto friends, students or family. If you really no longer have a need for it, we think it would make great garden sheet mulch. If you don’t have a garden that needs mulch, then please recycle it.

T he

C over Artist : Renferd Koruh ( Ho p i / T e w a )

Renferd Koruh is half Hopi and half Tewa from Polacca, Arizona. He was born in Keams Canyon, Arizona in 1984. Koruh’s father is Hopi from Second Mesa. His mother is Tewa from Polacca. The fourth of ﬁve children, Koruh was born into the Tobacco Clan and is the child of the Spider Clan. Renferd has always had a passion for art. He has been carving since the age of ten. This is one way he can carry on his stories and traditions to the younger generation. He recently won the Best Painting Award at the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos annual arts and crafts show. Renferd will graduate in the fall of 2005 from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe with an Associate Degree in Studio Arts.

“ Ho p i P l a n t i n g C a l e n d a r ”

“As far back as I can remember I have always wanted to be an artist. I was inﬂuenced by all my family’s artistic abilities and the dedication they put into their work. Everything that I learned as a child was by eye. Watching my brother and uncles carve their Kachina dolls was so amazing for me. To take a piece of Mother Nature, think of the possibilities, and then slowly start transforming it into a beautiful piece of Hopi art was so breathtaking. Creating Hopi art is one way I can enrich my tribal traditions, and in the process, educate the world about the Hopi way of life. I create art to better myself as a Native American artist, carry on my traditions and represent all Native peoples in a positive way.”

ho Created This Guide?

This Guide was produced through the thousands of staff and volunteer hours donated by nineteen teenagers from four Santa Fe high schools and fifteen adults. The nineteen teens gained skills in graphics design and layout, sales and account management and businesses skills. More importantly, they learned that opportunities exist for teenagers to be involved in meaningful work that positively impacts our community and the natural world. The purpose of this Guide is to organize, make accessible and make known the wide variety of innovative, healthy products and services that are currently available in the Santa Fe area. We feel that we are very lucky to live in such an aware and generous community. All of the articles in this Guide were freely contributed and written by authors committed to a better world. We would like to personally thank the volunteers and staff who spent countless hours to help make this Guide a reality. Sustainability is a big concept. It’s broad and is defined in general and sometimes very specific terms. It encompasses so many aspects of community – of life – that providing one simple explanation is a slippery task. Santa Fe has the opportunity to be a unique, healthy, vibrant, safe, diverse and ecologically conscious community. In many ways, we already are. But there is still much work to be done; we can always do better. Santa Fe’s version of sustainability will be unique to this place. With the combination of our varied landscapes and cultural diversity, Santa Fe is ripe with potential. The teens involved were in charge of determining who was invited to advertise in this Guide. This was not an easy task and evoked many heated discussions. One such discussion included whether or not a national corporation should be allowed to advertise. They are not a local business, but in this case they support the living wage ordinance, contribute significantly to our community and promote organic foods. These discussions explored deep philosophical aspects of sustainability. Some people might not agree with the choices of advertisers or articles, but few will disagree with providing the opportunities for empowering our next generation to create a community they want to be a part of. Determining what is sustainable and what is not is an ongoing learning process. In order to delve into this somewhat ambiguous area, the students asked certain questions that

explored each company’s commitment to ecological health, economic prosperity, social equity and cultural preservation. They asked companies questions such as: ¤ Are you locally owned or operated? ¤ What products and services do you use from local/ regional companies? ¤ Does your company support the living wage act and provide benefits to your full-time employees? ¤ Do you recycle? ¤ Do you have a diverse staff? ¤ Are you making strides to become more socially and ecologically responsible? ¤ How do you give back to the community? You will notice that big box stores didn’t make the cut and neither did national fast food chains. Regardless of what their marketing campaigns suggest, the creators of this publication did not find that they met enough of the Guide criteria. One important aspect of this project (and of all Earth Care projects) is that youth are empowered to help create the world they envision. The youth did not go out to protest against those companies they believe do not contribute to sustainability; instead, they chose to promote businesses that they DO want in our community. This is the birth of a new movement: a movement in which time-honored wisdom from our elders is being passed to the upcoming generation. With humility and inspiration, the youth will expand on that wisdom in ways their elders could never imagine. It is a movement comprised of people who are economically, socially and ecologically literate and moving forward, building the future that we all deserve. We hope this Guide stimulates discussion and helps implement effective solutions for long-range economic stability in our community. This is the first time this type of publication has been created in Santa Fe. Undoubtedly, there will be some inadvertent omissions. If you feel that you should be in this Guide, please let us know so that we might include you in next year’s edition. With respect and kindness, Erin English, Seth Roffman, Taylor Selby Sustainable Santa Fe: A Resource Guide

ustainable Santa Fe: A Resource Guide 2005 - 2006

Editor

Advertising

Seth Roﬀman

Coordinators Celina Cavalcanti Erin English Tom Knoblauch Taylor Selby

Layout & Graphic Design Frank Wechsler

Associate Designers

Anya Acton Forest Carter Manika Callewaert Kate Cooper Houston Johansen Alex McDonough Cameron Meeks Amyel Oliveros Robin Poling Sawyer Reed Hunter Riley Lauren Sachs Emily Winaren Kristen Woods

Volunteers

Scott Fowler Jessie Parker

Photography All photos are by Seth Roﬀman unless credited otherwise.

Rachel Balkcom Chris Bennett Heath Blount Dana Doyle Gillie Henke Dannu Hutwohl Robin Johnstone Ingrid Lindquist Amy Pilling Ian Sanderson Christina Selby Molly Thornton Ana Willem Ed Winter-Tamkin Marilyn Winter-Tamkin Megan Zeigler

Special Acknowledgement for Commitment to Excellence: Article Contributors All Contributing Foundations Deborah Bolt Barbara Booth Patricia Callahan E*Vision Conference Presenters Earth Care International Board and Staﬀ Erin English Tony Gerlicz Doug Gunton Joan Henderson Tom Knoblauch La Montanita Food Cooperative Mela MacQuarrie Northland College Paige Prescott Plants of the Southwest Southwest Learning Centers, Inc. Whole Foods Market

This guide is dedicated with love and respect to the late Joe Wesselkamper and Francis “Fiz” Harwood. We appreciate your dedication and generosity toward developing a sustainable world. You will always be remembered.

Contents COPYRIGHT ©2005 Earth Care International - A non proﬁt educational organization All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without written permission. P.O. Box 885 - Santa Fe, NM 87504-0885 - Phone: 505-983-6896 - Fax: 505-983-2622 guide@earthcare.org - www.earthcare.org

bout Earth Care International

MISSION Earth Care International is a non-proﬁt organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico whose mission is to build the awareness, knowledge and commitment in teenagers necessary to create a just and sustainable future. We do this by engaging teens in summer job opportunities in sustainable development; providing sustainability education courses and teachers to high schools; holding youth conferences; and facilitating other youth development programs that support the creation and knowledge of sustainable community.

PROGRAMS E*Vision 2005 E*Vision 2005 is a conference for 500 teenagers to introduce sustainability concepts and offer teens an opportunity to become engaged in creating a better world. Keynote speakers from Uganda, Africa and Los Angeles, CA and over 40 workshops from local experts offer students a broad perspective on global sustainability. All of this is made possible though the dedication of approximately 100 volunteers working with Earth Care staff.

Sustainability Education Courses Earth Care oﬀers innovative and inspiring courses on sustainability for secondary schools. Sustainability education connects environment, social justice, equitable economics and culture to ﬁnding solutions to complex contemporary issues. Our courses are student-focused with a hands-on experiential learning approach. Our students learn by doing and participate in creative change projects in their schools and community. Sustainability education engages high school students in ways that get them excited about learning and school.

Sustainable Santa Fe: A Resource Guide 19 teenagers and 10 adults are participating in creating Santa Fe’s ﬁrst guide that highlights sustainable innovation and timehonored practices. Teens are working under the mentorship of adults and are learning skills such as graphics design, management and sales while contributing to bettering our community. This is a summer job for ten of the teenagers involved with this project.

One World Coffee and Trade Store (Youth Business) Over 30 students from six high schools have been working together to create a business that is socially and environmentally responsible. We have signed a lease on a building, and the students have been remodeling the space over the summer and expect to open their fair trade coﬀee house in October. Youth are learning how businesses can positively impact our society and the natural world while gaining experience in ﬁnancial literacy.

Summer Jobs in Sustainability This program oﬀers teenagers meaningful employment with various organizations over the summer while making a positive diﬀerence in the Santa Fe community. At a low-income elderly housing facility and through various youth organizations, teens have learned about managing organic community gardens and ecological design while xeriscaping and installing water catchment.

LOOK I N G A HE A D ¤ Sustainability Education Teacher Training & Curricula ¤ Cross-Cultural Summer Outdoor Programs ¤ Teen Center for Community Action

hat is

ustainability? Seth Roffman

Sustainability • from Sustain: To hold up; to bear; to support; to provide for; to maintain; to sanction; to keep going; to keep up; to prolong; to support the life of. - Chambers Concise Dictionary On the most fundamental level, the idea of living ‘sustainably’ refers to the notion that one’s everyday actions and practices create a lifestyle that in turn contributes to a more healthy, habitable and equitable world for all beings. But even this broad definition raises issues and conflicts and can be challenging. “Sustainability illustrates the complex relationships among economic, social and environmental issues. It is intended to be a means of configuring civilization and human activity so that society and its members are able to meet their needs and express their greatest potential in the present, while preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems, and maintaining these ideals indefinitely. Sustainability affects every level of organization, from the local neighborhood to the entire planet. It is sometimes a controversial topic.” - Wikipedia, the Online Encyclopedia In the terms of the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development – Our Common Future report, sustainability is, “Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” This is very much like the “seventh generation” philosophy of the Native American Iroquois Confederacy, mandating that chiefs always consider the effects of their actions on the descendants through the seventh generation in the future. The WCED definition sought to find the right balance between protecting the environment and maximizing economic development, especially for underdeveloped countries.

Sustainability requires equal care and respect for the ecosystem and for the people within. The goal is to achieve human and ecosystem well-being together. This requires an integrated view of the world, and an awareness of multidimensional indicators that show the links among a community’s economy, environment and society. For example, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a well-publicized traditional indicator, measures the amount of money being spent in a country. It is generally reported as a measure of the country’s economic well-being: the more money spent, the higher the GDP and the better the economic well-being is assumed to be. However, because the GDP reflects only the amount of economic activity – regardless of the effect of that activity on the community’s social and environmental health – the GDP can go up when overall community health goes down. In her work Paradigms of Progress, Economist Hazel Henderson elucidates the issue: “Trying to run a complex society on a single indicator like the Gross National Product is like trying to fly a 747 with only one gauge on the instrument panel ... imagine if your doctor, when giving you a checkup, did no more than check your blood pressure.” The values, diversity, knowledge, languages and worldviews associated with culture form a pillar of sustainability. Multicultural perspectives are needed for education, training and public awareness initiatives that prepare individuals, organizations and governments to practice sustainable living in their cultural and social contexts. The knowledge and traditional practices of indigenous peoples can contribute to sustainability, as indigenous ways of relating to the natural and human worlds can be adapted to facilitate ecologically appropriate ways of living with nature. Of course, care must be taken to protect indigenous knowledge from misappropriation and exploitation. Much of the content and methods of current education and training, as well as many underlying messages delivered by mass media tend to socialize us to live unsustainably. Robert Bellah in Habits of the Heart states, “Although religions and philosophies teach that the good life cannot be achieved

States and Communities for Sustainability More than a decade has passed since the Río Earth Summit put sustainable development on the international policy agenda. Individuals and organizations with an interest in the concept have used this milestone to measure the progress that has been achieved formulating and implementing plans broadly consistent with the aims of sustainability. As interest in sustainable living, renewable energy and ecological building design becomes more accepted by the mainstream, and as energy prices continue their steep rise with no end in sight, many expect that these solutions will be seen as more cost effective, as well as beneficial. While the sustainability movement generally has not been embraced on a national level in the U.S., in a number of instances, individual states and communities are moving toward acceptance of some of the core tenets of sustainability. Several states, for instance, have launched their own climate change mitigation programs, and others are beginning to grapple with discouraging suburban sprawl. A consortium of ten northeastern states has begun to negotiate the guidelines for a regional market to trade greenhouse gas emissions credits. In New Mexico, Governor Richardson has set targets for reduction of greenhouse gasses in the state. State progressiveness in the face of stagnating federal policies is not unprecedented. In many instances, from air pollution regulation to managing toxic chemicals, the states have led the way with new environmental policy initiatives that were eventually implemented nationally. It has only been after the states have demonstrated effectiveness, and a hard to manage system of

diﬀering state-based standards has become apparent, that the federal government has taken action.

Mayors for Sustainability On June 7, 2005, mayors from around the world signed the Urban Environmental Accords in San Francisco. The nonbinding treaty addresses seven issues – energy, waste reduction, urban design, urban nature, transportation, environmental health and water – and lists 21 speciﬁc actions for local governments to undertake to make their urban areas more sustainable. They have even created a star-coded system to show which cities are doing well and which are falling behind on implementation. © ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability

through ever-increasing consumption of material goods, this is precisely the message preached through the advertising media and the globalizing economy.” The true indication of whether a paradigm shift toward sustainability has really taken place in the U.S. will be whether mainstream society begins to see personal consumption choices as having ethical and environmental implications – and then makes choices based on that realization.

The 21 actions toward which the signing mayors have committed to work between now and World Environment Day 2012 include: increasing the use of renewable energy, establishing policies to achieve zero waste going to landfills and incinerators, phasing down sulfur levels in diesel and gasoline fuels and using lower-emission vehicles, reducing air pollution, and bringing adequate access to safe drinking water to all citizens. Seth Roffman is a Santa Fe based writer, editor and photojournalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Native Peoples Magazine, New Mexico Magazine and many other publications. Roffman is also Executive Director of the non-profit Southwest Learning Centers and is a founder and co-producer of eleven annual Native Roots & Rhythms Native American performing arts festivals.

Indicators of Sustainability: (www.sustainablemeasures.com) Water Quality Air Quality Natural Resources Shareholder Proﬁts Education Health Poverty Crime Jobs Materials for Production

“Sustainability is, in the ﬁnal analysis, a moral and ethical imperative in which cultural diversity and traditional knowledge need to be respected.” –The Thessaloniki Declaration

“Sustainability is an economic state where the demands placed upon the environment by people and commerce can be met without reducing the capacity of the environment to provide for future generations. It can also be expressed in the simple terms of an economic golden rule for the restorative economy: leave the world better than you found it, take no more than you need, try not to harm life of the environment, make amends if you do.” - Paul Hawkin Founder Natural Capital Institute

The Immediate Task:

estoration

Kenny Ausubel

Author and physicist Fritjof Capra has said that sustainability is the inherent ability that life has to sustain the web of life. It is often described as an approach by which people and society take care to live in a way that does not diminish the opportunities of future generations. The problem with sustainability as it’s currently posed is that we have so radically degraded, destroyed and diminished the web of life that sustainability must be a much longer-term goal. The immediate task is restoration: to actually give back more than we have taken, to renew and replenish the richness and vitality of both the earth’s ecosystems and our human communities. Nature is a constant cycle of destruction and restoration. We need to put our thumb on the scale of restoration for many years to come. There can be no sustainability without justice. In a world where half the world’s people live on $2 a day or less, the only hope of restoring the earth rests with also restoring people, economies, jobs and social equity. The Gulf War we need to wage is to end the gulf between rich and poor. As the Bioneers show over and over again, the solutions residing in nature surpass our conception of what is even possible. All over the world people are rising up in waves of caring and kindness, weaving true social security in community. For the most part, the solutions to our problems are already present, and even where we don’t know exactly what to do, we have a good idea what directions to head in. What we need are the political will and economic muscle to implement these solutions, wedding human ingenuity with the wisdom of the wild. Democracy is also key to restoration, and a free non-corporate media is the basis of democracy. It’s all connected, and only by bringing together all the pieces can we succeed in true restoration. As biomimicry master Janine Benyus observes, “What life does is create conditions conducive to life.” There’s a mission statement for our times. Kenny Ausubel, founder and co-executive director of Bioneers, is an award-winning journalist, ﬁlmmaker and social entrepreneur. He co-founded Seeds of Change, a biodiversity organic seed company, and wrote the book “Seeds of Change: The Living Treasure.”

Community & Society

Is Santa Fe a sustainable community? We’ve asked this question of local business owners, farmers, non-profits, activists and students. While we know that Santa Fe’s path to becoming a more sustainable community is long and winding, we are happy to bring you perspectives from folks working very hard to get us any bit closer. A sustainable community means different things to different people. To parents it means a safe environment in which to bring up their children. To business owners it means a healthy economy so that their businesses have a place in which to create and sell their products. Everyone wants a secure, productive job to support themselves and their families. Everyone wants clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. Sustainability is related to the quality of life: economic, social and environmental systems that make up the community, providing a healthy, productive, meaningful life for all residents,

present and future. Sustainability does not mean sustained growth. A sustainable community does not grow larger indeﬁnitely. At some point, a sustainable community stops getting larger but continues to change, improve and develop. The primary goal of a sustainable local community is to meet its basic resource needs in ways that can be continued in the future. The sustainability of a community is largely determined by the web of resources providing its food, water and energy needs and by the ability of its natural systems to process its wastes. A community is unsustainable if it consumes resources faster than they can be renewed, produces more wastes than natural systems can process or relies upon distant sources for its basic needs.

ustainable Santa Fe Margo Covington

Chair, Sustainable Santa Fe Commission

What might a “sustainable able efforts in the community. Santa Fe” look like? And what And we learned that by reactabout “The City Different” ing or responding to existing do we want to sustain to keep City Council Resolutions, we us “different”? What might found ourselves quickly indicate that we’re moving in embroiled in politics. We the right direction toward found that sustainability dissustainability? How is the cussions are better done in a creativity of our community collaborative, proactive way. Museum of Fine Arts — Museum of New Mexico already being expressed susWe also saw much of our tainably and moving us toward sustainability? What is city gov- foundational work from the reports we had sent to the City ernment doing to make our community more sustainable? Council included in the new City Economic Development What can we do to reinforce those activities? What are citizens Plan, whose goals state that Santa Fe will be the clean energy doing to make our community more sustainable? What can we and water conservation capitol of the United States. So, last do to reinforce and/or link those activities? How can we proJanuary we decided to pick one topic and see what we might be vide good information and recommendations about these ques- able to do to facilitate more sustainable activities in the city. tions to the City Council? In January 2005 the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission set out Since its creation in 1998 by the City Council, the Sustainable to investigate the potential advantages of using bio-fuels in the Santa Fe Commission has discussed and researched these quescity fleet, and in July 2005 City Manager Mike Lujan tions and more. announced that the City of Santa Fe would join other environmentally friendly cities in phasing in the use of these fuels in their city fleet. For most of those seven years, the volunteer Commissioners have done a great deal of foundational work. Deriving public input from documents such Biofuels are typically made as the General Plan, the from crops such as soybeans, Economic Development Plan grain sorghum or corn, and and over 20 more documents, are also derived from common we researched what we want agricultural and solid waste to sustain as well as easily materials. Biofuels are promeasured sustainability indiduced in America and are cators and developed a series deemed to be both an ecoof indicators that were recomnomic and environmentally mended to the City Council. friendly alternative to the petro-fuels that are typically With mixed success, we spent used for transportation purabout two years seeing what poses. opportunities there might be in helping to organize sustain- Palace of the Governors — Museum of New Mexico Biofuels are currently available

at the first pump of its kind in the U.S. – located at the Santa Fe Amigo Mart Conoco Station on Cerrillos Road. The “blue pump” offers three grades of fuel, so there is at least one fuel for any kind of vehicle, whether gasoline or diesel. The benefits of biofuels include improved air and protected water quality (with the public health benefits that go with it), better running vehicles, reduction of reliance on imported petroleum and improved energy conversion. As the biofuels industry matures, economic development in the form of agricultural support and value-added use of otherwise useless and often problematic waste-streams could also be expected. With the help of various biofuels tax credits available to U.S. farmers and biofuel producers (currently 1/10 of that received by the fossil fuel industry), prices for biofuels will remain highly competitive with fossil fuels. Our next topic to tackle emerged more about the timing of the project than anything – we wanted to see if the proposed civic center could be built and certified to at least the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Standard. Councilor Bushee had sponsored Resolution 2004-24, “A Resolution To Require That The Planning, Design And Construction Of The Proposed Civic Center Be In Accordance With The Most Current Principles And Practices Of Sustainable Design.” We learned that the interpretation by the architectural and planning team was to be designed to meet approximately 10 LEED points. We also learned that it takes about 33-38 points to be LEED Silver certified, with 28-32 points for general LEED certification. As of this writing, the enthusiasm of Councilors Coss, Chavez and Wurzburger to sponsor a resolution requiring LEED Silver seems to be moving it smoothly through their processes. By the time you read this, hopefully we will be well underway in having a green-built Civic Center! Our Commission’s next topic will be to look at all city-financed buildings (new and renovations) over a certain size be required to be LEED certified. It will be interesting to see how implementation of that requirement may progress. SSF Commissioner Louise Pape has summarized some of the benefits of LEED:

1. Commissioning Gives Assurance Goals Will Be Met When buildings are in the planning stages, too often there is optimism about how well the building will function, and when it is built, it’s discovered that the building requires far more energy and has other problems than was assumed prior to completion. Commissioning means that a separate organization reviews the plans and the construction to ensure that the building will perform as speciﬁed. This avoids major problems once the building is completed. Commissioning is part of the LEED certiﬁcation process and does have a cost commitment, but is well worth it.

2. LEED Certification Gives More Credibility for Only Minimal Expense The only way to gain the confidence and recognition of LEED is to go through the certification process, rather than merely being “LEED-like,” which leaves far too much room for error. The additional expense for the difference between “LEED-like” and “LEED certified” is minimal- perhaps $12,000 plus commissioning cost.

3. Certification Means Being in Line with the State and with Albuquerque Sitting on the Governor’s desk is a move to have state buildings become LEED certified. The City of Albuquerque has already passed a resolution mandating LEED certification for all city buildings over 5,000 ft sq.

4. Payback is Ten Times Investment! Research has shown that the additional costs for LEED certiﬁcation are paid back (in conservative estimates) TEN TIMES.

5. Global Warming Will Require Energy Efﬁciency The seriousness of climate change is bringing requirements to reduce energy consumption. Now ALL buildings need to be built with extreme energy eﬃciency or else major renovations will be required in the future.

6. National recognition of LEED means customers want LEED buildings for conventions LEED is a competitive advantage. Cities all over the United States are now requiring LEED certification, and with LEED’s recognition, organizations will be seeking certified buildings. The Sustainable Santa Fe Commission welcomes your ideas for next topics, feedback, suggestions and comments, as together we move toward a more sustainable future. And most of all, thank you for all that YOU do to make a better future for us all! Commissioners: Camilla Bustamante Fabian Chavez, and Staff Liaison TC Gritt Robert Haspel Deborah Martinez Louise Pape Taylor Selby Jim Stanton Margo Covington, Chair margo@covingtonconsulting.net, 505-982-0044

Santa Fe’s

ustainable Living Sector

A P u b l i c , P r i vate and Civic Collaboration Diego Mulligan

It’s like watching your progeny complete graduate school. The Sustainable Living Sector has finally come of age and is stepping into its place in the real world. Thirty-five years after the first Earth Day, a movement that stemmed from the somewhat naïve yet strangely prescient dreams of the few is now being ushered to the forefront by a clear and present necessity as seen by the many.

Led by the City’s Economic Development Division, embraced by numerous nonproﬁts and supported with sponsored exhibits by dozens of New Mexico companies, Santa Fe Design Week (June, 2005) spotlighted our city as a national center for “Green Design.” One result was the United Nations Educational, Scientiﬁc and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) acknowledging Santa Fe as “the most creative city in the United States.”

The converging realities of resource depletion, global warming, baby boomer demographics and other inescapable trends have brought us to a collective crossroads. As Scientiﬁc American put it in their recent special issue on climate change, “The human race is at a unique turning point. Will we choose to create the best of all possible worlds?” This is the question many people in Santa Fe are also asking. And with increasing numbers we are answering with a resounding “Yes!”

With hope that we will become the “most sustainable city” as well, the City Council has adopted a community-based economic development plan (created by the nonproﬁt Santa Fe Economic Development, Inc.) that includes the goal of making Santa Fe “the water conservation and clean energy capital of the U.S.” Adding further encouragement to this goal, the Santa Fe Alliance has adopted the slogan “Support Sustainable Community” in recognition of the close connection between local econvomic and environmental sustainability.

The converging realities of resource depletion, global warming, baby boomer demographics and other inescapable trends have brought us to a collective crossroads.

Santa Fe and northern New Mexico have long been a place where deep-rooted traditions and leading-edge cultural transformations have coexisted and flourished. Art, science, technology and now the Sustainable Living Sector are surging with a sea change of rising awareness. Here we are pragmatically facing our planetary problems with integrated and practical solutions. And this exciting menu of possibilities is coming from the combined efforts of the public, private and nonprofit sectors. How effective will we be in developing viable alternatives? This depends on how well people from all three areas are able to collaborate, and also whether old turf battles and personal differences within the sectors can be bridged in support of the greater good. Hopefully by shifting from theoretical discussions into the realm of actual, future collaborations in applied sustainability, we will enjoy a new spirit of cooperation. From Governor Richardson’s Renewable Energy Portfolio standards (mandating 10% clean energy by 2010) along with his Green Building Task Force, to local initiatives at the city and county level, we see new public/private/nonprofit partnerships emerging to promote sustainability.

In what may hold the greatest potential for encouraging an integrated “sustainable systems” approach, Santa Fe County has adopted a unique land-use plan for the 18,000 acre Community College District (CCD). The CCD is designed to foster “New Ruralism” – villages with residential neighborhoods, businesses and “ﬂexible commercial” – while halting unsustainable suburban sprawl. Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) itself is creating a Research Park to develop renewable energy and water conservation technologies and conduct workforce training in these areas. SFCC, in collaboration with Local Energy, a nonproﬁt group (funded by a USDA public sector grant), is installing a biomass boiler that will use local wood waste to fuel a district heating system. This will greatly reduce the college’s dependence on natural gas. Rancho Viejo, an 11,000-acre development located in the CCD, has taken several steps toward sustainability. Although its village centers have lagged behind expectations, they have 50% Open Space, a network of trails, and a sewage treatment system that provides water for irrigating parks.

Oshara Village - A Place for Synergy in the Sustainability Sector A new CCD development, however, known as Oshara Village, has captured the imagination of many who want to weave threads of sustainability into the Neo-Traditional Design pattern of mixed-use developments advocated by New Urbanists. With the help of unprecedented grassroots support from local environmental advocates, future participants, elected officials and county staff, Oshara was given the green light with the approval of the Final Development Plan and Final Plat for Phase 1 by the County Commission on June 14, 2005. The vision for Oshara Village was driven as much by people demanding a sustainable living choice as by the environmentally responsible development team headed by Alan Hoffman.

grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) and solar hot water heating – and other energy eﬃcient designs including cellulose insulation (made from recycled newspaper), south-facing windows, and low-toxic alternative materials and ﬁnishes. The Oshara Village has adopted the most advanced water conservation covenants in the state and will utilize a state-of-theart water reclamation plant designed to return practically every drop of sewer and gray water – cleaned and disinfected – back to each yard and public park. This recycled water will enable lush gardens and tree-lined streets without using any precious potable water. Unlike Rancho Viejo, Oshara Village will be constructed by a variety of established local builders and will encourage a diversity of locallygrown authentic architectural styles including “Santa Fe Craftsman” (think of Don Gaspar Street), Northern New Mexico Pitched, and Territorial as well as the more ubiquitous Pueblo Revival.

Situated on 470 acres of land on the East side of Richards Avenue just north of the Community College, Oshara’s initial phase will include 175 residential units (town houses, patio homes, single family and estate homes) and New Village 136,000 sq. ft. of Institute neighborhood commercial space Oshara is cooperincluding restauating with the rant, retail, office, New Village This row of small businesses will serve many neighborhood needs. A bus stop on nearby Oshara Institute (NVI), a and live/work Plaza will provide easy access to downtown Santa Fe. Together these elements will reduce local nonprofit units. The plan dependence on the automobile. calls for sustaingroup specializing ability systems and technologies such as 100% wastewater recin sustainability research, education and outreach. NVI’s lamation and reuse, rain harvesting and solar orientation. “Healthy Communities Program” is designed to bridge the gap Other sustainability features include a ban on toxic pesticides, between developers, residents, contractors and the natural enviherbicides and certain household cleaners. 50% Open Space ronment. The aim is to create more livable and less polluting has been dedicated for a trail system and an on-site Community and wasteful human habitations. The Oshara Village developSupported Agriculture (CSA) program for organic food production. ment is the perfect scale to combine commonsense sustainable living choices, including most of life’s essential activities— Substantial reductions in Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs) homes, livelihood, recreation, learning, commerce and spiritual and lowered vehicle fuel costs will be achieved in Oshara by the connection. As a “place based” process involving all the stakemixed-use village design, a car sharing co-op using gas-electric holders—each with practical, not just theoretical concerns—it hybrids and the availability of public transportation – Santa Fe provides a unique opportunity for fostering civic involvement, Trails bus service from the get- go and hopefully a Light Rail gathering data, assessing attitudes and discovering insights on service later – all of which will decrease vehicle trips and traffic building and sustaining a healthy community. congestion. NVI will provide resident orientation and technical assistance Of even greater impact on GHGs will be the “Green Building” to ensure Oshara’s ambitious water conservation goals and full which Oshara’s developer is encouraging. These include solar potential for sustainability can be achieved. Each home will be energy technologies – passive and active solar space heating, limited to .12 acre/feet of potable water per year, which works

out to 107 gallons per day. NVI will offer Renewable Energy and Green Building technology assessment and transfer, enabling Oshara’s local building contractors, designers and construction tradesmen to utilize the most advanced and proven sustainability systems and best practices available. Oshara will also be working with other local nonprofit organizations such as Home Wise and Habitat for Humanity to include affordable housing choices; Local Energy, Inc. on biomass energy; and NMSEA on solar energy utilization. Local sustainability-oriented companies are encouraged to demonstrate their products and services at Oshara in a variety of model homes and at NVI’s “Sustainable Technology Showcase,” a planned on-site educational exhibition.

Also being considered for Oshara:

by forward-thinking private investors in projects like Oshara remains to be seen. Many risk assessment strategies are not yet taking into account the increased risk of “playing it safe” and are continuing to invest in outdated and self-defeating arenas such as fossil fuel industries, shopping centers and suburban developments. Criteria used by lending institutions and investment funds must adapt to reflect – and anticipate – the major changes ahead as the ecological basis for the “business as usual” model (standard economic growth focused on consumption rather than efficiency) disintegrate and reform in the face of global climate change and peak oil. By invoking the collective genius of Santa Fe’s Sustainability Sector – green builders and craftsmen, designers and architects, energy and water innovators, nonprofit groups and organic growers, future residents and entrepreneurs – and by inviting their involvement in the village development process, Oshara’s founders hope to bring forth the best in sustainable living solutions, based more on establishing enlightened incentives than on well-intentioned mandates.

¤ Solar Carports in public parking lots for charging electric cars using roof-mounted PV panels; ¤ Roundabouts rather than stop lights along Richards Avenue to smooth out and tame traffic flow; ¤ A museum and sculpture garden for the “Swords to Plowshares” Atomic Art work of Tony Price; ¤ A cultural center The “best of all pos(spearheaded by All homes will conform to the new International Energy Conservation Codes providing greater sible worlds” awaits NVI) demonstrating sustainability. Gravel parkways allow rainwater from streets to soak in. Tree-lined streets and our creative col“Green Design” and close proximity to the Village Center make for a walkable community. laboration. The including sustaingrowing awareness of our shared social, economic and environability research and educational facilities, a community auditomental challenges is combining with our increasing commitrium, and independent media production studios; ment to find common ground and create practical solutions. ¤ A Biomass District Heating System for the Village Center Oshara Village is one, hopefully, of many new forward-thinkand Live/Work Neighborhood. ing frameworks for cooperative action.

Generating Value With Sustainable Community Values

For the Sustainability Sector to become widely adopted, the values-based choices that foster sustainable living and creative, convivial community must generate more investment value than do disconnected suburban subdivisions. Private business and nonproﬁt partnerships (together with commonsense public sector policies) are an important key to ﬁnancial viability and an essential factor in creating a new, more sustainable mainstream. The whole process must also create almost immediate value for those builders and homeowners smart enough to buy in at the beginning. Whether institutional investors (banks, mortgage lenders and investment funds) will follow the lead set

For more information, visit www.OsharaVillage.com Diego Mulligan has been developing and reporting on sustainability systems for 30 years and is co-founder of the New Village Institute. Email inquiries to: NVINM@aol.com or phone 505310-0768. Diego also hosts The Journey Home radio show heard Monday thru Friday from 4 to 6 PM on KSFR, 90.7 FM, and webcast live worldwide on KSFR.org. He may be contacted at DiegoRadio@aol.com.

Wendell Berry’s Rules for the Healthy Functioning of Sustainable Local Communities Wendell Berry, whom the New York Times has called, “the prophet of rural America,” is a conservationist, farmer, essayist, novelist, professor of English and poet. He lives on a farm in Henry County, Kentucky. Berry is a strong defender of family, rural communities and traditional family farms. His underlying principles could be described as ‘the preservation of ecological diversity and integrity, and the renewal, on sound cultural and ecological principles, of local economies and local communities.’ 1. Always ask of any proposed change or innovation: What will this do to our community? How will this affect our common wealth? 2. Always include local nature – the land, the water, the air, the native creatures – within the membership of the community. 3. Always ask how local needs might be supplied from local sources, including the mutual help of neighbors. 4. Always supply local needs first, and only then think of exporting products – first to nearby cities, then to others. 5. Understand the ultimate unsoundness of the industrial doctrine of ‘labor saving’ if that implies poor work, unemployment, or any kind of pollution or contamination. 6. Develop properly scaled value-adding industries for local products to ensure that the community does not become merely a colony of national or global economy. 7. Develop small-scale industries and businesses to support the local farm and/or forest economy. 8. Strive to supply and utilize as much of the community’s own energy as possible. 9. Strive to increase earnings (in whatever form) within the community for as long as possible before they are paid out. 10. Make sure that money paid into the local economy circulates within the community and decreases expenditures outside the community.

11. Make the community able to invest in itself by maintaining its properties, keeping itself clean (without dirtying some other place), caring for its old people and teaching its children. 12. See that the old and young take care of one another. The young must learn from the old, not necessarily and not always in school. There must be no institutionalized childcare and no homes for the aged. The community knows and remembers itself by the association of old and young. 13. Account for costs now conventionally hidden or externalized. Whenever possible, these must be debited against monetary income. 14. Look into the possible uses of local currency, community-funded loan programs, systems of barter and the like. 15. Always be aware of the economic value of neighborly acts. In our time, the costs of living are greatly increased by the loss of neighborhood, which leaves people to face their calamities alone. 16. A rural community should always be acquainted and interconnected with community-minded people in nearby towns and cities. 17. A sustainable rural economy will depend on urban consumers loyal to local products. Therefore, we are talking about an economy that will always be more cooperative than competitive.

ioregional Vision of Sustainability Miguel Santistevan

The first time I became concerned with sustainability was when I was about 15 years old and realized what was going on at Los Alamos. I became aware of the dangers of nuclear waste and plans for the WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Project) site. I could not believe that human beings had, in the last 75-100 years, created technology that could not only destroy the entire planet several times over but had also created nuclear waste that will remain in the environment for millions of years. Later in life, armed with the desire to improve the damaged condition of the earth, I became an activist, studied ecology in college and planted a community garden. I learned that sustainability is not simply a fight against those who destroy the planet. Sustainability honors the knowledge of cultures that know how to be sustainable. For example, the Pueblo people survived for thousands of years in this high desert of northern New Mexico. The Spanish came and settled with a system of acequias (irrigation channels) and land grants that also allowed people to survive and thrive within the means of their environment. Let us remember that we live in a place with high elevation, low rainfall, agriculturally challenging soils, harsh winters and short growing seasons. We do not have the ability to go back in time, nor do we have all the knowledge of the way people lived back then. Yet we can reflect on what it would take to sustain our basic needs, much in the same way land-based people did in this area many years ago. The basic needs of any organism, including humans, are water, food and shelter. Humans are unique because of our additional needs of energy and clothing. An examination of our sustainability must include an analysis of these basic components from a bioregional perspective – a perspective that takes into account that all of our needs can be provided for within the region. Following is an analysis of the basic components of our sustainability with suggestions (hopes) for moving toward more sustainable households and communities.

Water Acquiring and managing clean water will be central to our sustainability. In indigenous times, water for drinking, washing and other domestic uses came from the river, and water for farming mostly came from the sky. Later, in Spanish times, acequias were

dug in northern New Mexico to bring water for irrigation and household use. Hand-dug wells of not more than 100 feet were also constructed at this time to bring groundwater to the surface in a bucket. The forest was open and diverse, acting like a sponge to soak up precipitation that would become groundwater, and later, river ﬂow for the lower watershed.

Irrigation at Tesuque Pueblo

Nowadays, most people know water from turning on the faucet. This water comes from reservoirs or deep groundwater pumps. Unfortunately, in our upper watershed, the forest is overgrown with small diameter trees and does not allow as much winter precipitation to soak into the ground. Asphalt and pavement does not allow water to soak into the ground either, but runs oﬀ and creates erosion. Our relationship with water is not sustainable. More water falls on a typical city in one year from precipitation than the total water used by the population. But in the urban setting, drainage from precipitation is seen as a problem where the water has to be channeled out of town. This water used to soak into the soil and recharge the groundwater and river. A focus on sustainability must include harvesting the water that falls in this area, putting it to use on the landscape and allowing it to soak into the ground. Another most-important aspect of sustainability will be to conserve water supplies and use them wisely within the environment.

Food Food, next to water, is of central importance to our sustainability. It has been said that the food items we consume travel about 1,500 miles to get to us. In today’s society we mostly get food from the store or the restaurant. Chances are that this food was grown with chemical fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides, pesticides, and perhaps genetically engineered seeds. Meat is produced in cramped quarters with antibiotics and hormones. In times past, indigenous cultures produced or hunted all of the food they consumed. Later, the acequia created a system with more available water for irrigation, for domestic animals, and thus more food for the growing population. The key to growing food (and sustainability) is having seeds: Not just seeds from a packet, but seeds that have been grown in an area for many generations. These kinds of seeds know how to survive in this environment; they have sur-

vived in our soils through droughts, frosts, insect attacks and other changes. Native seeds, “landraces” as they are called, are much stronger than seeds you get from the store, and they are our connection to the earth, our survival and the natural cycles of time. A key element to sustainability will be supporting a local food supply. Locally produced food that is organic, traditional or otherwise conscientiously produced will be the key ingredient to our sustainable future. Not only will this limit the environmental damage caused by conventional agriculture; a local food supply will create relationships between farmer and consumer that can be a foundation for a healthy community.

Shelter (Housing) Aﬀordable housing is central to sustainability in that everyone needs a place to live. In the past, creation of a house was a community eﬀort with the help of friends, family and neighbors construct-

ing a house of locally obtained materials: stone, mud, straw and wood. In Spanish and Mexican times, it was against the law to construct a house on irrigated land. Today, many acequias and irrigated lands have been paved over for development: housing, art galleries and stores. The loss of irrigated land for development is unfortunately a loss of land and landraces that used to grow food. Housing could be made with local materials as in the past but with innovations of today to account for thermal mass and passive solar design. There are countless examples of housing using recycled, innovative and local materials such as adobe, straw bale and Earthship construction. The orientation, or how a house sits on the landscape, can save energy in cooling and heating costs if taken into account. In this example, housing can be constructed to work with the cycles of nature and the landscape rather than in arbitrary squares of property in sprawling developments.

Energy Our energy comes from unsustainable fossil fuel sources that produce carbon dioxide and are largely responsible for global warming. The sources of fossil fuels are becoming scarce, and there are eﬀorts by corporations to extract from protected areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and our local Valle Vidal. An environmentally responsible source of energy will be key to a sustainable and restorative future. Energy could be achieved through sustainable management of our forest resources, biodiesel or locally produced ethanol. There are innovations taking place in solar and wind power. Locally, the problem of small diameter timber overcrowding the forest could be turned into a solution of biomass and local ﬁrewood fuel (but only if harvested responsibly). Ethanol can be produced from corn. Where these solutions address the supply of energy, the key to a sustainable future will be to limit our demand and reduce the use of excessive lights, television and transportation.

Clothing Clothing is another necessity that often originates from unsustainable industrial methods complete with sweatshop labor. With a bioregional perspective, clothing could come from locally produced cotton and made into clothes in a socially responsible manner. Leather and wool are also materials that can be produced locally. Finally, there are innovations in fabrics made from recycled materials. ¤¤¤ Sustainability is an exciting field. It includes an interest in innovations in sustainable technology and permaculture, socially energetic relationships and reverence for the natural world. It also includes honoring the past, remembering that we all once belonged to cultures that were sustainable. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, greed, ignorance and necessity got in the way of us living sustainably. Central to our sustainability will be concern for the health of the people in our communities and the environment rather than our own luxuries or the profit margins of global corporations. We, as a community, will have the responsibility of obtaining basic needs for our community rather than every individual for themselves. The economy can be revitalized around local products and entertainment rather than global ones. We will not be destroying the environment; we will be using the surplus of our system to regenerate or restore damaged areas. Sustainability is possible but only if we develop the consciousness first; a consciousness that is centered on belonging to an ecosystem rather than owning the resources it contains; a consciousness that is humble and respectful for what the earth has to offer, making more of what the earth can give rather than simply taking more. In order to achieve these goals as a community or society, we must look to make a change toward sustainability within our own values first.

Miguel Santistevan works for the NM Acequia Association. He has a MS Degree in Agriculture Ecology and has been a Youth Devolopment Specialist and biology teacher. He conducts permaculture and traditional agriculture workshops, and owns & operates a small farm in Taos. His website is www.e-plaza.org/ElMaicero.

rom The Air

Santa Fe as it could be: from the air, the town is laid out like a ribbon of green in the yellow grasslands. Along its spine flows the river: narrow, cold and deep, shaded by tall cottonwoods, trout flashing in its shaded pools. Bicycle highways follow the river, the main arroyos or the contour lines as they traverse from one drainage to the next. Neighborhoods cluster around drainages, nestled one after another into the hollows of the land. Arroyos act as common spaces, the places where people walk, create parks, and come together to manage their water. Runoff from streets and houses is infiltrated where it falls, so that the arroyos no longer erode in big storms. Gardens supported by harvested rainwater flourish in these neighborhoods – growing food and recycling nutrients from each household. Leaves and yard wastes composted on site are used to grow the fertility and water holding capacity of the soil in every yard and park in the city. The city stormwater systems are rerouted so that runoff water can be used to grow street trees and landscaping in the parks. Neighborhoods become cooler in summer as these urban forests mature. Pollutants that used to run off the streets and down to the river are filtered by biologically rich soils in the parks. The stabilized arroyos are verdant with trees and native grasses. Small biological systems, adjacent to the open spaces, process sewage, neighborhood by neighborhood. The purified water is used to keep parks green and to recharge the groundwater. The ancient seeps and springs found throughout the area are reappearing as they are fed by this recharged ground water. The river flows year round as the hydrology begins to heal, supporting and supported by the urban forests nurtured in the neighborhoods. Community gardens and orchards are common, drawing on the additional water being collected and held in and around the arroyos and parks. School grounds and parks are abundant with fruit & nut trees and berries of all sorts, providing foundation plantings and good forage for birds and children alike. Streets connect neighborhoods, allowing easy access for buses & bicycles, delivery vehicles and the occasional car or motor scooter. Each neighborhood has an economic center with shopping and restaurants within walking distance. The transit system connects these centers together. In many ways, this possible Santa Fe is reminiscent of a European town with its handsome, earthy buildings and neighborhoods growing out of the natural landform. One envisions lively street life and vibrant neighborhoods, a comfortable

Pamela Mang human scale and an identity as a cultural crossroads. It is a distinctive place, unique, really, and it works hard to nourish those intrinsic qualities that have made it famous, passing its values and traditions on from one generation to the next. To be truly possible, this imagined Santa Fe must be grounded in the Santa Fe that exists with all its flaws, issues and extraordinary potential. To be genuinely sustainable, the Santa Fe of possibility needs to reflect and reveal who we could authentically be. At its core, this Santa Fe has a gift for translating contrast into creativity. Standing at the interface between mountains and desert, river and dry ground, European and indigenous cultures, historical tradition and present-day pressures, the “City Different” at its best reconciles differences in ways that are authentic and creative. In the Santa Fe of possibility, this creative impulse shows up in diverse arenas: 1. The wisdom of its elders and the unfolding potential of its youth are treasured as resources and actively drawn into the economic, cultural, ecological and artistic dimensions of city life. 2. Santa Fe builds on its strong entrepreneurial spirit to create a vibrant and well-connected web of small local businesses and enterprises whose efforts contribute to the social, economic and ecological health of all her inhabitants. 3. Artistic creativity, already strong in Santa Fe, moves out of the galleries and across the community, expressing the unique spirit of this place in neighborhoods and gathering places. 4. Santa Fe continues to grow as a place where healing occurs and where people come to learn about healing – healing of the land, the river, the human body and the soul. 5. Santa Fe, already home to an extraordinary concentration and diversity of spiritual traditions, continues to be a source of insights that can be taken back to other places where they can flourish. As it has in the past, Santa Fe continues to be a kind of beacon to the rest of America – an example of what can happen when diverse and talented people, inspired by a deep love of place, come together to realize the potential of their community. The worldwide fame that Santa Fe has been able to achieve and sustain has an authentic and legitimate basis rooted in the beauty of the land and in the spirit of its people. No community can be truly sustainable without taking both into account. Pamela Mang works with The Regenesis Group, a Santa Fe-based company that “partners people and their place to regenerate ecosystems and the human spirit.” www.regenesisgroup.com

aunching a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy About Sustainable Living Jan-Willem Jansens

“…Then a teenager dreaming of his future stood up and asked, “Speak to us of Sustainable Living.” And Almustafa answered: “Would that you and all generations could live on the sounds of the tumbling wind and water, and like all that ﬂows be sustained by the sun’s energy alone. Yet, you must gather to eat and drink, build your shelter, and quench the thirst of your desiring heart. To do so for seven generations to come, Earth needs your giving and that of all your cousins and neighbors to replenish its bounty. Your acts of gathering and giving must be harmonious like the sounds of the wind and water of the forest, lest your lives and that of Earth will be as chaotic as thunderstorms and as barren as the desert. Grow your relationship with Earth as you will grow that of your future children. Worship Earth and nurture her potential so that you may use her creative and diverse powers. Yet, free the Earth of exploitation, like you and your ancestors have given freedom and power to anyone you kept in bondage until the strength of the oppressed brought about the wisdom of systemic change. Let there be no specialists or designated care takers, as they will not be able to organize the chaos and bring the desert to bloom 1 All newspapers will have converted to web-based newscasts.

Photo: Courtesy Earth Works Institute

Imagine that in 2025 we read in our E-newscast,1 “Youth of 2005 Fulﬁll a Prophecy of a Sustainable Santa Fe.” Why will we read this? Could it be that young people with youthful imagination will express their dreams in the poetry of a prophecy that changes our ways of caring for the earth? Will these youths perhaps add a new chapter “On Sustainability” to the book The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, the famous Lebanese poet and philosopher of the early twentieth century? If so, it may go like this:

after the hungry taking by all others has left great imbalance in the flows of winds and waters. Sustainable living sprouts from the many small actions of all people in all communities, like the trees and mushrooms of the mountain forests and desert plains scatter their seeds and spores manifold in the selfless joy of their existence.” Yes, guys, it all starts with a dream, a vision. After that, it’s a matter of touching peoples’ hearts and minds. We typically try to change the world with laws, technology and education. But let’s not forget that the greatest changes among humankind were kindled by the power of well-spoken words. Youth in Santa Fe have enormous challenges to find solutions to our sustainability problems, but these challenges are also opportunities. The opportunities are at our doorstep in the diversity of people and institutions that are active in this community. This is a great advantage because big changes and dreams are best hatched and incubated at home. Starting small and local and reaching out to other communities where people live the same dream is the best way to achieve our goal.

“Important sustainability issues in Santa Fe include water and watershed conservation, soil & plant regeneration, smart open space, urban planning and low-energy construction methods.” One valuable step toward achieving a sustainable community in Santa Fe is to follow a systems approach. This means that we have to look at the world through a lens of how things relate to each other, how we relate to the earth, and how we craft solutions that build on the synergy of intelligent forces in Nature. As we say at the Earth Works Institute, we want to grow our relationships to the earth with Nature as our guide.

rely on groundwater for drinking water. According to Santa Fe architect Ed Mazria, the construction industry is responsible for 40% of the country’s energy consumption. Energy prices are soaring, and our little world in Santa Fe is far from the nation’s production centers. This should force us to provide our own sources of renewable energy and ﬁnd more energy-eﬃcient and locally appropriate ways of constructing our homes.

In order to reach a more sustainable relationship to the environment, we need to develop a system of rules and techniques, as integrated as we can make them, which are appropriate to the local ecosystems and inspiring to people. Such solutions may change people’s beliefs and behavior by proving that we can live lighter on the land.

The current generation of youth has the opportunity to use these environmental problems as a turning point to create a more sustainable world. The dream, the models and a collaborative attitude are available to work today on a self-fulﬁlling prophecy about sustainable living in Santa Fe in 2025!

Important sustainability issues in Santa Fe include water and watershed conservation, soil and plant regeneration, smart open space, urban planning and low-energy construction methods. For example, clean water is probably our scarcest resource. Septic tank pollution is the largest source of groundwater contamination in the state, while most people in New Mexico

Jan-Willem has lived in Santa Fe since 1993 following an international career in landscape ecology and planning that brought him from the Netherlands to Kenya, Burkina Faso, Niger, the U.S. and Central America. Currently he serves as Executive Director of Earth Works Institute in Santa Fe, putting to work his passion for building mutually nurturing, sustainable relationships between people and the land.

Ecology & Land Ethic A land ethic is a set of principles that governs our relationship to the land and our acknowledged responsibility to it. The land ethic in northern New Mexico stretches back thousands of years through our indigenous community members, neighbors and their ancestors. Grasping that ethic was a key part of survival. How can we reclaim our current, modern relationship to the land? Aldo Leopold’s posthumous 1949 essay, The Land Ethic, argued for the value of all species as contributing members of the “integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.” Leopold was, perhaps, the ﬁrst Western environmental ethicist. His Ecological Interpretation of History, recognizing humans as members of the larger ecological community, is central to the development of a land ethic. Leopold wrote, “All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. The land

ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.” Leopold’s ethic “changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it.” There are four key insights concerning human-environmental connections expressed in Leopold’s essay: ¤ Humans are co-members of the ecological community; ¤ We ought to love and respect the land; ¤ An ethical relation to the land cannot exist without an ecological conscience; and ¤ “An act is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, diversity, and beauty of the biotic community; it is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

cequias Estevan Arellano

In recent years, if one is politically conscious, undoubtedly you eat “organic” and maybe even become a “vegan.” Of course if one consumes only organic food, then they might be familiar with its twin sibling, sustainable agriculture. We might even practice the tenets of permanent agriculture, “permaculture.”

without knowing it, were the ones who planted the seed of what today is known as permaculture. Permaculture is nothing more than the traditional agricultural methods practiced here for centuries, even before the Spanish settlers arrived. This type of agriculture is “sustainable agriculture” because it has sustained these communities since time immemorial. Go back half a century and you’ll ﬁnd that everything the people ate was “natural,” such as the meat, and deﬁnitely “organic,” for there were no pesticides. Still today, most of the traditional lands have never known insecticides, as traditional farmers used only natural forms of pest control.

But while these concepts are great and we should try to eat organic, be sustainable and follow the precepts of permaculture as much as we can, for the native populations of New Mexico, be they Native Americans or Indo-Hispanos, (the descendants of the ﬁrst Spanish pobladores, or settlers), these concepts may be foreign. Yet, these are the very people who, for centuries

The backbone of permaculture New Mexico style has been the acequia systems, which angle oﬀ on both sides of perennial and intermittent streams across the state. The word comes from the Arab, as-s-qiya, which means, “that which gives us to drink and to irrigate.” More precisely, the word “acequia” came to New Mexico from Yemen. It is the same as the word “noria,” which

New Mexico is a land of many contrasts: high sierras, plains and deserts, natural wonders and man-made environments that have even modiﬁed the climate. Nowadays there’s a lot of concern for the environment, some of which makes sense and some that seems to be made by people with no common sense.

Spring cleaning of the acequia is a community builder.

is a hand dug well to draw water for domestic use. Though the Native Americans practiced irrigation along the banks of the Río Grande and in the Phoenix, Arizona area, the acequias we

Northern New Mexico heirloom beans and corn

Agriculture. This book eventually made its way to the Southwest, and an old copy was found in the Santa Barbara Mission in California. Acequias seem to have originated in the Indus Valley, or in the Pakistan-Afghanistan area. From there this irrigation system migrated to the Middle East, then to the Iberian peninsula where they were laid on top of some of the Roman waterwork remains. Acequias were then used in Mexico, and eventually they made their way to the Española Valley following the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (the Royal Road of the Internal Province). The ﬁrst acequia was dug in present day Chamita, near San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico. A month after the Spanish arrived in San Juan, on Aug. 11th, 1598, this ﬁrst acequia was begun with the help 1,500 men, mostly Indians.

know today were introduced under the Spanish ﬂag. Most of them were the work of Tlaxcalteca Indians from central Mexico, according to agriculture historian Dr. Tomás Martinez Saldaña of Mexico City. These were the same people who settled in the barrio de Analco in Santa Fe prior to 1610.

Today, according to historian Dr. Neal Ackerly, who has done extensive research, there are approximately 2,043 acequias. Acequias are the oldest public works projects in New Mexico and were managed in a way that represents the oldest form of democracy in this country.

The Tlaxcaltecans seemed to have learned the art of agriculture and irrigation from the Spanish friars, who most likely taught them from the ﬁrst book about Spanish agriculture. Gabriel Alonso de Herrera wrote this in the Castilian language in 1513. After the Moors where driven out of Spain in 1492 (the same year Columbus journeyed to this part of the world), the Spanish crown realized that they didn’t have the same knowledge the Moors had about the land and irrigation with acequias. As a result, the Archbishop Cisneros of Toledo commissioned Herrera to write a book. Herrera, who at that time lived in Al- Andaluz, took the task of compiling a book to teach about agriculture. He was chosen because his knowledge came from being a farmer, and because of his travels in the Mediterranean and his knowledge of Heirloom varieties of beans other treatises on agriculture written by the Moors between the 10th and 14th century. But he went further in his research and interviewed old Moorish farmers who still lived in and around Granada. From those sources he compiled his book, Obra de Agricultura, or The Art of

Though today most would think that acequias are part of nature since they are organic and mimic nature, we tend to forget that they are man-made and thus they have inﬂuenced the climate. Though no studies have been done to substantiate my theory, all one has to do is analyze tree ring studies. It is evident that as acequias increased, so did precipitation because the riparian area had increased in size. Acequias therefore have had an immense impact on the New Mexico landscape. This has been for the better because it allowed for more food to be grown. Acequias have made it possible for exotic fruits such as apricots, apples, peaches, chiles, tomatoes and other vegetables to grow in this barren landscape.

Developers and politicians might say that acequias waste water, but the opposite is true. We must protect our acequias. They help to recharge the aquifer, clean the water, and provide habitat, shelter and food for wildlife and for domestic animals. They have also become the “seed banks” for heirloom seeds and heritage fruits that are only found in acequia habitats. What needs to be done today to preserve the traditional farmers’ knowledge that can contribute so much to sustainable production? We need to understand the knowledge that is imbedded in the old Spanish traditions of northern New Mexico and apply it to modern methods and technologies whenever possible. If this is not done, then without actually moving from the land, the traditional farmers will be exiled from their own history, and acequias will only be part of the past instead of the future. As food imports increase, they make a country or a region such as New Mexico lose touch with a sense of its own history and geography. What we need is a democratic revolution based on the principles of the acequia system and the ways food can be grown here. We will then be able to recover our historical awareness, to rediscover our forgotten realities (such as terrace farming) and recognize the value of native products and community organization. For what better way to understand democracy than through the food grown with acequias, the most democratic of all institutions? The aim of continuing the acequias as they have existed is to rescue this rural landscape as the source of well-being, and to propose a democratic order based on food and water. Acequias oﬀer an economic model with the basic aim to feed the population both now and in the future. For if the generosity of the land is replaced by the hostility of the urban environment, the idea of society as community will be replaced by individualism as a response to the hostile surroundings.

Estevan Arellano is the Mayordomo of the Embudo acequia and runs the recently opened La Charola restaurant, a few yards away from the churning waters of the Rio Embudo.

The concept of convidar, or sharing what one prepares to eat, has to return to our vocabulary. In the not too distant past when anyone went to visit and to knock on someone’s door, it was always with bread, that is, food. Food is a cultural symbol, one nourished by acequias. As acequias have fallen by the wayside, so has the sharing of food, thus eroding the democracy that existed in local communities. Acequia-irrigated chile hung to dry

ilderness Preservation in New Mexico Nathan Newcomer

Wilderness designation and on-going advocacy. Composed of 10 staﬀ members, 14 members of the Board of Directors and a growing membership of 4000 individuals, the Alliance continues to focus on protecting more wild lands in New Mexico as Wilderness through public education, grassroots organizing, media outreach and scientiﬁc research. Currently, the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance is involved in three campaigns:

New Mexico is the birthplace of the American Wilderness. Seventy-five years ago, Aldo Leopold, one of America’s true conservation visionaries, led the effort to create our nation’s first Primitive Area (the precursor to Wilderness) in what is now the Gila Wilderness, near Silver City. The citizens of New Mexico have carried on that long and proud tradition of Wilderness protection. Since the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, conservationists in New Mexico have organized to designate twenty-three areas to the Wilderness system, 1.6 million acres – 2.1% of the state. This is an achievement of which all New Mexicans can be proud, for it honors our belief that land and culture are inseparable. In preserving the land, we are preserving our unique cultures. However, the job of protecting New Mexico’s fragile landscape is not complete. Over 2.5 million acres of wild public lands in New Mexico, many of which are still threatened by oil and gas development, off-road vehicle abuse, and urban sprawl, qualify for wilderness protection. The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, founded in 1997, is the state’s only grassroots environmental organization dedicated to the protection, restoration, and continued enjoyment of New Mexico’s wild lands and Wilderness Areas. The primary goal of the Alliance is to ensure the protection and restoration of all remaining wild lands in New Mexico through administrative designations, federal

1. Otero Mesa New Mexico’s Otero Mesa, nearly the size of Delaware at 1.2 million acres, is considered America’s largest and wildest remaining grassland. However, full-scale oil and gas development is threatening to destroy this wild Chihuahuan desert grassland for potentially a few days of oil and gas. The black grama grasslands of Otero Mesa represent one of the most rare ecosystems in the world. The area supports thriving herds of pronghorn antelope, countless migratory songbirds and raptors, along with independent ranchers who have been there for ﬁve generations. It also sits atop the only untapped aquifer in New Mexico, capable of supplying hundreds of thousands of people with fresh drinking water for hundreds of years. For info: www.oteromesa.org 2. Ojito The Greater Ojito Area is a phenomenal landscape less than an hour northwest of Albuquerque. Important management areas within the greater Ojito Area include the Ojito Wilderness Study Area and the Ojito Area of Critical Environmental Concern. The region is comprised of public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, lands owned and administered by the Pueblo of Zia, and a small number of privately owned holdings. Ojito oﬀers incredible recreational opportunities, harbors important cultural and historical sites, and provides important habitat for many species of wildlife and rare plants. The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance is working with the state’s representatives in Washington, D.C. to pass the Ojito Wilderness Act. If passed, Ojito will be the

3. Roadless Rule The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance is working with local and national groups to protect the last 30% of America’s roadless National Forests from logging and road building. 1.6 million acres of roadless National Forests exist in New Mexico and many of them contain the watersheds for fresh drinking water, which is supplied to dozens of New Mexico’s towns and cities, including Santa Fe. For info: www.ourforests.org How to Contact Us: The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance 202 Central SE, Suite 101 • Albuquerque, NM 87102 505-843-8696 • 505-843-8697 fax • www.nmwild.org

Photos Courtesy NM Wilderness Alliance

ﬁrst wilderness area designated in New Mexico in almost 20 years. For info: www.ojito.org

The Santa Fe

atershed

Alex McDonough The Santa Fe Watershed is comprised of 245 square miles of land draining into the Santa Fe riverbed. The river starts in the mountains at Santa Fe Lake and runs (sometimes) until it hits the Rio Grande. The river is filled with snowmelt, city runoff, treated effluent from the sewage treatment plant, and fresh rainwater. Like many cities, Santa Fe is located where it is because of a river.1 The Thames, Seine, Ganges, Nile, Hudson and Mississippi all provide cities with water for life and a spiritual center. Spring saw the Santa Fe River brimming with water, but it has since returned to its normal dead, dry sandy bed with the occasional trickle. Downstream from Santa Fe, the river flows clean from the waste treatment plant, and the acequia is usually full when it needs to be. It seems the city is the only area of the Santa Fe watershed without water.

ject much discussed within the city, but a glance at the current state of the river shows no progress. Through frustration, craving for aesthetics, love for nature and programs like those operated by the SFWA and other organizations, the community is beginning to become more involved. Candidates in the upcoming mayoral election include an Adopt The River sponsor, Karen Walker of Karen Walker Real Estate, and a steward, city councilman David Coss, formerly of the State Land Oﬃce.

A sandy, rocky arroyo is all that snakes its way through Santa Fe today. In the past, ducks, sparkled trout, and cottonwoods populated the river. It flowed clear, clean water. Now it gets filled with trash and is eroded by the occasional rainstorm. It doesn’t hold up well against the needs of big money expansion.2 Downstream water rights holders like Texas have claims on the water and are accustomed to suing if there are any shenanigans.3 “The river itself is not represented,” says Verne Stanford, Executive Director of the Santa Fe Watershed Association. “It’s managed like a drain.” The SFWA is working for a more sustainable relationship with the river. Through their Adopt the River program, local sponsors financially support stewards who work on sections of the river, tidying it up, working to stop erosion and maintaining native plants. A local nonprofit can do little to alleviate the fact that Santa Fe has a river problem. The city is in charge of the flow but is amenable to the responsibility of helping fulfill downstream pacts with Texas and other places. Though plans calling for restored water flow within Santa Fe have been approved by the city, only a small amount of progress has been made in actually achieving this goal. Money has been spent: $4 million4 between 1997 and 1999, and less ($54,000) in 2002-03 for erosion control only, not wetness. Restoring the Santa Fe River is a sub1, 4 “Running Dry” by Stacy Matlock, The Santa Fe New Mexican, Nov. 9, 2003. 2 “’Adopt-A-River’ Program Springs Up” by Adam Rankin, Albuquerque Journal, Dec. 27, 2002. 3 “River flows after ‘wettest winter ever’” by Paul Weiderman, Santa Fe Real Estate Guide, July, 2005.

The Santa Fe “River”

“It took us ﬁfty to seventy ﬁve years to get the river in the sad state it’s in,” says Coss, “[The problem is] there’s no entity in the city with the established goal of cleaning up the river... We should have a policy that the needs of the river must be addressed; we need a city division or workgroup with that

“The need of the river is water,” says Walker. “The first thing I would do would be to take a look at recycling our water... Take [clean, drinkable] effluent from the sewage treatment plant and run it up pipes, then put it back in at the top... Then we can recharge the water tables so they don’t collapse. The best way to do that is to run the water down slowly with weirs.” Of the city, she says, “People approve things and write plans all the time. Until it becomes translated into an ordinance, it won’t happen.” The river is our aorta. Without its sustainable healthy cycle, Santa Fe is having a social-geological heart attack. The river wants a return to the state in which it flowed freely. If it is allowed to branch out, it may energize all life that lies on its banks. A sustainable river would be full of water and life, it would support the community that was built around it, and in turn its community would support it. Farmers would benefit from the acequia, and dirty runoff from the streets would not be allowed to soil its clean waters.

Photo: Santa Fe Watershed Association

task... The politicians need to catch up with the community; I hear the community and I want to make it happen.”

Santa Fe River storm surge

Alex McDonough is a recent Monte del Sol Charter School graduate and a two-year veteran of Earth Care classes and programs. For more info, contact the Santa Fe Watershed Association: 820-1696

The

ind Of A Place David Abram

After all, anybody is as their land and air is. Anybody is as the sky is low or high, the air heavy or clear and anybody is as there is wind or no wind there. It is that which makes then and the arts they make and the work they do and the way they eat and the way they drink and the way they learn and everything. Gertrude Stein (fro m An American and France, 1936) When we allow that mind is a luminous quality of the earth, an attribute endemic to the wide sphere that sustains and surrounds us, we swiftly notice this consequence: each region – each topography, each uniquely patterned ecosystem – has its own particular awareness, its unique style of intelligence. After all, the air, this translucent medium of exchange between the breathing bodies of any locale, is subtly diﬀerent in each terrain. The atmosphere of the coastal northwest of North

America, infused with saltspray and the tang of spruce, cedar and fir needles, tastes and feels quite different from the air shimmering in the heat rising from the soil of the southwest desert -- hence the black-gleamed ravens who carve loops through the desert sky speak a very different dialect of squawks and guttural cries than the cedar-perched ravens of the Pacific northwest, whose vocal arguments are filled with the liquid tones of falling water. Likewise the atmosphere that rolls over the great plains, gathering now and then into vorticed tornados, contrasts vividly with the mists that advance and recede along the California coast, and even with the blustering winds that pour through the Rocky Mountain passes. The specific geology of a place yields a soil rich in particular minerals, and the rains and rivers that feed those soils invite a unique blend of grasses, shrubs, and trees to take root there. These, in turn, beckon particular animals to browse their leaves, or to eat their fruits and

distribute their seeds, to pollinate their blossoms or simply to find shelter among their roots, and thus a complexly entangled community begins to emerge, bustling and humming within itself. Every such community percolates a different chemistry into the air that animates it, joining whiffs and subtle pheromones to the drumming of woodpeckers and the crisscrossing hues of stone and leaf and feather that echo back and forth through that terrain, while the way that these diverse elements blend with one another is affected by the noon heat that beats down in some regions, or the frigid cold that hardens the ground in others. Each place has its rhythms of change and metamorphosis, its specific style of expanding and contracting in response to the turning seasons, and this, too, shapes -- and is shaped by -- the sentience of that land. Whether we speak of a whole range of mountains, or of a small valley within that range, in every case there is a unique intelligence circulating among the various constituents of the ecosystem – a style evident in the way events unfold in that place, how the slow spread of the mountain’s shadow alters the insect swarms above a cool stream, or the way a forested slope rejuvenates itself after a fire. For the precise amalgamation of elements that structures each valley exists nowhere else. Each place, that is to say, is a unique state of mind, and the many powers that constitute and dwell within that locale – the spiders and the tree-frogs no less than the humans – all participate in, and partake of, the particular mind of the place. Of course, I can hardly be instilled by this intelligence if I only touch down, briefly, on my way to elsewhere. Only by living for many moons in one place, my peripheral senses tracking seasonal changes in the local plants while the scent of the soil steadily seeps in through my pores -- only over time can the intelligence of a place lay claim upon my person. Slowly, as the seasonal round repeats itself again and again, the lilt and melody of the local songbirds becomes an expectation within my ears, and so the mind I’ve carried with me settles into the wider mind that enfolds me. Changes in the terrain begin to release and mirror my own, internal changes. The slow metamorphosis of colors within the landscape; the way mice migrate into the walls of my home as the air grows colder; oak buds bursting and unfurling their leaves to join a million other leaves on that tree in agile, wind-tossed exuberance before they tumble, spent, to the ground; the way a wolf-spider weaves her spiraling web

in front of the rear porchlight every spring – each such patterned event, quietly observed, releases analogous metamorphoses within myself. Without such tunement and triggering by the earthly surroundings, my emotional body is stymied, befuddled – forced to spiral through its necessary transformations without any guidance from the larger Body (and hence entirely out of phase with my neighbors, human and nonhuman). Sensory perception, here, is the silken web that binds our separate nervous systems into the encompassing ecosystem. Human communities, too, are inflected by the particular sentience of the living lands that they inhabit. There is a unique temperament to the bustling commerce and culture of any oldenough city, a mental climate that we instantly recognize upon returning after several years, and that we mistakenly ascribe solely to the human inhabitants of the metropolis. It is a result, we surmise, of the particular trades that the city is known for, or the dynamic mix of ethnicities that interact there, or the heavy-handed smugness of the local police force. Yet all such social dynamics draw nourishment from the elemental energies of the realm -- from the heavy overcast that cloaks the sky for weeks at a time, or the profusion of flocking birds that nest on the ledges of apartment buildings, or the splashing speech of the river that rolls through downtown, tossing glints of sunlight into the eyes of all who walk near, or from the way the greasy exhaust from a hundred thousand commuting cars interacts with the humidity of the summer air. The dismal social ills endemic to certain cities have often been stoked by the foolishness of urban designers who ignored the specific wildness of the place, the genius loci, the unique intelligence of the land now squelched and stifled by local industries. A calloused coldness, or meanness, results when our animal senses are cut off for too long from the animate earth, when our ears – inundated by the whooping blare of car-alarms and the muted thunder of subways – no longer encounter the resonant silence, as our eyes forget the irregular wildness of things green and growing behind the rectilinear daze. David Abram is a Santa Fe based cultural ecologist and philosopher. He is author of The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World (Pantheon/Vintage), for which he received the Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction. Abram was named by Utne Reader as one of a hundred visionaries currently transforming the world, He is a founder of The Alliance for Wild Ethics.

Agriculture & Food Northern New Mexico – despite its dramatic, sweeping, seemingly barren desert vistas and limited rainfall – is rich in agricultural oﬀerings. Walk around the Santa Fe Farmers Market in August and the abundance is astounding. What potential. Locally (and often organically) produced vegetables, meat, bread, cheese, soaps, ﬂowers, chiles, wool and art are a feast for the belly and eyes. How can the citizens of northern New Mexico help grow these local treasures? Sustainability encourages the creation and expansion of health promoting, environmentally sound and locally driven and owned food systems. Today’s agriculture and food systems are extraordinarily productive, but in the long run may not be sus-

tainable. They have created tremendous pressure on natural resources and surrounding natural habitats, and have compromised the economic health of rural communities, the food security of economically disadvantaged citizens, and the well being of many of those who grow and harvest our food. Sustainable agriculture utilizes farming and ranching practices that produce quality food and other products, while preserving open space, abundant wildlife and other forms of biodiversity. These integrated, resource-conserving farming systems reduce environmental degradation, promote agricultural productivity and economic viability in both the short and long terms.

raditional Native American Farmers Association

T r a d i t i o n a l A g r i c u l t u r e/Permaculture Design Course Clayton Brascoupe

The Traditional Native saw the need to develop American Farmers Association our own resource base of (TNAFA) formed in 1992 knowledge and for people when a group of native fam- Clayton Brascoupe with corn harvest at Tesuque Pueblo to have “sustainable comily farmers met to discuss our concerns about the loss of agrimunities.” We began hosting half-day, one-day and two-day culture in our communities. In subsequent meetings, other workshops in sustainable living, community design and tradiconcerns were also discussed such as the loss of original seeds, tional agriculture. We did this for several years before we comcommunity social problems, changing climate, physical health, mitted to the full two-week design course in 1996. With 25 lack of equipment, lack of money, access to agricultural loans, students in attendance, we felt it was a success. We used a syllack of adequate housing and water rights. We felt these issues labus supplied by the International Permaculture Institute for were related, and solutions would have to be interconnected in this first year. Each year since, we have modified the course to order to have a lasting effect. reflect our community needs and cultures while still covering the areas recommended by the IPI. For the past ten years our association has cosponsored, with a variety of community organizations, the Traditional Scheduling the Traditional Agriculture/Permaculture Design Agriculture/Permaculture Design Course. Course in the last two weeks of July has worked best for the surrounding communities. It is early enough in the season that My introduction to permaculture came some years before the the gardens we have planted still have some time to grow, and formation of TNAFA. I had been invited to hear Bill Mollison late enough in the season to see some things growing that had speak at an old schoolhouse in Lamy about his success with been planted in the early spring, such as cover crops (to build permaculture. I was not completely sold on these ideas, but he the soil), perennial fields and annual beds. said several things that I had heard from our own elders. This gave me enough interest to explore these concepts. After several Our TNAFA team builds the course agenda day by day, trying years of learning more about permaculture, I began to see how best to integrate each day’s activities to flow into one another. it related to our own permanent culture. For example, we might have morning presentations on preserving genetic diversity; then in the afternoon, hands-on seed We then began to use some of these concepts in our workshops cleaning and then evening activities preparing traditional foods but from our own cultural base. Through this process we also from ancient seed. The next day we discuss solutions to health

issues in our communities using traditional diet and traditional health practices. Instruction comes in the forms of a classroom type setting, hands-on work, and ﬁeld trips to local pueblos and other communities. Students get to see and work on community projects or visit gardens hundreds of years old. Each day of instruction lasts from eight to twelve hours. The lunch is part of the course. We provide a one-hour lunch break with a healthy, locally prepared meal using local ingredients.

Indigenous Solutions for a Sustainable Future

Over the past ten years we have also hosted several short courses on traditional sustainable living in a wide variety of communities throughout the Americas. These have led to a number of developing training sites in North and Central America.

The emphasis of this course is to demonstrate how all things are interconnected (all of our relations) in a positive or negative manner. Good local foods can have a positive relationship to the land and people. Other types of food can have the opposite eﬀect, as industrialized agriculture doesn’t build topsoil, communities or local economics and isn’t healthy for the consumer. Each year we have tried to host the course in various locations but not too far away from our home base at Tesuque Pueblo. We want to make the course more accessible to a variety of people and to present diﬀerent examples of ecological problems and solutions. This course has been designed to develop resource people from within our indigenous communities. An emphasis has been on training indigenous people. However, each year we have allowed a limited number of non-indigenous people to attend. We do this for several reasons. One is that we all must be able to work on environmental and social issues together and learn how to do it from a broader perspective. By allowing nonindigenous people in this course, we start to learn how to work together as relatives.

Henry Gomez of Taos Pueblo with native squash

tion of these relationships after the course. Some of our students have developed programs in their own communities that fellow students may visit or experience. We have seen projects develop in Canada, the US, Belize, Central America, and in Brazil.

Each of the students brings with them a wealth of knowledge and life experience. The course is designed to encourage the exchange of knowledge among all students. It also encourages the continua-

Shucking Tesuque Pueblo blue corn

For more information on the design course, any of our other training programs or native instructors, please contact our office. Clayton Brascoupe (Mohawk -Tesuque Pueblo), Program Director Traditional Native Farmers Association P.O. Box 31267 Santa Fe, New Mexico 87594 TNAFA is an affiliate program of the Seventh Generation Fund, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.

ermacultural Paradigm Nate Downey

“Sustainability” and “permaculture” were both coined in 1972, probably the best year for new nomenclature since 1587—the year “naturalist” made its linguistic debut. Since both describe systems that survive indefinitely, sustainability and permaculture are synonymous. Of the two, the term sustainability is a better motivator of mainstream culture because it stimulates the imagination without requiring too much thought. In contrast, permaculture more effectively inspires activists looking to apply a practical philosophy. Perhaps the three, smile-forcing “e” sounds at the end of “sustainab-il-it-y” convey a friendlier tone than its clumsier cousin. Maybe “perma-culture” resonates for too many folks with an overabundance of curly hairstyles. More likely however, it’s the triple contraction of “permanent,” “culture” and “agriculture” that solicits too much concentration from the average Joe. Regardless of the reasons, it is helpful to recognize how each term should occupy a distinct beneficial place in our vernacular of change. Despite all its baggage, permaculture is extremely important to the sustainability movement. As a detailed and comprehensive educational system that gives its students ethics to consider, principles to interpret, patterns to recognize, methods to master and techniques to try, permaculture provides clear goals amidst a plethora of opportunities to be creative. Also, as a growing international movement, permaculture claims successful demonstration sites all over the world. These models make reinventing the wheel of sustainability unnecessary. With “agriculture”

imbedded in its etymology, permaculture forces us to comprehend this truth: Food is the most basic ingredient in any sustainable society. In order for our food systems to be sustainable, we need to produce a supermajority of our food locally. So the question becomes, if we are to prevent cultural collapse, how do we begin to reduce our dependence on imported food? Here’s a three-step plan: First, grow at least a miniscule portion of your own food and increase the amount you grow every year for the rest of your life. Start with something as small as a window box of salad mix. Then, sheet mulch the part of your property that you plan to plant the following year. Realize that diversity and synergy are key components of a sustainable food supply. Whenever possible, plant perennials because they need less maintenance and water than annual species. Always look to extend your growing season by using south facing walls, windows, cold frames, and

greenhouses to generate a four-season harvest. In addition to helping the planet move toward sustainability, your food will be healthier, tastier, and available at a moment’s notice. And if you have children, never forget that the hands-on learning that they gain from gardening is rarely rivaled by any other experience. Second, visit your local farmers’ market every week and try to consume fewer foods from far away. We need to be religious about our attendance at farmers’ markets during peak harvest times and throughout the year. We must master recipes for whatever is in season. Even in winter, the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market often has a few booths with fresh greens, sprouts and mushrooms. Root crops and winter squash, as well as hydroponic tomatoes, are often available during cooler months. In addition, you’ll ﬁnd most of the frozen meat, canned food, and dried fruit you’ll ever need at various markets throughout our bioregion. When choosing a grocery store, choose the most locally owned store available and try to pick homegrown products whenever

possible. When deciding on a restaurant, support the Local Farms to Restaurants Project. Call the Santa Fe Alliance at 989-5362 or visit www.e-plaza.org for details. Third, get together with like-minded souls, learn from each other, and always remember that big shifts happen slowly. It’s a wonderful thing to have friends who have experienced a permacultural paradigm shift. These folks have, in an almost spiritual sense, awakened with an “aha!” moment in which they suddenly see how possible it is to make substantial cultural changes using a philosophy based on natural principles. This kind of positive, communal energy is contagious and powerful, and it will ultimately be the reason why modern culture makes it back from the verge of self-destruction – if it ever does. However, after all the sheet mulching, composting, cold frames, sunken beds, raised beds, bean tipis, herb spirals, fruit-tree guilds, chicken fencing, bunny slaughtering, canning, drying and freezing, at some

point many of these same people realize how technologically addicted we all have become and how far we really have to go to attain food sustainability. At this somewhat depressing moment, let’s remember that perfectionism can get in the way of good work. Instead of being overly critical of our natural indulgences (and those of our friends and neighbors), we should go back and build on some previous success and not dwell on the long, harrowing distance to our goal of permanent human culture. The great granddaddy of permaculture, Bill Mollison, illustrates how easy food sustainability can be—compared to the steps necessary to make most of our industrial food. First he shows a picture of an egg drawn in the middle of a flipchart. Various branches of labeled arrows point toward the egg. On the largest branch, an iron ore factory, a coal mine and a steelworks point to a power plant. The power plant aims at a fungicide factory, an herbicide handler, a pesticide producer, a fertilizer franchise, a hormone laboratory, and an antibiotic drug dealer. All of these arrows hone in on modern mega-agriculture where grain is grown and shipped off first to the pellet manufacturer, then the egg factory, the warehouse, and finally to your friendly neighborhood grocery conglomerate. Three more flurries of arrows pierce the page from various flanks. Wall Street bankers, Madison Avenue advertisers and Middle America marketeers approach from the east. Drilling rigs, crude oil refineries and truck transportation appear from the west. Finally, a small quill sneaks up from below. These arrows symbolize our personal trip to the ATM, the gas station, the supermarket and back home with eggs. Finally, having drawn a picture not unlike the fourth ring of the ninth circle of hell, Mollison turns the page. There he has sketched a simple scene: A small chicken coop

abuts a quaint yard surrounded by an edible hedge. A few chickens peck under the shade of a leguminous tree. Inside the coop, a fat fowl has laid an egg on a small bed of straw. And in a scene reminiscent of those famous fingers on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, a human hand reaches effortlessly for the egg. From our perch here at the peak of our international food-distribution system, it certainly appears that real sustainability will be difficult to achieve, but at least the goal is a much more simple system than the complex, wasteful and unsustainable system that delivers our food today. In an age of severe weather, global terrorism, rising gas prices and famine throughout much of the world, our industrial agricultural system makes less sense than it did a generation or two ago.

Chile roasting at the Santa Fe Famer’s Market

Whatever vernacular emerges now, let’s hope it moves us away from the wasteful and polluting systems of industrial agriculture and toward the ethics and principles of permaculture. In this way, we can help save civilization from itself, and as an extra bonus, restore our country’s positive image as an innovator worthy of friendship.

Photo: Ecoversity, www.ecoversity.org

Nate Downey is president of Santa Fe Permaculture, an ecological landscaping company he started in 1992. He teaches regular permaculture workshops. His ﬁrst book, Harvest the Rain, will be published in 2006 by Sunstone Press. Nate may be contacted at 424 - 4444 or visit www. santafepermaculture.com.

arth-Friendly Ways of Managing Insect Pests Linda Wiener

When confronted with an unfamiliar insect in the house, many people react in this time-honored style. They grab a substance from under the sink: Raid or another insect poison – but sometimes Lysol, hairspray or oven cleaner. Then, spray the unknown bug with the product and hope it dies. Another approach is to call a traditional local pest control company. They come and spray your house to kill the insect and will sell you a contract to spray every month so you will not be confronted with this upsetting bug again Luckily for all of us and for the environment, there are safer, more sustainable ways to confront bug problems. Some terms used to describe these new attitudes and approaches include integrated pest management (IPM), least toxic insect control, and biological insect control. The most important pest management tool is knowledge. We need to know what the insect is and if it has potential to harm people, pets, food, clothes, plants or structures. If it is potentially harmful, is it present in high enough numbers to cause actual harm? What is the life cycle of this insect? Are there ways to prevent it from doing harm? If it needs to be controlled, are there methods that do not kill or sicken other creatures that are doing no harm or are even beneficial? What life stage is the easiest to control? The best way to illustrate this is with an example. A common vegetable garden pest in this area is the squash vine borer, a moth that attacks squash, cucumber and muskmelon vines. The first sign of infestation is usually the wilting of some of the vines. Inside these stems are white caterpillars whose feeding causes the wilting. The adult stage of the caterpillar is a beautiful moth that mimics wasps in appearance and behavior—they buzz and will pretend to sting if handled, though they have no sting. They usually mate and lay eggs in early June. What do you do if your squash vines start wilting? In this case, the caterpillars are already feeding inside the stem. Stems can be split lengthwise, the caterpillars taken out, and the stems reburied in fresh dirt. They will put out new roots! (Sometimes I’ve had inconsistent results with this). The patient gardener can inject the infested stems (using a garden syringe) with parasitic nematodes, a parasite that kills insects but does not affect any other kind of organism. The stems can also be injected with Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki (Bt), a bacterium that kills

the caterpillars of butterflies and moths, but does not affect other organisms. Both of these methods use a small amount of a material that will kill only the pest insect without harming any other organism, a desirable and sustainable outcome. If you have a lot of squash plants, these approaches are too labor intensive. Pheromone traps are helpful. These have the chemicals that the females use to attract males for mating. Males are caught, and the gardener knows precisely when adults are mating and laying eggs, which hatch in about one week. The stems of the plant can be sprayed with Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki, which will kill the young caterpillars when they try to bore into the vines. Of course, even better than using these great methods is not having a problem at all. Knowledge of the insect’s life cycle is crucial. The insect spends the winter in the cocoon stage in the soil. The adult females mate and look for plants that have just started vining on which to lay their eggs. The trick is to not have plants in this stage when the females are laying eggs. Plant squash late, say beginning to mid-June, instead of mid-May, and your plants are safe! If you had squash vine borer this year, what can you do to prevent them from coming back? Pull up the plants right after harvest and burn them or dispose of them in hot compost. Caterpillars still in the plants will be killed. Turn up the soil where squash was planted in the fall. This exposes the cocoons that will then be eaten by birds and will be susceptible to freezing. This example illustrates the many benefits of using a sustainable approach to insect management. Insect damage can be prevented and controlled using knowledge of the insect and its life cycle. Methods that do not harm the environment or other organisms can very often be used. The knowledge of the insect world and the ecology & behavior of insects and plants is a benefit in itself, raising our appreciation of the beauty and ecological importance of even pest insects. The Bug Lady, aka Linda Wiener, does consulting, lectures, classes, surveys and workshops on insects and Integrated Pest Management. “Education sustains our ecosystems by replacing fear with knowledge.” She can be reached at 984-2371 or TheBugLady@aol.com.

unger is Not Sustainable Mark Winne

The parking lot at my local Albertson’s was jammed this past Saturday. I had to weave my way in and out of several rows of cars before I finally found a parking spot next to the dumpster. The store’s aisles were just as chaotic, as shoppers maneuvered their carts in a bumper-car frenzy to avoid head-on collisions with one another. Pressing my way through the traffic, my agitation grew when I discovered that my favorite cereal was out of stock, I had to wait five minutes before the deli attendant could slice my preferred cheese and the checkout line was so long I had time to read People magazine from cover to cover. As I was loading my bulging bags of food into the car, it occurred to me that I had not even glanced at my grocery receipt. I had swiped my Visa card, trading nearly $200 in credit and less than one hour of my time for my weekly groceries, without even batting an eyelash. And as I backed my car carefully away from the dumpster, I wondered if 270,000 hungry and food insecure New Mexicans wouldn’t gladly trade places with me. According to the USDA, that’s the number of people in the Land of Enchantment who have significant difficulty getting enough food to sustain a normal, healthy life. They are children, elderly, single mothers and people who can’t make ends meet working for $7 an hour. They don’t have credit cards, don’t get upset when the checkout line is too long, and don’t worry about where to park their car because they may not have one. They pay for their food with food stamps, WIC vouchers, and cash and well before the end of the month, they are likely to augment their groceries with food from a food pantry. Over 14% of New Mexico’s population—the fourth highest rate in the country—are hungry or food insecure. It should come as no surprise that New Mexico’s high poverty rate—18% of the population—is a major cause. According to New Mexico Voices for Children, a family with two adults and two children living in Santa Fe must earn $18 per hour to secure life’s basic necessities (“Bare Bones Budget,” 2003). For those who earn less, food is one place to cut corners. To put it bluntly, hunger and poverty are not sustainable. A child who goes to school on an empty stomach will not learn. For adults, poverty saps their strength and robs their souls of their better natures, which increases the likelihood that they will become burdens on society. Like natural systems, we can’t

take more out of people than is returned before society and its various segments begin to malfunction. While poverty is not intractable, its elimination in the near future is not likely. Fortunately, the same is not true for hunger. Although there is legitimate concern for the sustainability of our food producing resources, there is more than enough food to feed everyone well. We have a huge commitment from both the public and private sectors to end hunger—225,000 New Mexicans receive food stamps, and our food banks, like the Food Depot in Santa Fe, are gathering and distributing millions of pounds of food each year. Through our farmers’ markets we are helping farmers earn a decent return from their hard labor, and through the WIC/Farmers Market Nutrition Program, we are giving low-income mothers and children the opportunity to buy high quality produce at those markets. Yes, good things are happening across New Mexico, but as Langston Hughes once said, “The people are still hungry, hungry yet today, despite the dream.” And it remains very unsettling to know that so many of our fellow New Mexicans worry about where their next meal will come from. In the spirit of building a more sustainable approach to ending hunger, we might heed the recommendation of the natural resources writer Donella Meadows to “strengthen the ability of the system to shoulder its own burden.” We can do that by continuing to link more local eﬀorts and programs, such as the ones noted above. Individually, we can look for every opportunity to end hunger from donating food to a food bank to asking our elected oﬃcials to provide more public funds for food stamps and child nutrition programs. Most importantly, we need to encourage and strengthen collaborations between organizations, agencies and individuals in every community. Collaborations require relatively little energy to operate. When working well, they actually produce their own energy through the creation of new ideas, connections and shared resources. Although individual organizations are making progress to end hunger, we can accomplish more together than we will ever do alone. Mark Winne lives in Santa Fe and works as a freelance writer and consultant on food system issues. He is a member of the New Mexico Task Force to End Hunger and the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council. Mark can be reached by email at win5m@aol.com.

Hopi Corn

Solar Smith Full Page 7 x 9.75 Color

Business & Production

Economy & Finance So it’s all about the money, right? While some would certainly argue with that statement, it does bring up a question: Where exactly does money – and economy – fit into the sustainability picture? From the perspective of sustainability, there is really no separation between effective economic development and overall community development. Sustainable economic stability for individuals, families and businesses starts with job creation the bedrock of sustainable development. As meaningful jobs are created that provide above average income, benefits and career opportunities, the impact ripples through the community with increased buying power and stability for families. This influences how people live their lives and can impact education successes, lower crime rates and create greater awareness of the quality of life in the community. Corporate sustainability performance is now an investable concept. As interest and investments in sustainable enterprises & products increases, companies and investors are benefiting and there will be positive effects on the societies and economies of both the developed and developing world. Many thousands of small businesses are leading the way toward sustainability. The list of corporate visionaries is growing rapidly, paving the way for the rest to follow. There are sustainability leaders in every

industry. The Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the FTSE Index are just two of the emerging financial indexes that cover sustainable companies worldwide. In fact, the sustainable sector of many industries is where the action is, whether it’s in agriculture & organic products, design & construction, renewable energy, etc. Santa Fe, fortunately, has a healthy population of locally owned businesses, despite the threats of large-scale, out-of-town corporate competition. The Santa Fe Alliance has published a local business directory (www.santafealliance.com ). We encourage you to patronize these businesses whenever possible. We hope the next step that many of these locals make is one toward sustainable practices. So what does it mean to be a ‘sustainable business’? That’s a big, rowdy question… Sustainability in business advocates say that profitable businesses must be socially and environmentally responsible, and that social & environmental innovation is key to the new market opportunities of the future. Sustainable businesses offer products and services that fulfill society’s needs while contributing to the well being of all earth’s inhabitants. However, if it’s not profitable, its not sustainable.

If you need to purchase building, oﬃce, home or recreaation supplies, or just need to have that new ‘widget’, it’s a good idea to consider the production of those items before laying out the cash. Are there better – but still aﬀordable - alternatives available?

ustainable Business

from The Ecology of Commerce (1993), by Paul Hawken: ¤ replace nationally and internationally produced items with products created locally and regionally. ¤ take responsibility for the eﬀects they have on the natural world. ¤ do not require exotic sources of capital in order to develop and grow. ¤ engage in production processes that are human, worthy, digniﬁed, and intrinsically satisfying.

¤ create objects of durability and long-term utility whose ultimate use or disposition will not be harmful to future generations. ¤ change consumers to customers through education.” Ecologist, author, and entrepreneur Paul Hawken is founder of the Natural Capital Institute.

ustainable Production

from the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production: Continued economic viability does not depend on ever-increasing (i.e., unsustainable) consumption of materials and energy. Sustainable Production is the creation of goods and services using processes and systems that are: non-polluting; conserving of energy and natural resources; economically eﬃcient; safe and healthful for workers, communities, and consumers; and, socially and creatively rewarding for all working people.

Prin c i p l e s o f S u s t a i n a b l e Prod u c t i o n : Products and Services are: ¤ safe and ecologically sound throughout their life cycle; ¤ as appropriate, designed to be durable, repairable, readily recycled, compostable, or easily biodegradable; ¤ produced and packaged using the minimal amount of material and energy possible.

Processes are designed and operated such that: ¤ wastes and ecologically incompatible byproducts are reduced, eliminated or recycled on-site;

¤ chemical substances or physical agents and conditions that present hazards to human health or the environment are eliminated; ¤ energy and materials are conserved, and the forms of energy and materials used are most appropriate for the desired ends; ¤ work spaces are designed to minimize or eliminate chemical, ergonomic and physical hazard.

Workers are valued and: ¤ their work is organized to conserve and enhance their eﬃciency and creativity; ¤ their security and well-being is a priority; ¤ they are encouraged and helped to continuously develop of their talents and capacities; ¤ their input to and participation in the decision making process is openly accepted. The Lowell Center for Sustainable Production (University of Massachusetts - Lowell) develops, studies and promotes environmentally sound systems of production, healthy work environments, and economically viable work organizations. www.sustainableproduction.org

conomic Development Is a Lot Harder Than Many Think The McCune Charitable Foundation

It seems as though almost everyone has a theory of how to improve economic development. Most of these proposed solutions are simple and uncomplicated. The Foundation, however, believes that successful plans for economic development actually ¤ are fairly complex, ¤ must be well-planned and considered, ¤ must be specifically tailored to each community, ¤ have to be implemented with skill and perseverance, and ¤ will need at least five years to demonstrate their potential. Because of the time it takes to produce results, policymakers and economic development organizations often are attracted to proposals that promise quick progress. That’s not surprising, really. Without obvious positive improvement in economic development by the next election, their opponents will say they’ve done nothing for economic development. Because public support for economic development tends to gravitate to quick-fix solutions, the Foundation concentrates on long-term solutions. Those are the areas of greatest need. Most of the efforts of the Foundation currently are directed to encouraging the development and growth of new and existing small businesses. The Foundation recognizes that business recruitment is not a viable strategy for most of New Mexico’s communities, and so the most promising source of new jobs is often new businesses or expanded businesses run by the community’s own citizens. We know from experience that many well-educated or highly skilled individuals in New Mexico have found that they can often create a better job for themselves than they can find being offered in their communities. This is equally true among those less well-trained or skilled. Many of these individuals have the character and ambition to create their own jobs, but – because of their limited business knowledge – they require access to specialized guidance and training, plus a small lender that extends loans to very small new businesses. For that reason, the McCune Foundation has long supported organizations such as ACCION, WESST Corp. and New Mexico Community Development Loan Fund, who provide both capital and training to microbusinesses.

The Foundation also brought Ernesto Sirolli to New Mexico to present his unique ideas for creating new businesses and is partnering with the state Economic Development Department to fund three-year Sirolli programs in Taos, Silver City and Deming. Sirolli programs are primarily outreach programs that train large community boards in the practice of the Sirolli methods. Then the community board hires and sends out to the community a so-called Enterprise Facilitator who proactively seeks out and assists qualified residents who have the skills and passion to start their own businesses. The facilitator connects these individuals with existing business support programs such as microlenders and Small Business Development Centers. McCune has supported and continues to support the development of business incubators in both rural and urban areas. Business incubation has a long history of success around the country but has received little public support in New Mexico. It remains a vastly under-utilized resource for business creation and growth in New Mexico. The business incubators in Santa Fe and Farmington are great examples of what such services can achieve. Recently, the Foundation has sought to address the capital availability gap faced by existing small businesses outside the Rio Grande corridor. These businesses have opportunities for expansion and for the creation of significant numbers of new jobs. Often, such companies lack sufficient equity capital to finance the new plant and equipment they need to grow significantly larger. A newly-formed nonprofit called New Mexico Community Capital will address these capital gaps by creating a community development venture capital fund that will make equity investments in such companies of as much as $300,000 to $500,000 if the company will add a substantial number of jobs through its expansion. NMCC will also provide these companies mentoring and advice that will assist them in reaching their potential. McCune is currently exploring various ways to encourage New Mexicans to make more purchases from local businesses and supplement the work of existing organizations in this endeavor.

Initially, McCune is focusing on assistance to artists and artisans to help them ďŹ nd new markets for their work. Similarly, McCune is studying how small New Mexico producers of agricultural products can access additional local markets, and how others with limited acreage can become self-sustaining by producing and selling agricultural products.

we can do a better job. The McCune Charitable Foundation appreciates the opportunity to describe how the foundation is approaching the issue of economic development in New Mexico and welcomes input on how it can pursue its goals more eďŹ&#x20AC;ectively.

The Foundation supports eďŹ&#x20AC;orts by those providing assistance to microenterprise to come together, learn how to work more cooperatively, reduce overlaps in services and extend their programs to presently underserved areas of the state. A number of other individual programs are also supported by the McCune Foundation, but we are still looking for new and better ways to serve economic development. We welcome suggestions on how

ocially Responsible Investing

People who want to make money by using socially responsible investing (SRI) stocks and mutual funds should acknowledge that they are participating in a brand of capitalism called the “free market system.” Markets are free to the extent that our post 9/11, 21st century American culture is one of freedom. You are free as long as you play by the rules. The greatest stock market boom ever, which began in the ‘80’s, owes a great deal of credit for its start to Ronald Reagan and his buddies, many of whom we still see crowded around the White House. They cut taxes on the rich, turned over entire sectors of the U.S. society to for-profit corporations and built up our nation’s nuclear capacity in order to accelerate the arms race with the Soviet Union. This, in the midst of crippling inflation of over 10%, was where the SRI movement was born. The U.S. won the Cold War by bankrupting the Russian economy. It was due to our ramping up warlike talk and initiating work on technology-driven weapons systems that the Soviet Bloc could not match, that the Cold War was brought to an end. When the Iron Curtain fell, U.S. investors reaped the rewards, not the Europeans. Money made the difference in the 1980s, not ideology, ethics or brainpower. It’s much the same now as large companies, be they oil, retail or medical, pull the globe towards a unified purchasing theory of the universe: They make it and we buy it. Are you OK with being part of this system? How do we, as caring people who are concerned about the global environment, peace, justice and the arts, respond with our money when our very clothes and work tools come from half way around the world, dependent on systems with which we might ethically disagree? In an era of business domination, when governments follow rather than lead, how do people express their desire for change? Because of the global reach of large businesses, the will of the people can not be heard through conventional media or the electoral process. I have been in the investment counseling business for many years and have learned that there is no right or wrong way to do SRI investing. Many of the most sensitive, caring, generous and concerned families that I work with, through trust assets or strategic family councils, have directed me to make as much money for them as we can without using egregious ecological offenders, so they can then support through gifting, some very radical organizations that desperately need out of the box funding. They believe this is the most efficient kind of SRI investing that they can make in today’s compromised world.

Robert A. Rikoon The good news is that our money can be wielded as an instrument for change. One important way to have an impact is by choosing how we spend our money. Our behavior as consumers has an effect because global companies need our consent, in the form of our habitual purchases, to keep going. However, the stock market does not need you or your money, whether voted in an SRI fashion or not. SRI stocks go up when the market goes up and decline along with the rest of the pack. Instead, if you want to have a direct effect supporting sustainable businesses with your money, find a local business whose basic tenets you believe in and want to support. Find a farmer who needs capital or a food processor committed to employing and training local people. They are out there all across America. The Santa Fe Farmer’s Market is replete with people trying to start organic businesses. Go talk to them on Saturday morning and visit their farms. That is real connection with your money. You are investing in people and their visions. It’s not easy to find or implement a meaningful, ethical investment program in traditional stocks or bonds in ways that support a healthy world. Investors wanting to make sure their money is used in ways that do not harm the planet have no way to be assured that this is the case when they buy any financial instrument that is traded in the public markets. Patience and the ability to go against the crowd are hallmarks of successful investing. Public advertising or private pride that one is a “Socially Responsible Investor” reminds me of a story about visitors to a famous Zen Buddhist monastery where lived an authentic Master. He was incessantly asked about the meaning of the Buddha’s teachings. His appropriate response to such intellectual questions was an admonishment to the superficial travelers to “go wash your mouth out with soap every time you say ‘Buddha.’” The need to find businesses that help the earth, water, air, animals and all people everywhere is clearly our common goal. We can support them with our investing dollars as well as our consumer dollars. If you think that buying a mutual fund that labels itself “socially responsible” accomplishes this goal, look a bit deeper. Comments/questions may be addressed to rrikoon@aol.com. Rob Rikoon is a founding member and Chief Investment Officer of Rikoon Carret Wealth Management Group, located at 510 Don Gaspar in Santa Fe, NM and 196 Pearson Avenue, Asheville, NC.

trategies for Natural Investors Cliff Feigenbaum and Hal Brill

Turn on any ﬁnancial talk show and you will be deluged with advice about how to make more money (or not lose it). You’ll learn which kind of IRA is best for you and hear arguments rage about the pros and cons of no-load mutual funds. This is useful information, but it doesn’t go far enough. Given the central, powerful role of money and business, both in our society and our personal lives, it is astonishing that so little attention is given to the social, ethical and spiritual dimensions of money. Even the most caring commentators seem oblivious to the enormous impact our ﬁnancial decisions have on communities, the earth and our own peace of mind. We’ve ignored the fact that our money carries our voice to the world. In the work that Hal and I do, we look at questions that are fundamental to healing our relationship with money. How can

people include their spiritual, social, environmental and ethical values when making important financial decisions? Why do so many conscientious, good-hearted people make investments that conflict with their own deeply held beliefs? There are, of course, no easy answers. We have found that the status quo “where money and values are separated by an impenetrable wall” is rooted in an outdated mechanical worldview that sees everything as parts of a giant machine. When we shift toward a natural worldview (of interrelated living systems), a new sort of investing emerges: Natural Investing. This is our version of socially responsible investing. Natural Investors are shunning conventional wisdom that says we must abandon ethics when making financial decisions. People of all income levels from across the entire political spec-

trum are using the tools of Natural Investing to find profitable investments. According to the Social Investment Forum, well over two trillion dollars is invested today using some sort of ethical criteria. This represents almost one-tenth of all investment dollars. Nearly every mainstream investment option now has a values-based equivalent. You don’t need a lot of money; several screened mutual funds and community banking options welcome small investors who can start with as little as $50. All that’s really needed is the willingness to identify and consider your personal values when making decisions about your money. The four spokes of the “Natural Investing Wheel” map the four major strategies that Natural Investors use to bring their values into the financial world: 1. Avoidance Screening is the familiar method of choosing not to invest in industries from which you do not wish to profit. Tobacco, weapons and environmental polluters are some of the many commonly used screens. For example, Philip Morris wouldn’t get through the avoidance screens of an investor who has a “no tobacco products” screen. 2. Affirmative Screening, which we also call “prospecting,” is the method by which investors actively seek out investments in activities they do want to support, thereby bringing their vision of a positive future into the world. The focus may be on leading-edge companies in emerging fields like alternative energy and natural foods, or it may include investments in large companies or even government agencies that address the concerns of investors. Many prospectors buy stock in companies that demonstrate a high level of commitment to their workers, their

communities or the environment. 3. Community Investing - This rapidly emerging branch of Natural Investing is especially useful for getting your money into the hands of grassroots programs and economically marginalized people, locally or globally. Community Investing initiatives include affordable housing, small business lending, targeted investment in both urban and rural areas of the country, and micro-enterprise development throughout the world. It is an excellent way to put your savings to work and provide a ‘hand up’ to those who need access to capital. 4. Shareholder Activism - This potent strategy provides a means for changing companies from the inside. Shareholder activists have a wide range of tools available to them, including dialogue with companies on issues of concern and sponsorship of shareholder resolutions when companies refuse to talk or when the dialogue breaks down. These methods achieved stunning results in the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa and are now being applied to a wide range of foreign and domestic concerns such as sweatshops, excessive executive pay and corporate disclosure and transparency. Cliff Feigenbaum is the founder and managing editor of the Santa Fe-based GreenMoney Journal. The award-winning newsletter, published since 1992, focuses on socially responsible investing and business & consumer resources. Subscriptions: (800) 849-8751 or online: www.greenmoney.com Hal Brill, President of Natural Investment Services, co-authored “Investing with Your Values” with Cliff Feigenbaum. His email: hal@naturalinvesting.com

The Built Environment

& Energy “Santa Fe Style” is something we hear of often around here. The local, traditional building methods blending natural materials such as adobe, timber and stone lend themselves to this prevalent style. Many new buildings, however, are frame, plywood and stucco imitations of these beautiful, bioregional shelter solutions. How can our modern builders create structures that respond to their surroundings, reduce energy consumption, use local materials and foster healthy indoor air quality? How can we make these homes and buildings comfortable to live and work in and aﬀordable? Nearly half of the world’s resources and energy is used in building construction, operations and maintenance. Development and architecture are undergoing dramatic breakthroughs in design and application. Sustainable building priorities include reclamation, reuse and recycling. Environmentally sustainable infrastructure with storm water management, water reuse, low water landscaping and pedestrian-friendly streets are now part of the plan. Healthy home designers encourage the development and construction of “green” homes designed to conserve energy and water, promote indoor air quality and minimize environmental impacts. When you remodel or build, you can take advantage of the latest technologies, methods and products to protect the health of your family or employees. Using simple nontoxic and non-polluting materials can reduce the number of illnesses and create a lovely place to spend your time. New Mexico is blessed with an abundance of sunlight and wind. We have the opportunity to capitalize on these renewable energy sources – and in the process minimize drilling impacts to wilderness and open space. From the small, home-scale sys-

tems to the bigger commercial ones, renewable energy makes sense. Sustainable energy advocates are working to promote the use of renewable energy, clean energy technologies and energy conservation among residential, commercial, institutional and industrial customers. “Eco-efficiency” is driven by the understanding that in order to sustain economic growth on a finite planet, our ability to produce products and provide services will require perhaps a 10 times increase in our efficiency in the use of energy and materials. Its major goal is to improve productivity through the widespread diffusion of innovative “green” technologies. With a peak in global oil production and rising energy prices predicted for both petroleum and natural gas, sustainable energy sources may finally get the equal footing, economically, that they deserve. The loss of cheap fuels will affect many sectors of the economy, namely farming and other oil-dependent industries. The City of Santa Fe recently adopted a community-based economic development plan that included the goal of making Santa Fe “the water conservation and clean energy capital of the U.S.” In May 2005, the County Commission passed a resolution to make new buildings built by Santa Fe County more energy efficient. Under the new rule, buildings will get at least 10% of energy from a renewable source such as the sun or wind. The buildings will also meet federal “green building” standards. A planned new facility for the Public Works Department will attempt to use these ideas. Previously, building planners decided not to use alternative energy systems because they deemed them too costly. The new Public Works building will demonstrate whether or not that is true—especially over the long term.

ustainability in the Interior Environment David K. Sargert

Design IS powerful. Done well, it improves the manufacturer’s market share, creates a signature brand for companies and enhances the well-being of the end user for many year. Done poorly, it is relegated to another passing fashion statement and is soon relegated to the landﬁll. The goal of Timeless Design remains elusive.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED 2.1 rating system speciﬁcally addresses several of the key topics noted above (www. usgbc.org). Projects are ranked by how well they address each issue and are then awarded points toward certiﬁcation of the entire building, commercial interior space or a portion of a building.

Every year for decades, millions of tons of interior construction waste are added to the landﬁlls of the world without regard to the impact on the land, water or air. This is not hazardous chemical waste. It is simply millions of yards of synthetic carpet, ceiling tiles, vinyl wall coverings, cabling, light ﬁxtures and even doors, windows and framing.

The rating system is divided into six sections with a total of 69 possible points: ¤ Sustainable Sites (14 possible points) ¤ Water Eﬃciency (5 possible points) ¤ Energy and Atmosphere (17 possible points) ¤ Materials and Resources (13 possible points) ¤ Indoor Environmental Quality (15 possible points) ¤ Innovation & Design Process (5 possible points)

Today’s designers are now faced with the challenge of not only the practical aspects of creating an appropriate interior environment for their clients, but also with balancing the aesthetic considerations with the larger responsibility of disposal solutions for the materials after they have served their lifespan. Going a few steps further, sensitive designers also consider the amount and quality of day lighting for the end-users as it relates to comfort and productivity, as well as the health beneﬁts associated with natural light. Indoor air quality plays a key role in material selections, equipment selection and overall building maintenance. Energy types and consumption are of paramount importance when undertaking any new or remodeling project. Water use and consumption is also of prime importance as is internally generated waste. “Responsibility” is the new professional credo. Comprehensive integration of building design and systems is a must. It is no longer a choice to the informed designer or owner. The great Buckminster Fuller attempted to educate us on the error of our ways early in the 1960’s when he reminded us that we were all crew rather than passengers onboard the “Spaceship Earth” (http://www.bﬁ.org/operating_manual.htm). Consumers and Industry did not listen – until now.

The amazing part of the LEED process is the impact it has had on the interior design industry. The marketplace is now full of products and specialty contractors who produce and practice “Green.” These are responsible companies and individuals who have consciously shifted the focus of their organizations to address this real need. LEED requires extensive documentation and data on all products, methods of manufacture and installation. This includes where the products come from and in the case of wood, whether it comes from a sustainable source. If you are a designer or end user, I encourage you to learn as much as possible about the options available to you before undertaking your next project. Regardless of the location, type of use or budget, you are still one of the responsible crew on “Spaceship Earth.” David K. Sargert, IIDA / ASID is a LEED, AP (accredited professional) Sargert Design Associates, Inc, is an award winning Design / Build Firm with oﬃces in New England and New Mexico. www.sargertdesign.com

onversations to Build On Heath Blount

One afternoon last spring after a long hike down the Santa Fe River, a small group of friends decided to discuss what the basic tenets of sustainable architecture are. Now it may sound like high-fallootin’ daydreaming inclined to be frivolous and idealistic, but today architecture is responsible for more than 50% of all global greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption.1 Combine that with a consensus of scientific evidence showing that humans are effecting global climate change, and it becomes clear that there is a great need for new ideas and bold leadership. The recent international meeting on global climate change, convened by U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and carried out by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, found that within ten years, at present rates of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, severe ecosystem degradation will occur.2 While we may make quite a bit about gas-guzzling SUVs, the entire fleet of SUVs, minivans and light-duty trucks in this country accounts for only 6.5% of the total U.S. energy consumed each year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And although that doesn’t mean we should abandon efforts to produce more efficient, environmentally friendly SUVs, it does illustrate a huge blind spot in U.S. energy consciousness.3 Buildings have a lifespan (and energy consumption and emissions pattern) of 50 to 100 years. Just compare the time you spend in your house to the time you spend in your car. Your house is consuming energy around the clock, whereas drive time for the average U.S. citizen is around 50 minutes a day. Fortunately, buildings can be and have been designed to consume less than half the energy of today’s average U.S. structures, at no additional cost. Successful projects born out of a more rigorous sustainable design ethic have realized energy and emissions reductions exceeding 80%, both in construction and post-occupancy. During our conversation, a set of themes or design guidelines emerged by which sustainable architecture can be instituted. As we discussed these themes, we found that they overlap, and the more often they do overlap, the greater their cumulative effect on the design. This is often called a holistic approach, with an emphasis on the themes’ integration into the whole for the purpose of maximizing benefits, efficiency and redundancy, while minimizing impacts and dependence.

The most basic of these themes is locality; the building should be native to its place. It should respond to its local or regional conditions and should take advantage of natural solar patterns for day-lighting and passive heating. The building’s materials should be locally sourced, not only to beneﬁt the local economy, but also to reduce its energy intensity. Typically, local materials and construction methods are non-toxic because of a community’s own self interest. This would seem to be common sense, since polluting your own backyard is no way to ensure the economic and environmental security of the community. It has been shown that green materials and construction have reduced costs in environmental clean-up and health care, as well as creating a new niche market. Along this line, a low toxicity of materials and an open design provide for cleaner indoor air quality, hence fewer health problems associated with building occupation. Sustainable architecture’s impact or footprint should also be sustained locally, both in construction and operation, meaning, materials and energy should be collected, distributed and consumed locally, and any wastes should not be externalized. In a natural system, waste does not exist; it is merely a resource out of place. Wastes should be “reduced-reused-recycled” or biodegradable on-site. This idea of modeling natural systems is called bio-mimicry. Sustainable architecture can mimic natural energy ﬂows as well. A tree responds to seasonal solar and climate conditions, at times open and taking advantage of the wind, and at

Rancho Viejo, a development on the south side of Santa Fe

times going dormant, absorbing what little sunlight it receives, storing it deep down in the earth. Sustainable buildings follow similar cycles as organisms, taking advantage of the physical laws of nature. They collect water, energy and air and use them most efficiently. The integration of the building within the landscape allows for even greater effect in shading, windbreak and the creation of microclimates that can attract and sustain a great diversity of species. This holistic approach can, if optimized, make the building a catalyst for growth. From greater work productivity due to better indoor air quality and better quality of light and space, to the production of energy and organic foods or flowers from what were once wastes, sustainable architecture attempts to go from a net loss to a possible gain for the inhabitants in the life cycle of the building.

Today there is a grassroots effort to promote and enact sustainable architecture policy and projects. Cities around the U.S. such as Austin, TX; Portland, OR; Tucson, AZ; and Ashville, NC, have changed building codes to require site planning and building orientation, non-toxic material selection, energy and atmosphere conservation, water efficiency, indoor environmental quality and site restoration. The U.S. Green Building Council is taking the lead to promote sustainable architecture by instituting the LEED program: “The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensusbased national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Members of the U.S. Green Building Council, representing all segments of the building industry, developed LEED and continue to contribute to its evolution.”4 Although the federal government has dropped the ball by not sufficiently educating and promoting these simple guidelines, cities and states have voluntarily required that the construction and/or renovations of municipal buildings follow standards laid out in the LEED rating system. Also, many communities around the world take pride in the accomplishments of their private ventures and have helped put sustainable architecture on the map. Our afternoon conversation may not have produced any grand ideas, but I am sure that every person in the group heard at least one new story. And if we model this idea of the holistic approach each time we converse with new people, these ideas become more powerful. Building design has followed great movements in history as a physical record of the times. There is always a tipping point, a spark that ignites the world, grabs its attention and seems to turn it in another direction. Somehow I feel that we are at one of those moments. Never before has the earth been so threatened, and never before has humanity been challenged to lead the world in a new direction, help it avert large-scale dislocations and set the tone for global cooperation. For more info: - U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) http://www.usgbc.org/ - Pew Center for Climate Change - Architecture as Energy Sector http://www.pewclimate.org/policy_center/international_ policy/testimony.cfm?printVersion=1 - International Scientific Steering Committee http://www.stabilisation2005.com/outcomes.html Heath Blount works with Mazria Inc. Odems Dzurec, a Santa Fe-based architecture firm where innovation, experimentation and research are encouraged. 1 U.S. Energy Information Administration http://www,eia.doe.gov/ 2 Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change; The International Scientific Steering Committee; February 2005; http://www.stabilisation2005. com/outcomes.html 3 Mazria, E. 2003. It’s the Architecture, Stupid! Solar Today, May/ June 2003, pp. 48-51 4 US Green Building Council, LEED Rating System, http://www. usgbc.org/LEED

The

nstitute of American Indian Artsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Initiative for a Sustainable Future

Learning Atrium

Margaret Tifft Janis

Consultant, IAIA Initiative for a Sustainable Future

Jennifer Foerster,

IAIA alumna, Class of 2003

Alexi Dzurec,

Achein Center Architect

Located in Santa Fe, the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), is a congressionally chartered Native American institute of higher education. It is the only multi-tribal center of higher education in the United States solely dedicated to the preservation, study, creative application, and contemporary expression of Native American arts and cultures. IAIA has developed one of the most ambitious plans for a sustainable campus of any college in the country. Since its founding in 1962, IAIA has been housed at the Santa Fe Indian School and the College of Santa Fe. In 1990, the institute was given a 140-acre campus just south of the Santa Fe Community College by the developers of the nearby Rancho Viejo community. At the time, the area was largely undeveloped ranchland. IAIA developed the master plan for the campus, which called for many sustainable features. When the institute began construction in the late 1990’s, the budget was extremely limited, and sustainable design was considered a luxury that IAIA could not aﬀord. As a result, they designed and built the original 71,400 square feet of campus buildings using conventional design and construction approaches that met code requirements for energy, water use and indoor environmental quality. After the campus opened in August 2000, IAIA began planning a second phase of campus development, which calls for the addition of approximately 290,000 square feet of new buildings by about 2015. The institute had become concerned about the impact that growing water shortages and potential energy shortages would have on its plans for additional buildings. IAIA’s tight operating budget was already being strained by unpredictable and uncontrollable utility cost increases. The

school knew that these problems would only be intensiﬁed by new development and that failure to create a sustainable campus during this major expansion phase would be a costly mis-

The First Phase of Campus Construction

take that would hinder IAIA in the future. Thus, from the onset, they began to establish sustainable principals to guide development. This eﬀort came to be called the IAIA Initiative for a Sustainable Future. The institute undertook the Initiative for a Sustainable Future not only because it was an extremely practical move, but also because it represented an integral facet of the IAIA mission. Native American philosophy teaches the inclusion of all forms of life. This means that the preservation, study, creative application, and contemporary expression of American Indian and Alaska Native arts and cultures must also involve teaching responsibility towards the natural environments which sustain this art and culture. Additionally, one of IAIA’s educational goals is to promote the holistic nature of Native American cultural life and artistic expression. Just as culture is inseparable

from the arts, both culture and the arts are inseparable from the environment and its natural resources and from our overall state of personal and community health. Through this, IAIA recognized its responsibility to provide education for its community, not only in arts and academics but also in such crucial areas as community empowerment, self-determination and ecological sustainability. A sustainable campus environment partnered with a holistic educational model founded on indigenous knowledge would help to revitalize our cultural foundations and rebuild successful, healthy and sustainable Native American communities for our future generations.

A Responsibility to the Next Generations As a leader in Native American higher education, IAIA is committed to carrying on the traditions of environmental stewardship that are integral to all Native American cultures. It is also committed to demonstrate that these environmental traditions can not only co-exist with, but enhance sustainable development. Resource management and sustainable development have not only an economic and political context, but a deeply cultural context as well. Indigenous people have an accumulated ecological expertise, which is critical for the building of a sustainable future. Indigenous ecological experiences may help in designing programs to manage and preserve biological diversity and natural environments.

Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environmental situation is alarming. The current global market is allowing for the proliferation of the institutions and activities that contribute to greater exploitation and depletion of biological diversity and resources. Environmentally damaging mining and agricultural activities are common practice, even though water, soil and mineral resources continue to be depleted beyond sustainable rates. Meanwhile, there is little progress in curbing wasteful lifestyles; rather, there is an increase in unsustainable consumption patterns. The most important task in preventing even greater environmental degradation is to emphasize the necessity of placing long-term sustainability concerns above short-term interests. At

IAIA, we must take on this task by encouraging students, administration and members of the community to consider the long-term impact of lifestyle choices on the environment. As a multi-tribal institution, we recognize that many generational links that have sustained cultural heritages have been lost, and with these, indigenous environmental relationships. Likewise, when traditional relationships with the land and its resources are broken, essential elements of culture and language go with them.

In our way of life, in our government, with every decision we make, we always keep in mind the Seventh Generation to come. It’s our job to see that the people coming ahead, the generations still unborn, have a world no worse that ours – and hopefully better. When we walk upon Mother Earth we always plant our feet carefully because we know that the faces of our future generations are looking up at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them . . . By Oren Lyons, The Onondaga Faithkeeper, From Wisdom of the Ages, by Wayne W. Dyer

In the face of the current global ecological crisis, it is imperative that the tremendous resource of indigenous ethnobiological and ecological knowledge be recovered, especially among Native American youth. This recovery of knowledge beneﬁts not only the sustainable future of North America, but also the survival of Native communities. For Native people living on only remnants of our original land-base, we have a major task to maintain and protect this land, including the mineral, oil, water, wildlife and vegetation. This is especially important, considering the continued reduction and deterioration of Native people’s land-base due to mining, dams, reservoirs and other water projects. The quest for energy resources, timber and water continues to result in the stripping of Native lands, leaving the communities on these lands unable to continue their traditional relationship with the resources. Too often, this results in major health risks, as food, water and air sources become depleted and contaminated. At IAIA, we have a unique opportunity to reclaim these traditional relationships and outright reject – through educational empowerment and actualization of sustainable practices – the continuation of these injustices to our communities. In order to aﬀect change, we must begin at home. To the students of the Institute of American Indian Arts, the campus is home for the duration of their studies. The IAIA campus has the potential to serve as an experiential learning place for the study and practice of ecological sustainability. Because IAIA

hosts both students and visitors, it is ideally suited to teach by example. If IAIA builds a sustainable campus where options for sustainable design are visible to everyone on campus, we will send knowledgeable graduates and visitors back to their home communities to address the environmental issues that often restrict economic development and health in Native America.

Elements of the Initiative Over the past four years, IAIA staff, faculty, consultants, students, outside advisors and state and federal agency representatives have developed and refined the goals and objectives of the Initiative. Collaborative meetings, research and analysis have taken place, leading to a detailed design of the prototype sustainable facility, the Achein Center for the Lifelong Education, Research and Cultural Exchange of Indigenous Peoples. IAIA expects that the Initiative will continue to evolve through each stage of research, design and implementation as the technologies and economic factors supporting sustainable design change. At present, the Initiative comprises five key elements of sustainability: Energy – IAIA will reduce overall reliance on fossil fuel based energy through energy conserving design and operation of new buildings, renovation of old buildings, and through judicious use of renewable energy when economics indicate a reasonable return on investment. The goal for new buildings is to make them 60% more energy efficient than typical buildings of the same type in Santa Fe. Over time, existing buildings will be renovated to increase energy efficiency by 30%. Through conservation alone, IAIA expects to reduce total energy requirements by 50%. The institute can further reduce its reliance on fossil fuels by using renewable energy to replace

some of the conventional energy it now uses, but this depends on the economics. Water – IAIA will reduce the overall demand for potable water on the campus by 30 to 35% by designing buildings and landscaping to use the minimum amount of potable (drinking) water practical, harvesting rainwater and using it for toilet flushing, and treating wastewater on-site in constructed wetlands so that treated wastewater can be reused for landscape irrigation. The remaining treated wastewater will be returned to the ground to recharge an aquifer. In addition, IAIA will create a program to reduce the kitchen and studio waste entering the waste stream through education and pre-treatment of wastewater. Indoor environmental quality – In new building design and existing building renovation, IAIA will improve overall quality and effectiveness of its indoor environments. This will include improving heating, cooling, ventilation and overall air quality, using environmentally safe equipment, construction materials, art supplies and maintenance materials, controlling noise levels, and improving lighting to make it more effective for the specific tasks to be performed in the space. Land use – IAIA will continue to use its land efficiently in order to minimize sprawl and keep open space open. Over time, the school will use erosion control and native plants to restore the campus to a more healthy and bio-diverse state. In

addition, IAIA will develop community walking and biking paths that are linked to the surrounding residential areas to help integrate the campus into the community and promote the health of staff and students. Environmental education – The Initiative for a Sustainable Future, while primarily focused on construction during this first phase of development, is also becoming a major focus for the programs and curriculum at the Institute. IAIA faculty and staff are beginning to develop a broader science curriculum, which will be based on an indigenous ecological perspective. Additionally, as IAIA develops its new Indigenous Studies department, focus areas such as Traditional Arts & Knowledge, and the Environment & Natural Resources are under consideration as key components of a new Indigenous Studies Degree. This ecologically focused programming holds as its goal the revitalization and application of traditional knowledge. Further, the Achein Center will offer both formal and informal programs to its patrons in sustainable design, using the Achein Center itself as a teaching example. Appropriate technologies – Many Native American communities and families have limited capital, are located in areas that are remote from outside assistance and equipment suppliers and have little or no in-house expertise to handle complex technologies. IAIA has adopted a policy of using technologies and approaches that could work under these circumstances;

that is, those that are relatively low tech and low cost. For instance, it is more appropriate to build a building that is efficient by virtue of a low tech passive solar design than one that uses complex, and often high cost, renewable technologies to support an energy inefficient building.1 By the same token, IAIA has elected to treat its own wastewater on campus in a constructed wetlands system in order to keep the treated effluent on campus for re-use for irrigation. This is a relatively simple, low cost approach that requires little maintenance in comparison to typical wastewater treatment systems. It can be adopted in many Native American communities that are remote from municipal wastewater treatment or face extreme water shortages and want to re-use treated wastewater to meet some portion of water demand. IAIA believes that demonstrating this technology will benefit Native communities nationwide. Native American architectural roots and natural materials – The IAIA campus is meant to be a comfortable and safe place for people to visit and learn. It should also be a place where Native American wisdom and ways of doing things will be honored and where cultural traditions can be reinvigorated. The Achein Center architectural team has studied traditional architecture and materials, and incorporated many of these principals and approaches into the design of the Center. IAIA has hosted several convocations of Native American artists, scholars and community leaders to determine what should be incorporated into the architecture to make the IAIA Campus and Achein Center sustainable and reflective of Native ways of knowing and thinking. IAIA’s Partners –The New Mexico Energy Conservation and Management Division (ECMD) is an important partner in IAIA’s Initiative for a Sustainable Future. ECMD has offered technical assistance, while also helping IAIA to obtain planning grants from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). IAIA used the initial planning grant to hire Mazria Odems Dzurec, a local Santa Fe architecture studio, and other local experts to provide technical advice, analysis, and to support early development of the detailed plans for the Initiative. The technical assistance and funding provided by these partners has been instrumental in the development of this groundbreaking Initiative.

Designing a Prototype Facility In late 2002, IAIA received a grant to begin planning of the Achein Center, a center that will provide lifelong educational opportunities to Native Americans and non-Native people. Since the Achein Center represents nearly 50% of the new construction envisioned for the campus, IAIA administrators determined that it should be the prototype for sustainable design for IAIA. Through development of the Achein Center, IAIA is learning how to develop sustainable facilities. When

completed, this center will allow IAIA to demonstrate sustainable technologies and design features to the public and design professionals. The Achein Center will be a multi-purpose, 130,000 square foot complex offering education, dining, living and recreation facilities. It will host an estimated 16,000 short-term visitors a year. People of all ages and ethnic backgrounds will come to attend short educational and cultural programs. They will be able to see that Native American traditions can be The Central Plaza combined with state of the art technology to provide a uniquely functional and beautiful environment for learning. Visitors will be able to see sustainability at work, and will learn that sustainable design is comfortable, functional, beautiful and cutting-edge. The design team expects to achieve a silver or gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the US Green Building Council; one of the first LEED awards in New Mexico. The effort to obtain a LEED certification has received financial support from the FEMP program and from the NM ECMD.

Facility Design The design concept for the Achein Center emerged through dialogue and a consultative process between IAIA, indigenous

communities and the design team. The concept, based upon the interrelationship and interdependence between humanity and the natural world, was developed to derive the greatest possible beneﬁt from the natural assets of the site. The overall design of the Achein Center incorporates the concept of a “center place.” The plan revolves around a central garden and plaza, which serves as the focus and crossroads for all activity at the Achein Center. The buildings are located to acknowledge and relate to this center place, important axises and distant vistas. Movement to the main oﬃce, meeting and dining facilities occurs under a ramada that circles and reinforces the central garden and plaza. The lodging areas are located in a less formal pattern around the center, somewhat akin to the organic growth of many traditional Native American villages. Water, an element that connects all peoples, is employed in a variety of ways: as part of a water catchment and wetlands system for water and wastewater management, as a means to create natural environments that attract wildlife, as a passive cooling device, and as a symbolic feature in the form of a stream in the central garden. All buildings are designed to incorporate traditional southwest Native American design strategies and earthen materials indigenous to the region. Buildings are aligned in the east-west

direction to expose the longer south façade to solar gain. Adobe and other high mass materials are incorporated into the structure for passive heat storage and distribution. Ramadas control sunlight and heat gain while enhancing a connection to exterior spaces. All major spaces at the facility are day-lit and naturally ventilated through a variety of wall and roof configurations. Materials have been analyzed and selected for their low embodied energy, recycled material content, durability and effect on indoor air quality. The Achein Center addresses issues of cultural and environmental sustainability through a forward looking design with foundations rooted firmly in the past.

Ecological Programming IAIA faculty, staﬀ and students are beginning to develop and implement a number of new ecologically-related projects which will lead to the integration of sustainable ecology practices into IAIA community life and education. As the philosophy of IAIA is based on a holistic model of education, the ecological perspective is currently in process of being integrated into IAIA’s existing programs, strategic plan, and institutional capacity. These projects will include eﬀorts to restore the natural campus ecology and develop walking paths, and the development of environmental education programs.

Most of these sustainable focus areas take considerable time and resources. Currently, IAIA is seeking grant assistance for such projects as a student-initiated recycling program, workshops and special projects in traditional agricultural practices, and student-developed walking paths, which incorporate the native plants, medicines and foods of the region. IAIA has received grant assistance from the US Department of Agriculture to begin developing curriculum in the areas of environmental and agricultural sciences and natural resources, as well as to revitalize the use of traditional foods/ plants through sustainable and holistic initiatives. These initiatives would include cultivation of native plants, We are aware of, and honor those who have come before us and keep in mind the Seventh Generation to come. Our design journey includes the wisdom of our ancestors and celebrates indigenous knowledge and practicesâ&#x20AC;Ś This place will be an expression of our identity and an image of Native Peoples, and we welcome all those to share in the wisdom of our past, that they may share in our joint future. Paul Fragua, StaďŹ&#x20AC; Architect, Institute of American Indian Arts

water conservation/rainwater harvesting, and education concerning health & wellness. Furthermore, as the Indigenous Studies Program grows, curriculum development is being considered for such areas as Traditional Arts, Native American Traditional Architecture, Native American Culinary Arts, Global Indigenous Environmental Issues, and Ethnobotany.

Conclusion Development and implementation of a sustainable facility and program is a slow and challenging process. A synthesis

Aerial View

between the construction of a sustainable future campus and ecologically focused arts and educational programming takes careful, artful design and patient planning, listening and discussion. At IAIA, there is much work yet to be done for community ecological projects and curricular programs to be implemented, and many resources must still be obtained for the campus construction to be completed. Yet it is IAIA’s core values and ﬁrm commitment to the revitalization of Native American arts, culture, community and ecology that will drive this critical and challenging project towards its ideal. IAIA’s Initiative for a Sustainable Future is driven, ultimately, by a responsibility to repair the separation from the environment that is a continuing threat to the endurance of culture and heritage. The Initiative aims to serve as a catalyst for constructive change within IAIA and in tribal communities and institutions towards a sustainable future. Hence, it aims to support Native American people in reestablishing indigenous values and rights towards ecological and economic sustainability. Because the community and mission of the Institute embrace these goals, there is, indeed, a sustainable future for IAIA, which will allow the school to achieve its vision and to become a model for a holistic approach to sustainability for organizations and communities throughout the world.

“Today, given the destructive trend of human-induced climate change, we must now produce buildings and communities that use little fossil fuel energy to construct and operate. The Achein Center for Lifelong Education will illustrate that dramatic reductions in conventional energy consumption can be readily achieved through a combination of traditional architectural design strategies and current renewable energy technologies.” Ed Mazria Principal, Mazria Odems Dzurec

1. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) did a case study for a National Park Service Visitors’ Center where a photovoltaic system was planned to replace electricity produced by a diesel generator. NREL discovered that for every dollar spent on improving the efﬁciency of lighting, the capital cost of the photovoltaic system was reduced by six dollars by reducing the total demand for electricity, and therefore the size of the system.

ringing it Home: Localizing Energy for a Benjamin Gillock and Bianca Sopoci-Belknap Sustainable Santa Fe 7:00 AM Your alarm clock rings. You drag yourself out of bed and stumble to the bathroom. A hot shower helps wake you up. Turning on the stereo, you blast a few songs off of your favorite CD as you rummage through your closet looking for something to wear. After getting dressed, you head to the kitchen and eat some oatmeal with a banana for breakfast. Just as you finish eating, you hear a car horn blaring outside; your ride to school has arrived. Could social injustice and massive environmental destruction be hidden somewhere in this typical morning? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. The electricity, natural gas, and petroleum companies that produce our heat, power our appliances, and fuel our economy are socially destructive as well as ecologically and economically unsustainable. Your alarm clock and stereo run on electricity generated by coal-fired plants which, in New Mexico, pump 64 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every second. The car that takes you to school runs on gasoline produced in refineries whose pollution destroys the health of the communities around them. Even your banana has been shipped thousands of miles in petroleum-powered fleets via a global trade network that can exist only as long as supplies of oil are secured by violence, coercion and war. But do not despair! Santa Fe, along with other communities around the world, is breaking free from the tyranny of Big Energy by laying the foundation for renewable energy systems that are “place-centered,” sensitive to local ecosystems and supportive of local economies.

The True Cost of Big Energy The energy that fuels the activity of our daily lives is extremely costly. The cost is not seen in the prices at the gas-pump or even in our rising energy bills. They are hidden costs, absorbed by devastated ecosystems, war-torn regions and fractured communities. The people and creatures that suﬀer the most from the destructive impacts of fossil fuel extraction are kept out of sight and out of mind. However, whether we realize it or not, the costs of this energy system are extremely high for every community, including our own. The primary sources of energy used in the U.S are coal, petroleum and natural gas, all of which exist in ﬁnite supply and are

being depleted at alarming rates. When supplies of these resources peak and begin to decline (as natural gas and oil already have in North America), the cost of producing and transporting goods will rise. In a fossil fuel based economy, this spells disaster. The price of food, clothing and housing—all of which are made with fossil fuels—will increase. And, as the products we consume become ever more expensive, our energy bills will soar, sucking more and more money from our local economy and leaving our communities impoverished and powerless.

Local Energy The good news is that we do not need to accept this dire situation as inevitable. Although the fossil-fueled economy may be doomed, we can prepare ourselves and our community by deliberately pursuing re-localization. To re-localize means to consciously and deliberately strive to bring the needs of our community into harmony with the local renewable resources available to us. Many members of the Santa Fe community are already working hard toward this goal. Local organic farmers, artisans and businesses are helping to build the local economy that will support us as the fossil-fueled economy crumbles. These efforts must be combined with the re-localization of energy in order to be successful. At Local Energy, we are working to transform the way in which our community produces and consumes energy. Instead of simply promoting renewable energy, we are working to foster renewable energy infrastructures that utilize local resources sustainably and keep energy-dollars circulating locally. By shifting energy production to local sources, we will directly experience the costs and benefits of our energy use. Energy will no longer be something we take for granted because it will come from our own backyard, and be created with our own resources to meet our own needs. In the fossil-fueled economy, contributing to environmental destruction and social injustice is as easy as getting ready for school. In the local energy economy, simply paying your heating bill will be a step toward community self-reliance and sustainability! Please join our efforts by contacting us at 505-982-9800, or visit our website at www.localenergy.org. Benjamin Gillock and Bianca Sopoci-Belknap are Research Associates at the non-profit Local Energy

The heapest Clean Power You Can Buy: An Introduction to Utility-Interconnected Solar Electricity Allan Sindelar, Founder, Positive Energy, Inc.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) power has for many years been associated with “oﬀ-grid” living: that is, homes and wells that are beyond the utility power lines. But now this is changing, and clean renewable power is ﬁnding its way into many mainstream residential neighborhoods. More and more homeowners with utility electric power are spinning their meters backward when the sun is shining.

Batteryless or Battery-Based Options Utility-interconnected PV systems are currently available either with or without battery backup capacity. With only ﬁve component parts – PV array, mounting structure, AC & DC disconnects and an interactive inverter to turn solar electricity into utility-grade AC electricity – a batteryless PV system is the essence of simplicity.

In the past, adding batteries to a utility-interconnected PV system has been a mixed blessing, and we have usually advised against it. While utility-interconnected PV with battery backup during a power outage has been possible for more than ten years, only this year has equipment arrived that rivals the eﬃciency of batteryless systems. Systems of various sizes can support home loads—lights, appliances, heat—during a utility outage. The maintenance-free sealed batteries have an expected service life approaching ten years. A second breaker panel must usually be added to your home to support solar-powered “critical loads.”

The Costs and Beneﬁts An actual Santa Fe installation completed in July 2004, will serve as an example. The homeowner had a limited budget but wanted to generate clean energy. Major components included

Photos by Positive Energy

The basis of operation is simple. Whenever the sun is shining, the PV array sends power to your main house service panel, working in parallel with utility power. This power flows like water to the nearest use. When all power demands in your home are satisfied, the excess solar electricity flows out from

your home to your neighbors, spinning your meter backward in the process. The utility grid acts as a giant “electron bank,” crediting your excess power generation for later use. The system is completely invisible in daily use. However, it cannot provide power during a power outage, ensuring that utility line workers can’t be harmed by backfed power.

Katrina Holder of Santa Fe has nine solar photovoltaic modules mounted on her Santa Fe roof, with room for a second row to be added above.

The solar electricity ﬂows from the roof array, through safety disconnects and an interactive inverter to the utility meter. The system is simple, efﬁcient, reliable, and maintenance-free.

ousehold Practices for Energy Independence Randy Sadewic, Positive Energy, Inc.

nine 160-watt PV modules (totaling 1440 watts), installed on racks on the home’s pitched metal roof with capacity for easy future expansion. Safety disconnects and a Sunny Boy interactive inverter completed the system. The total installed cost was $14,200 including inspection and tax. The homeowner’s benefit is annual output over 2,000 kilowatthours of electricity, or about $160 of energy costs. This offsets over 28% of the average household electrical usage in New Mexico. The other environmental benefits include nearly one and one-half tons of CO2 avoided, and 800 gallons of groundwater left in the ground, compared to using conventional fuels. You pay for utility power as you use it: the more you use, the more you pay. With solar power, the energy is free but the equipment to harvest it is expensive. Investing in PV power is like paying for thirty year’s worth of electricity up front. In 2006, new federal tax incentives will be available to reduce this cost, but New Mexico has no state rebates or other incentives – yet. Utility power in New Mexico is a mix of coal, nuclear, oil and gas. These are all nonrenewable sources with environmental costs including acid rain, groundwater loss and radioactive waste. The current low cost of utility power does not begin to include the long-term environmental consequences of using it. Our children’s children’s children will get to pay that bill. Investing in clean power is an intelligent choice for the health of future generations on our planet. Allan Sindelar is the founder of Positive Energy, Inc., a full service renewable energy dealership serving northern New Mexico. The company designs and installs custom systems to meet specific loads, lifestyles and budgets. They’ll help you develop an integrated, intelligent design, bring it to reality and keep it in top condition.

The best way to make money, reduce CO2 and save our natural resources is to invest in energy efficiency. There are simple ways that cost little or nothing, and more expensive approaches that result in cutting your utility bill by as much as 50%. The purpose of this article is to share information and examples of approaches that can help you reduce your energy bill forever. This is better than any stock market investment because the returns are guaranteed with benefits if rates increase! Let’s start by reviewing two actual case studies of homeowners who reduced their energy bills by 20% and 50% by taking simple measures. The first homeowner bought an older 1,000 square foot home with an electric garage door opener that came with the house. They never use the opener because, like many people, their garage is storage for priceless items. Using a simple meter, they discovered that the garage door opener consumes 45 watts in standby mode. This represents 20% of their total monthly bill. They unplugged it and saved about $30 per year. The second home is a bed and breakfast. Using the same meter, they discovered that their second, old and seldom-used refrigerator they got for free, costs them $150 per year in utility costs. So they unplugged it. After replacing most of their light bulbs from incandescent to compact fluorescent style, they reduced their energy bill from over 1,300 kilowatt hours (kwh) per month to about 650 kwh per month. This is a savings of over $55 per month or $660 per year. Before we dive into more examples, let’s step back and take a look at energy prices. The price of electricity has been stable in the Santa Fe area because PNM is regulated, and rates are fixed through the year 2007. The mix of the US and PNM’s electrical generating capacity in 2003 by fuel source was: Source1

U.S.

PNM

Coal

51%

68%

Nuclear

20%

29%

Oil/Gas

20%

Renewable Energy

“With the average New Mexico household spending over $1,000 per year on electricity and natural gas4, taking energy eﬃciency measures will help save money now and oﬀset future price increases.” With the lion’s share of energy coming from coal, New Mexico has reserves to last about 300 years at today’s consumption rates2. However, the quality of the coal and the net energy to

get the coal will directly affect the price. Coal fired plants generate 37% of the nation’s CO23 so the threat of global warming could require utilities to internalize more costs, putting pressure on prices. Oil and gas as fuel represents a more immediate and serious problem. The gas price volatility is higher than ever as the excess capacity has disappeared and the reserves shrink rapidly. PNM has stated on their web site that, “This is not a short-term issue. Price volatility of natural gas will be with us for the foreseeable future.” With the average New Mexico household spending over $1,000 per year on electricity and natural gas4, taking energy efficiency measures will help save money now and offset future price increases. In order to discuss energy-efficient practices, we need to understand the terminology. There are two important but different terms: power and energy. Power is the rate of energy transfer, and the unit of power is watts. For example, 10 light bulbs with a power rating of 100 watts turned on use 1,000 watts of power. Energy on the other hand, in other words power over a

specified time period, is what we are billed for. The unit of energy is watt-hours or kwh. For example, a quantity of 10, 100 watt bulbs turned on for one hour, uses 1,000 watt-hours or 1 kwh of energy. Today’s household appliances are more efficient than they used to be, but there has been a counter measure that offsets that gain called phantom loads. When appliances like TVs or computers are turned off, they continue to consume power 24 hours by seven days per week. The first example of the electric garage door opener was an example of an extreme phantom load. Any appliance that uses a remote control, like TVs and stereos, consumes power when it is off. Other appliances that use power when they are off include computers and printers, and appliances with clock displays like microwave ovens. The solution is to plug those appliances into switched power strips that can be turned off, or just unplug them. The cumulative effect of these phantom loads can add up to 10 to 15% of your home’s electrical usage. Lighting in our homes accounts for about 15% of our electrical usage. Most households have grown up with incandescent lighting – these are the familiar old style of light bulbs. Now with the prices of compact fluorescent lights (the twirly style) dropping to about $2.00 for a 60-watt equivalent bulb, the benefits of fluorescent are one-fifth the energy, ten times the life, for only 2.5 times a higher price. Replacing incandescent lights that are used more than 2 hours per day saves enough electricity to pay for the fluorescent bulb in 10 months. Refrigerators are an important appliance in our homes and account for about 15% of our electrical energy use. A fridge that was purchased before 1993 could be replaced for a new energy efficient model with a payback of less than 10 years. This investment is the highest return you could earn with almost no risk. If you buy a new refrigerator, buy a freezer thermometer and confirm the temperature dials are about 38-40 degrees F and the freezer temperature is about 0-5 degrees F. Factory settings or “Normal” are much lower and can result in up to 30% higher consumption of electricity. These are just a few examples of energy saving ideas that will save you money and protect our environment. 1 US--EIA data, 2003, PNM--FERC annual report for 2003. 2 NM Natural Resources 2003 Data & Statistics for 2002, Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Dept. 3 Global Climate Change and Coal’s Future, remarks by Eileen Claussen, PEW Center on Global Warming 4 SWEEP, Energy Fact Sheet, 1999.

Development & Growth Development and Growth are buzzwords that provoke thoughtful concern here in Santa Fe. “Where will the water come from?” is a common and valid question. We would like to pose an alternative question to our city: “How can Santa Fe become a community that preserves open space, radically conserves water through efficiency and reuse, depends upon public transportation and provides equal, affordable housing opportunities?” Although water is a serious concern, it should not be the only factor. Although there is no single uncontested definition of ‘sustainable development’ or any consensus about how it might best be achieved, a range of themes and issues, including needs, intergenerational equity and resources are common to most interpretations. The notion now fundamental to sustainable development is that both development and the environment (at one time addressed as separate issues) can be managed in a mutually beneficial way.

Business as usual is not an option. The continuing degradation of our natural resources and the impoverishment of large segments of the world’s population are placing our security, and that of future generations, at risk. To be more sustainable, development must improve economic eﬃciency, protect ecological systems and enhance the well being of all people. The next step in development practices is sustainability. Sustainable development requires respect for the indigenous nature of the area: its people, its resources and the quality of life. Sustainable development improves the economy without undermining the society or the environment. This approach focuses on improving our lives without continually increasing the amount of energy and material goods that we consume.

estorative Gardening: Redefining Our Role in the Landscape Craig Sponholtz and Steve Vrooman

Where We Are The high desert is a challenging place to live. We have hot summers, cold winters and seasonal droughts. A large portion of our precipitation comes in the form of unpredictable and frequently destructive summer monsoons. Despite these challenges, many cultures have thrived in the high Southwestern desert. Without the aid of advanced technology, indigenous cultures and early settlers labored to maintain a fruitful existence within the ecological carrying capacities of the region. The Anasazi peoples that occupied Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde could not maintain this precarious balance. During a period of prolonged drought they were forced to move elsewhere. Modern cultures have since adopted ever more complex technologies to support our occupation of this challenging and dynamic landscape. Most of our collective energies have gone into adapting the landscape to our needs rather than adapting our needs to the landscape.

What We’ve Done That is not to say that every human inﬂuence has been negative. Researchers have discovered that the land management activities of indigenous cultures often increased the biotic diver-

sity and productivity of ecosystems. In fact, some modern activities have had similar, although unintended effects. When downtown Santa Fe is viewed from the foothills it becomes apparent that a nearly continuous forest canopy, composed of diverse tree species, covers the entire area. Many individuals who planted trees for different reasons created this urban forest over many generations. By acting to improve their immediate surroundings, these individuals have unintentionally improved the quality of life for the rest of us and enriched the urban ecosystem with diversity and productivity. Humans and birds alike revel in the abundance of the sidewalk fruit crops of Santa Fe. Gardening is a virtual necessity for many of us and has the potential of producing many ecological and social benefits. The care we apply to our immediate surroundings can have profound influences that directly affect our quality of life. However, there are unintended consequences of trying to adapt the land to our needs. These consequences are starkly visible in the public lands surrounding Santa Fe. More than a century of overgrazing and fire suppression has initiated a chain of negative impacts with which many have struggled on their own properties. The combined effects of overgrazing and fire suppression have depleted the grasses and

wildflowers that once anchored our precious soils. Without herbaceous groundcovers, low intensity ground fires are no longer able to maintain the diverse mosaic of open woodlands that once dominated the region. Today, most of the woodlands around Santa Fe are choked with dense tree cover, continuously lose soil and have a reduced capacity to store moisture. The recent mortality caused by a beetle infestation provides clear evidence that the ecological carrying capacity of our area is out of balance. Fortunately nature is always ready to restore balance. For instance, many trees died from the bark beetles because they didn’t have enough water to fight off the infestation. Now there is an abundance of organic matter to replace some of the soil that has been lost through erosion. There is also a greater diversity of grasses and wildflowers growing in the rich soils and shelter provided by the dead trees.

If we choose to treat the broader landscape as though it were a part of our garden, we could confront many environmental problems before they spin out of control. Organic gardeners strive to establish and enhance natural processes that do gardening work. It will be necessary to cultivate such an intimate partnership with nature to restore degraded ecosystems. In this case our gardening activities should be focused on the production of regenerative yield, the increase of diversity, productivity and dynamic stability in ecosystems. As any gardener in the Southwest knows, water availability is the greatest limiting factor we contend with. Water availability is equally crucial for the restoration of southwestern ecosystems. Most water in the landscape is stored in the pores of the soil. Erosion has greatly reduced the availability of water needed to sustain suitable amounts of groundcover to keep soils in place. This is a negative feedback The lesson here is loop. Erosion equals clear. When we less soil to store remove dynamic water, which equals ecological processes fewer plants to presuch as fire to suit vent erosion. The Completed jute bag cascade stabalizes headcut, stores moisture, and grows vegatation. our own needs, we reversal of this cycle prevent ecosystems from maintaining diversity and productivshould be the primary goal of restorative gardening. With ity. As a result of this simplification, we find ourselves in the thoughtful design and intentional interactions we can begin to unsustainable position of dealing with environmental crisis or push our ecosystems to the tipping-point, initiating processes of replacing natural dynamic processes with human labor. regeneration rather than degradation.

What We Can Do The solution to this problem is simpler than we might imagine.

Before we start to garden in this way it is essential to observe our surroundings and ask what has shaped the land and the vegetation we see. Tracking the water across the landscape can

tell us where erosion is happening and why. It will also help us identify which areas produce runoff and which areas provide storage. Runoff producing areas should be the focus of erosion control efforts while storage areas should be enhanced with active gardening, such as planting and mulching. It is also necessary to identify and understand the dynamic processes such as fire and flooding that drive natural regeneration in ecosystems. Once we understand how these natural processes interact with biotic communities we can encourage them to do most of the restoration work. With observation of the environment and purposeful management, we can restore self-maintaining dynamic processes, or mimic their effects to encourage a healthy and dynamic ecosystem.

we were able to teach teenagers how to have a direct and positive influence on the land surrounding their community. This was the first time they had had the opportunity to do something to improve an area that they had no other reason to visit. It is our hope that they have made new connections to their landscape and will have a vested interest in at least one small drainage that has otherwise received nothing but neglect. This was the first YCC project that has done this type of erosion control work. We emphasized how the conditions of the site directed the design and how their efforts could be magnified when they are integrated with natural processes. The kids may take this information home to their families and communities and hopefully apply it in simple ways in their own lives. They

What’s Being Done The restorative gardening concept can be a valuable tool for expanding awareness but is of little real use until it is applied. The authors of this paper have been actively engaged in turning this concept into reality. It has been applied to a cooperative restoration project implemented by the Quivira Coalition, the Rio Puerco Management Committee, the Cuba Youth Conservation Corps and the Bureau of Land Management in the Rio Puerco watershed near Cuba, New Mexico. First, we spent time simply observing the area to be restored. Gully erosion was the most significant form of degradation and had been caused by a variety of factors, including reduced herbaceous groundcover and water collecting wagon roads and cattle trails. The cumulative impact of these factors had established long-term degradation processes that could not be reversed by simply resting the land. Next we came up with solutions that involved hand-built erosion control structures made of natural materials. When possible, we found ways to utilize onsite materials such as Juniper posts and native rock. Each structure was designed to enhance the natural shape of the land to improve soil and moisture retention and ultimately grow native plants, which increase the long-term stability of the structures. Our strategy was to treat the highest areas first. Starting restoration at the top of a drainage allows gravity to carry nutrients, seeds, water and soil downhill. By stabilizing the top of the drainage, resources such as soil are held in the system longer and can have a greater benefit throughout the landscape. Another benefit is that erosion features are generally smaller near the tops of slopes and can be treated with relatively small structures. The cumulative effect of many small structures storing moisture and soil high in the landscape is far greater than the effect of a few large structures at the bottom of a drainage. By using simple handmade methods that are light on the land,

“The recent mortality caused by a beetle infestation provides clear evidence that the ecological carrying capacity of our area is out of balance.” have been empowered with knowledge and skills that they can use to make their environment better. If we take this message to the next generation and teach them proactive ways to use it, we can begin to create a new way of living in our challenging landscape that will enrich not only our own lives but also those of the entire biotic community of which we are a part.

What You Can Do Be still, observe and understand how your life and your home interact with the ecosystem you live in. You’ll ﬁnd some things you do encourage abundance in nature, and some things reduce it. With this understanding you can intentionally interact with your surroundings in ways that increase diversity and productivity. In the arid Southwest, the greatest good you can do is to conserve native vegetation and enhance the ability of the landscape to store water. If everyone applied a gardener’s care to simple techniques for conserving soil and moisture in the landscape, the small eﬀorts of individuals could directly enhance our ability to live sustainably in this challenging and dynamic landscape. Craig Sponholtz and Steve Vrooman are with Dry Land Solutions and are reachable at 505-577-9625

ater and the Future of Development in Santa Fe Eric Lohan

toilet retroﬁt credits for new development. This is an easy solution from a regulatory perspective but presents a number of practical problems. Due to arcane water laws, purchasing water rights requires a signiﬁcant investment in legal services and is generally only pursued for large projects.

Ecological wastewater treatment system reclaims eighty million gallons of wastewater from a municipal zoo for reuse in exhibits.

Santa Fe is running out of water. An increasing population coupled with natural drought cycles has over-allocated Santa Fe’s water resources, leaving none for future development and little for parks and other public spaces. The city has taken a proactive and visionary approach to this water deﬁcit, but has created only a short-term solution. Santa Fe could beneﬁt from considering other measures.

A better solution to Santa Fe’s water deficit is found in the more efficient and creative use and reuse of the water resources we do have, in a “sustainable source” approach. There are at least four largely untapped sustainable sources of water that should be considered by the city in lieu of toilet retrofit credits. These sources include efficiency, rainwater, stormwater and reclaimed wastewater.

Currently, all development in Santa Fe is required to offset new water use by toilet retrofit credits. When older high flow toilets (3 gallons per flush) are replaced by new high efficiency models (1.6 gallons per flush), significant water savings accrue, and a toilet credit is created.

Toilet retrofits are, at present, the premier example of increasing water supply by increasing efficiency. However, there are many other systems or technologies that could significantly increase efficiency, including drip irrigation instead of sprinklers, earth coupled cooling systems instead of evaporative coolers, and a variety of new high-efficiency commercial and residential fixtures and appliances.

A private market has developed to retrofit toilets and sell credits to developers for new projects. This system has been very successful at conserving city water resources while allowing new development. Unfortunately, there are only a limited number of older toilets left in Santa Fe. At present, a couple of proposed developments threaten to exhaust the supply of available credits. The City of Santa Fe is faced with two potential approaches to addressing the issue of declining toilet retrofits. How this question is addressed will likely significantly impact future development as well as the quality of life in our city. One proposed solution requires developers to purchase water rights in lieu of

This approach will heavily bias development in Santa Fe toward very large projects: extensive subdivisions on the periphery of the city. Smaller infill projects in the heart of the city will be much more difficult to develop, further exacerbating Santa Fe’s sprawl and the resulting environmental and traffic problems. Another serious impediment to this approach is that water rights frequently exist on paper but no longer represent existing water in our streams or aquifers. Purchasing water rights doesn’t always guarantee that there is more water available.

Rainwater is distinguished from stormwater by falling directly on roof surfaces and being collected prior to contact with the ground. As a result, rainwater is usually less contaminated than stormwater. It is also a more reliable source of water because there is less variability in the volume collected during rainfall of a given duration. Stormwater runs oﬀ of paved and developed areas as well as vegetated areas. The variability of surfaces results in a much greater variability in quantity and quality of harvested water.

The fourth source of water is reclaimed wastewater (blackwater or greywater). After high quality treatment and disinfection, wastewater from commercial and municipal sources can be used for a variety of purposes. Table 1 depicts three possible uses of water: potable, toilet flushing, and irrigation, paired with the four sources of water. Not all sources are appropriate for all uses. For example, reclaimed wastewater cannot be used for potable consumption. Likewise, different sources of water require different treatment technologies to qualify for the same use. For example, rainwater requires only disinfection before use for toilet flushing while stormwater requires biological treatment as well as disinfection.

Quality

Economy

Reliability

The four sources of water can be evaluated based on a number of characteristics. The most important of these are usually reliability, economy, and water quality (Table 1). As can be seen, increases in efficiency provide the most reliable, cost effective, and high quality source of water. Unfortunately, efficiency increases are inherently limited, requiring other sources. Collecting rainwater is another cost effective method of reducing water consumption and in specially designed systems can be suitable for potable uses. If rainwater does not supply sufficient quantity for required uses, collecting and treating stormwater may be necessary as well. Both stormwater and rainwater are collected intermittently and require large storage cisterns to provide continual supply. During those times when water requirements are the highest, these sources will be in shortest

Efficiency

Reclaimed

Rain

Storm

Reclaimed

Table 1. Four sustainable sources of water rated on characteristics of efﬁciency, economy, and quality.

supply. Reclaiming wastewater for uses such as irrigation and toilet flushing is more expensive than collecting rainwater but it provides a more reliable source of water. Generally, two or more sustainable sources of water are used in addition to municipal water to provide the most cost effective system. At present, these systems can be used to reduce the required toilet retrofit credits only in new developments. A policy to allow integration of these systems into existing construction to create water credits is currently under review by the City of Santa Fe Planning and Land Use Department. This decentralized “sustainable source” approach relies on available water resources. This supports equitable and sustainable infill development, overcoming many of the limitations of the “water rights” approach to Santa Fe’s water deficit. Eric Lohan is with Dharma Living Systems, Inc. of Taos.

Landscape Water Conservation — The Seven Principles of

eriscape

The Xeriscape Council of New Mexico

A surprising amount of water is used in the home landscape. Studies have shown that as much as 70 percent of water from a municipal water system can be attributed to residential use. Of water used at homes, almost half is used to maintain the landscape. The problem is that while we live in the southwestern United States, we have traditionally landscaped with plants native to England, Japan, the East Coast of the US and other regions with much higher precipitation. To successfully grow these plants, we must supplement the natural precipitation with our limited surface and groundwater. The use of plants with high water demands is not our only landscaping option; fortunately, neither is removing plants from the landscape. Our landscapes may remain beautiful and productive if we use water efficiently and if we use landscape plants that require less water. A secondary benefit to using plants with low water requirements is that they are frequently adapted to the alkaline soils characteristic of New Mexico and other dry regions. Landscapes using these water-efficient plants are often called xeriscapes. “Xeros” is a Greek word that means “dry.” Xeriscape refers to a landscape that uses little supplemental water. It does not refer to a dry, barren landscape, nor is a xeriscape a “no maintenance” landscape. By using plants that are well adapted, mulches that suppress weeds and conserve water, and drip irrigation to make the most use of water, these landscapes can have color and fragrance with only monthly or seasonal gardening chores. There is a xeriscape for every gardener.

Xeriscape incorporates seven water-conserving principles: ¤ Planning and design ¤ Eﬃcient irrigation systems, properly designed and maintained ¤ Use of mulch ¤ Soil preparation ¤ Appropriate turf ¤ Water-eﬃcient plant material ¤ Appropriate maintenance

Planning and Design Good landscape and gardens begin with good planning and design. Xeriscapes can be divided into zones with different water requirements. An “oasis,” a zone with the highest water use, is usually where people spend the most time. Beyond the oasis is a transition zone of moderate water use. The transition zone contains plants that require less frequent irrigation and usually requires less maintenance. Further away may be a lowwater-use zone, which requires no supplemental water or very infrequent irrigation during prolonged dry periods. “Found water” or “harvested water” that runs off roofs and paving during storms can be used to reduce the need for supplemental irrigation. Roof runoff can be directed to the oasis or other areas, drastically reducing the need for supplemental irrigation in the moderate and low-water-use zones.

Irrigation Irrigation is necessary in a xeric landscape, at least during the ﬁrst few years while the plants’ root systems are developing. The oasis and the moderate-water-use zones have the greatest need for irrigation, but it is wise to plan irrigation even in the low-water-use zone to allow for new planting, changes and years of severe drought. The water should be applied as eﬃciently as possible. Sprinkler systems are appropriate in areas of turf, but drip, bubbler, and micro-spray systems or soaker hoses are more appropriate for shrubs, trees and annual & perennial plantings.

Mulch Mulch provides a cover over the soil, reducing evaporation, soil temperature and erosion. It also limits weed growth and competition for water and nutrients. Landscape mulch materials vary in their suitability for various uses.

Soil Preparation Soil preparation is an important part of successful xeriscaping and gardening. In the oasis and moderate-water-use zones,

adding compost increases the soilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water-holding capacity. In the lowwater-use zone, soil preparation may only consist of rototilling to loosen the soil and reduce the soil compaction.

Appropriate Use of Turf One of the most controversial and misunderstood of the xeriscape principles is the concept of appropriate turf. Turf grasses have a place in the landscape, even the xeriscape. Turf provides a play surface for children and pets. It is an important element in cooling the local environment, reducing erosion and preventing glare from the sun. Consider where and how large a turf area is desired, how it will be used and during which seasons it will be used. You are then prepared to limit turf to useful spaces and determine which grasses will best serve your needs.

Low Water Use Plants Plants that require less water are becoming more readily available in the nurseries. While you may use many of your old favorites in the oasis zone, there are a wide variety of colorful, fragrant and beautiful plants for the less irrigated part of the landscape.

Maintenance Maintaining the landscape cannot be forgotten, even in a xeriscape. The design will determine the required maintenance. Any garden will require some maintenance: pruning, removing trash that has blown into the landscape, occasional weeding and pest management and irrigation system monitoring. Xeriscaping oďŹ&#x20AC;ers a way to have beautiful, livable landscapes without excess water use. Using xeriscape makes our landscapes more compatible with our New Mexico environment. The Xeriscape Council of New Mexico www.xeriscapenm.com

Transportation Ride a bike. Take the bus. Walk. Most of us have heard these suggestions before, and for good reason. We know, if nothing else, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s often cheaper. So why is getting out of our cars and reducing our fuel consumption so important? Transportation and its systems are key considerations for building sustainable communities and ecosystems. Sustainable transportation has to do with the promotion of environmentally, socially and economically sustainable transportation and reduced dependence on automobiles.

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How can we reduce the environmental impacts of transportation? Potentially, the least-cost solution includes the signiďŹ cant improvement of public transportation, as well as methods that decrease the need for transportation, such as intelligent community design, smart growth and telecommuting. Green development aims to make communities and real-estate developments less mobility-hungry and more transit-friendly. This strategy would decrease our need for imported fuel supplies and thereby increase our national energy security. When we have to use a car, however, a big part of the least-cost solution is a cleaner and more eďŹ&#x192;cient vehicle.

iofuels Charles Bensinger

WHAT ARE BIOFUELS? Biofuels, like fossil fuels, represent stored solar energy. Biofuels, though, can be made in a matter of months. Fossil fuels require hundreds of millions of years of cooking under intense pressure. Biofuels are renewable, non-toxic and carbon neutral. Carbon neutral means that biofuels add no new carbon into the atmosphere—unlike fossil fuels, which do. The two most common biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel, both of which can be made from domestically grown agricultural crops. Ethanol can also be made from common cellulosic waste products such as animal manures, sewage, wood chips and garbage.

WHY BIOFUELS? US oil imports are 60% and rising. The US, with only 4% of the world’s population, gobbles up about 25% of the world’s oil production. With rising petroleum demand from China and developing countries, it won’t be long before we exhaust the planet’s remaining economically developable oil reserves. Thus it’s critically important to develop aﬀordable, renewable biofuels that can be produced sustainably in the US.

WILL BIOFUELS WORK IN MY VEHICLE? If your vehicle is properly maintained, it will run as well or better on the appropriate biofuel blends as it will on petroleumonly fuels. Often you will notice an increase in horsepower or engine performance from the use of ethanol because it has higher octane than regular gasoline. Use of biodiesel in a diesel vehicle can improve power and mileage, quiet the engine, reduce soot and odors and increase engine life. Both fuels are oxygenates, meaning they contain oxygen. More oxygen means better, more eﬃcient combustion and less toxic emission.

WHICH BIOFUEL CAN I USE IN MY VEHICLE? E10 Unleaded - ANY gasoline vehicle can use E10 Unleaded, which is a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% unleaded gasoline. Ethanol has been the mainstay of Brazil’s transportation system for over 20 years. US vehicles have traveled over three trillion miles on ethanol. Every major carmaker in the world approves the use of 10% ethanol blends (E10 Unleaded) in their engines. In fact, all gasoline sold in Albuquerque during the months of November through March is E10. This enables the city to meet federal clean air standards. The ethanol in E10 Unleaded adds

two to three points of octane to gasoline which helps improve engine performance while keeping engine parts cleaner. E10 Unleaded also reduces toxic exhaust emissions. Ethanol E85 - E85 is the term used for a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% unleaded gasoline. E85 is considered an “alternative fuel” under federal and state laws. E85 is an environmentally friendly fuel. It has the highest oxygen content of any fuel available today. Thus, it burns much cleaner than gasoline. The use of E85 results in substantial reductions of common vehicle pollutants such as ozone and carbon monoxide and air toxins like benzene and carbon dioxide as well. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies have shown that high blends of ethanol reduce harmful exhaust emissions by more than 50%. A number of federal and state studies conclude that the production of ethanol from corn creates 34% 67% more energy than it uses.

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E85 is intended to fuel specially designed vehicles called Flexible Fuel Vehicles or FFVs. These vehicles can accommodate 100% gasoline or 85% ethanol or any blend of the two fuels. Special onboard diagnostics “read” the fuel blend, enabling flex-fuel vehicle engines to seamlessly adapt to a wide range of fuel options. E85 provides superior performance due to its high octane rating (105 vs. gasoline’s 86 to 90). All US car manufacturers have offered flex fuel vehicle models for little or no additional cost since 1998. Check your fuel tank door to see if your vehicle is E85 capable. Or consult the website: www.e85fuel.com. Biodiesel - In 1895 Dr. Rudolf Diesel developed the first diesel engine, which he ran on peanut oil. Biodiesel may be made from virtually any kind of vegetable oil, including recycled restaurant cooking oil. Biofuels sold at the Baca St. Biofuels Station in Santa Fe are made from virgin soybean oil and processed to meet rigorous federal quality standards. Blue Sun biodiesel also contains mileage-boosting cetane additives and a NOx reduction additive. Biodiesel can be used in any unmodified diesel engine. It is a safe, non-toxic, renewable and proven fuel with over 30 million successful U.S. road miles and over 20 years’ use in Europe. ¤ Biodiesel can be used alone in its pure form (B100) or mixed with petroleum diesel in any blend. The most commonly used blend is B20. ¤ Biodiesel is 11% oxygen by weight and contains no sulfur. ¤ The manufacturing process has minimal impact on the environment. Biodiesel fuel blends provide superior lubrication, which reduces engine wear and increases engine life. Biodiesel will clean your fuel system and its components, so it’s advisable to change your fuel filter a few weeks after switching to biodiesel. Because Biodiesel is carbon neutral, each ton used avoids three tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

WHERE CAN I PURCHASE BIOFUELS LOCALLY? Santa Fe has two biofuels stations. The main station is a Conoco station located at 1229 Cerrillos Road at the corner of Cerrillos and Baca Street. Here you will ﬁnd the nation’s ﬁrst triple-biofuels dispenser. A single E85 dispenser is also located at a Phillips 66 Amigo Mart located next to the Horseman’s Haven restaurant at 4354 Cerrillos Road. Future stations are planned for Taos and Cuyamungue. Charles Bensinger has worked for twenty years to make renewable energy options available to New Mexicans. He played a major role in persuading PNM to build a 204 MW wind farm, and has successfully developed legislation supporting fuel cells, solar and biomass projects. He is working to create biomass facilities for etanol production in northern New Mexico. For more info: www.RenewableEnergyPartners.org

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Getting Around In Santa Fe Santa Fe Trails Santa Fe city bus system (Santa Fe Trails) runs on natural gas. Mass transit is always a more sustainable means of travel verse driving in your own car. You can even attach your bike to the bus to combine eco-friendly modes of transport. Monthly passes are only $20 or $10 for kids (5-17) and seniors (ages 60 and up) or $1 each ride (50 cents for kids and seniors). A day pass goes for $2 ($1 kids and seniors). For information: www.santafenm.gov/public-works/ BusSchedules/index.asp or 955-2001

New Mexico Park and Ride The New Mexico Dept. of Transportation oﬀers shuttle service between Santa Fe & Albuquerque for only $2 one way and Santa Fe & Los Alamos for $2 one way. For information: www.allaboardamerica.com or 424-1110

Ridefinders Sponsored by Park and Ride New Mexico, Ridefinders will help you find carpoolers in your area. For information: 988-7433

Bike Riding your bike is consistently the most sustainable means of transportation and you get exercise as well. Drivers, please remember to share the road with your sustainable travelers.

Santa Fe Southern Railway The ﬁrst railroad in New Mexico to use B20 (20% biodeisel and 80% regular diesel). The biodeisel has reduced the amount of smoke from the engine and it is no longer black. The short line hauls some freight in addition to passenger tours between the SF Railyard and Lamy. For information: www.sfsr.com or 989-8600, ext. 0

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Photos: Earth Care Intl.

Education Most of the children of Santa Fe attend school locally. Many of them will stay when they ﬁnish – or come back at a later time. If we truly want to cultivate a vision of a sustainable Santa Fe, we’ve got to allow the youth of our community to confront questions relevant to this vision: The local education system is an ideal venue into which to incorporate exploration of sustainability. Let students get their hands dirty experimenting with natural building, gardening and solar energy. Give them diesel cars to convert to run on vegetable oil, solar panels to ﬁgure out how to power their laptops and iPods, kitchen scraps to make rich compost. Sustainability education is engaging, interactive and fun. Let’s inspire them; you never know how far they’ll take it. Education For Sustainability (EFS) is a process of learning how to make decisions that consider the long-term future of the economy, ecology and equity of all communities. Building the capacity for such futures-oriented thinking is a key task of education. This requires education that cultivates respect for diversity, caring relationships between humans and the natural world and environmentally and socially responsible forms of development.

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Many colleges and universities integrate EFS into their curricula and pedagogy. There are innovative and pragmatic approaches to sustainability taking place on campuses across the U.S. and beyond. Cross-disciplinary discussions of natural & social sciences, as well as practices & policies, are an important step toward creating achievable sustainable practices. EFS provides the vocational/economic gateway to jobs, industry and community development based on a platform of resource management, sustainable economics and green, earthbased standards and technologies that take into consideration conditions of poverty and at-risk populations. In 2002, the United Nations General Assembly, recognizing that sustainable development is an urgent social and ecological need, and that education is an indispensable element for achieving it, declared the 10-year period beginning 2005 as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. UNESCO was designated the lead agency for the promotion of this decade.

ustainability Education at Monte del Sol Charter School Tony Gerlicz, Head Learner Tony Gerlicz of Monte del Sol and Taylor Selby of Earth Care

What does sustainability education mean in formal schooling? Sustain what? Sustain whom? Sustain why? These are but a few questions in which Monte del Sol Charter School students engage when we venture into the field of sustainability education. Monte del Sol began this journey when the school opened in August 2000 with the intent of raising the academic bar while instilling a sense of leadership into the education of young people so that they would take that education and put it to use for the benefit of humankind in whatever way they see fit. In school year 2003-2004, Monte del Sol moved out of its shopping center site into its own building on a donated four-acre tract of land in southern Santa Fe. Although the school had grand designs to construct a green building, the realities of public education dollars available for such a project dictated that many of the green features we desired remained for future consideration. However, lemons provided lemonade as our own building provided the laboratory we would use to learn about sustainability principles through retrofitting the existing building into a green one. We began by institutionalizing a course entitled Natural Technologies and Design, A Sustainability Practicum,

and partnered with Earth Care International in the development of that program. Students in that elective class learned sustainability concepts and in the process began to think about living a life that was more in congruence with the rhythms of the planet. They learned that the word “sustainability” was inadequate, yet it conveyed a concept profoundly clear to young people. To sustain something, you cannot take from the earth more than you put into it: a simple statement with profound implications. How does one give back to the earth when the production and consumption of food is ubiquitous? How does one sustain the use of water in our arid climate? How does one give back to the earth when we produce waste? How does one give back to the earth when we generate the power necessary to drive our economy? These are simple questions with profound opportunities for exploration. We quickly learned that sustainability education spanned all the traditional academic disciplines found in schools. It provided an elusive link to a variety of disciplines by weaving a common thread of understanding how various components of life are interconnected. A better understanding was formed of how we cannot only sus-

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tain the world in which we live but make it more abundant. In our third year of this work at Monte del Sol, students have learned about permaculture, organic farming, water conservation and replenishment, our ecological footprint and ways to consume that can actually restore and enrich and not merely take away. Students have built a greenhouse, installed 200-gallon water tanks, attended Bioneers conferences and put on conferences of their own. In fact, in October 2004, Monte del Sol and Earth Care partnered to put on the ďŹ rst ever youth sustainability conference where youth from across northern New Mexico came to Monte del Sol to hear speakers, take workshops on a variety of sustainability related workshops and learn from experts in the ďŹ eld about how to give back to the earth more than we take away from it. The release of this Guide will mark the second annual, even bigger and better conference, entitled E*Vision 2005, to be held once again at Monte del Sol School. At Monte del Sol we now embark on institutionalizing a curriculum that blends disciplines as we look at the science, history and economics of our relationship with food, water, waste and power. We have found students resonate exceptionally well with the practical, intellectual and deeply human implications that sustainability education provides them. We are inspired by these students and conspire with them to create a world of understanding of the interconnectedness of all things on this planet. Such is the promise of sustainability education; such are the profound rewards it brings. It is a journey on which we will not turn back. We invite you to join with Earth Care International and Monte del Sol Charter School as partners on this path. Tony Gerlicz is the Head Learner (Principal) and founder of Monte del Sol public charter school in Santa Fe.

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enter for Community Sustainability Kris Swedin, Craig Fiels and Mark Sardella

The City of Santa Fe adopted a new economic development plan in June 2004. The plan calls for economic development strategies that create long-term economic growth in a way that protects the environment, is water saving and calls upon the unique creativity of the region’s talented citizens. Making Santa Fe “the water conservation and clean energy capital of the U.S.” is one of the most important goals of the plan. This goal challenges entrepreneurs in our region to take the lessons learned from our water scarcity and apply solutions to build products that can be exported to other water scarce regions of the world. Our abundance of sunshine and wind can also be used as a resource for creating technologies to produce energy locally that lessens our dependence on foreign sources and market disruptions that raise the price of energy. To make this ambitious goal a reality, the City of Santa Fe is joining together with the Santa Fe Community College, the nonprofit Local Energy, Santa Fe County and the Santa Fe Business Incubator to develop the Center for Community Sustainability. The CCS seeks to: Foster the development of community-based water conservation and clean energy technologies such as biomass and solar, as well as energy-efficiency-saving and energystoring systems; ¤ Help create and support businesses that develop and deploy technologies and systems in ways that promote greater self-reliance for Santa Fe; ¤ Provide workforce training and education to create rewarding career opportunities in these emerging technologies for Santa Fe’s current and future workforce; and ¤ Develop a thriving local economy based on sustainable energy and efficient water use to increase the tax base in Santa Fe and New Mexico. ¤

and a thermal network to test energy technologies under actual operating conditions. Santa Fe Community College, which already uses a hot water system to heat campus buildings, is an ideal location because of its potential as a hub of a thermalpower network. Entrepreneurs in water conservation businesses will also have a place to test and refine technologies for commercial and residential applications. In addition, the Center will provide business support services to help entrepreneurs start and expand their businesses and a curriculum to train workers in these technologies. While retaining the historic character, culture and beauty of our community, Santa Fe can embrace sustainable technologies to create new businesses, jobs and locally produced energy. Through this initiative we can build sustainable economic health at home and provide energy and water conservation solutions worldwide. Kris Sweden is the Director of the City of Santa Fe’s Economic Development Division. Email: mkswedin@santafenm.gov Craig Fiels is Senior Planner for Economic Development in the City of Santa Fe Economic Development Division. Email: cofiels@santafenm.gov Mark Sardella is Executive Director of the non-profit Local Energy. Email: msardella@localenergy.org

The advanced technology center will provide a physical space for sustainable water and energy conservation businesses and for entrepreneurs to test and develop technologies and grow their businesses. The Center will provide access to an electrical

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anta Fe Civic Housing Authority Earth Care International Summer Teen Project

This summer the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority (SFCHA) partnered with Earth Care International to oﬀer meaningful summer employment for local teenagers. The teens received training in ecological design, xeriscaping and permaculture principles as they worked on beautifying and improving the land of a SFCHA housing development. The project started in June when dying grasses and stumps of old trees littered the land, and weeds were overtaking the sidewalks of seniors’ homes in La Cienaguita near the village of Aqua Fria. With the consultation of Tim Blose of Native Earth Landscaping, the native grasses are now greener and new native drought-tolerant plants and trees are growing. Water is being channeled to support the authentic southwestern landscape. As Outreach Coordinator for Earth Care International, I led a crew of ﬁve Santa Fe teens including Kim Hardwick, MacKelvey Dryden, Xaver Elgin, Andres Garcia and Laura Garcia in completing the project. SFCHA was enthusiastic about the project because they were concerned about the amount of water usage on their properties. They also were interested in contributing to community development through providing training in valuable life skills to the younger generation. In accordance with permaculture principles, the crew dug perimeter trenches

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Photo : Heidi Zellie

Heidi Zellie

to harvest rainwater in each courtyard that could then feed into acequias, leading to healthy, native trees. Along these acequias, the group installed native plants such as sage and stipa grass to beautify the area. Finally, we ﬁxed the irrigation system, endlessly pulled weeds, added mulch and raked unwanted, dead grasses that can be a ﬁre hazard. Aside from just digging into the ground, the youth were digging into a new concept: landscaping with a focus. They visited the Santa Fe Children’s Museum’s Earthworks outdoor learning landscape and Plants of the Southwest to familiarize themselves with native plants and to learn the meaning of the word xeriscaping (ask them and they’ll tell you it’s a fancy term for landscaping in a drought tolerant, sun loving ecosystem). When the midday sun got too hot and drained the life out of the teens, they sat inside the SFCHA development’s community center and watched a video on sustainability, listened to “natural capitalism” expert Paul Hawken or learned about “Sense of Place.” Residents sometimes joined the crew to watch the videos, never

hesitating to ask questions about the design plan. “We like having your energy around,” one resident proclaimed. The intergenerational, multicultural intermingling created an unexpected and pleasant component to the project.

Each courtyard project seemed to be completed a little faster as members of the team developed his or her best skill and got a better understanding of what needed to be done and why. The acequias leading from the perimeter trenches to the trees had to be curved, representing a river in a natural setting. They knew this makes it a bit more beautiful, but now they understand that the straighter the trench, the faster the water will ﬂow and the quicker the tree may ﬂood, ruining the root system as well as the hard work they did on the surrounding birms. This would require more maintenance and thus contradict one of the basic the laws of Permaculture, which appreciates health, beauty and low maintenance. Permaculture also seeks to harmonize people with their natural environment. And so, in addition to meeting the initial goal of reducing water usage in a drought-ridden landscape, Earth Care International, Native Earth Landscaping, the teen crew, the SFCHA and the La Cienaguita residents have successfully contributed elements of sustainability while cultivating a lasting relationship with the land and its residents. Heidi Zellie is Outreach Coordinator and an Educator for Earth Care International

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All Species Day — Santa Fe

Social Sustainability Is Santa Fe a fair and safe place to live? Do we value – as much as we could – the strength available from our diversity? Do our citizens have aﬀordable health care, housing, food choices and education? How rich are opportunities for social interaction, the sense of belonging and spiritual enrichment? The social dimension of sustainability encompasses political, cultural and people-centered issues. It ensures that the basic

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conditions for human life to ﬂourish exist within society. These conditions cannot be met without a healthy and sustainable natural environment and economy. Social service organizations are key since they provide assistance in areas where need exists. However, they should not be the only solution. How can Santa Fe, as a community, create a town that allows everyone to ﬂourish? How do we foster ownership in the health of our social sustainability?

Social apital: The Strength of a Healthy Community Geoff Chesshire

Community What is community? To some, a community is a place where people live, such as a neighborhood, village or town. To others, a community is a group of people with something in common that holds them together. To still others, community is the sense of connectedness between people. Whichever way you look at it, our communities are where we turn in times of need, both to oﬀer our help and to seek the help of others. Our communities are also where we learn and work together, where we meet friends and where we gather to celebrate. In order to make all this possible, we need to build and maintain the relationships that make up our community networks. These relationships determine the “community-ness” of a community, and they can be described and measured in terms of social capital.

Social Capital and Community Health Social capital is the effectiveness of a community or of any network of people. It is the connectedness of the network and the strength of the connections. By some definitions, it is also the resources available within the network. Connections and relationships between people depend crucially on the quantity and mutually-beneficial quality of time spent together in order to build trust and reciprocity. We can measure social capital as time: both the time that we invest in learning and working together, and the time that we spend in civic and social activities. Social capital is also an indicator and measure of community health, which I like to define as the capacity to manage or cope with stress and to recover from and adapt to strain. This definition of health can be used just as well for individuals, communities, ecosystems or the planet as a whole. In consideration of community health, we think of such stresses as our difficult access to water and energy, and we think of such consequent strains as our strife and discord while we learn new ways to conserve these scarce resources and develop new ones. Social capital is a measure of our capacity to work together as a community when such issues arise.

Community Health and Local Economy vs. Economic Efﬁciency Although no individual or community is completely indepen-

dent, we must at least take responsibility for our own health. The efforts of a community to build self-reliance tend also to increase its social capital and strengthen its local economy. Wealth and power tend to accumulate in the hands of those who use them most efficiently. However, efficient accumulation of financial capital is typically achieved through exploitation and depletion of human, social and ecological capital. One consequence of this type of economic efficiency is that money gets sucked out of the local economy, as its financial capital becomes more concentrated and less available to the community as a whole. Money typically leaves the community in the form of profit to large corporations. However, the result is the same when community members invest it elsewhere. A second consequence of economic efficiency is that many people find that they must expend inordinate amounts of time and effort on their survival and that of their families. This leaves little or no time to invest in the relationships that keep their communities healthy and strong. In other words, this deficit of time results in depletion of the social capital of the community. This time deficit results also in depletion of human capital, which is the long-term investment of people in their own and their children’s education, training and other opportunities. A third consequence of economic efficiency is that it depends upon the unsustainable exploitation of environmental resources, so that the ecological capital of the region and of the whole planet becomes depleted. Efficiency and dependency are inextricably linked, both for individuals through the specialization of their skills, and for communities through their reliance upon import and export. A healthy community finds ways to counteract the drain of social capital resulting from economic efficiency, and it takes seriously its responsibility of stewardship: to sustain its human capital and the ecological capital of the region and of the planet. If we take care to trace the path of money through our community, we can begin to understand the consequences of our choices and priorities, and learn to shift our priorities toward ecologically sustainable activities that strengthen the local economy and build the human and social capital of our community.

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o One is Worth Throwing Away: Social Sustainability Gets Personal Kenneth K. Goodrow II

We must revise our sense of the worth of other people. It is time for a mode of conscious living that creates a storm of human-kindness in each person’s experience, a storm at the center of which can be found our core stillness and connection to the value of all life and matter in our world. Then we will realize and actualize the truth that there is no one worth throwing away. A central measure of our integrity is whether, how, and to what degree we integrate in ourselves a strong sense of the worth of fellow humans – even those we may have seen as detestable and repulsive.

of sustainable energy or get close to coordinating a materially and socially sustainable world. Unless we ﬁnd ourselves opening a space in our experience to value those detestable to us, we shy away from increasingly evolved human living and identify with the dark history of alienation, primitive competitive greed and the aggression of superiority. However global, this is at its core a deeply personal endeavor. The seed to profoundly transformative action is in the introspective engagement of which we each immediately stand at the threshold. The fruition is in the biopsychosocial sphere. The door awaits our opening.

Notice right now your gut-level reaction to these groups of people: panhandlers, beggars, homeless, thieves, hustlers, pimps, whores, sex offenders, criminals, manipulators, slaves, slave drivers, kidnappers, murderers, poor, needy, disheveled. It is easy for us to find groups we wish we could ignore or those we wish would disappear and stop pestering our consciences and fettering our easy experience of the world around us. It is easy for us to engage attitudes and social policies through the politics of fervor, fear and hatred, which seek quick fixes to these “problems,” which are actually people, our fellows, our human family. It is time for a higher-level integration of our working with compassion that uses a broad-spectrum logic far deeper than one craving quick fixes and easy yet false relief-assoon-as-possible. Can we not open our eyes and look beyond the gratification of our relatively short lifetime and seek the health of all humanity?

The genuineness of young people can teach us about opening new passages in our experience. I remember when my daughter learned that the large black planes flying over the parade were bombers meant to kill people. She was incensed. With resolve and without prompting, she put her foot down and said, “When I grow up, I’m going to FEED PEOPLE.” Where is our childlike resolve, the voice of our innocence and honesty? Recycling aluminum, glass and plastic is beneficial, but what about the ugly, mean, violent members of our human family, particularly the young ones? Do we lock them away out of sight, allowing our children (particularly juvenile delinquents) to continue on a relatively predictable path to prison from a barren cradle of early neglect, abuse and abandonment? Is the reward for an impoverished upbringing and a starved heart yet more sophisticated starvation? Horrific crime very often has its root in the lack of care and/or in the experience of violence in early life. This so often continues throughout life as people find verification that the degree to which they are valued (or not) is as they were originally taught. The cycle of verifying personal worth or worthlessness is easily aided by external forces that attribute the word “trash” to already crushed people. Just imagine how unsustainable it is to treat another human as worthless even while you recycle empty containers. Treat a child as worthless and he is likely to see the world outside as worthless. He is more likely to litter, exploit, vandalize, steal

Social sustainability in community wellness must address this issue of the worth of every person and the throwaway nature of our modern culture. Just as material trash is a call for greater sustainability in our earthly living, so also are the people who are ﬁguratively or literally thrown away a resounding indicator that we must go no further in unconscious living. Indeed, our denial of these human brothers and sisters, young and old, can be our ultimate undoing – whether we ﬁnd the ultimate source

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and menace. It can require so little trashing of another human being to create a monster. Consider Hitler, an example on a grand scale. Undervalued, criticized, dejected at ﬁrst…later a heinous monster.

is established. The cultivation of a sustainable community, culture and, most of all, a sustainable heart, individually and internationally, depends on basic care for all. This must be a care that is consistently accessible and responsive, as

We are now witnessing the flourishing of this theme. Our culture expresses a dependence on hatred, violence, crime and suffering through voyeuristic fascination fueled by television and a sense of powerlessness. Add to this the groupthink lust for public punishment of those caught for crimes with which we entertain ourselves via the media. We are part of a culture that perpetrates traditions of holiness that depend on making someone evil, worthless, gross, detestable and worthy of punishment, torture or termination. We actually further the problem of violence and all forms of crime by maintaining a rejecting and judgmental system of human interaction. We punish offenders with further abandonment of public scorn, condemnation and antihabilitative treatment/incarceration, which furthers their cravings for the drugs or criminal behavior that have developed as their primary means of satisfying a sense of satisfaction, calm or intimacy. We all know that if you abuse a dog, you create an angry and reactive being. Aggression breeds aggression and is fueled by ignorance, which is the result of an unaware, unconscious life.

have before us, to get real with the choices to make in order to have a beneﬁcial future for all life. It is time to dethrone the political sphere as the source for solutions and to ﬁnd our seat in an honestly engaged experience of our earth-family-connected selves. As a result, from the truth of our own engaged experience we will be able to resurrect politics and other forms of decision-making from lies, confusion and irresponsibility, from wishful thinking and impoverished integrity. Then may we enliven systems of justice with the true integrity of real justice (not politicized, bigoted and malicious reactivity) arising from the integral heart of humanity.

opposed to rejecting and judging, and directed toward those who are detestable as well as those who are loved.

You can support a new politician or take action yourself and ﬁnd other human family members who are about real local action. You are lonely, struggle in your work or relationships, and wonder about what this life is about. It’s not really about politics. Go ﬁnd someone or some group of folks in need in your community and serve them – give of yourself. Cultivate the heart of action based in the wisdom of the unconditional worth of all. Act on your own manifesto grounded in this wisdom.

There is no justice or peace while those who in their suﬀering repulse us are thrown away by whatever means we can craft to the liking of our ego. You can’t have love with hatred. There is no eﬀective partial care or cure. In infants, lack of care will likely lead to anxiety and mistrust, even detachment with greater potential for eventual aggression. In gardening, plants die. In auto mechanics, cars break down. In marriages, violence or neglect develops. In education, failure

The answer is not to idealistically throw all prison doors open but rather to vastly increase personal responsibility to our own sensitivity to the human condition. No, this is not to be done in a wimpy way, not in a syrupy way, but in a real way. This means letting the struggle sit in our own gut, letting the conscience of nature ripen within our own experience. This means that acting locally is acting within the sphere of your own experience instead of periodically placing our fervor (actually unripened sensitivity, uncultivated compassion) on political candidates while neighbors starve. This is about moving beyond fear in such a way that we do not shirk it, avoid it, pretend it isn’t there, or medicate it. Rather, we engage our fears, sit with them and realize that the dragons we’ve been running from are only little pups nipping at our heels asking for skillful attention. We have to wake up, open our eyes and let our hearts engage with the heart of human experience, without impatiently quick ﬁxes. It is time for us to get real with the struggles on our home planet and with the futures we

My manifesto: I will not compromise. I will not pretend. I will not ease my discomfort at the ills of the world with only easy fixes, material fixes. I will not listen to politicians who fund quick-fix programs and drop names of nifty acronyms in order to somehow show that they are doing something to remedy problems. I will not do nothing and call it something. I will not be fooled by leaders who self-aggrandize, and I will not be fooled by the aggrandizement of my own comfort zone. I will keep sensitivity to the pain in this world. And I will come to an understanding of how it develops and is maintained, of how I am inexorably tied to the cycle. I will rise beyond zones of ease, comfortable answers and feel-good

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fixes. I will develop wisdom to find myself at the heart of social sustainability. Just as I am aware of the trash on the side of the road and how it can be reduced, reused and recycled, I will peel back the blinders insulating me from the vast heart of social sustainability and the consciousness of human pain and suffering that will inevitably strike my consciousness and stoke my action. I will not deny that the ugly, detestable members of my family are worthy of care, have inherent integrity and are actually outrageously beautiful. I will find courage through the opening of my own heart. I will spare no tear, no action and no vivification of opportunity to rise up and allow nature to flow compassionate living through me. I am the heart of this world, as we all are. I destroy the walls in my mind that see walls between people, which hide suffering from my conscience. I am alive, awake and aware. I will not die before I have poured out my life’s energy in every form to serve the betterment of all life through sustaining each member of the human family and all our natural rela-

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tives – all matter, all life. I will die spent and with the biggest smile on an old, wrinkled face. This is the stillness of my fervor, my moment by moment living and dying. The First Step – develop a visceral, gutlevel sense for the tone of your action. Further steps… 1. Volunteer where you feel uncomfortable. 2. Serve people you feel afraid of (i.e., those who stir your sense of vulnerability). Have you ever said, “I just hate those ______ people”? Whether you’ve said it or not, notice the subtle aversions you feel from certain individuals or groups of people. The aversion is the doorway to transformative experience. 3. Practice presence with those who suﬀer rather than just oﬀering relief. Emphasizing just relief is often more about impatience, which is a subtle seed of aggression. Develop an attitude of service through experience

that allows those who suffer to find their own ease, comfort, solutions and to feel the juice of your confidence in their capability, integrity and worth. 4. Cultivate a sense of undifferentiated gratitude. It has been said that this is the visceral experience of the enlightened mind. It is non-conceptual and gut-level: a body experience. 5. Practice #3 even in face of seemingly insurmountable odds and suffering. You might not change the world, but you will find the gradual dissolution of fear in your own life. Without the fear of those who were previously revolting to us, we will find the naturally arising worth of each person. There is tremendous joy and liberation in this, and the first step is exactly right now. Kenneth Goodrow is a psychotherapist, an organizational consultant and a family & adolescent therapist.

apoeira: Liberty for All Pete Jackson Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that combines dance, music and acrobatics. The conservation movement is a broad name for fields dedicated to restoring and caring for the earth. Both are related to the contemporary struggle for freedom through ancient knowledge. To illustrate the comparisons, my instructors used the term AfroBrazilian to describe capoeira. In doing so, purposeful or not, they reflect an ongoing controversy and open an unhealed wound regarding capoeira’s connection to slavery. Similarly, whereas the conservation movement is based on high ideals, some advocates see themselves battling corruption, greed and insensitivity by individuals, corporations and governments. There should be a way to conscientiously recognize advocates’ efforts. Peaceful resolution requires that all voices be heard. If not, the controversy will reappear. Some of the world’s most memorable leaders were dismissed within their movements, and some of the greatest movements were overlooked by the ruling parties. Capoeira is a great topic for study because it was birthed to fight for liberty and had leaders who are idolized in Brazilian lore. It also addresses many social ills found globally. My work supports capoeira’s connection to a broad and ancient martial knowledge that is virtually unequaled for examining the self and relationships to others including nature. Historically, every culture developed systems around the temperament of its people for examining conflict. The better practices combated destruction of the outer environment. The lesser methods encouraged physical conflict with others. Sporting events were common methods, but in part due to the emphases on documentation, Asian martial practices have stood out in time as superior forms. Still, no civilization mastered all the knowledge. Some methods were aggressive/outward expressions; others were aggressive/internal practices; still others focused on passively purging inner conflict via the spiritual body. In comparison, progressive, contemporary/alternative conservation practices remind me of traditions like Feng Shui, which ask students to pay attention to their impact on the environment. Personally, no act stands out as much as the simple tradition used by Australian Aborigines. They believed it was important to leave a campsite and its surroundings unchanged from when they arrived. The greatest masters of martial arts, the conservation movement, countless therapies and healing modalities past and present, understood the necessity of living in harmony on earth. Virtually every field implements procedures challenging partici-

pants to heal the inner-self and see the outer environment as a reflection of it. Soldiers/warriors and martial artists are often portrayed as similar, but there exist major differences. Each group possesses an understanding of war and peace, but throughout history, soldiers/warriors were trained or had personalities that placed them at greater risk to inflict damage on themselves or their community. Martial arts trained away tendencies that are still applicable today. Tracing the lineage of war, direct correlations can be made between the expansion of oppression, rape of the earth, destruction of martial knowledge and cultures that held secrets of harmonious living, to the growth in warriors or conquerors who took the lead in settling the earth. In China it was once believed that every citizen should study martial arts. Capoeira likely evolved from an African rite-ofpassage ceremony that required full community participation. Today, virtually every country supports leaders who have military knowledge. Historically, martial arts were acknowledged for holding the keys to self-liberation and conflict resolution. In contrast, military knowledge, historically and today, provides the keys for maintaining control. True martial arts masters were honorable tenders of their garden and committed to family. They did not achieve mastery by denouncing their inner-war, but by committing to heal the tendencies to dominate others. They looked to understand “liberty for all” via the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed. Many capoeiristas today embody the spirit of the early resistance fighters, and as an African American, I can relate. Ironically, living in a country that promotes “liberty for all,” I did not escape oppressive conditions. Capoeira illustrates that a call for liberty is a sign that a tangible or subtle form of slavery exists. Capoeira also became a body of hope with strong spiritual ties, and it continues to shine with the potential of what may exist on the other side of liberty. An immutable law within martial arts is that in life, even a person of peace must face the test of war in relationship, and the example of this dynamic is the plight of the Dalai Lama. Capoeira is only one reminder that the most destructive tendencies of war will be on the horizon or fully realized because the oppressed will always look to rise up, even from subtle domination. It is easy to separate into struggles rather than work to find common ground for peaceful resolution. Capoeira and the conservation movement are linked because both look to reestablish and benefit from the earth’s natural wealth. Thus, both are forums for examining what prevents freedom. Pete Jackson is the founder and Executive Director of The Berimbau in Santa Fe and he teaches capoeira at Bikanda Gallery of Art, Dance and Music.

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Index of Ace Mountainwear and Bike Shop 30 Agua Fria Nurseies 41 Aliyah Doughty 61 American Clay 85 Amigo Tires 90 Annapurna 49 Anne Ward - Clark Real Estate 30 The Ark 90 Assistance Dogs of the West 61 Audrey Long 106 Aztec Home Schooling 35 Baglione Custom Woodworks 90 Bear Mountain Lodge 90 Beaver Toyota 127 Berimbau 23 Blu 102.9 4 The Bug Lady 41 Building Energy Solutions 68 Cameron Gregg - Vincente Cervantes 114 The Candyman 30 Casa Natura 86 Cedar Mountain Solar 65 Center for Indigenous Arts & Cultures 16 Chocolate Smith 7 City of Santa Fe Economic Development 126 City of Santa Fe Water Conservation 122 Cloud Cliﬀ Cafe & Art Space 49 Commonweal Conservancy 7 Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety 61 Conergy Inc. 41 Covington Consulting 55 Dakini Design 68 Delta 3rd Design 84 Denman & Assoc. 76 Desert Rain Systems 78 Dharma Living Systems 122 Donal S. Kinney. CPA 61 Dry Land Solutions 35 Earth Care 1 Earth Stone 103 Earthwrights Designs 32 EcoScapes 58 Ecoversity 6 Emerald Earth 82 Energy Concepts 52 Exploring Health 55 Felipe’s Tacos 41

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Firebird 114 First Affirmative Financial Network 23 First National Bank of Santa Fe 19 fw graphic designs 32 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum 49 Gettype 82 Grace Communications 84 Habitat for Humanity Restore 19 High Desert Guitars 41 Holistic Habitats 58 Homewise 15 Howard Goldsmiths 69 Integrative Medicine Institute 106 Isis Medicine 103 KSFR Santa Fe Public Radio 90.7 FM 17 La Montanita 109 Land Rejuvenation 55 Leslie LaKind 55 Living On The Edge 86 Living Wage Network 23 Local Energy 28 The Lofts 79 Los Alamos National Bank Inside Front Material Good 43 Mazria Odems Dzurek 106 Mission Cafe’ & Sweet Shop 61 Naomi Woodspring 91 Native Earth Landscape 116 Native Roots & Rhythms Festival 16 Natural Awakenings Magazine 80 Natural Systems International 4 Nearsea Naturals 19 NM Bike & Sport 128 New Mexico Energy & Minerals 17 One World Coffee & Trade 123 Oshara Village 4, 5, 124 Permacultura America Latina 86 Palo Santo Designs 99 Paynes Nursery 14 Philip Clark Organic Landscaping 61 Photo Energy 84 Plants of the Southwest 18 Positive Energy 91 Rad Acton 41 Ragano & Careccio 19 Rain Catcher 28 Red Foil Root Beer 14

Reed Landscaping 68 Regenisis 23 Remedies 49 Renewable Energy Partners 99 Rob & Charlies Bike Shop 69 Santa Fe Alliance 106 Santa Fe Baking Company 32 Santa Fe Cider 53 Santa Fe Community College 81 Santa Fe Conservation Trust 58 Santa Fe Design Week 17 Santa Fe Farmers Market 60 Santa Fe Hemp 50 Santa Fe Lounge 84 Santa Fe New Mexican Back cover Santa Fe Permaculture 43 Santa Fe Properties 77 Santa Fe Reporter 66 Santa Fe Southern Railway 7 Santa Fe Trails 120 Santa Fe Watershed Assn. 18 Santa Fe Waldorf School 97 SolarSmith 59 Steve Elmore Indian Art 61 Strings & Things / Candyman 30 Suby Bowden and Associates 90 Syncronos Design 78 Tai Bixby Realtor 125 Terraplen 90 Travel Bug 43 Traditional Aikido 28 Transitions Radio 97 Tulliver’s Pet Food Emporium 69 USGBC New Mexico 86 Video Library 52 Village Development 58 The Violin Shop 19 Warehouse 21 18 The Water Lady 68 Watson Conserves 120 Whole Foods Inside back cover Wild Mountain Outﬁtters 69 Wildcat Lavender 43 Wolfgang Baumgartner Rolﬁng 28 The Women Housepainters 19 Yoga Source 114

esource Listings

Please note: These resource listings are from the responses we received to our first call for inclusion in the Sustainable Santa Fe: A Resource Guide. There are many other businesses, organizations, programs and individuals we would like to feature. To be included in the Resource Listings section of next year’s edition, please fill out and send us a copy of the Resource Listing form on page 121. Thank you. Ace Mountainwear and Bike Shop Sewing repairs on tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, horseblankets; bicycle repair and sales; Disc Golf supplies. 982-8079 825 Early St. Suite E, Santa Fe, NM 87501l Agua Fria Nursery A family owned and operated, environmentally sound agricultural/horticultural enterprise, focusing on native plants and organic edibles. 983-4831 1409 Agua Fria, Santa Fe, NM 87505 Althouse, Inc. Ensuring that homes and buildings are healthy, safe, comfortable, durable, energy efficient, and sustainable with recycled cellulose insulation that out performs fiberglass by 100% 469-7480 www.althouse.biz American Clay Enterprises The original earth plaster, a combination of natural clays, aggregates, and pigments creates colors and textures. Made in NM 866-404-1634 or 244-9332 www.americanclay.com Art New Mexico A service to those who wish to reduce their “inventory” of VHS tapes and stored film, either slides or negatives by transfer to CD or DVD. 982-5910 Assistance Dogs of the West provides trained assistance dogs to people with disabilities in order to increase self-reliance and independence. 670-0708 www.assistancedogsofthewest.org Audrey Long Designing holistic, healing environments, holistic health consultations for body, home & office, intentional space designs aligning inner space with outer space. 231-4636 Cocreatelife.com Aztec Home Schooling Home school consultations and plans for the individual student. 983-4682 or 983-4682 Baglione Custom Woodworks Locally made formaldehyde free cabinetry with nontoxic finishes 988-7326 or 988-5806 1701 D Lena St., Santa Fe, NM 87505

Berimbau Academy of Capoeira A Martial Art w/ Dance, Music, Acrobatics, Language & Culture organization at Bikanda gallery of art, dance and music; also at Bikanda: To the Core Pilates. 474-0242 2778 Agua Fria #13A, Santa Fe, NM 87505

Commonweal Conservancy A nonproﬁt conservation-based community development organization facilitating multiparty real estate transactions & assembling properties that protect land for parks and open space. 982-0071 www.commonwealconservancy.org

Bicycle Coalition of New Mexico Bicycle advocacy and bicycle safety education. 820-1365 www.BikeNM.org

Conergy, Inc A wholesale distributor of solar water pumps, photovoltaic, balance of systems and solar thermal. 473-3800 www.conergy.us

Bioshield Paint Co. Low VOC non-toxic paints, wood finishes and natural cleaners. 438-3448 3215 Rufina St., Santa Fe, NM 87507 Building Energy Solutions Supporting Green Builders and Energy Star for homes. Comfort and performance investigations & thermography. 269-2969 or 867-7965 www.buildingenergysolutions.com The Bug Lady Offering non-toxic pest management services as well as classes, workshops and lectures on insects, spiders and ecology. 984-2371 Cameron Gregg - Vincente Cervantes Electrical contractors, photovoltaic installations 505-982-7253 or 505-204-2694 Casa Natura Design, consultation, education; services and products creating healthy, sustainable interior spaces that nourish people and the planet. 820-7634 70 W. Marcy St. , Santa Fe, NM www.casanaturainc.com/healthyhomeinteriors.com Cedar Mountain Solar A supplier of solar heating systems for radiant floors, baseboards, hot water, pools, and spas: design, installation, and service, residential/commercial. 474-5445 www.cedarmountainsolar.com City of Santa Fe Economic Development Planning sustainable economic health for our community. 955-6917 or 955-6671

Conservation Voters New Mexico CVNM, a non-partisan, non-profit organization, works to protect New Mexico’s natural environment by making sensible conservation policies a top priority. 992-8683 www.cvnm.org Cornerstones Community Partnerships A non-profit organization dedicated to helping communities preserve historic adobe buildings using traditional, sustainable materials and methods. 982-9521 www.cstones.org Covington Consulting Systems, strategic and action planning, sustainability and entrepreneurial training, integrative and collaborative approaches to problem solving, individualized coaching, customized solutions. 982-0044 www.covingtonconsulting.net Cuchilla Blanca Ecology Offering services in ecological development, stream restoration and erosion control using natural materials. 490-0594 Delta Third Design Custom 3D CAD drafting & design. 505-864-3993 www.deltathird.com Denman & Associates Regional sustainable development including affordable green housing and commercial structures, which integrate timber, water and energy conservation. 983-6014 www.denmansantafe.com

City of Santa Fe Water Conservation Plans, assists and enforces water conservation strategies for Santa Fe. 955-4222

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Desert Rain Systems Rainwater catchment specialists; designing and installing systems for architects, builders, developers, & homeowners. 955-0405 www.desertrainsystems.com Dharma Living Systems A consulting and design group specializing in the holistic integration of water, energy and green building systems. 751-9481 www.dharmalivingsystems.com Donal S. Kinney, CPA Tax preparation and planning for small business and families. We’re not just counting the beans; we’re sowing seeds for the future. 474-6733 www.beanplanter.com

Energy Concepts Retail sales of solar electric power systems, solar water pumping systems, wind energy systems, backup power systems, DC to AC power inverters. Consulting, design, installation, contractor services, maintenance and repair services. 466-4043 or 505-213-0985 www.energyconcepts.net

Dryland Solutions Specializes in hand-built, light on the land methods for the restoration of healthy ecological communities in the high desert. 577-9625

Escuela de Esperanza Montessori Elementary A small, nonsectarian school serving children ages 6 to 12. oﬀering before and after school programs. Scholarships and work exchanges are available. 747-4673 1016 Don Juan St., Santa Fe, NM 87501

Earthwrights Designs Earthwrights Designs seeks to create sustainable systems for moisture management by integrating nature and technology. 986-1719

Fair Trade Store A teen-run coﬀee house and gift store. All fair trade certiﬁed goods. 983-0407 810 Second St., Santa Fe, NM 87505

Earth Care International Education and engaging teenagers around sustainability. 983-6896 P.O. Box 885, Santa Fe, NM 87504 www.earthcare.org

Firebird High eﬃciency clean burning renewable fuel woodstoves and ﬁreplaces also drip irrigation and rain water harvesting systems. 983-5264 or 983-4195 1808 Espinacitas St., Santa Fe, NM 87505

Earth Works Institute EWI oﬀers information, education programs, technical assistance, and volunteer opportunities to make you an eﬀective land steward in this region. 982-9806 www.earthworksinsttitute.org

First Aﬃrmative Financial Network Investment services for socially and environmentally conscious investors nationwide. Kimberly Kiel & Richard Barr 982-9661 or, toll free 877-321-3236 1751 Old Pecos Trail, Ste. D, Santa Fe, NM 87505

East Central Ministries, Inc ECM is a faith-based organization that has several community and economic development projects including manufacturing and marketing ollas (for irrigation), a worm farm, and a cooking oil recycling business. 266-3590 www.eastcentralministries.org

Goodrich Rooﬁng of Santa Fe New Mexico’s oldest licensed rooﬁng contractor 473-5555 www.roofsantafe.com

EcoScapes Designs, builds, & maintains water catchment systems. 424-9004 Ecoversity EcoVersity is an educational and community center oﬀering a unique land-based and ethics informed curriculum in all aspects of sustainability, directed to regenerate the Earth and revitalize the spirit. 424-9797 2639 Agua Fria, Santa Fe, NM 87505 www.ecoversity.org El Milagro Herbs Locally-based herb company utilizing organic and wild harvested plants. Specializing in formulating natural, non-toxic skin care products. 820-6321 1020 Canyon Rd., Santa Fe, NM 87501 www.milagroherbs.com

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Emerald Earth Store Local source for “Eﬀective Microorganisms®”, a new patented technology using a special blend of beneﬁcial microorganisms that naturally remediate harmful toxins and restore nature’s microbial balance. For gardening, composting, health, septic tank treatments and more. 983-4014 1807 Second St. #30, Santa Fe, NM 87505 www.emearth.com

Grace Communications People centered marketing where profitability and sustainability are linked. 438-8735 or 820-1764 www.gracecom.ws Holistic Habitats Strawbale, adobe, rastra, woodframe construction integrating passive solar heating and cooling and permaculture landscapes. 281-1298 or 281-1675 Homewise, Inc. Helps modest-income New Mexicans become successful homeowners in order to strengthen families and build strong communities. Provides low-interest mortgages, down payment and closing cost assistance, build and develop new affordable homes, offering financial assistance for home repairs. With WaterSmart, helps families retrofit their homes with water saving devices. 983-6214 www.homewise.org Isis Medicine Family Medicine, obstetrics, children, & women’s health. 983-8387 www.erossantafe.org

KSFR 90.7 FM Santa Fe Public Radio Broadcasts BBC news, award winning local news (News Station of the Year), Eclectic talk shows every day; Jazz in the morning; Classical in the afternoon; Diverse music in the evening. 428-1394 or 474-6489 www.ksfr.org La Montanita Food Cooperative A food store owned by member shoppers. Food for people not for profit. 984-2852 913 W. Alameda (in the Solana Center), Santa Fe, NM 87501 www.lamontanitacoop.com LaMont’s Wild West Buffalo A Mom and Pop buffalo herd-raised under all natural guidelines from “conception to consumer.” Not marketed through distributors. At the SF Farmer’s Market. 869-4438 www.lamontbuffalo.com Land Rejuvenation Reduce wind and water soil loss & retain moisture in soil; water catchment; Replant Open Space; Tree Pruning; Firescaping 421-2794 Life as Art Teaching Cob Building as a means of helping people live sustainable community and earth-based inspired lives. 954-4495 www.earthprayers.byregion.net Living On The Edge Talk radio on KSFR 90.7 FM Sundays @ 1pm. An hour of mostly intelligent discussion about politix, life, spirit, war & peace, sustainability, energy, art, and the passage of time. edge@ksfr.org Living Wage Network The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little. 983-9563 www.santafelivingwage.org Lloyd & Associates Architects Uses mostly “green” materials in buildings, i.e. rastra walls, recycled styrofoam, recycled linoleum floors, cork floors, rainwater harvesting, and more. 988-9789 ext229 www.lloyd-architects.com Local Energy Helping local residents and businesses develop local, renewable energy resources in ways that provide the greatest benefit to the community. 982-9800 www.localenergy.org The Lofts Mixed-use communities with studios for artists, offices for small businesses and residential units. 474-3600 3600 Cerrillos #718 / 1012 Marquez Place. Santa Fe, NM www.thelofts.com Mazria Odems Dzurek Architectural firm; work ranges from small singlefamily residences to large scale commercial and public buildings. Attention to building and site ecology and its design principles, technologies and applications. 988-5309 or 983-9526 www.mazria.com

Natural Awakenings Magazine Natural Awakenings magazine provides their readers with the resources they need to live a healthier, more balanced life. 424-1515 www.naturalawakeningsmag.com Natural Systems International Energy & Ecology firm specializing in low energy simple system designs of sustainable water master planning; innovative waste & storm water collection & reuse. 988-7453 or 988-3720 New Mexico Environmental Law Center Legal Services for communities or groups to provide protection from environmental degradation in New Mexico. Supported by memberships and foundations. 989-9022 www.nmenvirolaw.org Nearsea Naturals Organic cotton & organic wool fabrics, a collaboration between several work-at-home moms, a workat-home dad in a solar-powered facility. 877-573-2913 www.nearseanaturals.com NM Bike & Sport Sales, repair, expert fitting; everything you need to get you down the road around the block or around the world. 820-0809 524 W. Cordova Rd, Santa Fe, NM 87505 www.nmbikensport.com Oshara Village A new planned community. Incorporating mixeduse designs and public transportation to encourage walking and reduce the generation of traffic, energy efficiency and the use of 100% water recycling. 946-2158 South Richards Ave by Santa Fe Community College www.osharavillage.com Palo Santo Designs Architectural firm specializing in design, general contracting, consulting in eco design, natural homes & nontoxic materials. 670-4236 or 770-0308 www.palosantodesigns.com Payne’s Nursery Plants and advice for Santa Fe gardening; bulk soil yard. 988-9626 or 988-9638 www.paynes.com Philip Clark Organic Landscaping Organic landscaping design, installation, & maintenance 690-1786 Plants of the Southwest Nursery specializing in drought-tolerant United States native plants (wildflowers, grasses, herbs, vegetables, shrubs, and trees) seeds, advice, conversation, and more. 438-8888 or 438-8800 3095 Agua Fria St., Santa Fe, NM 87505 www.plantsofthesouthwest.com

Positive Energy Designs, installs, upgrades and services renewable energy power systems. This includes independent oﬀ-grid systems, grid-tied residential and commercial systems, water pumping and backup power systems. A fully licensed and bonded electrical contractor. 424-1112 3225 A Richards Ln, Santa Fe, NM 87507 www.positiveenergysolar.com

Santa Fe Conservation Trust Preserving the spirit of place in northern New Mexico by protecting open spaces, critical habitat, traditional landscapes and creating trails. 989-7019 www.sfct.org

Ragano & Careccio Contemporary green design & construction. 670-6473 or 992-8854

Santa Fe Economic Development, Inc Providing leadership and a forum to promote the creation of jobs, economic development and opportunities, while maintaining Santa Fe’s distinctive character. 984-2842 www.sfedi.org

Rain Catcher Water harvesting, rain catchment systems, waste water re-use, permaculture and sustainable landscapes, erosian control, restoration, passive solar and greenbuilding. 501-4407 www.theraincatcher.com

Santa Fe Farmers Market Santa Fe Farmers’ Market is the largest in New Mexico. The Market operates year-round Saturdays and Tuesdays in the Santa Fe Railyard; Thursdays at the Rodeo Grounds. 989-1197 www.santafefarmersmarket.com

Rain Harvest, LLC Dedicated to providing a renewable source of water to local and regional families, farms, and organizations through rain-water catchment. 466-4117

Santa Fe Habitat for Humanity Builds aﬀordable homes in partnership with low income families and local volunteers. 986-5880 www.santafehabitat.org

Reed Landscaping Landscape design, installation, & maintenance. 920-7808

Santa Fe Habitat for Humanity Restore Recycled building materials, hardware and more. Supports Santa Fe Habitat for Humanity. 473-1114 1143 Siler Park Ln., Santa Fe, NM 87507 www.santafehabitat.org

Regenisis Partnering people and their place to regenerate ecosystems and the human spirit. 986-8338 or 986-0339 www.regenesisgroup.com Remedies Natural skin care consultations and products; latest technological treatments combined with ancient holistic solutions. Cold laser treatments for ﬁne lines, bags under eyes, wrinkles & more. 983-2228 807 Baca St., Santa Fe, NM 87505 www.remediesofsantafe.com Renewable Energy Partners Promotes the use of utility-scale renewable energy for electrical generation and to further the use of renewable transportation fuels. Operates two bio fuel pumps in Santa Fe that any car can use. AmigoMart Conoco @ Baca St. (3 fuels: E85, E10, B20) AmigoMart Phillips 66 @ Horseman’s Haven (E85 only) 466-4259 www.renewableenergypartners.org Rob & Charlie’s Bike Shop Bicycle sales & service. 471-9119 or 471-1447 1632 St. Michaels Drive, Santa Fe, NM 87505 Santa Fe Alliance Committed to educating residents on the beneﬁts of purchasing from locally owned businesses, and supporting locally based economic development. 989-5362 www.santafealliance.com Santa Fe Community College Training programs for students related to the construction, trouble-shooting and repair of biomass energy sources and their distribution systems & more. 428-1617 or 428-1302 www.sfccnm.edu

Santa Fe Hemp Sweatshop-free hemp and organic cotton clothing for men, women, children & baby; fair-trade wools and silks. Petroleum-free hemp seed oil body care, hemp pet products and more. 984-2599 or 995-0916 105 E. Water St., Santa Fe, NM 87501 www.santafhemp.com Santa Fe Permaculture An ecological landscape design and installation company whose landscapes work with Mother Nature, not against her. 424-4444 www.sfpermaculture.com Santa Fe Watershed Association Works to return the Santa Fe River to a living river, balancing human uses with natural resource protection and restoring the heart to our community. 820-1696 or 986-0339 www.santafewatershed.org Shapiro and Associates Design and build business focusing on residential renovation and new construction. Specializing in customer satisfaction and personalized service. 690-9663 Solarsmith Complete green design, construction and consultation services. 988-7227 www.solarsmith.net Suby Bowden and Associates Sustainable architectural design, community planning & industrial design architecture in Santa Fe since 1984. 983-3755 983-8118 Syncronos Design Education about sustainable living promoting the use of appropriate technology and sustainable design in our built environment. 858-3207 www.buildingwithawareness.com

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Tierra Azul Gardens A 10 acre Certiﬁed Naturally Grown (CNG) farm located in Villanueva, NM on the Pecos River dedicated to bringing wholesome and delicious food to our community. 501-3233 www.tierraazul.20m.com Transitions Radio Magazine / Alan Hutner Consulting TRM features environmental, ecological and sustainability issues. Broadcast on 98.1 & 95.9 FM, KBAC, Sunday mornings, 8 to 11 AM and webcast at www.transradio.com 466-2616 www.transradio.com United States Green Building Council New Mexico a partnership of businesses, government agencies, and individuals that want to make our state an example of environmental, economic, and community sustainability. 232-0707 or 242-2852 http://www.usgbc.org/chapters/newmexico/

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Village Development of America Focus group meetings; sustainable planning; neighborhood proﬁt sharing 984-1739 www.beyondsuburbia.com Visiting Angels Living Assistance Services Provides non-medical homecare services to seniors including assistance with hygiene, meal preparation, companionship and so much more. 992-0822 www.sfvisitingangels.com Warehouse 21 a nationally honored non-proﬁt venue where the youth of Santa Fe enjoy music, theater, culture, and art in a safe, hassle-free, alcohol and drug-free environment. 989-4423 or 989-1583 1514 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501 www.warehouse21.org

The WaterLady, Inc An inline catalytic water conditioner that de-scales pipes, boilers, evaporative coolers, etc. Salt/chemical free. Save 20-40% on irrigation water. 660-4162 www.waterlady.biz Watson Conserves Specializing in preservation consulting and historic adobe construction. Old buildings: that they’re not ours -- they’re just ours to care for. 995-0747 Wild Mountain Outﬁtters In store and online mix of outdoor clothing and equipment that has a real story and experience behind it. 986-1152 851 St. Michaels Dr., Santa Fe, NM 87505 www.wildmountainonline.com Wildcat Lavender Organic lavender health and beauty products grown and manufactured in Santa Fe. 438-1194 988-7227

Sustainable Santa Fe: A Resource Guide Directory Listing Submission Form Contact Information Company/Organization Name: __________________________________________________________ Contact Person: ______________________________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________________________________ City: _______________________________________

State: ____________ Zip: ________________

Phone Number: ___________________________Website:____________________________________ Email: _____________________________________________________________________________ Sustainability Questions (This information will not be published. It will be used to determine if your business/organization qualiﬁes for a listing in the 2006-07 guide.) 1. Do you recycle? ________________________ 2. Do you pay a living wage for full-time employees? __________________________ 3. Do you provide health care and beneﬁts for your employees? __________________ 4. Please describe the diversity of your staff: ____________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Is your business locally owned and operated? _________________________________________ 6. What products and services do you use from local/regional companies? _____________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ 7. How do you give back to the community? ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 8. What do you consider to be the most sustainable aspect of your company/organization? ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 9. If you could change your business/organization to be more sustainable, what would you do? ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ Please describe your company in 20 words for the directory listing: _______________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________

To be considered for next year’s guide, please mail a copy of this form to: Earth Care International P.O. Box 885 Santa Fe, NM, 87504-0885

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Santa Fe New Mexican color