Earth Care 2010 Sustainable Santa Fe Guide by FlavorGrafix Design

Santa Fe

2010

FEATURING: A Bosque Reborn Lessons From Our Grandmothers Hamaatsa: An Indigenous Continuum Guerilla Gardening Renewable Energy Incentives Transforming Our Economic Frame of Mind Building the Future with Architect Ed Mazria

PLUS: GATHERING WILD HERBS BEYOND RECYCLING MICROINVESTING

A RESOURCE GUIDE BALANCING CULTURES, ECONOMICS & ECOLOGY

SUSTAINABLE Santa Fe [FEATURES] HAMAATSA: Walking 22 Backward Into the Future

LAND, FOOD: 106 PEOPLE, A Conversation

By Larry Littlebird

By Rae Marie Taylor

What is our responsibility to the Earth? How will we learn the lessons necessary to our survival? A visionary thinker invites us to contemplate the indigenous principles at the heart of sustainability.

A ranching couple returns to family roots in northeastern New Mexico, making their livelihood by balancing years of knowledge and hard work with a sincere commitment to family— and to the beauty of passing it on.

FROM OUR 70 LESSONS GRANDMOTHERS

132

By Miguel Angel Acosta

Are prescribed formulas and rigid curricula the answer to our educational woes? Probably not, says Mama Carmen.

By Jennifer Guerin

The creator of the 2030 Challenge discusses retrofitting and climate change legislation, as well as the building sector’s emerging responsibility and commitment to the sustainable movement.

COMPETITION TO 90 FROM COOPERATION: Transforming Our Economic Frame of Mind

By Mark Sardella

More than two centuries have passed since Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations. A re-examination of Smith’s beloved principle, competition, uncovers its fatal flaw.

BUILDING THE FUTURE: An Interview With Architect Ed Mazria

152

ON BEING A BENEFICIAL INFLUENCE: Off the Grid at Ampersand By Amanda and Andy Bramble

A sustainable learning center in the Cerrillos hills teaches visitors that in the search for a life that matters, what counts most is not where you are going, but where you begin.

THINKING RIVER THOUGHTS By Caroline Fraser

After decades of neglect, the Santa Fe River is coming back—how community organizations, local government and youth volunteers rallied to restore their central waterway to an inviting oasis.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

[SECTIONS] 8 From the Publisher: New Systems: Moving Toward Sustainability By Taylor Selby

10 An Introduction to the Guide By Seth Roffman

12 About the Staff and Artists 14 Forever Changed: A Tribute to Our Friend, Rose Simmons By the Earth Care International staff/Youth Allies

58 Harvest From the Skies By Nate Downey

62 Water Conservation Tips By Doug Pushard

64 Wastewater Treatment Systems: Completing the Cycle By Richard Jennings

68 Restoration Ecology and New Mexico Diversity: A Perfect Match By Mollie Walton

EDUCATION

16 Mobilizing Youth for Sustainability

72 A Teacher Challenges School

20 The Sustainable Santa Fe Plan

74 Youth Leadership: In Service to Sustainability

By Angela Harris

By Katherine Mortimer

By Seth Biderman

By Christina Selby

CULTURE AND COMMUNITY 26 Tapping the Power of Place: Stories, Cities, and Sustainability By Pamela Mang

30 Somos Primos: Exploring a Common History, Culture, and Politics By Marcela Diaz

34 Agua Fria: Lifeblood of a Village By Gail Snyder (with Melinda Romero Pike)

36 How to Become a Storyteller: The Santa Fe Indian School Spoken Word Team

76 Students Step Up With Community Based Research By Jennifer Guerin

80 Planting the Seed: The Capital High School Green Project By Paula Iveland

82 Gardening With Acequia Madre Elementary Students By Sue McDonald

By Santana Shorty, Clara Natonabah, Ariel Antone, Stuart Chavez

40 El Otro Lado: The Other Side By A. Kyce Bello

42 Growing to Elderhood in Santa Fe By Gail Snyder

WATER AND ECOLOGY 48 Growing the Land Green Again: A Bosque Reborn By Seth Biderman

52 A Trail Guide for Kids—by Kids By Gail Snyder

54 River of Words: Restorying Our River By A. Kyce Bello

By A. Kyce Bello

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE 110 Fat Duck Farm: A Livable Alternative By Seth Biderman

114 Santa Fe’s Community Gardens: Alive and Growing! By Libby Reinish

118 Hands-On with 4-H By Gail Snyder

120 Sustainable Land Tenure in Chimayó By Ted Trujillo

124 Guerilla Gardening By Gail Snyder

128 Everybody Wins With Community Supported Agriculture By Steve Warshawer

BUILDING AND ENERGY 136 Renewable Energy Incentives By Fernando Martinez

138 Romancing the Wind By Ruth Anderson

84 SFCC Gears Up to Go Green By Al Reid

140 How to Get to HERS 70 By Kim Shanahan

86 Environmental Health Care From the Ground Up! By Jan-Willem Jansens

By Gail Snyder

37 We Come From (poem)

102 Slow Money Brings the Econony Back Down to Earth

142 Reliable Home Solar Thermal Overheat Protection By Boaz Seifer

88 A Passion for Learning By Seth Biderman

ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

144 Full Cycle Dwellings: Using the Past to Build Today’s “New Village” By Arnold Valdez

92 Fishing for Solutions in a Local Economy

148 Green Buildings Break Ground in Santa Fe

93 How to be a Global Micro Lender

SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE

94 Sustainable Tunes: Reimagining the Business Model

156 The Natural Step: Tackling the Ultimate Human Challenge

By Vicki Pozzebon

By Jennifer Guerin

By Dave Weininger

By A. Kyce Bello

By Randy Sadewic

96 Redefining Our “Net Worth”

160 At the Heart of a Bioneer

98 Buying Into Community

164 Beyond Recycling: Nothing New

By Taylor Selby

By Kate Noble

100 Green Collar Jobs are Key to a Truly Sustainable Community By Tobe Bott-Lyons

By Nina Simons

By Gail Snyder

168 A Wild Apothecary: Returning to the Roots of Herbal Medicine By A. Kyce Bello 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

F R O M T H E P U B L I S H E R | BY: TAYLOR SELBY

Quite a bit has happened in the world since we published the 2009 Sustainable Santa Fe resource guide. We are experiencing a financial climate in which local business is down about 35 percent and many people have personally experienced a 50 percent loss in their financial portfolios. Multi-national corporate structure as we know it is crumbling. Corporate giants have closed their doors, even after receiving bailout money. Our current economic system, based primarily on competition, growth and the fear of scarcity, is clearly in crisis. When something isn’t working, I like to ask how Nature would handle it. Nature says that growth and change are good things—in fact, they are the constants we can count on. If you don’t like the weather in Santa Fe, for instance, just wait five minutes. Growth, too, is extraordinarily natural. Rather than just a few elite species, Nature grows things in abstraction—networks, interdependence, cooperation, diversity, complexity and simplicity. Of course, competition exists in nature and so, to some extent, does scarcity. But these are not the norm. More often than not, Nature finds that cooperating is much less energy-intensive and more beneficial than competing. If you have ever been in a physical fight with someone, you will know that, in reality, nobody really wins. (I have a broken bone in my hand from when I was 17 to prove that point.) While there is no simple solution out of this predicament that we have gotten ourselves into, there is a general direction in which we can start moving—one that respects the laws of nature, such as

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

NEW SYSTEMS: Moving Toward Sustainability

not taking more than the earth can provide or not producing more waste than the earth can absorb. Moving in a healthy direction requires us to operate in a positive spiritual way as well. This means treating others as we want to be treated, being compassionate and respectful, acting in service to the greater common good. So what is growing in Santa Fe? How can each of us continue to better work together toward what we want? These are the underlying questions running throughout our 2010 Sustainable Santa Fe resource guide, in which we ponder how we as a community can increase our cross-cultural cooperation, renewable energy, local food, green collar jobs, quality education, rain water collection and soil restoration, to name a few. If we can achieve these, we hope Santa Fe will also have more of some real abstractions that matter: self-reliance, hope, peace, joy. What we must realize in these times is that it is not a question of growth or no growth; it is a matter of what we grow. I have great hope for Santa Fe and for the world. If we can become more conscious, questioning ourselves, moving toward the positive and away from the negative, we will be triumphant. True sustainability will require adjustments within our spirit: opening up our view of the world; gaining deeper understanding of how Nature operates; improving our listening skills (both with each other and with the natural world); asking how we can best serve Life. Creating a sustainable society isn’t easy— in fact, it takes a lot of work. However, staying the path of sustainability means, in the long run, a lot less suffering for us and for future generations. ....................................................................................................................................................... Taylor Selby is a SSFRG staff member. Please see “About the Staff and Artists,” page 12.

I N T R O D U C T I O N | BY SETH ROFFMAN, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

An Introduction to the Guide This is the fifth annual edition of the Sustainable Santa Fe Resource Guide. This publication was created to showcase the wealth of creative, innovative and time-honored resources in the Santa Fe region and to promote sustainability in its many forms. In these times of change and unprecedented challenges, building a sustainable Santa Fe through appreciating what we have here and imagining what we can create together is essential. A sustainable Santa Fe is more than water conservation, energy efficiency and green building. It also includes viable regional food, water and energy systems; affordable housing and public transportation; healthy local businesses that pay a living wage; opportunities for relevant education and advancement; community partnerships; and a valuing of cultural diversity, social justice and stewardship of the natural environment. All are interrelated and, as you can see by the content of this publication, there are many active initiatives working to support and develop these things. This Guide has been created as a service to the community and, in a sense, it is a community project. There are many residents with particular areas of expertise or life experiences who have contributed articles and artwork. We greatly appreciate our advertisers, who are also part of the community. Without them, this publication would not be possible. They reflect a green economy that is finally gaining widespread traction. Someday the green economy will simply be referred to as...the economy. The intention in spotlighting some of our local heroes and admirable initiatives is also to gener-

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

ate advertising revenue in support of Earth Care International. Earth Care educates and empowers our community’s teens and teachers. As an unreal economy crumbles, Earth Care is an example of an initiative that reminds us how it is possible to wake up to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and to each other. The green economy and the idea of sustainable community is really nothing new to northern New Mexico. The dynamic interrelationship between nature and culture is reflected in the history of our Pueblo and Hispano communities, which were very sustainable in terms of their cohesiveness and the way they met their basic needs. How can we re-create that integrity in a contemporary sense, and extend it into the future? Among other things, new kinds of policies are needed to support sustainable farming and food production. New Mexico Native communities can become very active, direct participants in sustainability throughout the state. Of course there are new challenges. Our soils and aquifers are significantly depleted. Ongoing climate change indicates there will be prolonged periods of drought. Fortunately, we have begun to embrace appropriate technologies that allow us to combine traditional practices with new symbiotic approaches that actually work toward long-term sustainability. It’s going to take will, downsizing our lifestyle while enhancing our quality of life, and new kinds of infrastructure to move ourselves to where we want to be in terms of food security, renewable energy and adequate water. Another side of a sustainable Santa Fe is our creative economy, with its diverse community of cultural entrepreneurs–resourceful visionaries who generate revenue from innovation and sustainable cultural enterprises. This economy increases a community’s cultural wealth, creates jobs and tax revenue, enhances quality of life and is environmentally sound. Cultural aspects and ecotourism, projected to grow in the next few years, reflect the public’s desire for more genuine experiences. Santa Fe has many facades, but it also has real physical and metaphysical riches that shine through, if one really seeks them out. We hope that this Guide will provide some pointers in that direction. ....................................................................................................................................................... Seth Roffman is a SSFRG staff member. Please see “About the Staff and Artists,” page 12.

A B O U T T H E S TA F F A N D A R T I S T S

A. KYCE BELLO

GEORGE LAWRENCE

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, STAFF WRITER

ILLUSTRATOR

A. Kyce Bello is a certified clinical herbalist and regis-

Illustrator George Lawrence has worked for over 20

tered nurse. She recently edited the collection The Re-

years in architecture, exhibit design and illustration, in-

turn of the River: Writers, Scholars, and Citizens Speak

corporating his interests in environmental education and

on Behalf of the Santa Fe River, forthcoming from Sun-

ecological activism. George is the illustrator of the book,

stone Press.

Harvest the Rain by Nate Downey; he has also illustrated the children’s book about Charles Darwin, The

SETH BIDERMAN

Voyage of the Beetle by Anne Weaver, published by

STAFF WRITER

UNM Press in 2007.

Seth Biderman was born and raised in Santa Fe and is a graduate of the Santa Fe Public Schools. He was part of

G. ALAN MYERS

the staff that helped create Monte del Sol Charter

PHOTOGRAPHER

School, where he taught English, worked with its Mentor-

G Alan Myers is a self-taught photographer living in

ship Program and served as Dean of Students. Currently,

Santa Fe, NM. He is currently working on two photo

he is writing and teaching in Cali, Colombia.

documentaries: Trains & Buses and The Deep South (www.galanmyers.com). Besides photography, his other

JENNIFER GUERIN

passions include shucking oysters, being driven through

MANAGING EDITOR, STAFF WRITER

the mountains of Oaxaca & meddling in his own affairs.

Jennifer Guerin has been teaching English and community-based research at the Santa Fe Indian School for

SETH ROFFMAN

nine years. She has been both a participant and facilita-

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

tor of the Earth Care International Teacher Institute.

Seth Roffman is a writer and photojournalist whose work

Currently, she is basking in the bliss of both a profes-

has appeared in the New York Times, the Christian Sci-

sional sabbatical and life as a newlywed.

ence Monitor, Weekly Reader, Native Peoples, New Mex-

ANGELA HARRIS

managing editor of the monthly Green Fire Times.

ico Magazine and other publications. He is also ASSOCIATE EDITOR, CONTRIBUTING WRITER Angela Harris is the executive assistant for Earth Care

TAYLOR SELBY

International. She was born and raised in Santa Fe and

PUBLISHER

was one of the first teens to participate in Earth Care’s

Taylor Selby is the co-founder of Earth Care Interna-

programs in 2003.

tional, where he served as the executive director from 2001-2009. He now helps make homes and businesses become more sustainable. He also is a mayor-appointed

KIM KURIAN

commissioner on the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission

PHOTOGRAPHER

and sits on the board of two nonprofits.

Kim Kurian has been photographing professionally in Santa Fe, New Mexico for over a decade. Her interest is

GAIL SNYDER

in discovering the beauty in ordinary and natural things,

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, STAFF WRITER

working with both traditional and digital photographic

As a result of writing for the Guide, freelancer Gail Sny-

techniques. She has been published by the Library of

der now eschews buying anything new, sneaks around

Congress, Natural Home, Spa Living, Japanese Style,

planting vegetables in unclaimed public spots and cre-

Creative Patios and numerous magazines.

ates passionate yard sculpture à la Elspeth Bobbs. She

www.kimkurian.com

edits the literary magazine Not Drowning, Waving, celebrating art as the spearhead of our evolutionary leap (riotgrrl@newmexico.com).

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

A B O U T T H E S TA F F A N D A R T I S T S

SUSTAINABLE Santa Fe Publisher: Managing Editor:

Taylor Selby Jennifer Guerin

JENNIFER SPELMAN PHOTOGRAPHER Jennifer Spelman originally wanted to be a pterodactyl, then was set on FBI agent and finally settled on photographer. She appreciates images that whisper loudly and scream quietly. More of her work can be found at

Art Director:

Todd Yocham

www.jenniferspelman.com.

Associate Editors:

Kyce Bello Seth Roffman Gail Snyder

BILL STENGEL

Staff Authors:

Kyce Bello Seth Biderman Jennifer Guerin Gail Snyder

PHOTOGRAPHER Raised in the jungles of Long Island, New York, Bill escaped to Brooklyn to attend the Pratt Insititute, where he earned a BFA in 2002. His work lives at:

Staff Photographers:

Kim Kurian G. Alan Myers Seth Roffman Jennifer Spelman Bill Stengel

billstengel.com.

Staff Illustrator:

George Lawrence

ART DIRECTOR

Earth Care Staff: India Davis Lucy Gent Angela Harris Pablo Navrot Karen Rencountre Christina Selby Lora Sheldon Bianca Sopoci-Belknap Earth Care Board:

Sponsors:

Don DeVito Steven Dilg Mercedes Downing Jason Espinoza Joe Garcia Andre Jones Shawn Katz Colin Keegan Todd Lopez Zoe Nelson Jessie Parker Christina Selby Taylor Selby Sandra Wechsler Beaver Toyota Heard Robins Cloud Black & Lubel, LLP Los Alamos National Bank Santa Fe Reporter

....................................................................................... Sustainable Santa Fe: A Resource Guide is owned by Earth Care International, a nonprofit organization. All proceeds support the education and empowerment of youth and teachers in our community. This year, we have many new people working on this project. We appreciate all the work that previous volunteers, contractors and staff members have put into this and prior publications. We hope you enjoy the changes in the Guide as we continue to upgrade it in quality each year. Our sincere thanks goes out to the community of Santa Fe and to all community members and businesses who have participated in the Guide through the submission of articles and advertisements. The paper in this magazine was made primarily from residual wood fiber (used wood). More than 70 percent of it comes from suppliers who have achieved sustainable forest management certification. It has been printed with vegetable-based inks.

TODD YOCHAM Born in southern New Mexico and raised in south Florida, Todd grew up “under his Mother’s drafting table.” He moved back to NM with his dog, Clyde (lovingly referred to as “Tuff Dog”) and has been involved with print design for the last 21 years. He and his family currently reside in Cerrillos, NM, where a wooden Santa Fe Southern box car serves as an office. Todd’s work can be seen at www.tuffdogstudio.com.

KIM WIGGINS COVER ARTIST Artist Kim Wiggins, one of the truly unique voices in Southwestern Art today, captures the very essence of Santa Fe through his timeless, visionary works. He is represented by Manitou Galleries of Santa Fe. More information about Kim’s work can be found at KimWigginsArt.com.

Contents COPYRIGHT ©2009 Earth Care International, a nonprofit educational organization. All rights reserved. Materials may not be reproduced without written permission. P.O. Box 885, Santa Fe, NM 87504-0885. Phone: 505-9836896 Fax: 505-983-2622; guide@earthcare.org; www.earthcare.org

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

T R I B U T E | BY: EARTH CARE INTERNATIONAL STAFF

FOREVER CHANGED

A Tribute to Our Friend, Rose Simmons Just after midnight on June 28th, 2009, a great tragedy occurred. A drunk driver struck a car carrying five Santa Fe teenagers. Four of the teens died—Katie Klein, Julian Martinez, Alyssa Trouw and Rose Simmons; only one survived, Avree Fe Koffman. We at Earth Care had the privilege of working with two of these extraordinary youth, Avree and Rose, during the two and a half years they participated in Earth Care’s Youth Allies program. We know that Rose would not want us to be angry or hurt by her passing. Rather, she would want us all to simplify our lives—to start gardening, buying local, taking care of the animals, taking care of the sick and hungry, housing those in need, empowering young leaders and laughing and loving more often. In Rose’s diary, she listed 33 things that she loved; the first on that list was the Earth. We hope we can continue to water that love, and the seeds of peace, social justice and environmental health that Rose Simmons planted. In honor of Rose and of all the young people affected by this tragic event, please open up your heart in search of peace. If you are carrying any resentment or anger regarding this tragic event, please try to transform it into a catalyst for positive change. We miss you, Rose, and feel blessed to have known you. This magazine is dedicated to you! —Earth Care International staff

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

To Our Friend, Rose Simmons By Youth Allies Organizers: Avree Koffman, Sam Pearson, Mexika Calderon, Magaly Campos, Marco Campos, Sergio Gonzales, Amanda Martinez, Camille Chambers, Jayde Johnson, Sienna Sanchez, Yesenia Serrano & Bianca Sopoci-Belknap Rose Simmons began her passionate work in environmental and social activism through Youth Allies at the young age of 13. The work she did for environmental sustainability quickly became her first priority and love. Rose gave a lot of her energy to these efforts and never expected anything in return. She was brave. She was aware. But above all, she was kind. She was the girl in her circle of friends who would always help those in need. Her fellow Youth Allies were heartbroken when they heard that she had been taken away from them in a tragic car accident involving a DWI. Now, the memories of her push her friends and those she impacted to work even harder toward her goal of creating a better world.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

E A R T H C A R E U P D AT E | BY: ANGELA HARRIS

Mobilizing Youth for Sustainability Imagine being a teenager in Santa Fe, knowing that you can advise a listening government on your priorities. Imagine loving your education for its relevance and applicability. Imagine being surrounded by people who want to work with you to address the overwhelming environmental and social problems you hear about in the media and experience in your life. This is the vision of Earth Care International, a Santa Fe based nonprofit organization that works with teens to create a world where all young people are appreciated, empowered and invited to give back to their community. Our eight member staff and enthusiastic Board of Trustees work with teens and their teachers to create a thriving, just and sustainable world. We believe that youth and education play essential roles in the sustainability movement that is gaining momentum across New Mexico and beyond. We work to help youth become attentive, compassionate and resourceful leaders who are aware of their community’s needs, who are compassionate and resourceful and who are able to work across cultures toward a healthier community. We also work with teachers to ensure that through their education, young people understand their interdependence with others around the world and that they can make positive changes locally that will affect the global community. Educating for Sustainability: Youth Allies and Teacher Institutes Earth Care’s Youth Allies are a group of 45 teens from northern New Mexico who undergo a ninemonth leadership institute offered through Earth Care and the Santa 16

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

Fe Mountain Center. These teens dedicate their weekends and evenings to making their ideals of sustainability and social justice a reality. Throughout the school year, they impact an additional 400 teens in Santa Fe through peer-education events and workshops. Earth Care also reaches students by offering professional development to their teachers. At our Teacher Institute for Sustainability Education and Service Learning this summer, 33 teachers from Santa Fe Public Schools worked with several partners, including the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission, Farm to Table, Earth’s Birthday Project, Santa Fe Partnership for Communities and Schools, Re:Learning New Mexico and Climate Today, among many others. Teachers learned how to integrate sustainability into their classrooms and how service-learning projects can benefit both students’ academic achievement and the community’s goals. Food Projects In March 2008, Santa Fe passed a bond raising $30 million for the improvement and expansion of City Parks and Trails. These funds will help install fencing and irrigation for garden plots in city parks. Earth Care envisions community farms and gardens in every neighborhood, with youth leaders organizing the surrounding residents to participate in growing their own food. Currently, members of Youth Allies hold seats on the garden councils at Frenchy’s and the Railyard Park and have a plot in each community garden. This fall, they began working with the Food Policy Council to conduct interviews and price indexing for a Community Food Assessment. Earth Care’s Teacher Institute participants are also busy planning curricula around the theme of food systems. This year their classes will take field trips to community gardens, farms and the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market. They will grow food in school gardens to donate to St. Elizabeth’s Shelter and Christus St. Vincent Regional Hospital. One elementary class plans to create a food-themed book and students at the Santa Fe Indian School will produce a book of solar oven recipes. Other Teacher Institute projects—like Salazar Elementary’s water harvesting—will focus on the relationship of water, waste and energy to food.

Earth Care is partnering with the City’s Sustainability Commission, Food Policy Council and many other local nonprofits to direct our experience with education and organizing toward stewardship of food projects in Santa Fe, using the Sustainable Santa Fe Plan as a guide.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

Youth Leading the Community In addition to leading the charge for sustainable food, youth involved with Earth Care programs also lead no-idling campaigns to reduce air pollution, help adjudicated youth through the City’s Juvenile Justice Task Force and register people to vote. They are trained to offer peer education workshops on topics such as civil rights (relevant to many teens who have immigrated to the United States and for whom Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are a terrifying reality), art for social change and how to recycle materials from our waste stream back into usable goods. Again and again, young men and women in Santa Fe have proven their insight to community problems, visionary suggestions for

change and willingness to work hard for their community. They are mobilizing to get our city on track to sustainability and our job is to listen to and support them in every way possible. We at Earth Care and our community’s youth need your input and help. To get involved with Earth Care, sustainability education or youth-led food projects, please call (505) 983-6896 or e-mail info@earthcare.org. ................................................................. Angela Harris is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

C O M M U N I T Y | BY: KATHERINE MORTIMER

The Sustainable Santa Fe Plan On October 27, 2008, the City of Santa Fe adopted the Sustainable Santa Fe Plan, which addresses: • Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory • City Operations • Green Building Code • Development and Zoning Code • Clean Renewable Energy • Transportation • Ecological Adaptation • Water Conservation • Solid Waste Reduction • Food Systems • Education and Outreach Community-wide workshops have been held to develop a strategic approach to the Plan’s implementation. These discussions will continue over the coming years as we visit and revisit how to take advantage of opportunities as they arise to best move forward the vision embodied in the Plan.

Start with the Biggest Greenhouse Gas Generators Buildings, from construction to operation, are by far the greatest generators of greenhouse gases. Santa Fe is addressing this issue on a number of fronts. The City has conducted audits of 11 of its buildings and has applied to use stimulus money to implement recommendations from the audits. The City Council has adopted the first in a family of Green Building Codes for new residential construction. This first code is based on the Green Build New Mexico program. The Council made revisions to reflect northern New Mexico’s climate and tradition of solar adobe and other innovative construction methods. The code includes a menu of options in six categories: • Project Implementation Plan and Lot Development • Resource Efficiency • Energy Efficiency • Water Efficiency • Indoor Environmental Quality • Operation, Maintenance and Sustainable Practices Benefits to homes constructed and rated under the new code will be: • Lower operating costs • Increased comfort • Improved environmental quality • Enhanced durability and less maintenance • Third-party verification of expected building performance Look for codes for residential remodels, additions and commercial construction in the coming months. Food Resiliency is the Key to Survival Sustainability concerns not only reducing our impact on the environment; it also concerns making our community more resilient in order to not only survive but thrive during the challenging times that are coming. As part of that effort, the City and County both passed resolutions creating the Santa Fe City and County Advisory Council on Food Policy, otherwise known as the Food Policy Council. The Food Policy Council’s mission is to create and maintain a regional food system that nourishes all people in a just and sustainable manner. The FPC is working to integrate all departments of the City, County and nonprofit organizations, along with food and farming businesses in a common effort to improve the availability of safe and nutritious food at reasonable prices for all residents, particularly those in need. Public – Private and Nonprofit Partnerships are Crucial The key to the success of the Sustainable Santa Fe Plan’s implementation is cooperation between local governments, private and nonprofit groups working together to take on different action items in a coordinated effort. There are several such efforts underway, including groups that work with youth and educators, groups organizing community

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

members around a specific sustainability topic or range of topics and organizations that have been working in a related area and are now coordinating their efforts with the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission. The number of such organizations is large and growing but there are opportunities for more. GET INVOLVED!!! Each and every one of us can help to move us to a more sustainable way of living and working. You can help in little ways like recycling and using compact fluorescent light bulbs, and in bigger ways like volunteering with a nonprofit or organizing a group of friends and neighbors to take on bigger tasks. The Sustainable Santa Fe Commission can coordinate the efforts of groups working on related topics and help connect you to others with similar interests. Please consider coming to one of the Commission meetings. (Check the City’s website for dates and times.) You can find out more information about the City’s sustainability efforts by going to the website www.santafenm.gov and clicking on the “sustainability” button on the lower left of the page. I’m happy to assist you in adding your voice and efforts to these initiatives. .................................................... Katherine Mortimer staffs the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission and is the supervising planner in the Long Range Planning Division for the City of Santa Fe. She holds a Masters in Environmental Planning from UC Berkeley and has 25 years of experience in environmental and land use planning; call 955-6608 or email kemortimer@santafenm.gov.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

26 Tapping the Power of Place: Stories, Cities and Sustainability 30 Somos Primos: Exploring a Common History, Culture and Politics 34 Agua Fria: Lifeblood of a Village 36 How to Become a Storyteller: The Santa Fe Indian School Spoken Word Team 37 We Come From (poem) 40 El Otro Lado: The Other Side

HAMAATSA Walking Backward into the Future STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY LARRY LITTLEBIRD

42 Growing to Elderhood in Santa Fe

In the present green-sustainability-movement, indigenous peoples are often referred to as the first people of these lands, living here sustainably for thousands of years. How did they do this? What were their practices and methods? And how is it that they are still here today? After years of holding a vision for building a land-based learning center, our nonprofit organization purchased 320 acres of environmentally protected lands near the Ortiz Mountains. This purchase of historic land was made possible through the generosity of several philanthro-

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

songs and dances. For most native people, the action we’ve followed has always been to simplify your life so your spirit can teach you how to live. As I was growing up at Gwish’tee, Paguate, my mother’s village in the Pueblo of Laguna, my elder mentors and kin generously shared with me foundational “simple living” principles. There were no programs, no set times; it was just me showing up and being there with them, day after day with no beginning and no end. This non-linear time allowed for deep experiences to take place within me. Today, I refer to this process as “cul-

home for your family’s daily use for drinking, cooking and washing. Having this daily connection to your water naturally and instinctually leads to your knowing how much is enough. It is through the loss of intuitive, insightful experiences like this that most industrialized nations have disconnected from their lives. Today, mental measurement determines direction, rushing toward an unseen horizon. As a result, we have created aimless wandering into a primary occupational obsession. Even now, the “green movement” moves full speed ahead. Hurry up with those buckets of green!

CULTURE & COMMUNITY

pists who joined our vision for restoring aboriginal lands to the stewardship of indigenous people. We call this place HAMAATSA. Hama-at-sa is a Keresan Pueblo word and translates as “a place arriving, coming into being now.” Hama-atsa is a reference to “now” within an indigenous oral learning ongoing experience. To be indigenous requires conscious awareness of place, particular to spiritual experience, made sensible through living connections relevant to that place over and over, again and again. This is the continuum respectfully acknowledged in our oral tradition stories,

tivating the sacred.” At HAMAATSA, this same process informs all that we do. It is a spiritual action for learning to live simply, informed by an indigenous ecology and modeled upon the successful hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies of tribal America. Its focus is on showing up and becoming humble and teachable in order to receive your own experience integrating your whole being: Spiritual, Physical, Emotional/Mental and Instinctual. It is the discovery of an individual’s spiraling path in relationship to Creator, the Earth’s journey and the rhythms and characters of the seasonal cycles. I believe rooted indigenous spiritual principles for living sustainably will serve as a model for native and non-native people alike, showing us what starting over and “reconnecting to the spirit within” can look like. A Hopi/Laguna colleague reminds me like this: “It’s like walking backwards into the future.” Simple people, native to their environments, wherever they may live, are connected to the sacred through their daily experiences upon the land and their relationships to the elements, plants and animals. For example, your relationship with water: You arise at dawn and walk prayerfully to a water source, all the while giving thanks; with careful purpose, you fill your containers and trek the water back to your

So, What Are We to Do? A possibility is to come alongside those who have already begun to slow down or were never in a hurry in the first place. When we choose to slow down, stop and listen, then the seemingly distant oral past can be heard and new meaning for living today

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What will be our actions? Our choices? Will we learn to listen this time?

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

can be infused. However tenuous our present lives may appear, we can reconnect to a Great Order always present, simply by learning to listen. HAMAATSA is a gathering place—a place for regeneration for Hobah Hanu—all the people, all nations. It’s a place where another chance is provided to listen and learn from the Mother, as she instructs where to dig in the earth. Gathering around a small central fire as kin, we listen to stories and hear songs that remind us of our shared spiritual strength. Then, once more, we can begin anew with a clear purpose for living simply upon the land to which we are related. This is the atmosphere for HAMAATSA, infused and informed by spoken words and an indigenous

cosmology, an environment where one can learn to carry water, chop wood, sweep earthen floors with a simple broom, all the while quietly listening to learn what you are not, then making the choice for who you want to become. At HAMAATSA, I hear the sound of singing water. I have visions of water flowing through this land, restoring ancient watersheds. I see crops coming alive and the animals returning to the land. I see people arriving at the “shores” of this Hamaatsa land for the first time, just as the Europeans once arrived on the shores to the east. The Hunu, the goodhearted people, are greeting and making these newly arrived welcome. What will be our actions? Our choices? Will we learn to listen this time?

At this globally critical time, we are blessed to have a place like HAMAATSA—a place where we can demonstrate our correct actions and clear choices regarding our lives now and to bring fruitful results forward for the benefit of all our relations and the children coming along behind us. ...................................................... Larry Littlebird (Laguna/Santo Domingo Pueblo), founding director of HAMAATSA, a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization (www.hamaatsa.org), is also a filmmaker/storyteller, education specialist, life coach and wilderness facilitator. He has personal experience as a hunter-gatherer-farmer and is the author of Hunting Sacred—Everything Listens: A Pueblo Indian Man’s Oral Tradition Legacy.

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TAPPING THE POWER OF PLACE: STORIES, CITIES AND SUSTAINABILITY BY PAMELA MANG | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER SPELMAN

“To restore any place, we must also begin to re-story it, to make it the lesson of our legends, festivals and seasonal rites. By replenishing the land with our stories, we let the wild voices around us guide the restoration work we do. Stories will outlast us.” —Gary Paul Nabhan, Cultures of Habitat

Sustainability, it seems, is breaking out all over. Where 15 years ago it still felt presumptuous to call it a movement, today people are writing about it as a revolution. Particularly notable is the rapidly expanding focus on sustainable cities. Now the principal engine of economic growth in a global economy, cities have a disproportionate effect on their regional ecosystems and the biosphere as a whole.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

Currently, the pressing nature of climate change and peak oil, together with our long love affair with technology, have made efforts to reduce the impact of cities the central focus of the sustainable cities movement. While critical, meeting the challenge of a deteriorating planet requires more. It demands that our cities become active contributors to the social and ecological regeneration of their re-

gions. Cities like Santa Fe that are at the forefront of sustainability are recognizing that they need to take up both halves of the sustainability challenge—reducing damage while building connection to the living systems of their place. There is a growing understanding that even as we establish and achieve new standards of resource efficiency and minimal impact, our solutions continue to treat symptoms rather

than root causes. Because they are technological in their orientation, these “solutions” fail to address a much deeper issue: the fractured relationships between people and the web within which they live. This fracture is most evident in urban settings. The growth of modern cities has greatly oversimplified the complex, multi-layered living web of relationships both within and over which they were built, making the land less resilient and alienating people from these natural systems. While strategies to limit sprawl, carbon emissions and resource depletion slow the damage to this web, they do not address the need to re-weave human and natural communities into a coevolutionary whole, where humans exist in symbiotic relationship with the living lands they inhabit. Ultimately, our cities’ regeneration depends on our ability to create a culture in which we are all “citizens of place.” Unlike carbon neutrality, such a culture cannot be constructed, invented or legislated. It

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starts with a change of “mind”—a fundamental shift that involves seeing ourselves, our cities and our places as nested living systems rather than physical and political artifacts. Each place has its own identity, a unique character and purpose within the larger systems it inhabits. We know that cultures which foster an attachment to their place as a living whole are best able to bridge differences and maintain the collective enterprise of growing a sustainable future together. Place is where we can unite our social and ecological worlds and regenerate a shared sense of identity and meaning. One of the most powerful resources we have for accomplishing this shift and tapping the power of place is story. Story is a universal vehicle for making complex wholes comprehensible and meaningful. For millennia, humans used stories as cross-generational “guidebooks” for harmonizing cultures and economies with their ecologies—capturing generations of accumulated wisdom about how to sustainably live and thrive in a place. The power of these stories grew from, and was continually regenerated by, an intimate, experiential understanding of place—the understanding of landbased cultures which cities are displacing at an increasing rate. While we cannot simply transfer these stories to our urban cultures, we can learn much from them about what makes a good story of place. A story that taps the 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

power of place is grounded in a deep pattern of understanding that illuminates how the web of life works in that place. It is integrative and holistic, speaking to what all who live there share. Through metaphor, it captures the heart and spirit of a place’s unique character to source a collective identity that bridges cultures, classes and generations. It depicts the potential of that identity within its region and beyond, lifting up a unified vocation for a city, one to which every member can contribute and gain meaning from. Finally, its power endures and grows because it is continually and consciously regenerated as a place evolves. Few cities are as richly endowed with stories, or as appreciative of them, as Santa Fe. What better time than this 400th anniversary year to begin a community project to regenerate our story of place—one that deepens our collective understanding and helps us design, govern, educate and live in this place sustainably? ...................................................... Pamela Mang helps community groups and project teams build living systems’ thinking skills, holistic planning processes and integrative strategies for regenerative development. She is a founding member of Regenesis (www.regenesisgroup.com) and Regenerative Communities Group (www.regenerativecommunities.com), Santa Fe-based ecological design consultancies that help projects, businesses and communities become life-generating partners with nature.

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SOMOS PRIMOS EXPLORING A COMMON HISTORY, CULTURE AND POLITICS BY MARCELA DIAZ | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SETH ROFFMAN

There is a troubling myth in northern New Mexico. Some residents would say it’s meant to divide two communities, local Hispanics and Mexican immigrants, who actually share a common history and strong cultural bonds. Last summer, Somos un Pueblo Unido, a grassroots immigrants’ rights organization, convened a broad group of people from both sides of the border to tackle the pervasive myth that these communities are in conflict. Hispano, Chicano, Norteño and Mexican participants were included. There were students, teachers, housekeepers and cooks. We shared stories about growing up in our respective pueblos, confessed prejudices and misconceptions, explored commonalities in our history and our struggles. And, in the course of our discussions, we also asked ourselves, “Why do people keep telling us that we

don’t get along?” In an effort to expand these conversations, the group launched Somos Primos, a public information campaign designed to challenge the myth and to open up dialogue about the differences and similarities in our experiences. The ongoing campaign includes a series of TV and radio PSAs as well as cultural and educational events highlighting regional theater, music, dance, politics, language and history. María Cristina López, a longtime community activist and founding member of Somos, immigrated from Ciudad Juárez 40 years ago and has seen firsthand the evolution of the rela-

tionship between the locals and immigrants. “The region that makes up New Mexico and Chihuahua was violently split apart in the mid-1800s,” she says. “Our families were separated and our children encouraged to forget our primos on the other side. Despite continued attempts to divide us, our communities have managed to maintain a strong sense of shared language, culture and history. We work together, we go to school and church together. Over the years, we’ve come to rely on each other for friendship and support.” She points to the fact that New Mexico boasts some of the strongest immi-

grants’ rights laws in the country. Immigrants can apply for drivers’ licenses and college financial aid, regardless of immigration status. Local Hispanos, alongside immigrants, are the ones who have led the charge on these issues. But despite the many positive aspects of the relationship, it’s the negative stereotypes that persist. When a young Mexican man was recently killed, for example, at a public housing complex in an allegedly gang-related shooting, the local newspaper was quick to point out the supposed “decades-long” tension between the native Hispanics and recent immigrants as the root cause of youth violence in Santa Fe. “We’ve heard school officials, policymakers and media perpetuate this myth often,” says López. “It’s too easy to blame brown people for the social problems

“Why do people keep telling us that we don’t get along?”

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in our community—racism, violence, low educational achievement. What we need is honest dialogue about why these conditions exist and how can we come together to solve them.” The Somos Primos campaign launched last February brought together about 200 people who spent the day engaged in pláticas, or conversations, about their personal lives and experiences in relation to each other. Former State Historian Dr. Estevan RaelGálvez, a partner in the initiative and a native of northern New Mexico, says, “Those who control the story have created the mythology that we are different. If you’re able to tell the story well enough, you can convince people to carry it on. But when we can use our own stories from the past and present to open dialogue, we actually see that mythology come apart.” A 23-year-old Mexican student, Mabel Arellanes, who attended public school in Santa Fe, recalls, “I was so embarrassed to speak Spanish at school. I would tell my mother, who didn’t speak English, not to attend meetings because I didn’t want the other kids to make fun of us. I was surprised to hear local Hispanos at the Somos Primos event tell stories about how they were also taught to be ashamed of their language.” Dr. Rael-Gálvez adds, “When we say Somos Primos, it’s not mere rhetoric or a catchy phrase. It’s true. We are family. 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

There’s more that binds us together than divides us.” Nuevo Mexicanos and Mexicanos have more in common than language, culture and history. We encounter many of the same obstacles: substandard housing, poor working conditions, discrimination and a lack of educational resources. That’s why Somos works with Hispanos and other allies to support workers’ and civil rights legislation. This year, immigrants spearheaded efforts to pass a state law that protects all workers against wage theft and helped pass a bias-based policing ban that protects people of color and the LGBTQ (lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered and questioning) community. “When primos work together to improve the community, we can be quite powerful,” says Elsa López, a community organizer at Somos. Echoing the campaign’s PSA posted on YouTube.com, she adds, “Through Somos Primos, we will continue to explore our communities’ shared struggles and dreams. Together we’ll keep working for justice and equality.” ...................................................... Marcela Diaz is executive director of Somos un Pueblo Unido. For more information about Somos Primos and upcoming events, go to the website www.somosunpueblounido.org or contact Somos at 424-7832.

©Jesse Nusbaum. Courtesy Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), negative 011049

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AGUA FRIA LIFEBLOOD OF A VILLAGE BY GAIL SNYDER

“I’m one of the fortunate ones—I have an inquiring mind,” says lifelong Agua Fria resident Melinda Romero Pike. And it’s this plus her love of storytelling that provide us today with a glimpse from her childhood of this oncebucolic, once-thriving agricultural community. there,” she says, pointing to a corner of her living room. The house also served as a clinic for doctors and curanderas. There was a burial ground nearby and a pueblito from the Pindi Indians of the 1300s; Mrs. Pike

member trying to memorize the words when I was learning to read so I wouldn’t make mistakes the next day!” She remembers having chicken pox and staying home from school—“My bed was right

remembers playing there, exploring its different rooms and kiva fireplaces. And she watched her uncle extending credit to more and more villagers as the Depression crept upon them, so they could buy the necessary staples to sustain their families. Once the City dammed the river in order to provide water for its own residents a few decades later, Mrs. Pike watched the water all but disappear. The agricultural era of Agua Fria (whose name means “Cool Water”) dried up with the river; horse pastures turned to

Courtesy Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), negative 015231

her parents died. “I started working in the store when I was seven,” she recalls. She went to school in a one-room schoolhouse. “My uncle would read me the Dick and Jane books and I re-

Courtesy Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), negative 056647

Standing outside her ancestral home, Mrs. Pike gestures toward the land behind it, sweeping down to the dry arroyo that was originally home to the Santa Fe River. “This was all lush with verdant meadows and natural springs,” she says of the now dry, dusty landscape. “There was a bosque of cottonwoods and willows over there where my brother and I played. We had owls, ducks and rows and rows of alfalfa and corn.” Every May 15, the villagers would gather for the feast day of San Ysidro, patron saint of farmers, to bless the river, their lifeblood, celebrating its bounty. Social life centered around church holidays and the grocery store, run by her Uncle Don Jose Romero from his house, the one she now owns. Mrs. Pike moved there as a young child, after

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dust and, from that point on, the village slowly but surely became dependent on the County for employment. Mrs. Pike mourns the loss of the vibrancy, the sense of community and the self-sufficiency that was lost along with the river. Hers has not been an easy life—she’s endured early loss of both parents, the challenges of becoming a widow in her 30s and then surviving breast cancer (twice) in her 40s, all the while raising her two sons as a single parent during a time and a tradition when this was all but unheard of. Still, like a broken bone that, once healed, is now stronger than ever before, Mrs. Pike’s steadfast love for her village and the people descended from its original inhabitants has only increased. Her vivid memories are instrumental in restoring the flow of the Santa Fe River and today, it’s Melinda Romero Pike who leads the resurrected San Ysidro feast day blessing procession back to its banks. ...................................................... Gail Snyder is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

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Ode to The Wood Burning Cook Stove Around the early 19th century, the appearance of the wood burning cook stove was like a liberation from a very harsh existence. Prior to its arrival, people in New Mexico cooked outdoors, in small fire pits or adobe hornos, or indoors in fireplaces. The warmth derived from the cook stove, both physical and psychological, elevated the humble kitchen to the homeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s entertainment center. The coffee pot seemed to be perpetually brewing on the stovetop and a visitor was always welcomed with biscochitos or a fresh-made tortilla with homemade jelly. And, in early fall, kitchens were permeated with the heavenly aroma of roasted green chile. Please imagine that you are in a kitchen in the early 1930s preparing a chile stew. La piedra de machucar carne (the pounding stone) is used to break dry beef jerky into shreds as the dried, roasted chile soaks in water. The jerky is fried to crispy, a rue is made and the chile, softened and chopped, is seasoned with garlic and salt and combined with the meat in the rue, adding water. We now have a rare delicacy that few will ever savor. Cast irons were warmed in the wood stove to iron the family clothing. Indoor plumbing was not available at the time, so the corner of the kitchen by the stove was the favored spot for Saturday night baths. The kitchen table was where the children sat to do their homework by the light of a kerosene lamp for, strange as it may seem, Agua Fria did not have electrical utilities until 1939. Today my most coveted appliance, older than I am, is my Majestic Cook Range, still in perfect condition. I bake and cook in it in the same manner my ancestors did, honoring their memory and perpetuating our legacy so unique to this area. Melinda Romero Pike February, 2006

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HOW TO BECOME A STORYTELLER THE SANTA FE INDIAN SCHOOL SPOKEN WORD TEAM BY GAIL SNYDER

What does a traveling corps of teenagers writing original poetry they exuberantly perform onstage around the country have to do with the storytellers of their tribes, traditional elders with long, winding lifetimes’-worth of wisdom, imparting their stories with quiet, understated dignity? Way more, it turns out, than first meets the eye. Who are the kids drawn to teacher Tim McLaughlin’s spoken word team at the Santa Fe Indian School? “Obviously, they all have a facility for language,” Tim says. ”Deep thinker types, kids hungry for expression, able to integrate very direct, raw experience even if they’re not outgoing and gregarious. Each one has some inner desire—it might start out as emulation of an older student but then they discover what’s in-

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

side their own selves that wants to come out.” Tim guides his students into this journey by encouraging them to choose one poem that seems particularly significant to them and dive down deep into its core. “I have them rewrite it, revise, revise, perfect it, practice it out loud, get it into final draft form and then it’s a legitimate piece of art. They’ve gone through the whole procedure, creating entirely from scratch, preparing delivery of it, taking it out to many diverse audiences. Along the way, I have them go back to the emotional truth of the experience they’re writing about—and also the moment they had the initial artistic inspiration to write about it. That’s very important for genuine delivery, even for very difficult emotional truths—and that’s what storytellers do, too, have six or seven best stories which they hone through repetition and practice.”

As his students continue this process, they experience what Tim describes as a hunger to go further, to work harder with more intensity, and that’s a place that the team aspect really supports each individual. “We all hold each other up,” Tim explains. “You’re there with whoever the person is onstage. It’s a much more selfless approach [than some slam poetry]. These kids come from a community which taught them that collective concept from a young age, and now we’re consciously practicing it together. It’s very life giving—for me, too.” Each student’s journey with SFIS spoken word, in Tim’s experience, is fascinating in itself. “One of the most amazing parts is to witness their breakthroughs. You can see it happen in the performance of a poem that really speaks for them, where they’re literally breaking free, gaining new confidence and, with that, a sincerity of expression and sharing of the message. They feel it, too—it’s movement to a new level. That’s how the kids grow into the role of storyteller, by learning who they really are and

remaining humble. When they can remember to keep their feet on the ground so they can be a channel for whatever message wants to come through, they’re furthering their training to be worthy of being the one people listen to.” Poets on the Indian School spoken word team, Tim emphasizes, have a very different underlying perspective than other teams across the national circuit. “They see the Earth as literally being their mother, and they treat her as such. If your mother is sick, you would be there and care for her. You see that showing up even if the poem is not specifically about that.” This wisdom, Tim believes, is what sets these students apart. “They’re very comfortable with themselves. They have a sense of identity— they discover themselves through the process of creation, they accept the gift of who they are and what they have to offer.” And that, of course, is where the very best stories come from. ...................................................... Gail Snyder is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

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WE COME FROM BY SANTANA SHORTY, CLARA NATONABAH, ARIEL ANTONE, STUART CHAVEZ (from the SFIS Spoken Word team)

We are from the unknown crevices of America From the ancient dwellings molded by bear paw and painted by eagle feather. We come from, Fort Defiance, tsè ho zoi’, Havasupai, bottom of the Grand Canyon, Sil Naki:ya, I’ithios Birthplace, Lake Valley, beya k’it hloi day naasha. From supple brown skin, bloodstained fingertips and green eyes that foam the ocean’s waves From bitter smoke of burnt cedar and sweet grass dancing from the tipi. I come from a water drum tied with rocks, vocal cord vibrations bounced to the sky. From the people of the Blue-green water, the six hundred riding ribbons of wind From a village adorned with green leaves, red rocks, white walls, yellow sun. I come from walls chipped slowly painting a timeline of history eight miles down. From a dusty desert land where water is a sacred blessing feeding the ground with life and religion. From Saguaro petals that open to offer the energy of Ju:kun, the jam and jelly of our mother. From the blistering air of my traditions that burns in my lungs as they struggle to inhale my ancestors’ memories. Beya ki’t hłoí daay naasha From ancient homes rooted into threads of chiseled landscape. From petrified logs that sing the story of home in dust coated voices. From smudgy mirage paintings of blue sky and red earth. Adee naasha I come from the skin of sunlight that pours over the oceanic skeleton of land.

From rams roaming sketchy rock walls that hold my people’s ancestral stories From a mule train winding down to people breeding crops of corn, watermelon and pomegranate. I come from the birthplace of people and water as one, maneuvering a course of freedom down a path of hands, cleansing the canyon I come from hud:nk at, ono; desert peoples’ home, filled with unshaped dirt in our creator’s care. From young ones who learn, weave our hands to build baskets and sing to I’thoi, “Bless me, bless us.” From feet that sway back and forth with the drum beat, from baskets woven in ancient colored designs fluttering from our fingertips. From clouds printing the sky with brown and blue waves, thundering stories from our past. Adee goy ekááh, Howagoo’ From the steady twirl of the wool spindle my Nali’s ageless hands coaxed to life. From color bleeding through the hogan’s stained glass window onto worn tiles. From deep wrinkles of the land and of my Che’s face. We are from enveloped oases, forgotten and overwritten by steel skyscrapers. We are from the spaces between swift weaving fingers. We are from the indigo innards of thunder clouds. We are from beating moccasins matching the steps of raindrops. From the ancient dwellings molded by bear paw and painted by eagle feather. We are from the unknown crevices of America.

From grandpa’s medicine and grandma’s sweet voice From ancient convictions wrapped in colorful shawls protected by prayers. From an abandoned hogan on top of the world, singing forgotten prayers to the stars. Team Santa Fe at the Brave New Voices 2009 National Youth Poetry Slam Festival. From (l-r): Davin Coriz, Tim McLaughlin, Clara Natonabah, Santana Shorty, Amaryllis Moleski, Ariel Antone, Stuart Chavez, April Chavez, Nolan Eskeets. 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

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EL OTRO LADO: THE OTHER SIDE BY A. KYCE BELLO | PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISSIE ORR

Art changes lives. This is the message behind The Academy for the Love of Learning’s El Otro Lado project, a large-scale public art installation that uses the personal narratives of a diverse group of community members to explore the themes of home, exile, migration and human rights. El Otro Lado: The Other Side features the voices of ordinary people—mothers, migrants, students, elders— and gathers from them the extraordinary wisdom and insight that each unique narrative offers. Participants used journals, audio recordings and symbolic maps to chart their journeys across

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

cultures and boundaries, creating visual representations of their stories. The result is a moving collection of panels and bilingual audio narratives that engage all members of the community, asking us to consider the question of what it means to belong, and who we are in relation to one another.

Chrissie Orr, creator and director of the project, believes in art as an agent of social change. “Beauty doesn’t have to be a commodity bought and sold,” she says. “It can aid transformation individually and collectively. Our hope is that, by sharing these stories, the borders that separate us will dissolve

Above: Participant and his journal Below: “Bradley”, “Paulita”, “Qing Bey Wenes” -Digital print

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and new horizons will be discovered.” During the summer and fall of 2009, the panels were exhibited in public places where they could be encountered as a part of our daily lives. In the spring of 2010, the installations will be moved to their new home, the Academy for the Love of Learning, just outside Santa Fe near Seton Village. To hear the audio stories and to learn more about the project, go to aloveoflearning.org

Our hope is that, by sharing these stories, the borders that separate us will dissolve and new horizons will be discovered.

...................................................... A. Kyce Bello is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

Top: “Lys Verduzco,” Los Acequias Park. Above: Detail from Byjung Jin Lee’s journal. Left: “Anonymous 3,” Railyard.

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GROWING TO ELDERHOOD IN SANTA FE BY GAIL SNYDER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIM KURIAN

“Live in joy, even though you have all the facts.” ~Jane Goodall We’ll all be senior citizens one of these days, God willing—we won’t, however, all be elders. For that, you need something more. Jumping into life with both feet, despite accompanying fear, is certainly key, along with a special kind of humility. What else qualifies one for elderhood? Jean Seth, Brett Roorbach and Elspeth Bobbs, three of Santa Fe’s Living Treasures, were kind enough to explore the issue for clues. Jean Seth’s mother plied her with all kinds of lessons, the better to become “a lady, a darling ballet

dancer,” but Jean remained an unrepentant tomboy. After college, she threw herself into various causes—the Santa Fe Opera, the Museum of New Mexico, the Animal Shelter, among others—all while raising her family. In 1962, with encouragement from her husband, she opened the landmark Seth Gallery, first of what would inexorably transform tranquil Canyon Road into the notorious “Arts and Crafts Road” gallery mecca it quickly became. For over 20 years, until she retired, her popular Friday night

openings drew up to a thousand people. All along, Jean’s been thankful for her many blessings, even as she refrains from blowing her own horn. Travel continues to be a big passion, especially around New Mexico; she takes car trips every Sunday with friends, some of whom she’s known since high school. Despite recent physical obstacles, nothing deters her optimism. “People without a sense of humor are very dull,” she says. Like the proverbial cat, Brett Roorbach’s somehow

managed to pack a multitude of lifetimes into her 95-and-still-counting years. An honors graduate from Radcliffe, she taught school in Mexico, was a physiologist in the space program, owned a photography studio, spent 40 years teaching math and science at Santa Fe Prep and, after retirement, took on a long list of volunteer duties while traveling extensively, hiking, backpacking, skiing (the latter till she was 85!) and—something she’s particularly proud of—climbing to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, at age 55, “four months after my hysterectomy.” “You’ve got to stretch yourself to the limit,” she says. “I’m much more tolerant of other people now. I believe there’s basic worth in every individual, even

Left: Jean Seth Above: Elspeth Bobbs Opposite: Brett Roorbach

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someone who’s committed horrible crimes—down deep in their core, there’s something good.” And, Brett confides, “Inside, I still feel like a teenager sometimes, embarrassed in groups, a little shy.” But when you can see the funny side of something, it helps you face the consequences. “There’s nothing you can tell a person that makes them madder,” she adds, laughing, “than that they don’t have a sense of humor!” Born in England’s Devonshire County, Elspeth Bobbs inherited a degenerative disease leaving her completely deaf by the time she was 20. Even for an Oxford graduate, job opportunities were scarce so she crossed the ocean, by herself, getting a job in San Francisco and then, after reading every book by Mabel Dodge Luhan, moving to Santa Fe. She worked at an abstract company and soon met artist Howard Bobbs; they married and, while he painted and ran the Bobbs Gallery, she opened her own bookstore, The Book Specialist. After her husband’s death, Elspeth, dealing with the enormous void confronting her, began creating gardens on their fouracre Canyon Road property; “You have to feel passionate about getting up in the morning,” she says. She now has more than 20 uniquely themed garden plots, including the Funky Shway garden, a tribute to the world’s many belief systems (including a small Easter Island statue she

named Nixon, “for his nose”). Out of her deep concern for the condition of the environment, she and other area artists recently constructed The Labyrinth of Evolution, depicting four levels of human emotional development and how, as we manifest the behaviors implicit in each, we directly impact our environment. (“I’m hoping we’re still evolving and not devolving,” she comments dryly.) In 1999, she was declared New Mexico’s Philanthropist of the Year. About her nomination, a few years ago, to Living Treasure status, Elspeth laughs, “I just don’t want to be a buried treasure!” A Greek scholar, she still reads prodigiously (especially poetry, “the highest form of language”), plays Scrabble most days and, of course, gardens. “If something doesn’t come off,” she

shrugs, “at least you’ve had the joy of the dream.” Living passionately, remaining curious, finding the humor in everything and willingly sharing oneself with one’s community have given all three of these women a wisdom that radiates outward from their eyes. The following message on a button from Mrs. Bobbs ruefully identifies a final factor of what it takes to be an elder: “It’s easier to be born again than to grow up.” ...................................................... Gail Snyder is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

“I’m much more tolerant of other people now. I believe there’s basic worth in every individual, even someone who’s committed horrible crimes —down deep in their core, there’s something good.” 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

THINKING

BY CAROLINE FRASER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIM KURIAN

For myself, I choose to listen to the river for a while, thinking river thoughts, before joining the night and the stars. —Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

Growing the Land Green Again: A Bosque Reborn

A Trail Guide for Kids— by Kids

River of Words: Restorying Our River

Harvest From the Skies

Water Conservation Tips

Wastewater Treatment Systems: Completing the Cycle

Restoration Ecology and New Mexico Diversity: A Perfect Match

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

For over a decade, the Watershed Association has been lobbying to “rewater” the river. In 2007, they scored a public relations coup when our river, a tributary of the Rio Grande, was declared the most endangered in the country. That publicity encouraged city officials to take a good hard look at the argument for putting water back where it belonged. With the potential for improving property values and attracting tourists to nearby cafés, restaurants, galleries and walkways, it made business sense. And, most importantly, restoring the ecological health of the entire riparian corridor would provide what Carol Norton at WildEarth calls our best response to the disquieting fact that “the Southwest is Ground Zero for climate change.” In a town where everyone keeps an anxious eye on the mountain snowpack, the importance of something we can’t see—underground aquifers systematically starved for decades—has begun to seep into the collective consciousness. Mayor Coss and the City Council took a major step in 2009, voting unanimously for a River Flow Resolution to restore water until at least the end of July. But water is only one

part of the restoration equation. While old-timers remember a day when the riverbed through the center of town wasn’t far from ground level, now it’s a deep chasm carved by furious storm runoff funneled there by intensive development. Too-fast flows eroded the banks, carving a channel over 20 feet deep in some places. A recent bioengineering project helped stabilize the banks

and slow the flow by restoring a more meandering course but there’s still work to be done. YouthWorks lent a hand by cleaning up debris and now WildEarth is helping the river recover a cool green umbrella of native vegetation to further stabilize its battered banks, cool its water and lure back an ark of life. In 2009, the Guardians and their volunteers planted 10,000 willows, 250 cottonwoods and a couple of hundred “forage species” plants—food for birds and other native animals. YouthWorks and WildEarth have also removed water hogs like salt

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

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Sitting in traffic on Cerrillos Road, you might think you’re miles from the nearest outdoor oasis, but have faith—you’re only moments away from a conservation renaissance on the Santa Fe River. Yes, that Santa Fe River, for too many years a dry, dead ditch. Now, through the combined efforts of many dedicated individuals across the city, the river is coming back.

WATER & ECOLOGY cedar, Siberian elm and Russian olive. The river is reaping the rewards—kingfishers are returning, along with Cooper’s hawks, redtailed hawks, owls and the long-tailed weasel—and so are we. As this corridor regains its health, it will reduce the urban heat island effect while offering numerous opportunities for recreation, for everyone from anglers to toddlers. On a recent visit to the Santa Fe River Preserve south of the water treatment plant, the river truly felt like an oasis—lush, cool, calm. Willows and cottonwoods were flourishing. Cattails grew high in marshy spots, red-winged 46

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

blackbirds called. Ducks flew overhead and swallows swooped by, scooping insects out of the air. Jim Matison, WildEarth’s restoration program director, says that Rio Grande chub are returning, and dace as well. Miles upriver, in the Nature Conservancy’s Santa Fe Canyon Preserve, beavers have set up shop, building dams and lodges. Their activities are also essential to river restoration; they impound water, help to deepen and recharge aquifers and provide rich habitat for scores of other creatures. New cottonwoods and willows, just leafing out, grace the riverbanks downtown along West Alameda in Bicentennial Park. Long a dream of bikers, runners and dog walkers, the Santa Fe River Trail—the perfect way to bring Santa Feans back in touch with the natural heart of the commu-

nity—is finally coming to fruition. In 2008, the first short paved section, just upriver from Frenchy’s Field, was completed, and the City hopes to start work soon between Camino Alire and Griego Park. Once finished, the river trail will stretch from Patrick Smith Park near the top of Canyon Road to N.M. 599 and may eventually be extended south to the wastewater treatment plant. From a dead ditch to a living river, the restoration of this historic watershed from its headwaters in the Sangre de Cristos to its passage through the city is creating jobs, improving water quality, revitalizing the landscape and literally forging connections between Santa Fe and the greater ecosystem that surrounds it. Thinking river thoughts—and acting on them—is the ultimate in sustainability.

...................................................... Caroline Fraser is the author of Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution, published by Metropolitan Books (December 2009). A journalist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly and Outside Magazine, she has traveled to six continents to report on large-scale conservation and restoration projects.

Want to Help? • Join WildEarth Guardians’ StreamTeam of volunteers & plant trees in fall and spring: www.wildearthguardians.org • Check the box on your water bill every month & help pay for water rights for our river. • Conserve water: Every drop saved helps restore the flow! • Let the mayor & city councilors know that you appreciate their support for a living river.

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GROWING THE LAND GREEN AGAIN: A BOSQUE REBORN BY SETH BIDERMAN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIM KURIAN

It's been over a decade since John Horning first walked a neglected stretch of the Santa Fe River on the south end of town. Here, below the city's sewage treatment facility, the river was flowing year round but had little else in its favor. “It was this huge, open wound,” Horning explains, a barren tromping grounds for hungry cattle from the neighboring ranch. Horning, who for the last eight years has been executive director of the Santa Fe-based WildEarth Guardians, knew that the river didn’t have to look that way. “A lot of people in the Southwest hold the false conception that a dry sandy wash, or a stream that has been stripped of its vegetation, is normal,” he says. But that’s far from the truth. Even in a dry, high desert climate, a stream can and should have abundant vegetation and wildlife habitat. “It should be like its own little jungle,” he says. So Horning and his group—then called Forest Guardians—decided to do something about it. They convinced the City to let them fence off the half-mile “wound” Horning had

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

walked along and then they deputized a group of six enthusiastic volunteers. Led by Whitney Bacon, who’d spent many a childhood afternoon tossing rocks in the Santa Fe River, the group commandeered a one-ton ‘56 Flatbed Chevy and barreled down I-25 with a bunch of shovels and a handful of hope. They camped in a wash outside the Bosque del Apache, south of Socorro, and woke up at the crack of dawn to start digging up young cottonwoods, which grow so thick in the bosque they wouldn’t be missed. By late afternoon, they had over a thousand seedlings piled on the bed of the truck. Wolfing down a late lunch, they and their load ground their way back to Santa Fe,

pushing 35 miles per hour up La Bajada Hill. As they approached the site at sunset, the left rear wheel of the flatbed came loose and bounced off, and the truck plopped down onto its axle. The Chevy was done. But the work had just begun. For the next several weeks, those volunteers, aided by workers from the State Pen, dug and planted. And they’ve been digging and planting ever since: some 4,300 potted plants for bird foliage; 21,000 cottonwoods; and over 150,000 willows along 20 miles on seven different rivers across the Southwest, from the Rio Embudo by Taos to La Luz creek, outside Alamogordo. The work is slow and sometimes grueling—endless hours of posthole digging, roaring chain saws, dry, 100-degree afternoons and complicated, even bloody, extractions of sharp-thorned Russian olives and pesky tamarisks, invasive species that do to the local flora what a WalMart Superstore does to a local economy. But for Horning and Bacon, it’s well worth the

toil. For one, the stream restoration work has become something of an environmental rallying point. The City of Santa Fe, Earthworks, the Santa Fe Watershed Association, Youthworks and countless individual volunteers are among those who have slapped on gloves and a hat and do their part to protect the planet by bringing back the river. Much of WildEarth Guardians’ other work involves litigation, drawn-out lawsuits to save the white-sided jackrabbit or cap coal plant boilers and, as Horning admits, “It’s hard for some people to get behind a lawsuit. But nine out of ten people understand the utility of digging a hole and putting a willow in the ground.” As climate change and urban development threaten to rob more and more streams of their water, it’s somewhat reassuring to know that more and more people are understanding the importance of protecting these rivers and joining together to do something about it. And though it’s rewarding to see humans return to

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Tuff Dog Studio 1/2 Ad Page 49

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

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The stream restoration work has become something of an environmental rallying point.

the streams, it’s exhilarating, for both Bacon and Horning, to see the return of other species. Where once there was nothing but pre-production hamburger, now there are families of songbirds. Muskrats. Beaver. They’ve seen traces of elk bedding down for the night; spotted a weasel. The fish habitat is greatly improved. And the cottonwoods have flourished in a way that far exceeded their expectations. “We knew our work was paying off when we began seeing cotton kicking off 50

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

from the trees we planted, traveling upstream on the wind and downstream on the water,” says Horning. “Seedlings began to sprout in areas that we never touched. That’s real restoration, when a system regains its ability to function on its own.” Indeed, the system has begun functioning so well that the original half-mile stretch of Santa Fe River has actually grown. Winter and summer floods, aided by the newly vegetated banks, have transformed the cattle-trod corridor into

a shady, storybook meander that is roughly 20 percent longer, in stream feet, than it was 10 years ago. “It’s hard to believe what’s happened,” Horning says. “I wish I could tell you we had some comprehensive scientific plan. We really didn’t. Our approach was fairly intuitive, a combination of urgency, vision and a little hard work.” What began on a hunch has grown into a viable, proven program for keeping our rivers alive. Horning envisions a day in which dozens of organiza-

tions are out in the field, restoring stretches of river across the Southwest, stringing together regenerative zones like pearls on a necklace. And then—if people can just stay out of the way—nature will step in, with the winds and the floods, and finish the job as only nature can. ...................................................... Seth Biderman is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

WATER & ECOLOGY 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

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A TRAIL GUIDE FOR KIDS—BY KIDS BY GAIL SNYDER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY TODD STIEWING

Todd Stiewing’s Centaur Class had to make a decision: For their final class project of the 2008-09 school year, did they want to construct a giagantic 400-foot replica of the solar system or research and write a hiking trails guidebook for other kids? It being springtime and their being kids, the overwhelming choice was the being-outside option—hiking some of the best trails in Santa Fe County, then mapping, illustrating and describing the pros and cons of each one for their peers. “It was kind of a gamble,” Merit, initially skeptical, admitted but, in the end, even he agreed it was totally worth it. Each of the fourth and fifth graders from the Santa Fe School for the Arts teamed up with a friend and each team chose a trail. “The first time the teams went out to their trails, it was with the whole class,” Gabriel explained. “And we had to lead them, cold!” Luckily, prior to any hiking, Todd taught the class orienteering skills, including how to use a compass and how to decipher a topographical map. “This is a very physically fit class,” Todd said, look-

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

ing around approvingly at his brood. “We had a lot of fun. These trails are really just right outside our front door!” After each hike, one person from that trail’s team made a map of it; the other wrote detailed descriptions of landscape, scenery, potential hazards and sights not to miss (including good spots to stop for lunch, a crucial kid factor). Sofia chose the Chamisa Trail. “My mom used to jog that when she was pregnant with me.” Nicky, who

chose the Bear Canyon Trail, hadn’t been back there since he was threeyears-old. “I have to say, that’s a beautiful place!” he smiled. Alicia and Isabel got the Rio en Medio Trail. “That’s really fun for kids,” Sabrina said. “They like to play with water and there’s that big waterfall at the end!” John’s favorite was the Tesuque Creek. “Not because it’s the one I’m studying,” he insisted, “but because it’s fun and wide. It’s a watery trail, a naturey trail.”

In the course of researching this guidebook, the class learned pretty much everything there is to know about hiking. “We had to work up to Rio en Medio,” said Sofia. “It’s five miles long!” “Yeah, we warmed up with the easier trails first,” Lewis explained. “But they were all so different! Cerrillos Hills was hot and dry; the Borrego/Bear Wallow Trail had a fresh coat of snow with a lot of crossings and we weren’t very well prepared. And people fell into the stream at Rio en Medio.” “The logs would give out, the ones we had to cross!” said Chime. “When we first started hiking Borrego,” Noah said, “there was snow everywhere. We got to the river and then we’d packed it all down by walking on it so it was slippery slush all the way back.” Todd laughed. “We all hiked with extra socks in our packs after that!” he remembered. “And always bring a hat and gloves,” Alicia said. “Even if it isn’t snowing, snow can fall on you from the trees.” The

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“We had a lot of fun. These trails are really just right outside our front door!” class quickly got into the habit of checking the weather the night before their hikes, trying to know what layers to bring. “And I learned you should always hike with a lunchbox and water bottle,” Kai added. “Also sunscreen,” Serena said. “I got sunburned, even just after an hour!” They used all this practical information in their handbook, along with instructions for how to avoid being hit by lightning (“crouch down because you don’t want to be the highest thing”), how to read a topo map, and the best things to pack for lunch. Besides those previously mentioned, the class visited the Chamisa Trail, the Dale Ball Trails, the Dorothy Stewart Trails and the Rail Trail; their guide covers all hikeable terrains throughout the County. You can get one by calling the Santa Fe School for the Arts (4388585). “We worked really hard to finish it in time!” Sarafina said. ..................................... Gail Snyder is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

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RIVER OF WORDS: RE-STORYING OUR RIVER

BY A. KYCE BELLO | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIM KURIAN

We are…the place-worlds we imagine. —Keith Basso, Wisdom Sits in Places The parched Santa Fe River came to life in my imagination the spring it was named the most endangered river in America. That designation was made at an odd time, for the river had been running with cool spring waters for some weeks. Willows and cottonwoods cast their shady green light on the rippling flow, but it wasn’t the temporary illusion of a healthy riparian area that made me see the river as alive. That unfortunate label—most endangered—enabled me to see the river as a living thread stretching far into the past and forward into the future. I saw that riverthread as a story, a narrative about place and history, community and ecology. And I saw my place in that story, the links between the river’s existence and my own. With this newfound awareness, something in me shifted. After years of walking the river through its seasons of drought and flood, of recognizing that it was dry so that I might drink, of erroneously believing that a living river was a pipe dream, I decided to take action. In her book The Open Space of Democracy, Terry Tempest Williams challenges ecological complacency by asking, “At 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

what point do we finally lay our bodies down to say this blatant disregard for biology and wild lives is no longer acceptable?” For me, that day had come. Never again would I quietly abide the river’s emptiness. But what to do? I shot off letters to my city councilors, donated to the new River Fund, emptied bath water into my vegetable garden to conserve water, joined the Santa Fe Watershed Association and attended any river related meeting or forum I got wind of. Grasping for an action that would be both personal and effective, I began working on an essay about my budding sense of kinship with the river. I was unsure, though, of what good my solitary voice and view might do. When I told a prominent artist in town what I was working on, she echoed my doubts, saying, “I don’t see what difference a story will make.” At the time, I had no answer for her. I kept writing anyway. As I wrote, I immersed myself in the river’s story, the narrative laid out in its sand. The river’s dry bed tells the tale of our relationship with the land we live upon and the common history we share with it. It has

sustained the lives of myriad creatures, a lush bosque, and indigenous settlements that stretch back thousands of years. The Spanish chose its fertile banks as the site of their capital and diverted its stream into a web of acequias that nurtured their fields for over 300 years. In 1881, a few decades after the arrival of American soldiers in Santa Fe, the river was dammed for the first time, the water taken from fish and springs and farmers and given to a growing city. Our part in this story is not so easily told. Over the last century, our community lost sight of its place within the river’s ecology. As water running through it became infrequent, the Santa Fe River dried up in our imaginations. It ceased to exist as the heart of our town even as it sustained us with every glass of water we drank. Now, when I walk the river, I find it empty of not only

water but people. It has been effectively abandoned, an eroded wasteland running through town. In the years since the Santa Fe River’s most endangered designation (which lasted only through 2007), I have been heartened by the work of grassroots organizations and our city leaders to allocate environmental flow for the river. A living river is possible and, thanks to the dedication of many activists, within sight. For their efforts to succeed, though, the river needs to come back to life in the hearts and minds of our community. It needs to live in our psyches, demanding restitution for its sacrifice. The river will be restored when the political and economic forces that currently control its waters are matched by empathy and creativity. Ultimately, our ability to envision a living river is a critical step in manifesting a living river.

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The river needs to come back to life in the hearts and minds of our community.

And so my action on behalf of the Santa Fe River took form, gaining strength just as the first spring snowmelt grows into a torrential flow. The essay I wrote about the river was joined by the words of dozens of other writers. Thanks to the contributions of poets and scholars, ecologists and activists, a book emerged. The idea was simple: By re-storying the river, by bringing it 56

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

back to life in our collective imagination, we would mobilize support for its physical restoration. The book, The Return of the River: Writers, Scholars and Citizens Speak on Behalf of the Santa Fe River, returns the largely invisible river to view. It offers an alternative narrative to the dominant story of the river’s ruin and celebrates its potential for renewal. In the spirit of literary activism, proceeds

raised from book sales will be donated directly to the city’s River Fund to obtain water rights for environmental flow. I no longer question the ability of stories to shape our landscape from the inside out. They can also shape our inner landscape, inspiring us to speak out for what is right. The stories might be our footprints across the dry river, new willow leaves uncurling on

the banks or a scrawl of graffiti on a drainage pipe. They might be the memories of our elders or our children’s ignorance of shaded banks and cool waters. My husband likes to tell a story about how the river still flows year round. It runs through our faucets and bodies, back into sewers, finally returning to its bed below the waste treatment plant. Even as we neglect it, the Santa Fe River is alive in us. Each of us has the power to directly participate in the river’s return simply by including it in our narratives about who we are and why we belong to this land. Whether they encourage fragmentation or renewal, the stories we tell about place influence our relationship with the natural world. Imagination is the essential tool of the activist and engaged citizen. It guides us as we follow the path of our vision, to that day when we will tell the story of how we brought the river back to life. ...................................................... A. Kyce Bello is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

WATER & ECOLOGY 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

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HARVEST FROM THE SKIES

BY NATE DOWNEY | ILLUSTRATIONS BY GEORGE LAWRENCE

Not everyone is cut out for horse-plow farming. A precious few abide by the motto “grid-free or die.” Not many refuse to use cars, buses, trains or planes. But anyone can harvest rain, and herein holds the key to our sustainability. The broad field of precipitation redistribution can be divided into four categories: passive water harvesting, active water harvesting, wastewater harvesting and community water harvesting. There is something for everyone when it comes to rain, snow, sleet, hail, dew, fog and the thousand names for airborne condensation. Since our water situation is abysmal (both locally and globally), the time is now to find an effective niche in the forthcoming water har-

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

vesting revolution. Fortunately, this is easy. Passive techniques include ecological landscape design, composting, sheet mulching, land contouring and swale construction, check-dam building and countless other means of slowing the flow of runoff and storing water in soil. This is the stuff of waterconscious gardening in all of its raging beauty and impressive efficiency. Active systems incorporate water-storage tanks for indoor and/or outdoor

use. These cisterns can be aboveground, underground or partially buried. The term active refers to the moving parts (pumps, pressure tanks, valves and float switches) that are often required in the water harvesting process. Although it’s important to connect all of these parts properly, it’s Plumbing 101, not brain surgery. Wastewater reclamation reuses sewage via a wide variety of safe and productive methods. In accordance with New Mexico state law, greywater (meaning everything but the kitchen sink and toi-

let) should be directed passively to plants in the landscape without tanks, pumps or man-made filters. Simple biological strategies for treating blackwater can be inexpensively connected to an existing septic system and end up providing irrigation-quality water almost overnight. Some systems definitely require a licensed and experienced engineer, so this is where a math jock or two comes in handy.

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Community water harvesting offers numerous avenues for joining in the joy of water harvesting. These range from volunteering for a local watershed group to donating money to an ecologically focused organization. Within this spectrum, there are dozens of easily distinguishable opportunities available for those who are less inclined to tend gardens, fit pipes or work with the cosine of x. I’m a firm believer in the power of talk. Even if you merely bring up water harvesting in conversation, you could have a positive effect on your local watershed and, as you help your bioregion heal, you save the world. By the example you set, by the level of increased sustainability you generate and by the biodi-

versity you produce, like the proverbial grunt around a water cooler in Taos who sets off a chain of events that reforms the World Bank (One can hope!), words have the power to promote the change we need. One of my contributions to this conversation is a concept called “gradual greening.” Described in greater detail in my upcoming book, Harvest the Rain (Sunstone Press), the idea is that 10 minutes of water harvesting (or any other ecological activity) per day is all we need to save the world. The catch is that we must add an additional 10 minutes every year to our average daily green routine. If we follow this

course, in 30 years we will be greening the Earth for the same amount of time that we currently spend watching video screens. This means that, in a generation and a half, our average ecological commitment would become four hours per person per day–enough to chart a course toward sustainability in any bioregion. Yes! This requires a paradigm shift in our thinking, a new perspective on precipitation, but it also depends on both a renaissance in our understanding of patience and an

increased long-term sense of obligation to future generations. Along with the slow food movement already underway, I happen to believe that water harvesting, because of its power and simplicity, has an excellent chance of motivating the masses toward a sustainable future. Cisterns, quite literally, are the heart of the matter. Each system’s capillaries can be seen as the roofs and other surfaces that collect the precipitation. The system’s veins correlate to the gutters, downspouts, canales and pipes that con2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

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Even if you merely bring up water harvesting in conversation, you could have a positive effect on your local watershed.

vey runoff to the cistern. From the tank, water is pumped through branched arteries, which are literally the distribution piping used to get water where it’s needed. Along the way, our lungs treat our blood, just as sediment traps cleanse water in the system. Similarly, you might think of yourself as a drop of blood or a gallon of rainwater. Like a capillary or a roof, this Guide first attracted you, and now your mind is being conveyed to the heart of the matter, and the conclusion of this essay. Soon you will be pumped back into the real world, teeming with life force, ready to distribute wisdom far and wide. As a water harvester, you can personify the antithesis of the second law of ther60

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

modynamics. You can generate life wherever you roam. Just slow down the rain a tad. That’s the key. And gradually increase your time commitment over a period of three decades. That’s the handle and the way to let sustainability percolate smoothly into your life, your bioregion and the world we are borrowing from our children. ...................................................... Nate Downey discovered his penchant for ecological landscape design back in 1992 when he started Santa Fe Permaculture. Permaculture in Practice, the column he's written for more than a decade, can be found in the Santa Fe New Mexican's monthly “Real Estate Guide;” (www.sfpermaculture.com).

WATER & ECOLOGY 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

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BY DOUG PUSHARD

Conservation is the least costly way to preserve precious water and to better prepare for droughts and growth. Inside Ideas • Obtain a water meter and track your water usage. • Wash dishes using a dish pan and don’t let the water run while rinsing. • Reuse the dish water in your garden. • Avoid a garbage disposal and compost the scraps. • Wash your produce in a pan and then reuse the water in your garden. • Soak your pots and pans instead of letting the water run while you scrape them clean. • Avoid defrosting frozen foods under running water. • Make sure there are low-flow aerators on all of your faucets. • Run your washing machine and dishwasher only when they are full. • If buying a new clothes washer, buy a front-loading low-water use model. • When it’s yellow, it’s mellow and when it’s brown, flush it down. • Replace your toilet with a new low-flow 1.6 gallon per flush model. Want to save even more water? Install a new dual flush model. • Install a low-flow showerhead. To save even more, keep a bucket in your shower and catch the cold water to use in your yard. • Catch water in a jug when waiting for faucet water to turn hot and reuse this water. • Turn off your shower water while working your shampoo and conditioner into your hair. • Put food coloring in your toilet tank once a year to check for leaks. • Turn off the water while you brush your teeth. • Install a faucet that shuts off automatically. • Check under your sinks and faucets for water leaks. • When you give your pet fresh water, use the old water for house plants or landscape. • Recycle your bath water and clothes washing water into your garden. • Get off junk mail lists. Junk mail currently consumes 28 billion gallons of water a year. Find out how at JunkBusters.com, PrivacyRights.org and NewDream.org • Teach your children about water conservation. Or let them teach you!

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

Outside Ideas: • Eliminate your non-native lawn. • Put a layer of organic mulch around plants to reduce evaporation. • When planting, choose flowers or shrubs that are native to Santa Fe and are low in water use. Make sure to plant during the spring or fall when the watering requirements are lower. • Water during the early morning hours or evening to minimize evaporation. • Install porous materials for walkways and patios to keep water in your yard and prevent runoff. • Wash your pets outside and reuse the water in your garden. • Use a hose nozzle and turn off the water while you wash your car. • Wash your car in the rain to save even more. • Direct downspouts toward shrubs or trees. • Install berms and swales on your property to keep your rainwater out of the storm water system. • Replace your sprinkler system with a water-efficient drip irrigation system. • Install an automatic rain shut-off device on your drip system to eliminate unnecessary watering. • Set your drip irrigation system to water depending on temperature and rainfall. • Use a broom instead of a hose to clean your outside areas • Shop and eat locally. Like oil and energy, water is wasted in transporting foods and products over long distances. .................................................................................................................................................... Doug Pushard has been a practitioner and educator in the areas of water conservation and rainwater harvesting for 10 years and has written over 35 articles on the subject of water. He is the founder and co-editor of harvestH2O.com and is a water catchment designer.

WATER & ECOLOGY 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

WATER & ECOLOGY

WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS: COMPLETING THE CYCLE BY RICHARD JENNINGS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SETH ROFFMAN

It’s local apple season. Crisp, juicy and fresh off the tree. We bite in, eat the delicious fruit; then, what goes in one end comes out the other. We are good at that first part of the cycle, but very rarely do we think about what happens in the second half. We just want our “waste” to go away. I work in the wastewater business, but it’s important to note that in a sustainable system, there is no waste. In reality, our “wastewater” has the components of our apple, in a different form. So how do we get the apple back? Consider the moisture and nutrients in our sewage as the incomplete work of the digestive tract. What comes out of us is stuff that we are done with personally but not ecologically. Traditional wastewater treatment frequently uses a lot of energy to create something “safe for dis-

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

posal.” Hence the name “waste water.” But we don’t really want to waste it—we want our apple back, so we extend and complete the digestive/absorption tract cycle by tying it back to the body of Mother Earth. Then these resources can be circulated to the flesh of the site as blood, with moisture, nutrients and oxygen. In this way, our immediate environment becomes a real extension of ourselves. And we are rewarded with another apple. We have an opportunity to create a sustainable

cycle for our “waste.” We can learn a lot from examining how the human body digests and transforms waste and then applying that biology to turning our “waste” into nutrients for other plants and biological life forms. In rural areas, the first step is your septic tank, where the sewage discharges outside of the home. Normally, a septic tank serves little purpose other than holding on to that which floats or sinks. The stinky liquid is then supposed to “go away” in a disposal field. In my work,

we use an off-the-shelf device, inserted into the septic tank, to continue the digestion. Like the interior of the intestines, microbiology continues the process. The addition of the device changes the process to an aerobic one like that in our body. The “lung” of the system—a small air pump—provides air, with a constant energy input of 25-watts for a single-family home. This is the only mechanical part of the digestive system. At the end of our system, there is no longer a disposal problem. We have highly nutritious, oxygen-rich blood that can circulate through our Earth body and nourish it. Our metaphoric heart is a submersible pump. The heart pumps the blood through a simple filter that acts like our kidneys and removes any materials still in the blood. Our kidneys return this to the intestine to be reprocessed. Then the blood moves through a couple of different systems that act like a circulatory system. One is a special “drip system” that acts as arteries and veins. The arteries deliver the nutrients. The veins are a back-flushing system that keep the arteries clean and return any unmetabolized materials to the intestine. A second system is based on the pumice wick. Like our blood, the

WATER & ECOLOGY 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

WATER & ECOLOGY 66

liquid has oxygen, moisture and nutrients. In semi-arid areas like Santa Fe, soils generally are limited in nitrogen and moisture. So our circulatory system delivers the “blood” of nutrients and moisture to the Earth body. Like our body, this digestive and circulatory system needs a brain, so we designed our own control systems. The blood is stored in a small pump tank and the system makes necessary decisions about when the liquid is delivered. Like our body, the square intestine is a supply-driven system. When something comes in, it displaces what is there and an equal amount has to go out. A supply-driven system uses the liquid more or less as we make it. The

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

supply-driven brain decides when the system is full and whose turn it is to get fed. It works well with wick systems or drip irrigation with native plants. The other type of system is demand-driven, which matches well with drip irrigation in landscapes and orchards. With these systems, the plants themselves decide when they are thirsty and need a drink. We take care of this with an irrigation clock that delivers on demand. If we have planned the system well and programmed the clock correctly, the plants’ demands are met. Supply and demand-driven water systems have their compromises. The supply system never runs out of liquid but may not

deliver it when a plant is thirsty. The demand system delivers when the plants want it but may run out of liquid. In our climate, both systems need to run as much as possible during the winter when there are long dry periods and we can be storing our moisture in the soil. This is where the human and the mechanical brains must meet. The mechanical brain can allocate resources and in some cases get extra water. It can also decide when it is too cold to operate. We have seen that even some well designed systems can have freezing challenges when they are designed for true re-use. A thermostat and a small passive disposal field have solved this potential problem.

In the end, all of us can have a system that achieves our purpose and reconnects us to the Earth via our toilets and showers. When we have completed our digestion, the capillaries of roots and micorhyzae take up the new water— the blood that we have made—to create living soil banks, food, fiber, shade, fuel, windbreaks, privacy screens, habitat and beauty. We have rediscovered the inner apple that lives within our “waste.” ...................................................... Richard Jennings of Water Management Associates may be contacted at 983-6599 or email Info@waterma.com.

WATER & ECOLOGY 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

WATER & ECOLOGY

RESTORATION ECOLOGY AND NEW MEXICO DIVERSITY: A PERFECT MATCH STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MOLLIE WALTON

New Mexico is an energetic hot spot when it comes to ideas about our natural environment. As a professional restoration ecologist, I am continually amazed at the depth of ecological knowledge that resides in our local communities. When I first moved here, I spent a lot of time reading in the library and looking at photographic archives to try to better understand the ecological history of this area. However, I wish I had spent more time eavesdropping at the local coffee shops or—even better—at the local watering holes, because the truth is, I have learned much more about the natural environment by asking questions and by listening to people. As we all know, one of the most impressive things about Santa Fe and the surrounding areas of northern New Mexico (and you might have heard this before) is the diversity of this place. Not just ethnic and cultural diversity but also the diversity of landforms, landscapes and life. It is only natural, then, that there is also an incredible diversity of ways in which the people of this area are dealing with the negative impacts of human activities on our environment and restoring local ecologies. The officially sanctioned definition for restoration ecology is “the process of

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed.” Restoration projects vary greatly in scale, depending on their type and the extent of environmental damage. Some of the largest restoration projects have been undertaken to reverse the damage that we humans have caused by our poor management of natural resources on a regional scale. For example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is currently engaged in a project that seeks to reverse ecological damage to the Rio Grande floodplains caused by efforts in the 1950s to reduce

seasonal flooding by “channelizing” the river. Another large-scale project includes the use of controlled burns on federal lands to mimic natural fire cycles that were suppressed by federal policy for most of the 20th century. Other restoration ecology projects seek to restore habitats damaged by the extraction of both nonrenewable resources such as oil and coal and renewable resources such as surface water, groundwater, grass and timber. Much of the talk around town is about the local food movement, sustainable development, sustainable agriculture, conservation,

living rivers, grass-fed beef production, “nature-deficit disorder” and reducing one’s “carbon footprint.” Forest health and the natural fire cycle are also topics that I often hear debated. As more and more people are realizing the importance of healthy river, stream and wetland habitats to this region and its inhabitants, a variety of different projects in the Santa Fe area are focusing on restoring these resources. People are learning that small-scale restoration efforts can add up to important benefits for local wildlife. The local use of stream vanes—posts pounded into a streambed to change the flow of water—is a good example of this. One stream vane impacts the environment at a scale of a only few meters, but the use of several stream vanes in a small area can add up

WATER & ECOLOGY

How to Build a One-Rock Check Dam

to substantial habitat space for aquatic species. Just ask the Rio Grande cutthroat trout that will benefit from the sweat of all the volunteers pounding posts into carefully selected stretches of the bank of Comanche Creek in the Valle Vidal. While they are vital to our community, many restoration ecology projects can also be time-, moneyand carbon-intensive. My hope is that all of our talk will someday result in future restoration ecology projects requiring less time, less money, less carbon emission in order to mitigate the effects of our daily activities on our local landscapes. I like that there are groups in Santa Fe devoted to “radical” causes. And I love that there are groups who approach everything with logical, centrist and inclusive thinking. I’m inspired by the fact that there

is a local niche for “restoration landscaping” and “restoration gardening,” and that there are groups trying to protect the night sky from light pollution. This great diversity of approaches to solving our diverse environmental problems is exactly what we need in order to improve the way we deal with land degradation and diminishing resources. The reality is that we will indeed have to harness our strengths and our differences to change the way we live on this planet, if we want to preserve what we have for future generations.

One-rock dams are a low-tech, effective way to keep an arroyo from eroding deeper. They stabilize the banks, encourage sediment and nutrients to collect and plants to re-inhabit the arroyo. One-rock dams slow run-off and allow it to filter back into the water table rather than washing away, taking the soil with it. • One-rock dams actually include a number of rocks arranged in rows to make a brief section of “floor” that reaches both ends of the arroyo. They get their name because they are only one rock high. • Choose a small arroyo that is impacted by erosion. Find rocks on-site that are proportionate to the arroyo and will keep a low profile. They should be large enough that they won’t wash away but not so bulky that they rise very far above the level of the sand. • Pack the rocks together in tight, parallel rows that stretch from bank to bank. The dam can be from three to five rows deep. • Maintenance of one-rock dams involves replacing any rocks that are washed away, and widening the dam if water begins to cut around it.

...................................................... Mollie Walton holds a Ph.D. in Biology and is currently a Senior Environmental Specialist for Habitat Management, Inc. While she has worked in many different ecosystems, her work in recent years has been focused in riparian areas within New Mexico.

For more information, see An Introduction to Erosion Control by Bill Zeedyk and Jan-Willem Jansens. The publication can be downloaded from www.earthworksinstitute.org and www.quiviracoalition.org. —SSFRG staff

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

Lessons From Our Grandmothers BY MIGUEL ANGEL ACOSTA | PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL STENGEL

A Teacher Challenges School

Youth Leadership: In Service to Sustainability

Students Step Up With Community Based Research

Planting the Seed: The Capital High School Green Project

Gardening With Acequia Madre Elementary Students

SFCC Gears Up to Go Green

Environmental Health Care From the Ground Up!

A Passion for Learning

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

My grandmother, Carmen Meza Cibrian, once commented that when the government schools opened in our hometown of Talpa, Mexico, education ceased. She was offering a profound critique of modern schooling, motivated at that moment by my ignorance of things practical (although I had been educated by Jesuits). She wanted me to fix something in her old adobe home and I was clueless. “Es muy diferente tener escuela que ser educado,” she would also say in reference not only to practical and social skills but also to skills for community and democracy. She had been witness to a historical moment that transformed Mexican society, the Revolution of 1910, and was keenly aware of the impacts of a corporatist nation-building program on local communities, especially its children. Hers was not the language of the post-modernists or the post-colonialists, nor even of the critical theorists. She was simply a wise woman who used storytelling and a very folkloric discursive style to impart valuable lessons about life, learning and the meaning of community to anyone who stood still long enough to listen. I called her Mama Carmen. Thirty years later, I find myself consulting her very regularly as I continue to learn from her stories. She crossed over about 15 years ago but she continues to be a force in our family and in my work—the building

Instead, we apply processes. We hold a strategic vision (every child in Santa Fe is safe, healthy, loved, affirmed and fulfilled) and we try to apply goal-seeking behavior to make that vision a reality. We connect and convene, facilitating dialog and engagement. We believe that people and communities hold within themselves the wisdom necessary to bring forth the kind of future they desire for themselves and their children. Our hope is to perhaps help them tease out that wisdom and develop the social capital necessary to becoming self-facilitating in pursuit of their goals. This is accomplished through our Better Together community gatherings facilitated by the Santa Fe Partnership for Communities and Schools and the Center for Relational Learning. These provide an opportunity for community members, school personnel, service providers and government agencies to explore new and better ways of relating and partnering in support of children and youth. The role of distributed and shared leadership is also

examined as well as the historic, socio-economic and political context of children’s lives. One of the other key things complexity science tells us is that behaviors emerge from a system because of the interactions among the initial conditions in place, the rules of the system and the relationships among the members of the system. Because those are different in every setting, we can’t necessarily take what worked in one place and apply it to another and expect the same results. Imagine, for example, the different realities existent on the east and south sides of town, or those of Wood Gormley elementary school and Cesar Chavez. Different initial conditions, different rules (written and unwritten), different relationships. Different stuff will emerge. What we can do is apply the same kind of process— open, honest, democratic,

compassionate, and respectful—to invite the participation of a community and try to help that community bring forth what it desires. What we can’t do is prescribe a program for someone else without their participation and agreement. Unfortunately, that is what we have been doing for many years and that is what my Mama Carmen was reacting to. That is what she taught me and that is what community organizers have always known, that the answer to any problem humanity may face can be found in community.

EDUCATION

of community and school partnerships to transform children’s lives. I was a co-convener of the Santa Fe Swarm, along with John Goekler of Change Factors and George Otero of the Center for Relational Learning. The Swarm now consists of two dozen individuals and organizations and continues to grow all the time. We are a leaderless organization aligned by a shared commitment to bringing forth whole child, community school and integrative community development models in Santa Fe and beyond. We apply the principles of open space and open source; Whoever shows up are the right people and the knowledge belongs to all. Our model is rooted in complexity science, which originally emerged right here in Santa Fe at the Santa Fe Institute and relies on self-organization and distributed leadership. If there is anything that we have learned from complexity, it is that the future is unknown and unknowable. For that reason, we do not apply rigid frameworks, templates or plans.

...................................................... Miguel Angel Acosta is co-director of the Santa Fe Partnership for Communities and Schools, a project of New Mexico Voices for Children. He is a lifelong educator, youth advocate and social justice activist (dosvoces1@msn.com).

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

A TEACHER CHALLENGES SCHOOL BY SETH BIDERMAN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIM KURIAN

EDUCATION

A police officer knocked on the door of my office one morning and ushered in a student named “Nate.” She'd found Nate wandering around Second Street and, when he could offer no good explanation for why he wasn't in school, she decided to give him a ride. She delivered a stern lecture and a referral to the Juvenile Court system, then left the two of us alone.

I knew Nate well, as far as teacher-student relationships go. I was sitting in as one of Monte del Sol Charter School’s deans of students that year and had already disciplined Nate for ditching more than once. I’d also spent a fair amount of time chatting with him and found him to be a pretty solid kid, churning his way through some thick emotional trauma. After calling Nate’s parents, I sat with him and, while we were waiting for one of them to show up, I asked him what he wanted. He looked at me. It’s not a question kids are often

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

asked at school. “What do you mean?” “I mean if you could redesign school, Nate. Build it however you want. What would it look like?” Nate shrugged. “No homework. Classes at night so I could sleep later. I don’t know.” I persisted. “Come on. You can throw out the classrooms, the schedule, the subjects. What would it look like?” He only shrugged, looked down at the table. It’d been a tough morning. He wasn’t in a philosophical mood. But it’s hard to ignore the growing gap between

what kids like Nate need and what schools—even small charter schools like Monte del Sol—offer. Designed for an industrial age that has begun to crumble, our schools seem less and less able to prepare students for the world outside the classroom. Today’s shifting society demands ethics and imagination, courage and an undaunted love of learning, attributes our schools are ill-equipped to teach. But creating a more responsive, more sustainable educational system is not only possible, it’s happening. Teachers, schools and youth programs across the

country have realized that what stands between the assembly line model of school and the school of the future is not, as one would think, the eternal lack of money. Rather, the main stumbling blocks are long-held assumptions about what school should be, that’s-just-how-it-is ideas that are being discarded by educators who are breaking free of the stagnancy, rejoining the community and keeping kids like Nate engaged. Assumption: School is a place Think “school” and you think of classrooms and cafeterias, libraries and long hallways and sweaty gyms. But the nationwide Big Picture schools and local programs like Youthworks and Earth Care’s Youth Allies are proving that “school” can happen anywhere—in a state park., an artist’s studio, a hospital lab. It’s natural for us to want to keep our children safe and sound in a clean, well-fenced building all day but those educators who’ve risked flinging open the doors have found that, ironically, the best way to keep the kids is to let them go. Out in the community,

young people learn why academic skills matter and begin to understand how they can be genuine contributors to society, not only in the someday future but in the time frame that matters most to any teenager: now.

Assumption: The government decides what students learn We’ve all had the conversation, at some point, about what every kid ought to know. The Bill of Rights. The Pythagorean Theorem. The five-paragraph essay. But the fact of the matter is, every student will not learn these things, whether we require it or not, and our schools will do more harm than

EDUCATION

Assumption: Teachers should do the teaching Even in our current system, most teachers figure out quickly that there’s too little time and too many students to spoon feed knowledge and skills to everyone. They find far more success, and far less stress, when they begin to view themselves as guides, helping students discover new ideas and skills on their own. Monte del Sol, like many others, has taken this principle to the next level by granting academic credit to students who spend a year learning from someone who’s not a teacher. Nurses, luthiers, writers, artists, computer techs, body builders have all proven that it doesn’t take a certificate to teach and inspire a young person.

good when we try to cram the info into an unreceptive mind. If forced to choose between an uninspired, get-me-out-of-here high school graduate who can recite the 10 amendments and a creative, curious 18-year-old who doesn’t, I’ll go with the latter every time. School boards and state legislatures have a role to play in enforcing standards of quality, safety and legality in our schools, but the curriculum should flow from the student’s curiosity and energy and the teacher’s ability to guide. Nate didn’t challenge any of these assumptions, that day in my office. Like many others, it’s probably never occurred to him that our nearly 200-year-old system of public schooling can ever be much different than what it is. But thousands of other parents, teachers, students and community members are challenging these assumptions, here in Santa Fe and across the country. Inventive programs are making their way into the mainstream, like cracks in a longstanding wall. The day is coming when a police officer won’t think twice when she sees a kid walking down Second Street in the middle of the morning. She’ll drive right past, thinking—correctly—that he’s busy learning, in school. ............................................ Seth Biderman is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

YOUTH LEADERSHIP: IN SERVICE TO SUSTAINABILITY

EDUCATION

BY CHRISTINA SELBY

In an American landscape shockingly disconnected from the land itself, young people are still being told that they will find their identity in the goods they consume rather than in the contributions they make. Even as the world around us demands that we measure our lives against intense environmental and social challenges, the upcoming generation is being taught a single, materialistic vision of success. However, aware of it or not, American teenagers face the same choice as young people from subsistence villages in countries all around the world-whether to live a life consistent with the mantra of “progress” but inconsistent with a finite planet, or one guided by conscious, sustainable actions that often go against the mainstream. Here in Santa Fe, where a consumer rather than subsistence economy rules, we grapple with the problem of “brain drain,” the exodus of smart young high school and college graduates from our community who, should they have decided to stay, would eventually have become our social and business entrepreneurs, the engines of a future sustainable economy. To combat this exodus, we must acknowledge that rather than spending eight hours a day isolated behind school walls (or barbed wire in some cases), young people have a greater role to play in our community. Here are a few tenets that can get us started in creating engaging, mean2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

ingful educational experiences and opportunities for youth to lead us into a sustainable future: 1. Youth must be part of the decision-making and development processes that are shaping our society because they are disproportionately affected by the social and environmental issues of our time. 2. Youth have an important role to play in the creation of solutions to these issues, as they bring new energy and new ways of seeing and being into the world. 3. The next generation of leaders must understand how to design systems that are equitable and just, that promote diversity and that work within ecological limits. 4. Fundamentally rebuilding our social, economic, cultural and ecological systems is no small task– for young people to meaningfully participate in this process, they need training and support. 5. Leadership needs to accurately reflect the diversity of the community, so

any education needs to include cross-cultural education. 6. Space at decision-making tables needs to be actively created for youth, and youth need to be supported and mentored throughout their participation. Several initiatives in Santa Fe are involving

young people in civic engagement and developing their leadership capacity toward the goal of creating a thriving, just and sustainable world. Following are just a few examples: Santa Fe Public Schools Service-Learning Initiative Service-learning is a teaching method that has proven to reduce dropout

Sustainability Education Task Force The newly formed Sustainability Education Task Force’s goal is to make Santa Fe the first Sustainable School District in the nation. This involves training teachers in sustainability education and service-learning, implementing the education section of the Sustainability Plan and working with the Public Education Department to adopt standards and benchmarks that address the world’s sustainability challenge. Members include K-12 schoolteachers as well as representatives from Santa Fe Community College and community organizations. Additional members with relevant experience are encouraged to join.

Sustainable Santa Fe Commission’s Youth Advisory Board The Sustainable Santa Fe Commission was formed to advise the City Council on its efforts to reduce carbon emissions and become a carbon neutral city. The Commission works with the City’s Green Team to implement the Sustainable Santa Fe Plan, which was passed into law by City Council in 2008 and which includes plans to address a host of energy and conservation issues as well as the establishment of citywide environmental sustainability

standards. In partnership with Earth Care International, the commission created an Advisory Board for youth, who took part in the creation of this Plan. The Youth Advisory Board is now charged with the task of helping to ensure that it is implemented. Youth who are interested in serving on this Board should contact Bianca Sopoci-Belknap at Earth Care. I co-founded Earth Care International believing that solutions to our world’s present challenges abound in the creativity and innovation of the human mind, heart and spirit; and that education can unlock that potential for youth to lead us into a new future. In fact, without our youth, we can’t get there from here; in them exists the promise to revitalize the cultural and ecological fabric of our communities. ............................................

EDUCATION

rates, especially in at-risk, minority and underserved populations. Earth Care is now working with the Santa Fe Public Schools to revitalize service-learning in the context of the sustainability imperative. The initiative will focus on implementing the City’s Sustainability Plan and on youth adding real value to the community. Teachers are being trained to implement projects to green their school facilities, start school gardens, change lunch programs to use more local and organic foods and get youth out into the community to have their voices heard by authentic audiences such as the Legislature and City Council.

Christina Selby is the co-founder and executive director of Earth Care International. For more information about Earth Care International, sustainability education, civic engagement, service-learning and the work of youth, teachers, schools and their allies to create a thriving, just and sustainable world, or to get involved in any of these initiatives, visit their website at www.earthcare.org.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

STUDENTS STEP UP WITH COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH

Always, these questions elicit interesting and important discussions about the many spheres of community of which we are all a part, and about our many responsibilities to the culture, environment and economy of those spheres. In a world hungry for traditional knowledge and

sustainable models, where do we focus our energy? Luckily, there is enough need for young people’s intelligence, idealism and problem-solving capacity to go around, so we can spread our energy far and wide over the course of the school year during our SFIS Senior Honors Proj-

For students at the Santa Fe Indian School, whose homes may be as far away as Dulce or North Dakota but whose part-time residence is right downtown on Cerrillos Road, the idea of a sustainable community is complex and multi-layered. When discussion begins with my twelfth grade research class at the beginning of each year, the same questions always arise: “Which community do you mean? My tribe? The city where my family lives? Santa Fe? Our school?” ect. And luckily, too, with the city of Santa Fe’s Sustainable Plan now firmly in place, SFIS seniors have begun to find a niche to contribute to the continued health and strength of the city—and the state—that we are all fortunate enough to call home. The Senior Honors Proj-

ect attempts to put young Native people at the center of social change by giving students the freedom to identify the communities they most connect with and then to design projects from the ground up that address those communities’ most pressing needs. Having just completed its sixth year, the Senior Honors Project (SHP) is now a graduation requirement for seniors at SFIS. On the first day of school, seniors begin the conversation about what concerns them most in the world today. After a lengthy process of prioritizing and ranking concerns, meeting with trainers from Earth Care International and the Santa Fe Mountain Center and mulling over ideas with family, tribal representatives and elders, students embark on a yearlong research project that culminates each spring in the Senior Honors Symposium.

EDUCATION

BY JENNIFER GUERIN

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

Former governor Julian Coriz of Santo Domingo Pueblo and math teacher Cynthia Salvatierra, listening to student research presentations at the 2009 Senior Honors Symposium.

EDUCATION 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

EDUCATION The 2009 Symposium drew the biggest crowd yet—over 400 guests, including tribal officials, parents, school board and community leaders—who listened to 97 students present their research and offer suggestions for a sustainable future. Topics ranged from the protection of heirloom seeds and traditional agriculture to indigenous language preservation and the history of gay and lesbian peoples in Native societies. Some of the largest audiences came to hear the groups who explored renewable energy and its potential for New Mexico 78

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

communities, a clear shift from past SHP topics and a sign that our students, their friends and families are paying attention to the impacts of traditional energy development on their lands and to the impacts of consumer culture and climate change on the Southwest. One such student, Gabrielle Manus, was part of a group that explored the potential benefits of renewables for tribal communities. A native of the Delaware and Cherokee people and a lifelong resident of New Mexico, Gabrielle grew up hunting with her father; her interest in environmental protec-

tion and sustainable energy development has emerged out of a desire to preserve the Earth for the animals she so reveres. As part of her SHP, she and partners Alisia Serrano of Picuris Pueblo and Amber Castillo of the Navajo Nation decided to work with the SFIS environmental science teacher to research pertinent bills under debate in the state legislature. They focused on SB 62, the Low-Income Residential Energy Conservation Program sponsored by Senator Richard Martinez (D) of Española. The girls composed a petition in support of the bill, writing to

the senator and baking chocolate chip cookies in a solar oven supplied by an SFIS science teacher. Cookies in hand, they headed to the Capitol building, where they gathered 100 signatures for their petition, then delivered it in person. Every participant was thanked with a bag of cookies, tied with a ribbon and a note that said, “Thanks for supporting SB 62 and renewable energy! These cookies were baked for you in a solar oven!” Sustainability may be a complex subject, and our definitions of community may be diverse, but when problem-solving is put in the hands of our community’s young people, the success that follows needn’t be so hard to understand. When we see Pueblo, Navajo and Cherokee students work with a non-Native teacher to support a bill sponsored by a northern New Mexico Hispanic senator in downtown Santa Fe, all of the lines we draw among ourselves seem to dissolve almost without notice. What matters most is our collective will to change, spearheaded by the youth whose potential and imagination know no bounds. ............................................ Jennifer Guerin is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12. To learn more about the SHP and other communitybased programs at SFIS, please contact the school at 505-989-6330, or email her directly at jennifer.l.guerin@gmail.com.

EDUCATION 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

PLANTING THE SEED THE CAPITAL HIGH SCHOOL GREEN PROJECT

EDUCATION

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAULA IVELAND

Looking out the window of my assigned classroom at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year, I saw a large, barren courtyard and shrugged. Four weeks later, I looked again. This time, it dawned on me that our courtyard area mirrored the setting of Paul Fleishman’s Seedfolks, a novelette we were reading in my sophomore English classes. An abandoned urban lot, surrounded by apartment buildings, gets transformed by a cast of vivid characters, young and old. In the process, a sense of community is formed and the characters find solutions to a wide range of personal problems. Could something like this happen right outside my classroom? The answer, to my surprise, was a resounding “yes.” In seven months’ time, 400 students and community members would fill the El Sol courtyard for a highly successful Earth Day event featuring

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

a marimba band, studentgenerated booths on a range of environmental topics, tile making, a graffiti demo, chile giveaways and a ceremony. At the center was a colorful mural illustrating themes of gar-

dening and unity. Three rain barrels, full of harvested water, sat next to new recycling bins, and several landscaped areas of the courtyard were in bloom. Over the summer, a shed and greenhouse frame

were built. How did all of this happen? It began, quite frankly, with my need to try something different. The focus on standardized testing had run its course for me and I knew that the

It dawned on me that our courtyard area mirrored the setting of Paul Fleishmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Seedfolks EDUCATION

emotional needs of my students were not being met. So, with a deep breath and some training from Earth Careâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Teacher Sustainability Institute under my belt, I decided to put it to the students: What did they see happening in that barren courtyard outside the window? It turns out, that first step was the key to our ultimate success. A simple question: What do you want to happen here? A simple answer: Something beautiful. And with that seed planted, the Capital Green Project (CGP) was born. ........................................................................... Paula Iveland is a National Board Certified English teacher who teaches English at Capital High School. An avid gardener and freelance writer who has developed many interdisciplinary projects over her 10-year teaching career, she is currently coordinator of the Capital Green Project (iveland@tellwell.net).

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

GARDENING WITH ACEQUIA MADRE ELEMENTARY STUDENTS STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY SUE MCDONALD

EDUCATION

In the Acequia Madre Elementary School Garden, children experience the wonders of nature and the pleasures of work. They learn about growing food, healthy eating, sustainability, the sciences, arts and community in this nurturing environment. Parents, siblings, teachers, interns and neighbors of the school—including elders—work together with the children throughout the year. The garden includes an outdoor classroom with horno, gardens, greenhouse, compost, rainwater catchment system and a small orchard. We are currently in our first growing season. ...................................................... Sue McDonald is the garden coordinator at Acequia Madre Elementary School.

They learn about growing food, healthy eating, sustainability, the sciences, arts and community in this nurturing environment. 82

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

SFCC GEARS UP TO GO GREEN

EDUCATION

BY AL REID | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SETH ROFFMAN

In the fall of 2007, the Santa Fe community overwhelmingly passed a bond providing funding for a new Health Science Building and the STC, a 38,000square foot facility at the Santa Fe Community College that would serve as Santa Fe’s focal point for all environmental trades and advanced technologies programs and activities. With classes opening in the fall of 2010, the Sustainable Technologies Center will realize SFCC President Dr. Sheila Ortega’s long-term dream: to provide students with hands-on education in high growth, high-tech programs for 21st century careers. Curriculum development in sustainability has been underway for years as part of the College’s institutionwide initiative to secure SFCC’s place as a leader in the greening of post-secondary education in New Mexico. The College now has an approved two-year, 60 credit-hour Associate of Applied Science in Environmental Technologies degree with solar and water concentrations. A standalone one-year solar certifi-

cate is attracting students from around the state. Two other certificates now available are Green Building Systems, intended primarily for professionals already working in construction-related industries and Green Building Construction Skills, incorporating technology and sustainability in applied vocational skills for students new to the field. At the end of spring term 2009, a new Biofuels cer-

tificate was approved and the first classes were held this past fall. This sciencestrong certificate provides students with the skills required to work in the industry or create their own biofuels business, emphasizing non-food sources such as algae and native plants. The development of this program is being funded through the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED), a

Department of Labor program. The Biofuel Certificate is intended to become a part of a larger Alternative Fuels degree in the future. Thanks also to funding from WIRED, scholarships are available for students to complete one of the green certificates or degrees; they also supported a summer program, Training Today’s Youth for Tomorrow’s Jobs, providing at-risk students with 9credit hours toward the 23hour Green Building Construction Skills certificate this past summer while building a Habitat for Humanity home. STC classes are not only technical in nature. Core to the programs are courses focusing on whole systems thinking, environmental

Above: SFCC President Sheila Ortego at Sustainable Technologies groundbreaking ceremony. Left: Randy Grissom, director of SFCC's Sustainable Technologies Center, explains the college's biomass heating system.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

thermal and small wind lab, welding, biofuels and a Green Grid lab. The entire building, designed by Lloyd and Associates, will be a learning environment, featuring a demonstration park where business and industry can ‘plug and play’ alternative energy sources into the smart grid control center. Rooftops will be accessible for students to install, monitor and maintain solar and small wind systems. A 3-D ‘cave’ will enable high definition simulation and modeling. Credit and non-credit courses will be available to the public at large on topics of community interest. Opportunities abound, as well as challenges. The STC will require equip-

ment and resources for which there is currently limited funding. Director of the Sustainable Technologies Center Randy Grissom is a board member of the New Mexico Green Collaborative, a statewide working group that has requested stimulus funding for shovel-ready green jobs. “New Mexico is poised to be a leader in renewable energies,” he believes. “With the STC, Santa Fe can lead state efforts in education and training for a green workforce.” All of the STC programs are currently offered through the School of Business and Applied Technologies. SFCC was an original signatory of the American College and University Presidents Climate

Commitment, and faculty and staff are working hard to meet the Climate Commitment requirements for the institution. President Ortega sums up the current efforts, saying, “I am enthusiastic about the impact we can have now, and in the future, not just to reduce SFCC’s carbon footprint but to ready a new workforce to meet the monumental challenges we face, as an institution, as a nation, as a civilization.”

EDUCATION

ethics, law, economics and renewable energies. The Institute for Sustainability is overseeing integration of the concept into programs curriculum-wide. Another goal for these new green programs is to engage students into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-related fields. These new certificates can count for credit in other, more transferable programs, such as general engineering. The new Sustainable Technologies Center will provide much-needed space for new programs. Five high-ceilinged ‘shop’ classrooms will house plumbing and integrated construction technologies, a photovoltaic/concentrated solar power/solar

...................................................... Al Reid is a native Santa Fean and dean at SFCC who’s worked at the college for 19 years. For more information about the Sustainable Technologies Center, call Director Randy Grissom at 428-1641 or email randy.grissom@sfccnm.edu

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CARE FROM THE GROUND UP!

EDUCATION

BY JAN-WILLEM JANSENS

Avery Affholter and Justin Cook sort out books, measuring supplies for stream critters and plants, along with exercise sheets divided among five large tubs which they illustrate with icons symbolizing stream ecosystems, native plant communities, wildlife, watersheds and schoolyards. Summer interns with Earth Works Institute (EWI) and The Quivira Coalition, Avery and Justin are completing a series of curriculum support kits for outdoor classroom education in area schools under a State Parks Division grant as part of the statewide No New Mexico Child Left Inside movement. About five miles to the south, Anthony, Jeremy, Heather, Joseph, Bryan, Ralph, Tyler, Shontysa, Paloma and Dana are inspecting doors, windows, faucets and light bulbs at Monte del Sol Charter School. As crew members and trainers of EWI’s 4C: Climate Change Conservation Corps, they’re working under a Youth Conservation Corps grant and in partnership with the Santa Fe School District on an energy audit, energy efficiency improvements and an outdoor classroom. They recently completed a similar project at the Eldorado Community School; they’ll soon do the same at Turquoise Trail Elementary Charter School, creating the facilities for a Green Team at each school which will lead students in outdoor education and make the schools models of how to generate local energy, grow local food, increase soil productivity and use water efficiently. Tyler Peyron helps with the laying of a 300-foot drip irrigation line at the Eldorado School. “I’ve never dug through caliche before!” he laughs. “Now I 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

know more about how to lay out a community garden.” Young artist Bryan Dixon helps paint Monte’s mural, taken from student ideas of what they want depicted. “We did them at Turquoise Trail and Eldorado, too,” he says. “They’re all different but each one shows kids the transformation from what today’s world is—dirty, smoggy—and how, with alternative energy, we can clean up our act.” Meanwhile, Kina Murphy is meeting with city staff to prepare the details of a workday in the Arroyo de los Chamisos near the Genoveva Chavez Community Center. As EWI’s water and land health program coordinator, Kina spearheads the City of Santa Fe’s Adopt-an-Arroyo program, helping grow participants’ awareness of arroyos’ importance. Although the citywide web of arroyos serves primarily as a flood management system, it offers multiple opportunities for other uses such as outdoor classrooms, neighborhood recreation areas, wildlife pathways and aquifer recharge zones.

As a member of the newly formed coalition New Mexico Wildways, EWI educates partner organizations, residents and students in the region about ways to secure wildlife passages across the landscape. This translates on-the-ground into stream and wetland restoration projects in Valencia along I-25, as well as at the Arroyo Hondo County Open Space site, the Eldorado Community Preserve, the Galisteo Basin Preserve, in the bosque of Galisteo Village, the Cerrillos Hills State Park and on various private lands throughout northern New Mexico. “Earlier this summer,” adds Tyler, “our team took out Russian olive trees in the Cerrillos Hills watershed, and we built onerock dams and Zuni bowls in the arroyo to help spread out the watershed area.” Mimicking the complex, layered relationships in nature, this combination of stories and all the people and organizations involved in EWI show a cross-section of our community’s commitment to increase our collective human and environmental health. In

the face of rapid climate change, economic reinvention and social transformation, Santa Fe will have to be resilient, as a community and as an environment, for the wellbeing of many. Our success will be rooted in collaboration, practical stewardship work, innovation and capacity building from the ground up. In productive and evocative outdoor learning environments, collaboration among students, parents, teachers and professionals spawns the enthusiasm and cross-fertilization of ideas leading to the technical and social skills necessary for stewardship, local production of food, water and energy and the collaboration skills needed to be successful. Each person’s role is indispensable in increasing our capacity to prepare ourselves and our next generation for the challenges of making a living, while strengthening Earth’s resources that feed and warm us. ...................................................... Jan-Willem Jansens, an ecologist and landscape planner by training, is passionate about creating productive relationships between people and their environment. He moved to Santa Fe in 1993 from The Netherlands and now lives in town with his wife and two children.

EDUCATION 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

A PASSION FOR LEARNING

But I shrugged off my preconceptions and a few weeks later found myself on the patio of Harry’s Roadhouse Café, chatting away. Across from the table from me sat Donato, the Academy´s associate director and its director, Aaron Stern, whose longish hair and freshfrom-the-spa looks make him seem more like a ‘60s rocker-come-clean than the accomplished classical music composer he is. The iced tea had not arrived before Aaron got down to business, asking me, point blank, if I thought parents were ready for a revolution in public education. “Parents?” “Yes,” he said. “I’ve come to believe that parents—

not the government—are the driving force in education. Can we expect schools to change if parents don’t shift their expectations?” I had no ready answer. Which was OK: the Academy for the Love of Learning, as I’d soon find out, was not interested in ready answers. Over sandwiches and salad, Aaron and Donato described a new path to social change, in which traditional approaches to learning and education— like fifty minute geometry digests, or education conferences at the Hilton—are reimagined, transformed into a slow, reflective process in which small groups of people rediscover themselves and the roles they can play

The email was suspicious. It´d been sent by a guy named “Donato Jaggers,” from a place called “The Academy for the Love of Learning,” and invited me for a chat about education. Eight years of public school teaching had accustomed me to formal hotel conferences, with Houghton Mifflin kiosks and highly credentialed NCREL speakers. Chatting with Donato from an organization that actually had the word “love” in its title seemed, well, fringe. in creating a more beautiful and just world. Since the 1990s, Aaron and others who share his passion for self-discovery have been sharing their new approach with people on both sides of the Atlantic, most recently, with a group of public school teachers here in Santa Fe. “This type of work, this self-knowing passion,” Aaron explained, “is key to sustainability for people who enter education. Too often, teachers lose contact with their passion and end up burning out. But once they’ve been enlivened by their own passion, they return to their classrooms awakened, ready to invite passion into the lives of their students.”

EDUCATION

BY SETH BIDERMAN

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

Aaron and Donato didn´t describe exactly what they do in their workshops and seminars, but I gathered it wasn´t your run-of-the-mill PowerPoint lecture series. The Academy for the Love of Learning is not, after all, your run-of-the-mill organization, a fact that became obvious after lunch, when Aaron took me on a tour of their magnificent buildingin-progress, just southeast of Santa Fe. Nestled into an incline below the old Seton Castle, both to reduce its visibility impact and to take advantage of the earth’s insulation, the LEED-certified building will feature suntracking solar panels, geothermal wells, water catchment systems, high insulation ratings and acres and acres of untouched land. The building’s design pays homage to the late naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton, whose family was delighted to stave off developers and sell the land to the Academy in 2003. But the architecture also represents a dream come true for Aaron, who alternated between giddy and verklempt as he toured me through shelled out spaces:

tentionally tucked out of view). In the unroofed living room of an adobe guesthouse, future quarters for artists and thinkers-inresidence, I posited the idea that enduring change has to come from the existing systems—part of the reason I’d dedicated most of my professional life to teaching in the public schools. Aaron disagreed. “Right now, places like the Academy are on the periphery,” he said. “But there’s always a dance between the periphery and the center. And if we can help groups of people safely reach transformational moments, moments when their view of the world shifts forever, we

can help them understand that the periphery doesn’t have to be disenfranchised or marginalized. In fact, the periphery can work on behalf of the center. Given time to reflect on what they’ve experienced, people begin to stand for what they know to be true, and the world begins to shift.” Demonstrating a remarkable penchant for reciting complex—and brilliant—quotes from memory, Aaron invoked artist and community organizer Milenko Matanovic: “It’s as if each age had its own DNA, which lives first in the consciousness of a few individuals who, like artists, create out of their irrational imaginations the

planetary mystical perceptions that begin as heresy and end up as heritage.” From heresy to heritage. From the world we dream to the world we live. Standing on an actual construction site, beside a man who´d taken an abstract approach to social change and transformed it into lifechanging workshops, into real adobe and concrete, the idea of using our imaginations to shift society´s DNA did not feel “fringe” in the least. On the contrary, it felt possible—very possible—and imminently so. ............................................

EDUCATION

the wide open staff area, the Seton library and museum, the reflective gardens, the mountain-view conference room, and—in the center of it all—the cylindrical, kiva-like meditation room. “This is the heart of the building,” Aaron said, placing a hand on the curving adobe walls. “Meditation, and reflection, must be at the center of everything we do, so we put this place of ‘stillness’ in the center of all the hubbub.” As we moved on, our conversation ranged from the John Dewey formula of education (experience + reflection = learning) to the aesthetics of parking lots (the Academy’s will be in-

Seth Biderman is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

Fishing for Solutions in a Local Economy

How to be a Global Micro Lender

Sustainable Tunes: Reimagining the Business Model

Redefining Our “Net Worth”

Buying Into Community

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Green Collar Jobs are Key to a Truly Sustainable Community

102

Slow Money Brings the Econony Back Down to Earth

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

FROM COMPETITION TO COOPERATION: Transforming Our Economic Frame of Mind BY MARK SARDELLA | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER SPELMAN

In an effort to add some excitement to this year’s Tour de France, race organizers put the finish line for one of the stages at the top of Mont Ventoux, a steep mountain peak known for its high winds. Spectators cheered as the world’s top riders, competing in cycling’s most prestigious race, climbed the 6,200-ft mountain in just one hour—a superhuman display of fitness few athletes can match. Competition, without question, inspires high-level performance. Born out of the instinct to survive, our competitive spirit challenges us to achieve things we might otherwise never attempt. From putting a man on the moon to building a car that can travel 9,000 miles on a gallon of gasoline, the array of achievements inspired by competition speaks for itself. But competition isn’t reserved for sporting events and technology contests. Ever since Adam Smith, the legendary “father of modern economics,” asserted that competition in the marketplace fosters efficiency, we have made it the central tenet of our economy. In pursuing our individual selfinterest, Smith famously declared in 1776, we unintentionally work in the best interest of society. In other words, when companies compete, everybody wins—or so the theory goes. In the 230 years since Adam Smith’s time, competition has taken our economy on a remarkable journey marked by rapid growth and global

trade. But as we seek a more human pace heading into the age of sustainability, toward slower food, slower money and community-centered living, it’s fair to ask whether competition should continue to serve as the dominant market principle. Is it high time we learned to cooperate more and compete less? Perhaps, but before cooperation can take hold, there are misconceptions that must be overcome, many of which have been repeated enough that they are commonly mistaken for truths. Here are a few: Myth #1: Competition is the dominant force of nature and humans are born to compete. As with every good myth, there is an element of truth

in this. We are competitive creatures, to be sure, but the notion that competition is dominant fails to account for an equally prevalent natural process: cooperation. Nature recognizes and nurtures interdependent relationships, which are the basis of cooperative relationships. If you believe that natural systems are all connected, as the permaculturists tell us, what do you suppose the connections are based on—competition? Not a chance. Nature is a symphony, not a battleground. Myth #2: Cooperation is great for health food stores, but not for much else. The world’s most successful cooperative community, the Mondragon Cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain, is a collection of nearly 300

Myth # 3: Americans are too individualistic and self-centered to cooperate. Again, the hint of truth gives this fallacy more credibility than it deserves. We are a nation of rugged individualists but that doesn’t mean we can’t cooperate. In the U.S., we’ve enjoyed a prolonged period of economic growth which has falsely convinced us that we don’t need to cooperate, but that doesn’t mean we can’t cooperate. Cooperatives thrive during tough economic times and, by all measures, the United States appears to be in for a doozy. We are creative and adaptive beings and, as such, we have been building a strong foundation for cooperation through the National Cooperative Business Association and National Cooperative Bank, as well as with a network of cooperative training centers set up by the Cooperative Development Insti-

tute. So we are already cooperating, big time. Myth #4: Cooperatives are too easily corrupted. Cooperatives operate democratically, using the “one person, one vote” rule and, as we all know, democracy is messy. Any democracy can become corrupted if we don’t participate in it. But George W. Bush’s famous declaration that dictatorship would be “a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator” should inspire us to continue working to strengthen democratic principles. Participation and perseverance are the keys to success; contending that cooperatives are too difficult won’t get us there. Looking beyond the myths, we can see that as the foundation of a market economy, cooperation is more consistent with a vision of sustainability and fairness. Competition’s fatal flaw, which Adam Smith may not have foreseen, is that it never corrects imbalances, instead enabling the winners to keep winning bigger while the losers face an ever-increasing struggle to stay in the game. Now that the game has become so lopsided, it’s high time to give cooperation a fighting chance.

ECONOMICS & BUSINESS

worker-owned businesses ranging from aerospace engineering and industrial manufacturing to banking and finance. These companies pool their profits to ensure their mutual success; they provide full employment, adequate retirement income and access to healthcare for all workerowners, as well. An equally impressive example comes from the Emilia Romagna region of Italy, where cooperative businesses make up 40 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and provide 85 percent of the social services in the surrounding cities.

...................................................... Mark Sardella is the co-founder of the Capulin Cooperative Alliance and Local Energy, a nonprofit organization working to help communities become more self-reliant in energy. He can be reached at www.marksardella.com

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

FISHING FOR SOLUTIONS IN A LOCAL ECONOMY BY VICKI POZZEBON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIM KURIAN

ECONOMICS & BUSINESS

In supporting our local businesses, the Santa Fe Alliance operates on a “big picture” level. We don’t just bolster the viability of individual businesses, we make sure that the environment they operate in—our local economy—is sustainable and nourishing for all local entrepreneurs and their business ideas. In essence, we don’t just feed the individual fish, we keep the entire river clean so the fish can thrive.

In a 2008 interview, activist and Philadelphia restaurateur Judy Wicks described a local living economy as one “in which basic needs are produced close to home in ways that are sustainable and don’t harm the environment.” Creating this requires across-the-board cooperation, she said, because “there’s no such thing as a stand-alone sustainable business; it must be part of a sustainable system. Individuals, or individual busi-

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

nesses, can’t provide for all our basic needs by themselves. We can still have a global economy but it will be a network of thousands of sustainable local economies that trade in products that improve our quality of life.” What happens if we start taking risks and investing in our local manufacturers? Investing in local food producers? In local restaurants? Providing incentives for locally-owned renewable energy companies?

Creating tax benefits for businesses that are incorporating people, the planet and profits into their bottom line? Locally-owned independent businesses are the backbone of our economy—they create higherpaying jobs, provide better employee benefits and help keep money in our community. The practice of investing in local manufacturing, green industries, food production and local agriculture is the basis of a local living economy and it’s our locally owned businesses and emerging entrepreneurs that will fuel the economy, starting in our own backyards. In Santa Fe, business and energy cooperatives are sprouting up, food producers are talking to restaurant owners, farmers are forming relationships with chefs and solar companies are looking at how they might manufacture products locally. Green jobs are the new jobs. Innovation in new technology is helping farmers reduce their costs through renewable energy projects. Schools all over New Mexico are offering training in the green trades in order to further the future of our green economy.

In 2007, when I first heard Van Jones speak about green jobs and about lifting our neglected communities out of poverty through a green economy, I crossed my fingers, hoping that the Bush administration was listening. But then things exploded so that, by 2008, the movement had definitely gained such a momentum that now we have a “green” President who is planting a victory garden at the White House and Van Jones as the presidential advisor on green jobs nationwide. When I began this work in 2006, we focused on Buy Local campaigns. Green jobs and triple-bottom-line business practices addressing people, planet and profit were barely a glimmer in our collective eye. Now Santa Fe has become a leader in the national movement toward a local living economy. Our local independent businesses are still struggling, don’t get me wrong, but this community cares about its own. Our focus at Santa Fe Alliance is on taking care of the water that all fish swim in, not just feeding the fish. ...................................................... Vicki Pozzebon is executive director of the Santa Fe Alliance. Call 505-989-5362 or email info@santafealliance.com.

How to Be a Global Micro Lender BY JENNIFER GUERIN

ECONOMICS & BUSINESS

It used to be that global investment meant corporate investment: put your money in a profitable mutual fund, which will pass it on to a fund manager, who will then—quite possibly—give it to a company with hundreds of employees working in an overseas factory, making anything from bombs to toxic chemicals to tennis shoes. Hold your breath and hope your economic karma doesn’t come back to haunt you. Now, thanks to Kiva Microfunds, global investment means something entirely new: small, intimate, person-to-person lending across international lines. No karmic strings attached. Kiva is a California-based micro-lending institution that allows individuals to learn about and invest in small businesses and start-ups anywhere on the globe. With the ultimate ambitious goal “to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty,” Kiva works with established micro-lending partners in various countries, who scope out the most worthy, promising projects. Photos and profiles of aspiring entrepreneurs are then posted on the website, where potential lenders can browse and choose whom they want to support. Loans are small—on average, somewhere between $50 and $5,000—and investors don't even have to supply the entire amount. If, for instance, you want to support 43-year-old Sok Ith of Cambodia, a fishmonger who is requesting $300 to buy fishing equipment for her unemployed son, but you only have $75 to give, that's just fine. Make your pledge and it will be tracked on the website so that new investors will know Sok Ith now only needs $225 to reach her goal. Over the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months in duration), you can track the progress of the entrepreneur online and will receive repayment as it becomes available, sometimes on a monthly basis. Kiva is not only a noble organization but a useful one, for teaching ourselves and our children about real people doing real work in small communities around the globe. Imagine the possibilities for class projects and Christmas gifts. Imagine yourself redefining “investment” in an entirely new and sustainable way. Lenders like Kiva do much to remind us that for the working poor, small gestures can produce big results. For more information about Kiva Microfunds or to make a loan, visit their website at www.kiva.org. 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

SUSTAINABLE TUNES: REIMAGINING THE BUSINESS MODEL

ECONOMICS & BUSINESS

BY DAVE WEININGER | ILLUSTRAION BY GEORGE LAWRENCE

Free to the Earth Music (F2E) is a new kind of recording label. Like its predecessors, F2E’s basic business functions include recording, selling and distributing music. But how we do it has been completely re-imagined. We wanted to create a sustainable Santa Fe-based recording studio. But how? First, we had to find a place so beautiful that musicians would be in-

spired to compose and record there. Then we built a world-class studio built to operate completely electrically, obtained an electric truck to move instruments and people around and remodeled a guesthouse for visiting music-makers so that all heating, cooking and laundry can be done electrically. Of course we needed to install a solar array big enough to supply the en-

ergy for the studio, guesthouse and truck—with enough surplus to pay the Earth back; then set up internet servers to deliver music by downloading rather than by shipping plastic CDs. Since the studio was completed in April 2009, Free to the Earth has recorded a lot of great music that’s relevant to our time. All music is sold on

the internet. Our production process is a partnership between the creative musicians and the studio. F2E does not reserve the exclusive right to copy its music. Remarkably, the process of starting a sustainable recording studio from the ground up wasn’t terribly difficult. It took about two years of really hard work, digging ditches, fighting city hall and figuring out how to operate without using plastic. (To paraphrase Mark Twain: Of all the petro-conveniences I’ve loved and lost, I think I miss...baggies...the most.) But the enabling technologies are readily available—digital music recording, solar arrays to power it and the internet to distribute it. It feels great to get everyone involved, so different from normal recording sessions with their lonely nights of music postproduction. F2E helps us do what live music has always been able to do; connect us with a vast, amorphous, appreciative audience—well beyond the thick walls of the recording studio. .................................................. Dave Weininger is the founder of Free to the Earth Music, a studio and distributing company.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

ECONOMICS & BUSINESS 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

REDEFINING OUR “NET WORTH” BY TAYLOR SELBY

When I was a kid growing up in a small rural town in Colorado, I would dream about having a flashy car. I especially loved the classics—maybe I watched too many episodes of Happy Days or, perhaps, too many James Dean movies. Nevertheless, my dream car was a ‘53 Chevy Bel Air two-door hardtop. One day, I was finally fortunate enough to get that car. And I admit, I was pretty happy about it. I remember thinking how cool I was and that I’d finally “made it.” Eventually, however, that feeling of happiness I’d

found in my yellow and white ‘53 Chevy faded. Once my biggest dream, it had become just another thing, no longer special. This has happened countless times in my life, whether it was my Redline BMX bike when I was 11 or my Star Wars action figures at the age of 8. But instead of wasting time getting angry at the movies, television shows or commercials that told me that I would be cool and happy if I had this car, I sold my Chevy and donated the money to a nonprofit. The happiness I derived from making that donation and

the difference that money made with that organization and the people is serves still gives me joy to this day. In fact, the act of giving felt so good that I emptied out my 401k plan and gave that money away, as well. Now I’m saving for my retirement in a whole different way. In fact, it makes sense to me to set up my life so that I need as little money as possible. My electric energy comes from the sun so I’ll never pay another electric bill again. I’m growing some of my own food and planting more each year. My chickens eat

ECONOMICS & BUSINESS

We’ve all seen those commercials, the ones showing a chiseled man maneuvering his shiny new car along the curves of a winding road. Next to him sits a beautiful model, 10 years younger than he. They’re holding hands, smiling, without a care in the world. “Buy this car” is the not-so-subtle message “and you will also get to have the woman, along with love and happiness all day long.”

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

the garden weeds and give us eggs in return. And as time goes on, I find opportunities to barter rather than make cash purchases with more and more businesses and people in our community. In addition to becoming less reliant on money, I’m also making deposits into my family and community “vaults.” This includes volunteering time and services to nonprofits, sitting on a volunteer board for the City, giving my abundant organic harvest to friends and spending as much quality time as possible with my family. By eating well and taking care of myself physically, I’ll be able to continue contributing to the wellbeing of those I love well into my final years. Many elders I know have taken this route, and their family and communities deeply cherish and value them. To me, this seems like a path of great joy, one which will harvest security far beyond what any 401k plan could. Money isn’t evil; it’s just a tool. When it’s flowing like a river, it’s alive; when it’s hoarded, it stagnates. Connected to fear, its energy morphs into some-

thing negative. But as an expression of love, money can be life-affirming. Happiness and satisfaction, for me, are deeply connected to nature, to the Creator, to my friends and family, to serving others and, most importantly, to giving and receiving love. And I believe that each one of us has the capacity

to grow our own happiness, thus expanding our â&#x20AC;&#x153;net worth,â&#x20AC;? by focusing on what it is inside us that gives us the most satisfaction and joy. ...................................................... Taylor Selby is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

ECONOMICS & BUSINESS 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

BUYING INTO COMMUNITY BY KATE NOBLE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER SPELMAN

ECONOMICS & BUSINESS

The Santa Fe—Buy Into It campaign is a collaborative effort between city officials, Santa Fe business groups and local media outlets. It encourages residents and businesses to opt for spending their money here in Santa Fe whenever possible rather than elsewhere. The campaign, which promotes consumer awareness and confidence, has taught many of us some valuable lessons, both expected and unexpected. Lesson #1: Commerce Doing business with firms in Santa Fe really does support our local economy. This is probably the most straightforward lesson from the campaign. Every purchase made in Santa Fe supports local jobs, including police, firefighters and parks employees. There’s also the multiplier effect. Simply put, this means that every dollar spent (let’s say when we buy a cup of coffee) gets recirculated in the economy again and again. The employee uses part of the coffee shop paycheck to buy a pair of shoes; the local shoe store owner goes out to dinner; the wait person at the local restaurant books a massage. The result of that recirculation is that the dollar becomes worth more than a dollar in terms of economic activity—and that commerce supports local economy. Lesson #2: Creativity Buying Into Santa Fe can inspire creativity, strengthen community and make local businesses more competitive. Many differ98

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

ent stories have surfaced during the campaign about individuals getting inventive about re-engaging with Santa Fe businesses. A landscape designer, for example, decided to find a local craftsperson to build the arches for vines to grow on, rather than ordering them from a catalog; an advertising executive found that the business next door could match the internet’s prices for art supplies. There’s also the nonprofit executive who discovered the idea of a “staycation,” saving him the hassle and price of planes, trains and automobiles and giving him instead the opportunity to explore the wealth of Santa Fe’s museums, restaurants and spas from the leisure of his own home. For every story of someone discovering a new connection in Santa Fe, there’s a corresponding business that has had an opportunity to innovate, meet the needs of a new customer and, as a result, emerge better prepared for the future. Lesson #3: Collaboration This has been the simplest, least expected and

also most profound lesson of the Buy Into It campaign. We all talk about working together and being partners but cooperation is much easier said than done. Real collabora-

We all talk about working together and being partners but cooperation is much easier said than done. tion requires everyone to put part of his or her agenda aside. It takes courage to do that and to believe in the group, but collaboration can be one of the most rewarding and one of the most effective ways to do business. The core partners in the Buy Into It campaign are no exception. The City, the creative team of HK Advertising, the publisher of the Santa Fe Reporter, the associate editor and advertising director of the New Mexican, the colorful cast of Hutton Broadcasting and

the executive directors of both the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce and the Santa Fe Alliance all got together regularly over several months’ time, putting aside their differences, competitive urges and overly busy schedules. Hearing the variety of ideas and perspectives during our brainstorming meetings has made me realize how enormously strong we can be when we work together. I’ve also gained the widened perspective that, instead of arguing over how to divide the same old pie, we can choose to bake a bigger one! Collaboration will always be difficult at times but, after participating in this campaign, it’s clear to me that buying into our extraordinary community is worth the extra effort and the many requisite leaps of faith. ...................................................... Kate Noble does community development for the City of Santa Fe. She is glad to be back home after more than a decade in New York City.

ECONOMICS & BUSINESS 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

GREEN COLLAR JOBS ARE KEY TO A TRULY SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY BY TOBE BOTT-LYONS

ECONOMICS & BUSINESS

Everyone’s talking about Green Collar jobs these days, but like most popular ideas, the substance is too often getting lost behind the hype. Green collar jobs, as originally conceived, combine strategies for job creation and employment training aimed at addressing two of our most pressing global issues: poverty and climate change. As described by Jeremy Hays of the national advocacy organization Green for All, green collar jobs “insure that the people who most need the work do the work that most needs to be done,” providing for meaningful, family-sustaining employment to those displaced, disconnected or locked out of the traditional job market. On the ground, with real people doing real things, is where we can see what green collar jobs really mean for our community here in Santa

Fe. For the past eight years, YouthWorks has been creating tangible opportunities for local disconnected young adults. Along with the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps, the Santa Fe Youth Corps and the City of Santa Fe River Restoration Employment Program, YouthWorks has successfully plugged over 40 employees a year into full-time jobs constructing erosion control and other restoration measures. In one such program,

local contractor Joe Gammon, through Training Today’s Youth for Tomorrow’s Jobs, a pilot program of the Santa Fe Community College, the Santa Fe Area Homebuilders’ Association and Habitat for Humanity, led a crew of 12 in constructing a house for a deserving local family using up-to-date sustainable methods. Those participants have moved on to pursue further community college coursework in Green Building, Drafting & Engineering and Envi-

ronmental Technologies. In another program, Green Collar Jobs Apprenticeships, funded through the City of Santa Fe, local green businesses like Cedar Mountain Solar, Positive Energy and Ecoscapes employ young workers, giving them exposure to career opportunities to which they would not otherwise have access. Today, program graduates can be seen around the community installing solar panels and solar hot water heaters. Santa Fe is already a national model for the potential impact these programs can have on local communities. Working together, the City and its partners in business and education are creating new innovative pathways for people out of dead-end jobs and unemployment into meaningful careers that can truly make a difference. ...................................................... Tobe Bott-Lyons is the Deputy Director of YouthWorks and a Masters Candidate in Community Development in the UNM Community and Regional Planning Program.

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SLOW MONEY BRINGS THE ECONOMY BACK DOWN TO EARTH BY A. KYCE BELLO | PHOTOGRAPHY BY G. ALAN MYERS

ECONOMICS & BUSINESS

What if we invested 50 percent of our assets and profits within 50 miles of home? That’s the question posited by Slow Money, a new movement in economics that asks us to switch gears from “making a killing” to “making a living.” Slow Money critically examines the impact a financial system fixated on quick profits has upon not only our society but the land that sustains us. It offers a simple alternative to our extractionbased economy: Put your money back into the land.

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At least some of it. Slow Money’s founder, philanthropist and investor Woody Tasch, is the author of Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Re-

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

ally Mattered. He suggests that in order to truly restore our economy, we must rebuild it from the ground up, instead of the market down. Slow Money takes to heart the words of

Paul Newman, who said, “I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer who puts back into the soil what he takes out.” To this end, Slow Money has created a nonprofit venture fund, or “nurture fund,” that gathers seed money for investment in place-based food producers. The goal is to someday channel millions of dollars into local food systems, where it will support not only soil and farmers but a future in which sustainable communities and ecological health are synonymous. Slow Money’s first National Gathering was held in Santa Fe in September 2009. It brought together farmers, investors, donors and food activists to explore ways that this new model of investing can heal the economy and the soil that sustains it. The Santa Fe Farmers Market hosted the gathering, which was fitting given that their Institute offers the kind of loan program Slow Money envisions. For local farmers who make an average of $10,000 annually, micro loans help meet a variety of

needs including seed money for spring planting, drip irrigation or a greenhouse that allows for yearround revenue. For farmers who might not be eligible for typical loans, microloans offer direct support for which no collateral is required. For the investor, it is an opportunity to see their money—which conventionally gets invested in a way that is abstract, digital and remote—bear literal fruits while directly benefiting local ecology, culture, food security and energy independence. It is an approach that encourages relationships— between investors and farmers, money and community. What else but food, the stuff of life, could be at the center of such a revolution? For more information, visit www.slowmoneyalliance.org and www.santafefarmersmarket.com/institute /programs/ ...................................................... A. Kyce Bello is a SSFRG staff member. Pleas see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

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People, Land, Food: A CONVERSATION

BY RAE MARIE TAYLOR | PHOTOGRAPHY BY TUDA LIBBY CREWS

Tuda knows gladness, cattle and cattle pens, cookie dough and cutters. Grandchildren. She understands cowboy poets, people with all their fears and possibilities. She has birds in blossoming bushes and 170 plant species on her land.

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Fat Duck Farm: A Livable Alternative

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Santa Fe’s Community Gardens: Alive and Growing!

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Hands-On with 4-H

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Sustainable Land Tenure in Chimayó

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Guerilla Gardening

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Everybody Wins With Community Supported Agriculture

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One day in late August, hungry for more understanding into how she and her husband Jack have created a healthy ranch in northeastern New Mexico, I meet Tuda Libby Crews for lunch. Quickly engaged in conversation, we sit at a corner table in the St. Francis Hotel’s lobby and order duck salad and lemon shrimp, iced tea for us both. Tuda’s Ute Creek Cattle Company is in remote and rugged country among the plains and mesas of Harding County in Bueyeros, New Mexico. Growing up on the ranch where her ancestors homesteaded instilled

“I think we came home with fresh eyes, a fresh perspective. You have to be confident, and bold.”

passed on. In less than eight years, they brought the land from four pastures to 18 in rotation grazing systems, producing 300 head of vibrantly healthy cattle that meet the highest criteria for quality meat. They have restored the riparian habitats and watershed sufficiently that the dreamed-for-miracle of Ute Creek flowing all year long is a reality. As we begin our conversation at the St. Francis, I ask first, “What’s most valuable to pass on to the grandchildren?” Warmly, she says, “It’s so deeply important to me, instilling a connectedness.” Knowing the beauty, the hard work, the respect and reciprocal rapport with the animals, with seven generations of the place in her

blood, this grandmother hands its spirit and way of life down to her three grandchildren who are, Jack clarifies, “in mind on every decision that we make.” To my comment that their return late in life to this hard, risky ranch work is courageous, she chuckles, “I just don’t have a lick of sense.” Then in a more settled tone, “I think we came home with fresh eyes, a fresh perspective. You have to be confident, and bold.” “I do an awful lot of cooking at the ranch,” Tuda says. Like the rancher woman she is, Tuda cooks delicious and abundant food, knowing its essential power to sustain and bond those who partake: neighbors, family, friends, the

FOOD & AGRICULTURE

this rancher’s love of the place. Studying took her to Arizona where she met her husband Jack, then later to Wyoming, his home state. “My heart never left New Mexico,” Tuda acknowledges. She and her husband shared a determination to eventually return to the ranch. Cattle genetics, range education, technology, were all part of the interests they maintained as the happy couple brought up their family. Tuda and Jack returned to Bueyeros in 2001. The creek bed was dry, the grasses spent, the herd half wild. Attending to the ranch in line with their holistic management values, Tuda and Jack were convinced that the family land could be sustainable, and

Top: Highlights of the year are when grandchildren Bella Wood and twins Bennet and Seth Crews come to visit. With grandkids close by, a traditional picnic under “the big tree” is one of Granddaddy's favorite activities. Above: Jack and Tuda Crews.

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workman and professional cowboys they hire. “Food is love,” her mother would say. Food from the land. Food for the people. Healthy food is at the heart of this rancher couple’s common vision. No antibiotics or hormones, low stress handling conditions for the animals and close monitoring of grasslands for their grazing help guarantee its implementation. Tuda credits Jack’s calm and expertise in their good care and handling. The weakened herd they inherited has been improved by cross-breeding, coaxed through genetics and care from a wild to a hand-fed disposition. A labor of love, smart love. We finish our tea, the bill comes, the sun sets. We linger, we

Thanks to Partnerships with the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the NM Water Trust Board and National Wild Turkey Federation, we have returned year-round flow of water to Ute Creek with sedges and willows growing along the streambed and volunteer cottonwood seedlings starting to grow.

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2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

ponder, we laugh. I listen. We hear each other’s reverence for the land. Tuda’s gaze grows darker as she speaks of the “disconnect” between rural life and urban people, the many who don’t know “what it takes to grow vegetables or beef, and how to get milk to the grocery store.” She is more than aware that “a lot of people don’t have querencia,” don’t know the land, don’t have the informed affection for it. Aware too, of the impact of fuel prices in our “nation of transportation,” she looks into the future, knowing that ranchers, particularly those in remote areas, will suffer in the shrinking economy. She and Jack remain undissuaded. Like their southern neighbors, the Malpai Borderlands Group, they know the necessity of collabo-

ration for sustainability. First, “To earn the respect and affection” of the workers and professional cowboys “is very important to me,” Tuda states simply, acknowledging “a familial connection” with them—a bond as necessary as the valuable work they do in branding calves or shipping bulls. Other relationships don’t necessarily have the “familial connection” but Tuda remarks on how fortunate she feels to partner with so many trustworthy people in programs that are essential to holistic range management. Realistic and committed, she and Jack negotiate and succeed with their numerous partners such as The New Mexico Water Trust Board, Oregon’s Country National Beef Program, Nebraska’s Profitmaker Genetic Alliance Shipping, and Texas A and M University’s computerized

monitoring program for the grasslands. “If you don’t take action, nothing happens!” she exclaims, exuberant. Consciously working to turn around the decline of rural America, Tuda believes that, just as for diverse bird species and their short grass prairie, interdependence is the only way to flourish. Chatting about the food and dancing to be found later in the summer at their ranch tour, we walk out into the evening. From the street I wave, watching her drive away. I am humbled by the generosity of their endeavors, knowing the open range often breeds such frankness and gladness. People imbued with knowledge of the soil, its earth, the value of our food and the necessity of cooperation to sustain our lives. ...................................................... Rae Marie Taylor, author of the spoken word CD Black Grace, has recently completed a book of personal essays about our beloved and beleaguered earth. She can be reached at twoshores@aei.ca

FAT DUCK FARM A LIVABLE ALTERNATIVE BY SETH BIDERMAN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIC BIDERMAN

FOOD & AGRICULTURE

We all have coping mechanisms for getting on with our lives after another chunk of glacier crashes into the ocean on TV, another headline charts the catastrophic end of oil. Some go for a hike. Others shoot an email to Obama. My approach is to get in my car—ironic, I know—and drive 40 miles east of Santa Fe to a seven-acre piece of earth on the shady Pecos River. Here, just outside the church and bar town of Ribera, doomsday images of looted cities and barren forests give way to a vision of hope and prosperity. This is Fat Duck Farm, home to my brother Eric, his wife Karleen and two certifiably organic, giggly children. Outside, you’ll find a pair of unkempt dogs, a brood of hens and a handful of pigs, goats and sheep. Catfish lurk in the bottom of the grassy pond; red-winged blackbirds, nighthawks and blue herons often visit. Blessed

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with fruit trees, green pastures, blossoming gardens and an always magnificent sky, the place is like a New Mexican Eden, brimming with life in its fullest diversity. It wasn’t always that way. When my brother traded in his Converse for Carhartts and moved onto this land over a decade ago, it was little more than a field of wild alfalfa. He pitched a tent and started digging. Within a few years, after he’d established some fields of greens and tomatoes, he began to won-

der: Nature could provide a good salad, but could it also serve up the main dish? Could it power his computer? Keep his new family warm through the winter? The answer, as it turns out, has been yes. Start with his house. An impressive two-story structure, with a sharply pitched roof and spooky upstairs dormers, the pumiscrete building is so energy efficient that he hasn’t turned on the propane heating system since he finished construction—and then only to see if it worked. By angling

the house so that the winter sun would come crashing through the south-facing windows and the summer sun would be kept out by the roof’s overhang, he keeps the mass in the walls and floor between 60 and 70 degrees, year round. (Cold nights, they’ll stoke the woodburning stove.) The sun also heats the well water, which circulates through a set of eightby-four-foot panels, comes piping hot out of the bathroom and kitchen faucet and then trickles out into the soil beneath the lawn. And as for the modern luxuries—the computers, the freezers, the DVD player—Eric won a grant that helped him purchase and install photovoltaic panels on the roof. When the sun is strong and his own energy use low, his house actually sends excess electricity back to the grid, which means, in theory, that somewhere in the American Southwest, a nasty, coal-burning power plant can slow down. Since building his own “ecohouse,” he’s gained confidence in the technology. When he built a guesthouse next door, he left the

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polyethylene radiant heat tubes at the hardware store and, instead, hired Steve Williams, one of a handful of folks in this country who knows how to build a magical heating device called a masonry stove. Start a small fire in the base of this brick tower in the morning and you can walk around in your underwear for the next 24 hours, while the smoke passes through a serpentine chimney system that absorbs every last joule. More recently, he finished work on a rental house above his land that is 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

not only off the oil-based power grid but also takes into account the “embodied energy” of the building materials. No plywood shipped from Canada. No cement from a smokespewing factory in Mexico. The walls and floor of this casita are built with adobes made on-site, flagstone from local miners and wood from the Pecos National Forest, milled at Ralph Barela’s place just outside Las Vegas. Perhaps most inspiring is how Eric and Karleen have grown more and more independent of our modern food system which, from fertilizing the fields to keeping the fridge cool, is one of oil’s biggest customers. Slowly, they’re relearning what it took human beings thousands of years to understand but less than two centuries to forget: how to nourish themselves. Planting and harvesting is only the first step. Guided by the work of a Cleveland dentist named Weston Price, whose 1930s research reveals that our white flour Western diet is a quick path to death and disease, they’ve been figuring out how to grow, store and prepare food for maximum nutrition. Slimy parts of slaughtered lambs, which most of us haven’t seen the likes of since 9th grade biology, are boiled and baked into dinner. Cabbage is fermented into sauerkraut. Complex Microsoft Excel spreadsheets calculate how many square feet of wheat they must plant in the spring in order

to have enough homebaked bread for the year. The transformation has been remarkable: Fat Duck Farm, once an untilled patch of cattle feed, is now well on its way to becoming the world’s healthiest, most beautiful Albertson’s. To be clear, my brother and his wife are not above ingesting the occasional non-organic Frito pie. They drive often into Santa Fe, sometimes in Eric’s vegetable oil-powered truck but usually in a gassipping car. And they’ll be the first to point out that many of the tools that make their lifestyle possible—the tractors, the electric grinder and the freezers—are imported, machine-made products of the oil age. No, Fat Duck Farm is not going to save the planet. It’s not going to relieve the rest of us from our responsibility to work for change, in our own lifestyles and on a global scale. But those seven acres do provide a promising sneak preview of a post-oil world, a place that is not merely livable but healthy and prosperous, as well. ...................................................... Seth Biderman is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

SANTA FE'S COMMUNITY GARDENS ALIVE AND GROWING! BY LIBBY REINISH | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIM KURIAN

Part of a larger city-wide interest in sustainable food production, ecological adaptation, water conservation and a decreased dependence on fossil fuels, Santa Fe’s growing network of food producing community spaces will hopefully become contagious. In a successful community garden, apartment dwellers, house sitters and homeowners, working side by side, sharing tips on responsible growing techniques, learn together how to replenish the soil, nur-

ture traditional vegetables and conserve water. By walking or biking to the garden, growers harvest and eat food that did not require fossil fuels to produce. In their perennial beds, community gardens practice permaculture techniques while growing drought tolerant plants, attracting native species that have been all but forced out of downtown. Now is the time to get involved and help your neighborhood garden thrive. Read on to discover

tus garden, labyrinth and a large communal “crop circle” garden. Email: eldogarden@comcast.net

a garden in your area, or get inspired to start your own! Eldorado School Community Garden Behind the El Dorado Community School; 2 Avenida Torreon http://www.eldopc.com

Frenchy’s Field Garden Agua Fria and Osage This year, the City Council passed a resolution establishing a community garden program allowing the creation of community gardens in city parks. The Frenchy’s Field garden offers about 16 plots, ranging in size from 80 to 150 square feet. A $15 fee is required at the beginning of the season, with the cost of water being assessed to parciantes (a local term for those who share a resource) at the end of the season. Contact Jessie Esparza in the City Parks Division at 955-2106.

New in 2009, the Eldorado School Community Garden is an oasis in the scrub brush for Eldorado residents, who have use of 24 raised beds, 20 in-ground beds, compost bins, a cac-

FOOD & AGRICULTURE

Last year’s Sustainable Santa Fe Guide featured only two community gardens. Over this past year, however, the City of Santa Fe, along with a multitude of nonprofits and neighborhood associations, planted over half a dozen gardens, most of them new—about 150 individual plots altogether, not to mention several large communally tended and harvested food gardens. Many donate to Santa Fe's food banks, offer educational programming to the public and engage young people in growing and harvesting. Community gardens are definitely blooming in Santa Fe.

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The smaller of the two new City-sponsored community gardens, the Maclovia Park Garden is actively seeking community members to help it get growing and thriving. Contact Jessie Esparza

in the City Parks Division at 955-2106. Milagro Community Garden 2481 Legacy Court (Lutheran Church of the Servant) The Milagro Community Garden, located off Rodeo Road, is the most established in Santa Fe. Now in

By walking or biking to the garden, growers harvest and eat food that did not require fossil fuels to produce.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

FOOD & AGRICULTURE

Maclovia Park Garden Maclovia St. and Gallegos Dr.

its 12th year, Milagro has 34 10x16-foot plots costing $25 a year each to rent, plus a $30 membership fee for the first year. Scholarships are available. Milagroâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal is to help you grow food, fun and community. During the 2009 season, Milagro hosted monthly classes at the garden, open to the public with a suggested donation for non-members wishing to attend. Email Milagro_Garden@att.net to get on the mailing list, get on the waiting list, volunteer assistance or supplies, get a tour or for more information.

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Tips for Easy Composting Mixing various “wastes” together results in a dark, crumbly soil amendment teeming with the beneficial fungi, bacteria, earthworms and the enzymes and acids these life forms release, providing invigorating nutrients for plants and enhancing their immune systems’ ability to respond to insects and diseases. There are innumerable options for building a compost pile, from commercial bins to just digging a hole and burying your ingredients (and, in the latter case, you can actually plant right into the compost-in-the-making). Good compost ingredients: • leaves, hay and other dead plant material • fruit and vegetable trimmings • herbicide-free grass clippings • manure from horses, cattle, goats, poultry and rabbits

FOOD & AGRICULTURE

Do not add: • meat scraps or bones • very fatty, sugary or salty foods • chips or sawdust from treated wood • manure from omnivorous animals (dogs, cats, humans, etc) Simple guidelines: • Balancing ingredients is optional. • Good compost can be either hot or cold. • Any size pile works. • Turning compost is optional. Trouble-shooting: • Bad odors mean the heap is too wet or contains excessive green material—turn to aerate and add straw. • Ants mean it’s too dry—add water and cover with straw or cloth to retain moisture. -SSFRG staff

Railyard Park Community Gardens Railyard Park www.santafecommunitygardens.org Two new food gardens in the Railyard Park showcase Santa Fe’s commitment to sustainable living to locals and tourists alike. Operated by Santa Fe Community Gardens in collaboration with the Railyard Park Stewards, one has 19 plots for individuals to garden in, giving preference to folks living nearby without a yard of their own.

The other, the Waffle Garden, designed by the Santa Fe Master Gardeners Association, is a traditional design which allows for the flooding of the waffles’ nooks by one of the oldest irrigation ditches in the country, the acequia madre. This one is tended by interested community members and organizations; the harvest is donated to local food banks. To apply for a plot for the 2010 growing season, go to http://santafecommunitygardens.org. To volunteer in the waffle garden, email gardens@santafecommunitygardens.org.

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Tessa’s Garden 1205 Don Gaspar Ave. www.tessahoran.com

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The Tessa Horan Foundation’s mission is to create educational programs for establishing self-sustainability and mental/emotional wellbeing in the form of organic gardens in diverse community settings. In memory of Tessa Horan, a young woman who was killed in a shark attack while volunteering for the Peace Corps, Tessa’s Garden has donated nearly 30 pounds of food per week through Kitchen Angels and the Food Depot. Contact krisprater@gmail.com.

............................................................................... Libby Reinish is the cofounder of Santa Fe Community Gardens, a nonprofit dedicated to nurturing a growing network of community gardens in Santa Fe. She is also an urban homesteader—read her blog about homesteading for renters at www.whittleddown.com.

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HANDS-ON WITH 4-H BY GAIL SNYDER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIM KURIAN

FOOD & AGRICULTURE

The Santa Fe County Fair, which sets up on a corner of the Rodeo grounds for one short but intense week every August, doesn’t just magically appear.

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All 350 or so participating kids and their families are required to help, either by getting the fair ready beforehand or by pulling it down and packing it up at the end. Like an opera, the Fair includes moments of high drama, triumph, heartbreak, boredom and a sometimes frenetic pace. Conducted by the Santa Fe chapter of the national 4-H Club (slogan: Learn by doing; motto: To make the best better), the Fair is an opportunity for kids throughout the County to come together in friendly

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

competition to share the projects they’ve spent all year working on. Past 4-H competitors include Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Dolly Parton and Al Gore. Thirteen-year-old Katie Frybarger is here with the two goats, PJ and Chocolate Chip, she raised from six-month-old kids. For the past year, she’s fed them twice a day, cleaned their pens and groomed them. “Goats are very stubborn,” she says, confirming Spartacus’ opinion (“Every time God laughs, a baby goat is

born.”) What will happen to the goats after the judging? “They’ll be bought by a meat packer,” she says unsentimentally. Her dad adds, “That would be harder when she was younger but they go into this knowing that’s what happens.” He’s very proud of his daughter. “4-H teaches kids how to take care of something every day and every night, and that responsibility bleeds over into school work, chores, everything! She’ll sell the goats, make some money and see something for her work.” People are beginning to fill the bleachers along one side of the small ring. Opposite are the holding pens, today filled with goats and pigs, some lounging, some fretting, some having achieved a zen-like zone. Rabbits, poultry, horses, cattle and herd dogs also have their days. Kids run in packs; a mom meticulously vacuums a goat prior to the judging; a young girl careens down one aisle, a woman close on her heels calling, “Your mother really wants you to do Showmanship!” and, without

breaking stride, the girl yells back, “No!” Katie drags PJ by his chain into the ring for the goat competition, which this year, for some reason, is mostly girls, all dressed in plaid cowboy shirts, boots, jeans and belts with pizzazy buckles, all remarkably self-possessed. Each girl adjusts her goat’s stance to reflect the most powerful stature. Some of the goats are very fancy, with pom-poms; others’ pelts are sleekly shaven and the judge pauses by each, examining its coat, musculature, profile and line. PJ wins third prize. Katie receives her ribbon and yanks the goat back to her waiting dad, announcing, “I did my best!” He nods. ...................................................... Gail Snyder is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

How to Save Seeds

FOOD & AGRICULTURE

• Start with standard or heirloom plants that won’t crosspollinate with their neighbors. Annuals like peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers and lettuce are good choices. Flowers like hollyhock, marigold, poppies, delphinium and morning glory, along with herbs such as dill, parsley and cilantro also work well. • Allow the seed to mature. For beans and peas, wait until the pods are brown and dry. For other plants, wait until the seeds change from a light cream color to brown. • For diversity’s sake, save seed from a sampling of the healthiest and best-tasting plants. Take photos of the mother strain for later reference. • Collect seeds in their flower or husk and dry them in a well-ventilated place. When dry, the chaff or pod can be removed or blown away. • For fleshy fruits like tomatoes, scoop the seed pulp out and put it in a small amount of warm water. Allow to ferment for 2-4 days. The viable seed will sink to the bottom and the bad seed and pulp will float. Spread the good seed on a paper towel to dry. • Make sure seeds are completely dry before storing them in a jar or paper envelope. Label well! Freeze for two days to kill diseases, then store in a cool place like the refrigerator. • Use seeds within three years. • For more information, read Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth and Kent Whealy or visit www.seedsave.org -SSFRG staff, with Erin O'Neil

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SUSTAINABLE LAND TENURE IN CHIMAYÓ BY TED TRUJILLO | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIM KURIAN

FOOD & AGRICULTURE

By 1625, Chimayó was well known in the Spanish Crown for its agricultural bounty; to this day, it still enjoys a reputation for its signature crop, the native Chimayó chile strains. As a result of Chimayó’s long history and limited available irrigated acreage, the parcels of irrigated land became successively smaller through the generations to the point where it is not unusual to now find irrigated plots smaller than one-twentieth of an acre. Our family

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farm, El Rincón Trujillo Farm, is a good example of this land tenure history. In 1922, the federal government surveyed this area of Chimayó under the Small Holdings Claims Act. Several of the parcels at that time were already significantly reduced in size over successive generations of the large extended Trujillo family so that many parcels were reduced to a fourth of an acre or less; some strips measured as few as 400’ long by 20’ wide. The “strip” pattern of land division was necessary in order to allow each parcel of land access to the

acequia. Our family oral history recounts that these strips could not be narrower than 15’, the minimum width needed to comfortably turn a horsedrawn plow. Although these narrow fields were modest in size, they were nonetheless sufficiently productive to sustain the families working them through the hardest of times. While available irrigated land was sharply reduced over the generations, the extended family unit managed to maximize its use of this invaluable resource by a high level of cooperation and organization in all aspects of cultivation. Foremost in this land ethic was

The Chimayó Valley is a genuine oasis, extending from three high mountain streams–the Rio Quemado, Rio En Medio and Rio Frijoles– by an extensive manmade system of 16 autonomous acequias that now collectively irrigate about 1,100 acres. Cultivation of irrigated land in the beautiful and lush high desert of Chimayó has been intense for several centuries. the careful management of water resources through the community acequia organization, especially in the allocation of water during droughts so that the vegetable garden had priority for water, followed by the orchard and lastly by the hay field. The area of Chimayó known as “El Rincon De Los Trujillo” is a natural bowl-shaped formation encircled by foothills, below which lies the encircling irrigation ditch named Acequia De La Cañada Ancha. This communal earthen canal from the 1700s draws its water directly from the Rio Quemado, which drains off the Sangre de Cristo

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Truchas Peaks and lies on the opposite side of the divide from where the water is applied to the land. Below this manmade watercourse lie the irrigated lands of El Rincón, which gradually slope down to the community road connecting Chimayó and Truchas. This land was shaped over several generations of cooperative management and land use. The high dry ground above the irrigation ditch was reserved for adobe houses and structures of every kind and purpose—animal pens, corrals, barns and various types of storage structures, made of adobes, rock, mud and logs. Below the ditch, the irrigated land was carefully terraced to follow the natural contour of the land in order to facilitate irrigation. The highest terrace was used for planting fruit trees of all kinds. The next terrace was allocated for the allimportant vegetable garden. Below that were fields for growing grain for flour; last were the fields for growing hay for livestock. This family cooperation extended over every season of the year. In the non-growing season, all owners of the various parcels in El Rincón would open their gates so their livestock could graze together anywhere within the large perimeter of neighborhood fencing. This all took place in a close-knit community containing about 110 acres owned by about 30 families. In the 1930s, government agricultural researchers

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classified these land use practices of our native Hispano families as subsistence farming. There may be some truth to this characterization but I would observe that it is not a great leap from “subsistence” to “sustainable” farming and that, except for the size of the agricultural bounty, they really are the same process. When viewed over a longer period of time, the traditional Hispano land tenure practices compare quite favorably to our current attempts to achieve “sustainability,” which often entails using large amounts of fossil fuels in the form of plastic mulching, drip lines, pumps, electricity and gasoline for tractors. Modest as our subsistence farms were, their agricultural production was achieved without imported fertilizers or inputs of any type. Their primary energy resources were human and natural. To work and harvest the land, farmers used

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their own hands and tools, their beasts of burden, the gravity flow of the acequia system and the sun that dried its harvests for storage. Underlying all of this work were the spiritual practices sustaining the faith that the crops would come. At best, the human population of these traditional communities remained static, although often outmigration was necessary to maintain the balance between humans and land. This natural ebb and flow of people, however, has never compromised the strength and integrity of the communities themselves, which have endured and will continue to do so, leaving us invaluable lessons to guide our entry into the coming age. ...................................................... Ted J. Trujillo is a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in rural Colombia in 1967-68. He has been a long-time community activist for native Hispano matters while completing a career as an educator and nowworking as an attorney in his area of passion, natural resources.

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GUERRILLA GARDENING BY GAIL SNYDER | ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE LAWRENCE

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The operating instructions described by a group of Santa Fe teenagers for their latest caper are bare-bones-simple: Plan your initial visit at night (when troublemaking busybodies are out of sight); include a bunch of supportive friends and arm yourselves with all implements necessary for getting the job done. Oh, and wear black. A how-to list for midnight mayhem? No, actually it’s sage advice from high-school-studentsturned-veteran-guerrillagardeners who are hoping to recruit lots more Santa Feans to join their cause. Teenagers, they tell me, are perfect candidates for making gardens of the covert sort. “They want to be sneaky!” Girl X confides. “They like

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being out at night.” Girl Z wholeheartedly agrees. “We want to change the world because it’s in our hands now, and this is one way. Of course,” she admits, “it is kind of illegal. But it’s not like we’re out robbing banks or anything!” Guerrilla gardening, a worldwide move-

ment involving participants of all ages and stripes, is the practice of quietly reappropriating a vacant piece of public land in order to give back to the community free vegetables and other plants. The preferred M.O. is to target some “orphaned” land—abandoned concrete planters, unadopted median strips, one corner of a vacant lot— preferably a place with high visibility, and to plant

colorful, eye-catching vegetables and ornamentals, the cheaper and hardier the better since they’ll be on their own a lot of the time. We have plenty of these spots all around town, including the Plaza area, the Railyard, Second Street and Airport Road. The Santa Fe group of high school friends chose bus stops—10 of them, initially, all located in midtown and southside parts of the city

“The purpose of this project is to organize youth-led restoration activities that revitalize the community’s relationship with the local environment.” 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

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along the corridors of Cerrillos and Agua Fria. “We went out at midnight—it was early this summer,” Girl Z says. “We’d do relay runs. Someone would prep the dirt, someone else would bring a load of compost, then someone would come with the plants, and the whole time we’d have lookouts on each side of the block who knew to give an owl call if they saw police coming.” They planted marigolds, rosemary, Echinacea and spearmint, all donated by a local nursery; then they surrounded each little garden within a heart-shape made of rocks. A plaque

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was erected at each space saying, in part: “The purpose of this project is to organize youth-led restoration activities that revitalize the community’s relationship with the local environment. These plants are valuable resources. You are welcome to harvest— with care and respect.” Originally, Girl X was hoping to focus on vegetables but, being on a budget, they took what was offered. “One of our intentions is to feed the community. We just feel like people should learn how to grow their own food and not be so dependent on Albertson’s and

Smith’s because who knows what’s going to happen? So we hoped that people riding the bus would notice one of our gardens at the stop where they got on, then maybe they’d see another one when they got off, and that would make them think, ‘Hey, maybe someone’s doing this intentionally!’ People shouldn’t have to pay for food,” she adds. “It’s a human right. Americans have stopped learning how to feed ourselves. We can grow our own—or pick it from a bus stop!” Planting also improves the soil. “In Santa Fe, we have the urban island heat

effect,” Girl Z tells me. “All that concrete, baking in the sun. When you nourish the soil, it offsets the carbon.” Guerrilla gardening is far from a new concept— Johnny Appleseed planted whole orchards of trees on untitled land across a wide swath of the Midwest in the early 1800s. Various forms of radical public gardening are catching on all over the world, from South Africa to Australia to Honduras. A few years ago, for example, an empty lot in the middle of Copenhagen was transformed into a large vegetable garden over the course of one night by about 1,000 volunteers. As the financial picture’s gotten a little shaky, this is a form of taking direct action, a way of ensuring that food can be found in small pockets all across the urban landscape. The ultimate hope of local such covert gardeners is that, as word spreads, more and more little forgotten corners of Santa Fe will suddenly be sprouting happily flourishing spinach and carrots until, in the words of Arlo Guthrie, “Pretty soon, they’ll think it’s a movement.” And, folks, that’s what it is. Join them. “That night,” Girl X says, “was the funnest time I’ve had, ever!” ...................................................... Gail Snyder is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

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EVERYBODY WINS WITH COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE WARSHAWER

For a growing number of us, the new American dream is not to have a fancy house or a new car but to be able to move outside of the city, live away from the factory and off the land. Farming is at the heart of this dream. Of course, not everyone can actually buy a farm and leave their city lives but anyone can live like a farmer through the creation of a conscious relationship with their food and with those who grow it.

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There are as many ways to cultivate this relationship as there are varieties of heirloom tomatoes. An easy way to start is to buy food with a face and a place. This can be done at farmers’ markets, from stores and restaurants that purchase locally grown

foods or through a Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA); none of these is mutually exclusive. A CSA allows you to develop a long-term relationship and a real investment with one or a few farmers. You share the risk with the

farmers but you also reap the rewards: the best bounty that the local environment has to give. Most CSAs also provide volunteer opportunities that allow you to put your hands in the soil and meet the worms and ladybugs that help sustain you. Just like tasting a delicious pie inspires you to ask about how it was cooked, tasting a delicious radish will inspire you to ask about where and how it was grown and whether it was produced in a way that is healthy for you and the environment. Instead of using chemical fertilizers

and pesticides, sustainable farming uses natural nutrients and pest deterrents to build up the soil and grow crops richer in flavor and nutrition. The more you learn about how your food is grown, the more you may want to try it yourself. It’s easy to grow vegetables and herbs: You need only a little dirt, some water, plenty of sunshine and a few tips from those who’ve been doing this awhile. While you might think farmers would prefer you leave the growing to them, they actually are often the most likely to encourage

CSAs: A Member's Perspective Joining Los Poblanos CSA was a great way for me to become more engaged in my community and to support my local food system. As a CSA member, I have the opportunity to visit Los Poblanos farm and to take part in volunteer opportunities. I have also been able to maintain a healthier lifestyle. Before joining Los Poblanos, I rarely prepared my own food. Now, I take great pleasure in unpacking my box of produce each week and trying out new recipes recommended by my CSA farmers and my fellow members! I thoroughly enjoy being able to prepare new healthy dishes for my family and friends with the delicious fruits and vegetables I receive each week. -Jessica Jensen, NMSU student

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Local Business Owner Boosts CSA Participation Southside coffeeshop owner Edwina Garcia knows that there’s more to business than profit. That’s why she and partner Russell Pack, who own Miklos coffeehouse on Jaguar Drive, decided to become a dropoff location for Los Poblanos Organics (LPO), a regional CSA based in Los Ranchos. Introduced to the CSA by a nearby tenant, Garcia thought that residents and employees of Santa Fe’s southside might find it helpful to pick up their weekly food boxes somewhere close to home, rather than at the regular location at the Marketplace Plaza on Alameda. She approached LPO with the idea via their website, offered the delivery driver a free cup of joe and, within weeks, began stacking boxes against the side wall for her clients to pick up on Tuesday afternoons. Customers like Elege Simons Harwood, who drives in from La Cienega on a weekly basis to pick up the basket she splits with her extended family, appreciate her effort. “This is great for us,” says Simons Harwood, who now saves time and money—and gas!—on her weekly pick-up. So far, LPO has brought Miklos a few new clients but, more than that, it’s given the coffeehouse more visibility and contributed to their growing reputation for community advocacy and service. “It’s really neat,” Garcia explains, “I didn’t have to have anything special to be a drop spot—just the space and the willingness to do it.” -SSFRG staff

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you to plant some of your own food. Eating locally also means eating seasonally. While it’s sometimes frustrating not to have your favorite ingredient in the off-season, you’ll soon learn that it’s worth waiting for produce at its peak. Eating seasonally cultivates your connection with the rhythms and rituals of the Earth. Food with a place or a face or a time will give you sustenance; it will even save you time and money, at least for the short term. It will also nourish your body and your soul. So go ahead, dream the new American dream, return to the land

with your CSA box, your grocery cart, your own backyard, your community garden plot. This dream is accessible to everyone without bailouts, stimulus or government intervention.

...................................................... Steve Warshawer, a New Mexico farmer since 1976, founded and operates Beneficial Farms CSA and Mesa Top Farm in Santa Fe County. Additionally, he is the enterprise development manager of La Montanita Co-op’s Cooperative Distribution Center.

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Renewable Energy Incentives

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Romancing the Wind

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How to Get to HERS 70

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Reliable Home Solar Thermal: Overheat Protection

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Full Cycle Dwellings: Using the Past to Build Today’s “New Village”

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Green Buildings Break Ground in Santa Fe

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THE FUTURE:

An Interview with Architect Ed Mazria BY JENNIFER GUERIN

Edward Mazria, Santa Fe resident and internationally renowned architect, author and educator, has been focusing on sustainable building and development for over 35 years. His book, The Passive Solar Energy Book, was first published in 1979 and is today considered one of the “bibles” of solar design. In 2006, Mazria formed Architecture 2030, a nonprofit organization that created the 2030 Challenge, a “roadmap” to net-zero carbon emissions for the building sector by the year 2030. To date, Challenge targets have been adopted by hundreds of national and international firms, as well as by the states of California, Oregon and Washington. Additionally, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Association of Counties and National Governors Association, and the U.S. Green Building Council, as well as most professional organizations, have adopted the targets. Mazria recently testified before Congress on the WaxmanMarkey climate bill and the American Clean Energy and Security Act. He was also awarded the National Wildlife Federation’s National Conservation Achievement Award and this year’s Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership in Sustainable Housing. Above: The first passive solar townhouse development in the United States: La Vereda Compound, Santa Fe, NM (1982) Architect: Mazria, Inc. with Wayne and Susan Nichols of Communico, Inc.

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How long have you been in Santa Fe, and what keeps you here, both personally and professionally? I originally came to New Mexico in the early 1970s to teach at the University of New Mexico. I stay because Santa Fe is great place to live and work and because the two people I rely on most in my work, my wife, Asenath Kepler and our brilliant director, Kristina Kershner, are firmly rooted here.

passed, and the President signed, the Energy Independence and Security Act, requiring that all new and renovated federal buildings meet the 2030 Challenge targets. Discuss the goal of net-zero carbon emissions on a practical level. Do you envision that most building materials used by the year 2030 will come from recycled or renewable sources? Or will the net-zero result come more from buildings being able to produce their own energy and even give excess back to the grid, as we are seeing homes begin to do in the Santa Fe area? Net-zero refers to building operations, which account for 42 percent of total U.S. energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Buildings will always use energy to operate, so net-zero carbon refers to either a) producing enough noncarbon energy on-site to offset any carbon-based energy you might use, e.g. in a gas stove or electricity imported from a carbon-based source, or b) purchasing non-carbon produced energy, such as energy from wind or solar. 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

BUILDING & ENERGY

How does the 2030 Challenge work, and what methods will Architecture 2030 use to meet the Challenge goals? The widely adopted 2030 Challenge is a measured and achievable strategy to dramatically reduce global GHG emissions and fossil-fuel consumption by the year 2030. Specifically, the Challenge calls for all new buildings and developments to be designed to use half the fossil fuel energy they would typically consume, i.e. half the regional or country average for that building type, which is approximately equivalent to 30 percent below recent energy codes. It also stipulates that at a minimum, an equal amount of existing building area be renovated annually to use half the amount of fossil fuel energy it is currently consuming, which can be achieved through design, purchase of renewable energy and/or the application of renewable technologies. Finally, it calls for the fossil fuel reduction standard to be increased to 60 percent in 2010, 70 percent in 2015, 80 percent in 2020, 90 percent in 2025 and carbon neutral by 2030 (using no fossil fuel, GHG-emitting energy to operate). The targets should be achieved first through appropriate planning and building design—building shape and orientation, glazing location and properties, passive solar heating, cooling and natural ventilation strategies, daylighting, shading and site landscaping, to name a few—and then by generating on-site renewable power and/or purchasing (20 percent maximum) renewable energy. The Challenge has had a significant national impact, having now been adopted across the nation with complete bipartisan support. On December 19, 2007, Congress

What inspired your decision to suspend your regular practice and form Architecture 2030? As architects, we specify everything that goes into a building, from steel to paint. When we design a building, we set its energy consumption pattern for the next 40 years or more. In my research, I discovered that buildings are responsible for almost half of all energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., as well as 75 percent of the nation’s electricity use. I immediately began to alert the architecture community. I realized that if buildings were the problem, they could also be the solution. So, to spur the architecture community to action, I developed and issued the 2030 Challenge.

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New homes contain a great deal of “embodied energy.” Since older homes are not generally designed for retrofit or deconstruction, does it make sense, financially and environmentally, for the average citizen to retrofit an older home? We call for all new buildings and major renovations to meet the 2030 Challenge targets. The reason is we must not only affect new construction, but also the 275 billion square feet of existing building stock in the U.S. It is much more environmentally friendly to renovate than to tear down and build new, and it makes good sense when renovating to make a building more efficient. In fact, in most situations, it is not only easy to accomplish, it is the only type of construction that saves building owners money every month. The embodied energy savings are huge because there is less new material and less waste–it’s recycling in a big way. In a recent article for the CoStar Group, you mentioned a “wave of change” forming in the building sector as it acknowledges its responsibility to reduce GHG emissions. Do you believe that this recognition is genuinely an “acknowledgement of responsibility,” or simply recognition of a new consumer fad and therefore of a new way to generate profit? Does this matter? Why? I think it can be most accurately portrayed as an acknowledgement of responsibility and opportunity. That 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

these two concepts happen to be mutually beneficial is a big positive. If they were not, we would be in dire straits. Imagine the impossibility of completely overhauling our built environment if doing so were not profitable. With an $11.4 trillion dollar deficit, such a profitless undertaking would not have much of a chance. Currently, the Waxman-Markey bill (H.R. 2454) is being criticized by several prominent environmental organizations that believe it makes too many concessions to big oil and ignores important scientific data on climate change. What do you make of the bill in its current form and how do you respond to these critiques? Each individual and group must weigh the positives and negatives of the Climate Bill and come to their own conclusions. For us, the building sector is key and the bill does an excellent job of addressing it. A recent Architecture 2030 e-news bulletin reports, “The updated building energy codes of Section 201 [of the Waxman-Markey bill] actually reduce energy consumption, eliminating the need for more [nuclear power] plants.” Can you say more about the connection between nuclear energy and the built environment? Architecture 2030 does not take an official stance on nuclear power; it is outside our mission. We simply examine

and report on it and other energy resource options. Can nuclear power meet the world’s energy needs as inexpensively and timely as energy efficiency? The answer is unequivocally, “No.” As we point out in our press release, the measures set out in Section 201 are so powerful they can single handedly transform the entire built environment in the U.S. by 2050, achieving over six times the emissions reductions as even the 100 new nuclear power plants recently pushed by a handful of senators, at a fraction of the $750 billion cost. Putting Section 201 codes into practice would reduce building emissions by 48.8 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. There simply is no other energy resource solution available that is as effective, inexpensive and timely as energy efficiency.

from the solar movement of the 70s and 80s, like Marc Shalom and Wayne and Susan Nichols, and a talented architecture, engineering and building community, including architects Trey Jordan, Michael Freeman, Al Moore and Marci Riskin, Sandra Odems and Alex Dzurec, who worked with me over the years, to name just a few. We should support all our talented professionals and encourage them to experiment and innovate. On a good day, I see an exciting commitment to eco-conscious planning and sustainable thinking among the residents and leadership of Santa Fe. On a bad one, I see only strip malls and out-of-control, sprawling developments that cannot possibly be supported by a limited high desert water supply. Do you experience similar internal conflicts about life in the beautiful southwest? How do you resolve them? Yes, but I believe in a positive future, one which is already beginning to take shape. There is a growing recognition that we cannot continue with business as usual and, because of that, we will see great and positive changes over the next several years.

Let’s talk globally. Many people argue that the rapid growth of the world’s population is unsustainable and is taxing our resources in all sectors to the breaking point. How do you think the world’s population will continue to change and challenge our housing needs, choices and arrangements? What we are witnessing today is a global population shift toward urbanization. As this process continues, it is critical that we put in place regional and urban planning strategies that anticipate the new global events now taking shape. Within a warmer and carbon-constrained world, we must plan for the integration of transportation and land-use patterns, wildlife and biodiversity corridors, water and wastewater management, density and mixed-use development, buildings and energy consumption and the growing sophistication of technology.

Jennifer Guerin is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12. Opposite: Sol y Sombra, Santa Fe, NM (1989) Below: The Candyman Center, Santa Fe, NM (1985)

BUILDING & ENERGY

Based on your experience and observation, what is Santa Fe’s commitment to the 2030 Challenge and/or its targets? Santa Fe has a unique opportunity to lead the country in adopting and expanding on the 2030 Challenge. After all, this is its birthplace. The new Santa Fe Green Building Code is a good beginning. I believe a national building energy code standard that follows the targets set by the 2030 Challenge will be passed in Congress this year. Santa Fe should be one step ahead of the targets set by Congress. This is important for two reasons. It provides the country with a model for implementing advanced codes and building practices and it is good for our local economy and environment: Residents spend less on energy, our air and water become cleaner, we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and people will come to visit us, have their meetings here and study our built environment. Santa Fe also has the expertise to carry out an advanced agenda. We have a strong environmental heritage, an environmentally sensitive building sector, a national laboratory, the Santa Fe Institute and Santa Fe Complex, pioneers

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RENEWABLE ENERGY INCENTIVES BY FERNANDO MARTINEZ

The New Mexico Solar Tax Credit will pay up to 10 percent (maximum $9,000) of the purchase and installation cost for a solar photovoltaic (PV) or solar thermal system, which can be applied in addition to the federal government’s unlimited 30 percent federal tax credit for installing solar PV, thermal, wind and geothermal systems. Additionally, solar energy systems are exempt from state gross receipts taxes. There are two additional financial incentives currently available for gridtied renewable energy systems through PNM: Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) and Net Metering. Through PNM’s REC program, participants

get paid for every kilowatt hour generated from their PV system ($0.13/kwh for systems smaller than 10 kw; $.15 for systems larger than 10 kw), whether that energy is used by the home/business or is pushed back onto the grid. Net Metering allows renewable electricity (wind or solar) to literally spin your electric utility meter backwards. The utility meter spins forward when you are using more energy than you are generating, backwards when you are generating more than you are using. A renewable energy system, sized properly, can potentially “net zero” your energy usage. Exciting developments are also on the horizon that will eliminate the big up-

BUILDING & ENERGY

For those of us interested in tax credits available to New Mexicans for the installation of renewable energy systems in homes and businesses, 2009 brought a number of exciting changes.

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front cost for individuals to purchase and install solar or renewable energy systems, a significant obstacle for the average consumer. In 2009, two bills passed by the State Legislature and signed by Governor Richardson enabled property-based financing. HB 572 and SB 647 will help individuals finance solar energy systems through a special assessment that would be paid back along with property taxes. Santa Fe County has adopted these bills and is determining the how-to of financing. Of course, it doesn’t make sense to put solar panels on a home that is an energy hog. Investing in improved insulation and weatherization, energy efficient appliances and compact fluorescent lights are good steps toward reducing energy use, and these steps provide a good return on investment. Once your home is energy efficient, then it makes sense to add a renewable energy system. Geothermal energy is another renewable resource that is gaining momentum. These systems work especially well with radiant floor heating and can heat domestic hot water, as well. While it’s best to plan a ge-

othermal system for new construction, it can be retrofitted into an existing home. Ideally, one should offset the electrical increase from geothermal with PV. New Mexico’s Sustainable Building Tax Credit provides incentives to encourage construction of residential and commercial buildings that are both energy efficient and sustainable. Construction is evaluated with the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system or the Build Green NM rating system. Tax credits vary based on building type, occupied square footage and the allowance in dollars per square foot for the rating achieved. Your source for advice and technical support on renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation, green building, clean fuel and efficient transportation is the New Mexico Energy Conservation and Management Division (www.CleanEnergyNM.or g. ). ...................................................... Fernando Martinez is division director of the Energy Conservation and Management Division of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

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ROMANCING THE WIND BY RUTH ANDERSON

Humans have been harnessing the winds of the earth to create power for at least 5,500 years. It’s a proven, cost-effective energy source. As long as the sun continues to heat the earth, the winds will blow. Thanks to modern advances, today’s wind generators are high-tech but affordable. The current federal stimulus monies and state incentives available for small-scale wind generation are expected to boost the demand of small-scale wind by 40-50 percent or more. Here are some answers to common questions that may help you decide if this is a viable option for you:

BUILDING & ENERGY

What are the benefits of wind power? Wind is a proven, cost-effective, renewable source of energy, with zero air emissions. By using a local energy source, negative environmental impacts of burning fossil fuels are avoided, longdistance transportation of both fuels and electricity generation is reduced and energy independence at a local level is increased. How do I find a reliable, good-quality wind generator? Don’t be dazzled by sales hype—turbulent, powerful winds in New Mexico can chew up a poorly-designed generator. Do research,

check the web and talk with local wind generator owners. The June/July 2009 issue of Home Power Magazine (www.homepower.com) published a wind buyers’ guide listing their picks for high quality turbines with verified energy data, warranties and track records. Can I use a shorter tower than is recommended for my site? Your wind generator must be situated up out of the turbulence zone caused by such factors as nearby buildings and trees. At a minimum, the bottom of the rotor must be 20' above everything within a 500'area. A turbine installed at a lower level will give poor performance, have a decreased lifespan and will need increased maintenance. If your tower height will be limited by local ordinances, talk with your wind dealer to find if it will affect your turbine’s performance. Will it save me money? In a good wind area, a wind generator can lower your electricity by 50-90 percent. How much you

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save depends upon the generator’s cost, your typical electricity usage, the average wind speed at your site and other factors. How noisy are they and do they interfere with radio/TV reception? Small wind generator noise typically blends in with common outside sounds. According to DOE’s National Renewable Energy Lab, the sound pressure level generated is 40-65 decibels, which is quieter than typical background noise in a home or office. Small wind generators have no effect on TV or communication signals since they are made from wood, fiberglass and plastic. How do they perform as an investment? Small-scale wind investment is generally recouped within six to 15 years— after that, the electricity produced is virtually free. In addition, a well-sited wind system increases the property’s value. Can I power my entire house with a wind generator?

The average home uses between 700-900 kWh per month. This would require a wind turbine with a capacity of 3-5 kWh. You need at least half an acre to allow for erection space and setbacks. Can I attach a wind turbine to my building? It’s not recommended. As the turbine produces power, it spins and the tower vibrates. Even small vibration waves on a building can amplify the noise and subject the building to stresses it’s not designed to handle. Create your own personal energy policy by reducing dependence on fossil fuels. As more and more consumers decide to lessen their carbon footprint and become more energy selfefficient, they are discovering how affordable having a small wind generator in their backyard can be. ...................................................... Ruth Anderson is co-owner of WindSunNM LLC (www.WindSunNM.com), a local company providing alternative energy systems for homes and businesses, along with passive/active solar design and comprehensive HERS energy audits.

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HOW TO GET TO HERS 70 BY KIM SHANAHAN | ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE LAWRENCE

The City of Santa Fe in 2009 adopted building codes requiring mandatory minimum levels of energy efficiency. How are these levels measured? Recognized by the EPA Energy Star Program, the United States Green Building Council’s LEED for Homes and the National Association of Home Builders Green Building Guidelines, the Home Energy Rating Service (HERS) is the score that is used. A normal code-built house is assumed to have a HERS index of 100. The lower the index, the more energy is being saved. Santa Fe’s minimum acceptable score is 70.

BUILDING & ENERGY

So how does a home get to a HERS 70? Design and the way a home is situated on the lot are the cheapest and most effective ways to lower a HERS score. Orienting the long wall of our homes to the south and minimizing windows and doors on our east and north walls will dramatically lower a HERS score. So will minimizing the total length of our perimeter walls. And minimizing the amount and size of windows makes a huge difference. Natural light is important, but do we really

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need oversized view windows in bedrooms which we mostly occupy at night, with eyes closed? Roofs have the highest insulation requirement in the building envelope because that’s where that precious heat wants to go. If the roof has a bunch of skylights holding back the heat with two pieces of thin plastic, the HERS score won’t be very low. Cut out the skylights or use solar tubes and watch the index drop. The quality of the installation of insulation can be more important than the

quantity. Blown-in cellulose or fiberglass insulation is hard to install incorrectly and achieves values close to its stated amounts. Sealing and foaming all cracks and penetrations in the framing and building envelope also makes a huge difference in performance. If site and design prohibit proper orientation, then it’s on to fine-tuning mechanical systems The good news for increasing a building’s HERS rating is that a tight, well-insulated envelope usually means a smaller heating and cooling

system. And, because its footprint is less spacious, a smaller building can often be upgraded to an even higher efficiency at little extra cost. Add compact fluorescent bulbs, Energy Star-rated appliances, ondemand water heaters and almost any home should get to the HERS 70 requirement. Estimates on construction costs to get a house to a HERS score of 70 range from no cost at all, for those at the smart end, to 3 percent for those just familiarizing themselves with energy-saving measures. With local mandates saying 30 percent of all homes built in our community must be affordable and that HERS scores must come down over time, it’s incumbent on all builders, designers, architects, engineers and green thinkers—including homeowners— to continue to come up with solutions. ...................................................... Kim Shanahan, president of the Santa Fe Area Home Builders’ Association, is a member of the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission. He has also been on the Green Building Code Task Force and is the builder of the Vistas Bonitas Subdivision (contact: shanafe@aol.com).

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RELIABLE HOME SOLAR THERMAL: OVERHEAT PROTECTION BY BOAZ SOIFER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL STENGEL

When failures occur in an active solar home heating system, the most common cause is the overheating of the collectors. In a full home-heating system, the solar collector array is much larger than what’s needed for solar domestic hot water production so, in non-winter months, the excess heating capacity needs to be mitigated.

BUILDING & ENERGY

Some systems allow the solar collectors to “stagnate,” a circumstance in which the collectors get very hot while being full of fluid. Drain-back systems allow water to exit the collectors when no heat is required from them. Other systems use very large atmospheric water storage tanks as a heat sink for excess solar heat. These approaches all involve serious drawbacks. We’ve devised a comprehensive strategy to deal with this issue. First we calculate the collector tilt precisely, mounting them more vertically to provide for optimum winter heat

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collection, less so during summer months. All of our systems also utilize a solarelectric (PV) circulating pump-to-pump coolant through the solar collectors which operates whenever the sun shines, helping keep the collectors from boiling. Before shedding excess heat, we make the most use of it. Oversizing the domestic hot water storage tank to allow for additional hot water production is one way. In a larger system, an 80- or 120-gallon tank is the norm. We also use tanks with large-volume heat exchangers when possible and allow the tank to

achieve temperatures that are much higher than usual, using mixing valves to regulate the outgoing hot water temperature. Still, circumstances will arise that require a system to shed small amounts of excess solar heat. In buildings with radiant mass floors in which the radiant tubing is embedded, we typically use the coolest or least-used zones for this purpose, allowing the solar collectors to reach a safe high limit, at which point the system turns on the floor circulator pump to shed small bursts of heat into the mass floor until the collector temperature is

slightly reduced. Injecting such a small quantity of heat into a concrete floor does not noticeably impact room temperature or floor surface temperature. We do this in conjunction with two-stage room heating thermostats which prevent rooms from overheating. In systems with nonmass floors, tanks are typically utilized to store solar heat collected during the day for distribution at night. When the tanks reach a safe high limit temperature, the PV collector circulator pump is connected to AC power, allowing it to run into the night, shedding excess heat by radiating to the night sky. Solar heating systems provide great energy savings, reduced utility costs and fewer greenhouse gas emissions. ...................................................... Boaz Soifer is general manager of Cedar Mountain Solar Systems and vice president of the New Mexico Renewable Energy Industries Association. He also recently helped found SolarLogic, a start-up company focused on integrated solar heating design and controls solutions (505.474.5445 or www.cedarmountainsolar.com.)

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FULL CYCLE DWELLINGS: USING THE PAST TO BUILD TODAY’S “NEW VILLAGE” BY ARNOLD VALDEZ

Ancient Traditions Before European contact, the Galisteo Basin supported the highest-density human settlement in northern New Mexico. Energy efficient site design and planning is evident at these earliest pueblos; orientation, compact form and use of locally-based materials for the buildings themselves created communities that were almost entirely sustainable. Today, raw material processing of concrete, plywood, drywall and the like is a large contributor to the consumption and destruction of natural resources, and to the emission of carbon dioxide.

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2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

Looking at our historical precedents and learning from ancient and traditional building methods, modern builders can help alleviate pressure on the environment by selecting materials that are less energy-intensive to harvest and create. Studying the overall design of entire villages can help us plan communities that are themselves integrated respectfully and sustainably into the surrounding landscape. Early settlement building materials in Santa Fe County were sedimentary

and igneous stone, puddle earth, adobe and wood, which were utilized in constructing masonry walls, earth floors and flat or low slope earthen roofs. This pueblo style of architecture is appropriate for this area and results in a form that integrates harmoniously with the site while deriving passive solar energy for heating and wind currents for cooling. The design of villages was based upon a pattern of diverse and mixed community land uses. Water courses emerging from the Sangre de Cristo mountains and the Rio Grande provided for the flourishing of agri-

The most basic building materials—stone, earth, wood—are the principal components of the oldest cultural landscapes throughout the world. Not only do these basic materials offer low-cost solutions for the construction of today’s dwellings, sacred structures and public buildings, they also create the regional identities and sense of place that make the world as diverse and rich as the people who inhabit it. culture which, coupled with the practice of bartering with surrounding villages, formed the local subsistence economy of the region. In the northern part of the County, Spanish colonialists settled small villages, grazed livestock, farmed and harvested timber. The settlement patterns aligned themselves with the Spanish Laws of the Indies; log lots were platted perpendicular to water courses emerging from the watersheds of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Acequias served as the irrigation systems for the agricultural fields.

Community or common lands were appropriated for grazing, wood gathering and timbering. The adobe, wood and stone buildings later evolved into L- and Uâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;shapes, forming compounds or plazuelas as the family grew in size. Many communities were linear settlements configured along roadways. Larger, more centralized communities often had a central space or plaza.

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Applications to Contemporary Design An integral component of communities founded by the Spanish was the central plaza with its open-air pavilion, mini-park, pedestrian-friendly walkways and small entrepreneurial enterprises. The spirit of self-reliance and sense of community that plazas promote will be of paramount importance to the futureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new village dwellers. Low-density organic settlement patterns typified by plazas, plazuelas and nucleated villages are a means to avoid modernday rural sprawl, further compacting building footprints by replicating Uand L-shaped plazuela forms with open-walled courtyards. As global warming progresses and resources are depleted, planned 21st-century villages with state-of-the-art water and energy conservation, as well as appropriate technologies for cooling, will become a necessity. When temperatures climb, it will make far more sense to live in smallersized planned communities

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situated at lower elevations, near shaded protective enclosures and windbreaks, with access to transportation networks. Structures in 21st-century planned communities can overcome possible future climate changes by utilizing the cooling and heat-retaining properties of adobe, rammed earth or stone and by orienting structures to maximize natural solar gain and ventilation. By avoiding flood plains and selecting alluvial soils that promote natural drainage, new villages can minimize costs of stormwater and wastewater disposal. Such locations also can allow the use of an acequia irrigation system for conserving water and of planted landscapes designed for seasonal shading and for multi-family garden plots. To protect the surrounding space, new villages can organize community forests and common pasture lands, as the ancients did. While these techniques and concepts may sound like utopian ideals, they come down to us through many generations, drawn from time-tested land-use practices and historic architectural prototypesi. ...................................................... Arnold Valdez, senior planner for Santa Fe County, is also an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning where he teaches a course in Alternative Materials and Methods of Construction.

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GREEN BUILDINGS BREAK GROUND IN SANTA FE BY A. KYCE BELLO | PHOTOGRAPHY BY G. ALAN MYERS

Water Both the LANB and Thornburg buildings are equipped to harvest and store rooftop rainwater for landscaping. Their parking lots are made of a permeable/porous pavement that allows storm water to soak into the earth, recharging the local aquifer. The Thornburg Campus landscaping includes openings in the curbs that channel water for passive irrigation. Both buildings are equipped with low-flow plumbing fixtures that allow for water conservation that is

Land Both sites strive to minimize urban heat-island effect. The Thornburg Campus boasts rooftop gardens and a layout that seeks to fit into the surrounding landscape. LANB is centrally located near trails to encourage patrons and employees to walk or bicycle. Windows open (yes, open!) to views of the outside. Energy The LANB Cerrillos Road office was de-

signed to utilize ample natural light and features an energy saving mechanical system. The parking lights are solar powered and 12 percent of the building’s total power needs will be met by its photovoltaic system. An additional 85 percent of the building’s energy will be supplied from clean wind power. The Thornburg Campus has plans for a 250kW photovoltaic (PV) system that when complete will be the largest rooftop PV array in New Mexico. Overall, the Thornburg Campus uses

47 percent less energy than a typical building of its size. It is equipped with floor diffusers that allow heated or cooled air to rise passively rather than being forced from the ceiling. Electric cooling systems are aided by direct and indirect evaporative cooling systems. Two natural gasfired condensing boilers supply heat. Over 85 percent of the Thornburg buildings are exposed to natural light and daylight and occupancy sensors minimize the use of fluorescent lighting. Air Air quality is superior in both buildings thanks to actual airflow through the windows and filtration systems. Use of low-emitting, non-toxic adhesives, paints, carpets, tiles and composite woods and green janitorial supplies also contribute to the healthy air in these structures. The Thornburg Campus features futuristic air volume diffusers that adjust air-flow in conference rooms depending upon occupancy and uses LED indicator lights to tell employees the best times to open and close windows to save energy.

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over 40 percent more than conventional buildings.

Two new commercial buildings in Santa Fe are groundbreaking examples of environmentally friendly design and construction. Los Alamos National Bank’s new office on Cerrillos Road and the 100,000-square foot Thornburg Campus both anticipate LEED Gold certification but, in many areas, their innovative environmental design features exceed LEED requirements, raising the bar for future green building projects across the state and the nation.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

Thanks to such pioneers, the green edge in commercial building will only continue to advance and grow.

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Recycling Both buildings sought to reduce construction waste such as asphalt, concrete, wood, plastic, metal and other materials by recycling it. LANB diverted 75 percent of its waste from landfills and the Thornburg Campus re-used or recycled 5,000 cubic yards, or 90 percent of its refuse. Attention to using materials with recycled content and from regional suppliers whenever possible also contributed to the environmental vision of these cutting edge commercial spaces. And the best contribution these new structures are making to our built environment? Thanks to such pioneers, the green edge in commercial building will only continue to advance and grow. ....................................................................... A. Kyce Bello is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

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The Natural Step: Tackling the Ultimate Human Challenge

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At the Heart of a Bioneer

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Beyond Recycling: Nothing New

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A Wild Apothecary: Returning to the Roots of Herbal Medicine

On Being a

BENEFICIAL INFLUENCE: OFF THE GRID AT AMPERSAND BY AMANDA AND ANDY BRAMBLE

Where is your water? What are your relationships? What are you doing? These questions are what began our love story and brought us to this land. We moved here, off the grid, with the intention of learning to live in right relationship with our land, off the beaten track in the hills outside Cerrillos. At Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve developed a process of ongoing land restoration as well as methods of growing our own food. We use this site to develop beneficial relationships with our resources, hosting classes and events to help folks move 152

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dragonflies. What do we really need? Where is your water? We definitely need water. At our site, we use it to sustain our bodies, to wash with, to grow food with. Where can we get it in a way that doesn’t harm the land or anyone who lives on it? We’re not connected to a municipal water line. We don’t have a well or live by a stream. We’d like not to have water trucked in, either. So the first source we look to, naturally enough, is rain. We look to the skies, not to the ground. We’re able to meet

falls, the plants grow, the animals graze and hunt— life literally bursts from the Earth, nourished and encouraged by the rain. What are your relationships? What else do we really need? Heat. Turns out that the most sustainable source we have for heating is this local yellow-star that we call the sun. We joke because that’s so obvious— and yet it’s so obviously overlooked as a heat source. We designed our home in a way that harvests the sun’s abundant gifts, creating our own unique relationship with it. Our house warms and cools passively. We cook with the sun nearly every day in our solar ovens. Our electricity also depends on sunlight (as well as, in part, on the petroleum involved with the production and shipping of the photovoltaic panels). We need a cooler temperature in our home during the summer, so we also have created a relationship 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

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into a sustainable future— natural building methods, rain catchment, greywater use and passive solar design—fostering community by sharing our skills and resources. At Ampersand, we don’t consider ourselves consumers—every element of an ecosystem both gives and receives. We are in the process of remembering what it means to be a healthy part of an ecosystem. What responsibilities do we have to the ecosystems we participate in which allow us to live? We all have a lot to learn from the prairie dogs, the saltbush, the lichen and the

our entire water needs at Ampersand by collecting rainwater. We ourselves are fed by the water, of course, and also, in more subtle ways, by the intimacy evolving from our connection with it as we collect it. Rainwater pours out of the tap into the kitchen sink. And after the sink, it flows into our garden. What if that’s how it was everywhere? If you get a growing population, such as ours, relying on constant groundwater pumping, you’ve created an excellent way to kill our precious desert rivers. Kill the river and you eliminate the habitat and all the wildlife dependent upon it. Diverting water from faraway sources is another way to destroy natural habitats. After nearly a decade now of collecting rainwater, here we are, looking over the land we steward, seeing that the grasses are lush, beaming with new growth, the leaves are plump, the earth is dressed in a rich carpet of life. Rain

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with the Earth. Since it’s always a stable temperature (between 55 and 60 degrees), we built our house partially underground. Refrigeration really helps to preserve food longer, too; here, we harvest ice from an opentopped cistern in the winter to keep our food cold. It’s a perfect system because in the winter there is less sunlight, making it harder to run a refrigerator from the solar panels. Re-using materials is central to our life at Ampersand. Whenever possible, we glean materials and resources that would otherwise end up in the landfill, putting them to work on our site, instead. How did our culture get to this point where we take resources from the Earth, make them into things that are useful

Industrialization has caused the climate to change in a way that is very unfavorable for not our species’ survival but it’s causing entire other species to go extinct. We’ve introduced chemicals harmful to most life forms into our land, into our water and into our atmosphere. How can we begin to think about what we really need to be happy and healthy, and design our lives from there, rather than trying to carry on with the status quo, trying to make that “sustainable”? What are you doing? The uplifting aspect of re-thinking and re-designing our lives in the way we have done at Ampersand is that we can discover great meaning and connection from doing so. A quick look at history reveals that being consumers and valuing power over other beings hasn’t brought us the happiness we expected it would. In a quality life, the sense of fulfillment comes from connection. Look to your rain, look to your land, look to the magical seasons of this Earth. Listen to the wind. Dance in the mud. Then plaster your

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for only a very, very short time and then pile them up in holes in the ground or send them out into the oceans? Seven-year-old grass clippings have been found intact in landfills. Because there is a lack of water and air in the dumping grounds to aid in bacterial digestion, the clippings don’t decompose (which would be useful in, say, growing food). We need to understand and transform the very concept of waste. The most obvious place to look for advice on this is the natural world. Waste doesn’t exist outside of human systems. The natural world is interwoven with abundant systems and elegant cycles. It’s time now to choose how we take part in this intricate relationship with intelligence and foresight.

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

house with it. Living intimately and comfortably with the basic elements brings a deep sense of fulfillment and a joy that you will want to share. Sharing this with fellow humans grows more connection. Being of service to others deepens everything further. We don’t need to wait until everyone else is doing it. In reality, we can’t. Start now. Take baby steps or giant leaps, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you start—in your brain, in your heart and, most importantly, with your actions, in your day-to-day living. Reclaim your status as an intelligent part of the intelligent Earth. It’s calling you. It will never stop calling for you. ...................................................... Amanda Bramble is a permaculturist and educator who believes our world can be made more sane by folks working together to employ common sense solutions. Andy Bramble has worked as a psych counselor; he also has developed and run programs for the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners and, after becoming interested in natural building techniques, he moved to New Mexico.

THE NATURAL STEP TACKLING THE ULTIMATE HUMAN CHALLENGE BY RANDY SADEWIC

“If you like challenges, then you picked the right time to be living,” said Lester Brown, Worldwatch Institute’s founder and long-time advocate for the planet. We certainly are being challenged at this time because, for too long, our only guidelines for how to live on this planet have come from human institutions—society, religion, government and philosophy. We have never followed a set of laws like those laid out by Nature, which defines the conditions to follow in order to survive. Collectively, we must recognize before it’s too

tive or tactical in nature, e.g. the LEED program for green building. But more often than not, these measures don’t guarantee that we will reach sustainability or protect future generations. Instead, we continue our age-old practices and simply focus on making them “less bad.” As Earth’s temperature rises, species extinction accelerates and access to water diminishes, we face a systematic decline in living

(Figure 1)

systems while, at the same time, our consumption of resources increases, driven by population, affluence and technology. This sets us on a course to overshoot Earth’s carrying capacity (Figure 3). The natural time delays between our actions and their consequences will keep us from knowing when that will happen; however, if we change the course we’re on, we may be able to give ourselves more time and more options. Dr. Karl Henrik Robert, a cancer research scientist in Sweden, collaborated with scientists to develop a holistic approach to the world’s challenges. Through this process, he identified four system conditions defining how we reach sustainability. These science-based principles form the backbone of his work: 1. Matter and energy do not disappear; 2. Matter and energy tend to disperse; 3. The value of matter is in its concentration and structure; and 4. Photosynthesis is the principal process by which net order is produced.

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late that the ultimate challenge for the human race is the challenge of sustainability. The United Nations’ Brundtland Commission states, “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This has been difficult to put into practice. Green measures have emerged that are typically prescrip-

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

From these principles emerged a framework, called The Natural Step2, which provides us with a clear definition of sustainability. The Natural Step holds that in a sustainable society, nature is not subject to increasing (1) concentrations of substances extracted from the earth’s crust (oil, natural gas, metals); (2) concentrations of human-produced substances (chemicals); or (3) degradations by physical means (breaking or diminishing nature’s cycles). It also states that in that society, people are not subject to conditions that undermine their capacity to meet their needs (resulting in degradation of the environment and nature’s cycles). A closer look at the entire manufacturing process for a portable computer helps illustrate the use of this framework. The resource inputs required to

make one laptop computer total 40,000 pounds!3 This includes materials extracted from Earth (violating System Condition #1), humanmade substances embodied in the PC or dispersed in the manufacturing process that build up in our environment (violating System Condition #2), and water resources for fabrication of the semiconductor materials (diverting water resources, violating System Condition #3). After about seven years, this toxicladen PC ends up in a landfill from which the hazardous chemicals eventually work their way into our environment (violating System Condition #2). First to embrace The Natural Step in the U.S. was a company called Interface, the largest carpet manufacturing company in the world. CEO Ray Anderson made a radical change in thinking after

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discovering the impact his company had on the environment. In 1994, he started working toward the goal of building a sustainable, restorative company. Interface developed a seven-point plan to do the following:

(Figure 2)

• • • •

eliminate waste eliminate toxic emissions use renewable energy close the loop by creating a cyclical manufacturing process • utilize resource-efficient transportation • educate the community • redesign commerce by leasing carpet called the “evergreen lease.”

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The first year Interface reduced waste, saving the company $40 million. These savings funded longterm investments and, in the last 15 years, the company has reduced its water usage by 75 percent and increased the recycled content of its products by 25 percent.4 The structure and resources for developing sus-

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tainability as an organization, community or individual can be organized into a five-level model (Figure 2). This sample model provides a context for understanding where The Natural Step fits in with other resources and tools. In turn, using The Natural Step to measure our success can help us assess if we’re moving in the direc-

tion of sustainability. Applying the framework to new technology will also help us avoid the quick fixes that create waste, harm us and compromise our environment. For example, do we have sufficient material resources to implement renewable energy on a massive global scale, achieving 100 percent of

our electricity from renewable sources by 2018? Dowa Company in Japan has taken some of the key elements of electrical production such as copper, indium, gold, germanium, zinc and nickel and estimated the remaining life of these elements at current worldwide consumption rates. According to their forecast for copper, we

have about 32 years of reserves left 5, so today it’s cheaper for Dowa to recycle metals from PCs than to continue mining those materials. Imagine garbage dumps and recycling factories becoming the source of

our resources! Integrating The Natural Step will help ensure that we can achieve our goals on a global scale and by peaceful means. Following Nature’s lead rather than our own flawed institutions will take us be-

(Figure 3)

yond the short-term goals that Al Gore and his ilk have set. Rather than debating the details, The Natural Step frames the challenges in a way that unifies diverging viewpoints and invites us all to

become problem solvers on a much larger scale. This is our ultimate challenge! .................................................. Randy Sadewic is co-owner of Positive Energy, a renewable energy company that designs, installs and services solar electric systems. Email: Randy@positiveenergysolar.com Sources and references: 1. Presentation, The Natural Step in New Mexico, by Duke Castle, February 28, 2008, dukec@comcast.net 2. The Natural Step, www.naturalstep.org 3. Paul Hawken, from Nature, Science Update, “Why Microchips Weigh Over A Kilogram,” November 26, 2002 4. Interface Global website: http://www.interfaceglobal.com/ Sustainability/Progress-toZero.aspx 5. Dowa Chemical, www.dowa.ja

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AT THE HEART OF A BIONEER BY NINA SIMONS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER SPELMAN

When Kenny Ausubel first came to me with the concept of producing a Bioneers Conference in 1990, we imagined it would be valuable to spread news of the many effective innovations for restoring the relationship of people and planet more widely, helping to leverage the pressure for change. We figured that the people working on systemic and nature-based solutions to our most pressing environmental and social challenges surely must already know each other. We were surprised, then, to discover that almost all of them were operating separately, many having no prior knowledge of each others’ work! One primary purpose of Bioneers became to facilitate cross-pollinating ideas, best practices and approaches across fields of endeavor both related and diverse.

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wouldn’t be enough to change our course. What was also needed was a change of heart. At the conference in 1994, physicist, ecologist and activist Vandana Shiva, describing the Age of Biology, offered some crucial distinctions between a Bioneer and a pioneer: One will look very much like the pioneers, who thought that every land they conquered was an empty land. It had no peo-

ple. It had no prior inhabitants, so they saw no need to respect any rights. Ecological Bioneers, on the other hand, recognize that every step we take is on a full earth populated by a tremendous variety of species and many other people. The pioneer ‘empty land’ ethic leads to violence against species and to genocide. The colonizing pioneer mind assumes there are no limits to be respected, no ecological lim-

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Between 150 to 200 people gathered in Santa Fe for our first conference. We were all so happy to find each other—it felt like some kind of revival meeting. From the beginning, we honored the Earth’s original Bioneers, the indigenous peoples, whose traditional cultural and ecological knowledge is vital to informing the reinvention of how to live on Earth now. We also recognized that, by themselves, all the technical solutions

2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

its, no ethical limits, no limits to greed or accumulation, no limits to inequality and no limits to the violence to be unleashed on other species and people. Ecological Bioneers know that limits are the first law of nature, encoded in the ecological processes that make life possible—limits of the nutrient cycle in soil, limits of the water cycle. The limits set by the intrinsic right of diverse species to exist set limits on our actions, if we genuinely respect other beings. To be sustainable, a society must live within those limits. Obeying these ethical limits, ecological Bioneers respect all beings, large and small, without a hierarchy of superiority and inferiority, because everything has a part to play in the web of life, even if we do not fully understand how. I have come to think of that web of connection with a phrase that Dr. Martin Luther King coined— ‘beloved community’—as it reminds me how much my heart longs for us to

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achieve this. For the first 10 years or so, I considered the Bioneers to be the visionary innovators on stage. All that changed when the late J.L. Chestnut spoke at the conference in 2001. The renowned attorney from Alabama and legendary civil rights activist told a story of winning the largest class action lawsuit in the history of this nation against the U.S. government for enacting institutional racism against black farmers in the South. It was a powerful talk. In it, he did something I’d never heard before: He began to use the word Bioneers to address everyone in the theater. He noted that the progress that’s being made, slowly but surely, to bring our country toward racial and social justice and true democracy was due in part to the efforts of “you Bioneers, dedicated progressive people like you.”

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He went on to say: “I raise these concerns to you because fighting on behalf of women, on behalf of minority people of color, fighting on behalf of the environment and the planet are all one big battle. We Bioneers know that violence, greed, racism, unchecked materialism and abuse of this planet and the nature in and on it is its own form of terrorism. And it will eventually destroy us if we don’t first put an end to it.” This was a revelatory moment for me. I understood that we are all Bioneers, if we choose to be. All our contributions, all our collective creativity and imagination are needed to remake this world. I knew that this living social systems sculpture that is Bioneers asks each of us to play our part in transforming the world. And so I embarked on a quest to notice which particular aspect of

hopeful future while fully feeling how the anger, sorrow and loss ignite me to act more decisively for positive change. There’s no doubt in my heart and mind that, in order to make the necessary largescale changes ahead of us, we all need each other. Authentic friendship, collaboration and community are essential, right now and even more so in the years to come. Bridging our differences will determine whether, and how, we may succeed. The author N. Scott Momaday wrote, “We live in a house made of stories.” These stories that live within us give meaning to our lives. We Bioneers are collectively helping change our collective story, from one of fear to one of hope, from destruction to restoration. Carrying the stories that inspire you and retelling them to each other is among the most powerful ways we can change the world. In the same way birds carry seeds in their feathers, spreading fertility wherever they go, we can carry stories of innovation, transformation and hope that will help seed the restoration of a beautiful, just, healthy and loving world. .................................................. Nina Simons is a social entrepreneur and cofounder of Bioneers. She currently focuses largely on writing and teaching about women’s leadership and on leveraging Bioneers’ inspiring solutions and stories to make the biggest difference.

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this massive reinvention sparked me the most, and to step into my own particular way of responding— acting on behalf of what I most love, what I find most sacred and serving that. I discovered that, for me, personally, being a Bioneer is—at its heart—about the art of relationship. I believe what we’re facing now is a rupture in the fabric of our relational web, experiencing impacts from a legacy of violence that manifests on every level of our society, from the personal, emotional and physical to the economic, political and environmental. We all, regardless of our differences, bear the scars of a culture founded on conquest, exploitation, oppression. With patterns so entrenched, so pervasive and so overwhelming, how can we shift our course? Thankfully, each of us has the capacity for self-reflection and choice. Every time we opt to relate caringly to an ‘other’ across the differences that divide us, choosing to meet on common ground instead of reinforcing a sense of false separation, we begin to help heal and restore our social landscape. Over these past 20 years, I’ve learned the necessity of feeling the full emotional spectrum of what we’re facing: the inspiration, joy and relief at discovering the abundance of available and effective solutions as well as the pain, loss and outrage at the ongoing violence and destruction. I keep choosing to maintain my focus on co-creating a

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BEYOND RECYCLING: NOTHING NEW BY GAIL SNYDER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIM KURIAN

What if you made the commitment, in front of a group of close friends and neighbors, not to buy anything new—with the exception of food, health care products and underwear—for a whole year? That’s what a group from San Francisco did at the beginning of 2006. Tired of their role as consumers relentlessly bombarded by commercials, billboards and jingles, they decided to give it up for Mother Earth—literally.

SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE

They call themselves The Compact and their ground rule is simple: Don’t buy anything new. Go instead to thrift stores, consignment shops, Salvation Army, CraigsList, freecycle.org, eBay and flea markets. Get books and movies at the library. Borrow tools; scavenge, barter, trade. Make what you need out of discards. Within the first year, more than 3,000 people from all over the world joined the Compact. “It’s been staggering,” cofounder John Perry told

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the San Francisco Chronicle. “We never set out to start a movement or to be holierthan-thou models of righteous behavior, but it’s been very gratifying to see the impact.” Most felt very little sense of deprivation as a result of their self-imposed abstinence. In fact, as one points out in the Washington Post, by vastly curtailing his spending, “I drink way better wine now.” For a wealth of information, supplemented with articles and links, go to http://www.sfgate.com.

“We’ve enjoyed the camaraderie and competitive spirit with friends,” Perry told the Chronicle. Another Compact-er, Shawn Rosenmoss, said, “I think a big part of our consumer culture has to do with being independent, not asking people for things. But with the Compact, you have to borrow a lot—and you realize it’s OK.” Following is a group of categories listing just a few of the wide and varied ways of reusing resources. Just one thing: You don’t have to get on this path

but, if you do, it’s a Mad Max world you’ll be entering and, once there, it’s guaranteed you’ll never want to get off. Sensible Batteries: One rechargeable can replace several hundred alkalines. Bicycles: Use of pirated parts keeps yours going and going. Books: Haunt secondhand stores. Create your own neighborhood library. Laundry: Replace bleach with baking soda. Hang to dry. Mend and patch.

Tires: Transform into roofing shingles, shoe soles, mud flaps, doormats, planters—and, of course, tree swings. Wish I’d Thought of It Cat litter: Shred newspapers into thin strips. So cheap you can change it every day. Egg cartons: Fill each section with compost and grow seedlings. Tuff shed: Add some electrical wiring, an arm chair and a toaster oven and you’ve got an art studio/office. Brilliant Planet Reuse.com: Free connection to architects, designers, contractors and material reclaimers. Earthships: Build an entire sustainable house out of reused everything. Wizard! Shipping containers: Transform into apartments, houses, offices (see http://boxhaus.net).

SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE

Magical Once upon a time, as the world at large began to slowly lose its little mind, the villagers of Madrid, New Mexico discovered an ethereal zone not unlike the Bermuda Triangle, upon which they set the Free Box, an agreed-upon place to bring unwanted clothes, shoes and the odd twisted sheet or kitchen utensil. No one in Madrid had much money so most of the clothes were kinda junky. But this was a town of artists, after all, and every full moon or so, this

little packrat shack periodically relaxed into its Mystery Spot vortex, unfocusing its gaze, blunting the sharpness and untying the tangles. As its imagination slowly let loose, our Free Box sank into such a delicious Technicolor Dreamtime that Walt Disney, that old weasel, twitched and jerked in his refrigerated crypt, drooling with envy. All through the night, as the Free Box lay dreaming, cars and vans would pull up, in various stages of disrepair, disgorging treasures of such sleekness and finery, so uniquely weird and splendid, that the villagers could only gasp in wonder as, the following morning, one or two would happen by and, startled out of their own complicated reveries, stumble upon the recently delivered score! No one could explain where any of it came from—it was as if the vehicles were driven by ghosts—and no one had ever seen such things for sale in any store. All the villagers knew for sure was that the Free Box somehow manifested all manner of wonders, miraculously, endlessly. And that without it, O Best Beloved, life would be as drab and flat as the world at large was once supposed, in the days before Columbus set sail and didn’t fall over the edge. .................................................. Gail Snyder is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

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HOW TO: Make Play-Dough

• In a cooking pot, mix 2 cups flour, 1cup salt, 2 cups water, 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon cream of tartar (equal parts baking soda and baking powder can be substituted for cream of tartar). • Cook over low heat, stirring until dough is no longer sticky. • Cool slightly and divide into a few balls. Add a drop of food coloring to each ball, and knead until thoroughly mixed. • Store in an airtight container.

Make Deodorant

Behold the power of baking soda. This simple, non-toxic recipe yields a deodorant that will tame the stink off a goat. • Melt 3 tablespoons shea butter and 2 tablespoons coconut oil in a microwave or double boiler. • Mix in 3 tablespoons baking soda and 2 tablespoons corn starch. • Add Vitamin E oil from two pierced gel caps. • Add a few drops of essential oil of your choice, or leave unscented. • Pour the mixture into a small container and allow to cool. • Rub a small amount of the cream on your underarms as needed.

SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE

Speaking of baking soda, experiment with it as a shampoo. Use an old shampoo bottle to mix 3 tablespoons baking soda with 3 cups water. Mix well. Don’t expect any lather, but do expect to be pleasantly surprised by the results. For a homemade conditioner, mix 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar with 3 cups water. The vinegar smell rinses out completely and your hair is left nourished and tangle free. -SSFRG staff

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2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

A WILD APOTHECARY: RETURNING TO THE ROOTS OF HERBAL MEDICINE BY A. KYCE BELLO | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIM KURIAN

New Mexicans are heirs to a rich herbal tradition that encourages us to be our own healers. The appeal of gathering medicine from our gardens and the wild is as ancient as humanity, a memory passed down from our ancestors and alive in us still. Foraging rosehips, hanging bundles of mint to dry or steeping osha roots in honey are practices that nurture us in more ways than one. They are an act of faith in our ability to heal ourselves using gentle remedies. They connect us with the seasonal rhythms of our home and foster a sense of interdependence with what herbalist Rosemary Gladstar calls the Green Nations.

SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE

Unfortunately, the practice of picking and using plants in this age-old way has been interrupted by modernity. Our herbs come from stores now and much of our knowledge of how to use them from books. We take herbs that have been processed until they are unrecognizable as plants, from sources as far away as China. This distancing

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from the plants denies us a major benefit of using herbs as medicine—that is, the closeness it fosters between humans and the natural world. If that were the only cost of commercial herbalism, it would be sad, but not tragic. In reality, the consequences are more serious. Our hunger for “all-natural” cures has resulted in

highly unsustainable practices. The mainstreaming of herbal remedies has led to depletion of wild herb stands and contributed to the endangerment of plants like goldenseal and American ginseng. Progress has been made in recent years to protect and cultivate such herbs but, increasingly, the emphasis in herbalism is to focus on

bioregional herb alternatives. Bioregional herbalism refers to what our ancestors have always done: Use the plants that grow nearby. When we re-localize our habits, even in ways as symbolic as making tea from the mint in our gardens, we empower ourselves as healers, deepen our sense of place and reduce the harm we impose on the planet. Conversely, when we take herbs grown and processed hundreds of miles away, we separate ourselves a little further from the dirt our medicine comes from. The link between place and health, ours and the planet’s, is broken. Regionally based herbalists are able to tend the wild herb stands that provide them with medicine in a way that large-scale herb companies cannot. They monitor the condition of the plants on a regular basis, noting the impact of their actions not just on a single species but on the

SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

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SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE

How to become your own herbalist: Start from where you are. Invite an herbalist to make a house call and introduce you to your weedy neighbors. Need help finding an herbalist? Start at your farmer’s market or local herb store. Take an herb walk or venture out on your own with Michael Moore’s classic guide, Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West. Research the medicinal uses of ornamental herbs in your garden like lavender, Echinacea and California poppy. Rosemary Gladstar’s Family Herbal: A Guide to Living with Health, Energy, and Vitality is an excellent resource, with everything you need to know to make your own remedies. If you have a tendency toward a particular ailment, learn which plants are specific for those conditions and seek them out, either on your own or with the help of an herbalist. Even if you don’t harvest your own herbs, learn to identify them. If you do wildcraft, follow the tenets of ethical harvesting. Know your plant and what it’s used for. Pick only what you can use in a year’s time, or no more than one-fourth of the total stand. Harvest plants only from healthy, abundant stands away from roads and other impacted areas. And if you feel inclined, give a small offering in thanks.

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2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

health of the larger ecology. Because they are place-based, local herbalists facilitate balance between human and botanical communities, discouraging the devastation of over-harvesting. In other words, bioregional herbalism is a simple, common sense way to reduce our impact and renew our role as caretakers of the land. The shift to using local herbs needn’t be painful. In fact, refocusing on the abundant wild apothecary around us, even in this socalled desert, allows us to experience the benevolence of the plant world firsthand. One herbalist I know insists that almost any condition for which one would use herbs could be treated with the abundant weed

malva alone. Early Spanish settlers would agree. Considered a cure-all, malva was eaten as a food and used to aid everything from headache to childbirth. Today, it is used to cool swollen, inflamed tissue both inside and outside of the body. Malva leaves make a soothing poultice for insect bites, diaper rash and wounds. As a tea, it is an excellent home remedy for sore throats and painful coughs. I also reach for my dried bundle of malva for stomachaches and to relieve ulcers and urinary tract infections. Best of all, this powerful plant is probably growing within a mile of your home, if not at your doorstep. It’s not a very fancy way to work, this business of

picking what’s nearby. It lacks the appeal of colorful labels and shiny amber bottles, the convenience of powdered and encapsulated herbs. But when we seek out and use the myriad remedies found locally, we take steps to care not only for our bodies but the larger biome we inhabit. We enter into a partnership with the plants, one based on mutual wellbeing. The excesses of the modern world have injured the health of both humans and the environment—perhaps it is time for some oldworld ministrations or a cup of malva tea. ...................................................... A. Kyce Bello is a SSFRG staff member. Please see "About the Staff and Artists," page 12.

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ADVERTISING/MAR- BANK/FINANCIAL KETING/MEDIA SERVICES

A.D. Design.....................27 982-8285 Artman Productions .......125 820-2871 Discovery Exhibits.........131 820-1865 GAM Photography.........163 699-8239 Green Fire Times ...........169 471-5177 Jennifer Esperanza Photography...............................165 982-3457 Jennifer Spelman Photography...............................103 1-303-587-7253 Kim Kurian Photography 171 603-8348 Mind Over Markets .........65 989-4004 Santa Fe Reporter ...........87 988-5541 SAR Press.....................101 954-7260 Tuff Dog Design...............49 424-1439 Xylem Creative .............157 1-502-640-6400

ARCHITECTS/ BUILDERS

Autotroph Design ............77 216-7555 Denman and Associates ...94 983-6014 Earthen Touch Natural Builders ........................162 1-505-929-7350 Kreger Design Build .......162 660-9391 Mark Chalom ................175 983-1885 Spears Architects.............27 983-6966 Verde Design Group.......157 474-8686

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Century Bank ....................7 955-1200 First National Bank of Santa Fe .....................61 992-2000 Horizon Sustainable Financial Services ..........131 982-9661 LANB ................................0 954-5400 New Mexico Educators Federal Credit Union ..........9 467-6000 State Employees Credit Union....................97 983-7328

BICYCLES

Rob and Charlies ...........174 471-9119 The Broken Spoke............77 992-3102

BUILDING MATERIAL

American Clay ...................2 1-866-404-1634 American Clay ...............175 1-866-404-1634 Brother Sun...................176 471-5157 DAHL Plumbing ...............25 438-5096 DAHL Plumbing .............101 438-5096 Linson’s ................................147. 984-8700 Mexico Lindo Furniture ....11 820-9898 Mountain Valley Lumber 113 1-719-655-2400 New Mexico Stone ..........31 820-7625 Nudura - Verde Materials 17 474-8686 Santa Fe Habitat for Humanity ReStore ...........65 473-1114 Southwest Green Building Center................57 1-505-821-6259

CLOTHING/FABRICS

Linson’s ........................147 984-8700 Near Sea Naturals ...........73 474-1459 Santa Fe Hemp..............119 984-2599 Santa Fe Quilting...........162 473-3747 Sense Clothing.................21 988-5534 SOS From Texas ..............79 1-800-245-2339 Tiny Tots.........................99 204-1653; 757-2281

EDUCATION

Academy for the Love of Learning ...................103 995-1860 Camino de Paz School and Farm ........................79 1-505-747-9717 Dragonfly School ............49 995-9869 Earth Care International...155 983-6896 FACT (Fine Arts for Childen and Teens).........175 992-2787 Harvest the Rain .............60 690-7939 Northern New Mexico College ...........................83 1-505-747-2100 Permaculture Institute ...137 455-0514 Quivira Coalition ...........146 820-2544 Santa Fe Alliance .............29 989-5362 Santa Fe Area Home Builder Association ........149 982-1774 Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce .....................111 988-3279 Santa Fe Community College .........................166 428-1000 Santa Fe Mountain Center ..........................175 983-6158

Santa Fe Waldorf School ..93 983-9727; 992-0566 SAR Press.....................101 954-7206 Southwestern College ......61 471-5756

FOOD/FARMING/ GROCERY

Beneficial Farms ............103 470-1969 Farm to Restaurant (SF Alliance)..................127 989-5362 La Montanita Coop ........177 984-2852 Peas ‘n’ Pod Catering, Inc ..117 438-2877 Santa Fe Farmers Market111 983-4098 The Food Depot ...............73 471-1633 The Old Windmill Dairy ....27 1-505-384-0033 Whole Foods Market .......51 992-1700

FURNITURE

Mexico Lindo Furniture ....11 820-9898 Scott Ernst Custom Woodworks ....................29 757-2786 Stephen’s Consignment Gallery ...........................97 471-0802

GOVERNMENT

City of Santa Fe Economic Development.....95 955-6915 “City of Santa Fe Parks, Trails and Watershed - Parks Division”...........171 955-2100 “City of Santa Fe Parks, Trails and Watershed - Water Division”............85 955-6840 City of Santa Fe Public Works (Santa Fe Trails) ...........................141 955-6592

[2009] City of Santa Fe Water Conservation.......169 955-4225 New Mexico State Land Office .....................67 827-5760 NM-EMNRD - Energy Conservation and Management Division .......6 476-3310 Santa Fe Convention and Visitors Bureau ..............47 955-6200

HEALTH

Advance Janitor Supply..139 989-7188 Exploring Health..............32 982-0044 Gabriel Roybal DDS: Whole Being Enhancement.....38-39 989-8749 Lakind Dental Group ........35 988-3500 Life Vessel ........................1 473-1200

LANDSCAPING/REST ORATION/NURSERY Down to Earth Landscapes...65 983-5743 Down to Earth Landscapes...6 983-5743 Dryland Solutions ............77 577-9625 Ecoscapes......................157 424-9004 Franco’s Trees .................65 412-2875 Harvest the Rain .............60 690-7939 Native Earth Landscaping162 316-2284 New Mexico Stone ..........31 820-7625 Payne’s Nurseries ...........55 988-8011 Plants of the Southwest...169 438-8888 Rangeland Hands...........111 455-7325; 470-3542

Santa Fe Greenhouses, Inc...167 473-2700 Santa Fe Permaculture ...103 424-4444 Santa Fe Tree Farm........157 984-2888 Soil Secrets ...................161 1-505-550-3246 The Harmonic Ecological Design Studio ..................51 908-9598 Tooley’s Trees ...............162 1-505-689-2400

NON PROFITS

Academy for the Love of Learning .......................103 995-1860 Bioneers .......................163 986-0366 Camino de Paz School and Farm ........................79 1-505-747-9717 Commonweal Conservancy32 982-0071 Dragonfly School ............49 995-9869 Earth Care International...155 983-6896 FACT (Fine Arts for Childen and Teens).........175 992-2787 Farm to Restaurant (SF Alliance)..................127 989-5362 Los Amigos ERC Inc........159 983-7743 New Mexico Land Conservancy ...................89 986-3801 Permaculture Institute ...137 455-0514 Quivira Coalition ...........146 820-2544 Santa Fe Alliance .............29 989-5362 Santa Fe Area Home Builder Association ........149 982-1774 Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce .....................111 988-3279 Santa Fe Farmers Market ...111 983-4098

Santa Fe Habitat for Humanity ReStore ..........................65 473-1114 Santa Fe Mountain Center175 983-6158 The Food Depot ...............73 471-1633 The Housing Trust...104-105 989-3960

OTHER

Advance Janitor Supply..139 989-7188 Amanda’s Flowers ...........28 473-9212 Heard, Robins, Cloud, Black and Lubel LLP .........19 986-0600 Linson’s ........................147 984-8700 Spirit To Spirit .................17 1-505-927-5407

PETS

The Critters and Me.........61 982-5040 The Feed Bin ...................63 982-0511

REAL ESTATE

Commonweal Conservancy32 982-0071 DeVito Properties............29 982-4466 Garden Compound .........125 983-2213 Interval Ownership .........57 983-2213 Oshara Village ..............147 316-0449 Santa Fe Land and Homes Anne Ward....................122 670-5001 The Housing Trust...104-105 989-3960 The Sanctuary ...............143 983-2213 Vistas Bonitas Subdivision ............150-151 992-2750

RENEWABLE ENERGY

ADI Solar ......................139 1-575-422-3088, 505-490-0994 bellasolar......................171 660-8272, 660-6220 DPW Solar ....................145 1-505-889-3585 Energy Concepts ............139 466-4043 Medlin Mechanical ...........67 577-8087 NM-EMNRD - Energy Conservation and Management Division .......6 476-3310 Positive Energy .............137 424-1112 Renewable Energy Partners .......................143 466-4259 Schott Solar - Positive Energy ..............................3 424-1112 The Firebird...................129 983-5264 WindSunNM....................77 670-1792

RESTAURANTS

Agua Santa .....................63 982-6297 Annapurna ......................18 988-9688 El Parasol .....................147 995-TACO India House...................123 471-2651 Joe’s Santa Fe...............123 471-3800 Mu Du Noodles..............165 983-1411 Over Easy Café .............122 474-6336 Peas ‘n’ Pod Catering, Inc................................117 438-2877 Plaza Café Downtown .....51 982-1664 Plaza Southside Café .....109 424-0755 Real Food Nation...........121 466-3886 2010 SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

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Second Street Brewery ..119 982-3030 Tree House Café ............131 474-5543 Zia Diner ......................127 988-7008

RETAIL

Advance Janitor Supply..139 989-7188 Amanda’s Flowers ...........28 473-9212 Kowboyz ........................28 984-1256 Moon Rabbit Toys ...........49 982-9373 Reflective Images............89 988-7393 Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works..............79 984-8221 Santa Fe Exchange...........99 983-2043

SERVICES

A.D. Design.....................27 982-8285 Covington Consulting .......57 982-0044 Creative Couriers...........131 920-6370 Heard, Robins, Cloud, Black and Lubel LLP .........19 986-0600 Light Green ...................125 310-5500 Los Amigos ERC Inc........159 983-7743 Medlin Mechanical ...........67 577-8087 Net Pros .........................99 474-0822 Peas ‘n’ Pod Catering, Inc................................117 438-2877

Santa Fe Community Housing Trust.........104-105 989-3960 Santa Fe Party Rentals ....97 986-1200 Tiny Tots.........................99 204-1653; 757-2281 Verde LEED Consultants ...63 780-0715

TRANSPORTATION

Beaver Toyota Scion ......178 982-1900 Creative Couriers...........131 920-6370 Electric Cars of Albuquerque....................35 1-505-681-3391 Hal Burns Power Systems........................146 471-1671

Rob & Charlieʼs 1/2 Ad Page 174

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Hal Burns Truck and Equipment...............143 471-1671 Premier Motors.............101 471-7007 SF Southern Railways......81 989-8600

WATER

DAHL Plumbing ...............25 438-5096 DAHL Plumbing .............101 438-5096 Harvest the Rain .............60 690-7939 Rain Catcher ...................33 501-4407 The Firebird...................129 983-5264 Water Lady.....................93 1-505-660-4162

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SUSTAINABLE SANTA FE: A RESOURCE GUIDE

EARTH CARE INTERNATIONAL