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Essence of Los Alamos and White Rock October/November 2011, Volume 4, Issue 6
LIVING GREEN IN LOS ALAMOS Green Halloween • LANL Cleanup • Recycling Tips Electric Vehicles • Organic Farming the
Essence October/November 2011
Dave & Andy Fox CB FOX
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the Essence Getting Green Locally ........................ 6 Commuter to Community ............. 8 Green Halloween ............................ 10 Environmental Milestone Achieved by LANL ...........................12 Upcycled Art ..........................................14 Local Inventor Shares Green Ideas............................................16 LA Businesses Grow Greener...18 10 Recycling Tips .............................. 20 Calendar of Events
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Local Happenings in Your Town..............................
Organic = Quality on Area Farm....................................... 23 Electric Vehicles Offer Clean Quiet Alternative ............ 23
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Editor’s Note
Participating CommunityMatters Chamber Members Assets in Action Atomic City Cleaning B & B Environmental Safety Inc. Bennett’s Jewelry Best Westerm Hilltop House Hotel Blue Window Bistro Brownells Hallmark CB FOX & CB FOX Kidz Don Taylor’s Photography Enchanted Paradise Spa Family Strengths Network Family YMCA Fuller Lodge Art Center Hill Diner Hope Fellowship Juvenile Justice Board- LA Lorraine Hartway Los Alamos Co-Op Marke Los Alamos Family Council Los Alamos Farmers’ Market Los Alamos Fitness Center Los Alamos Heart Council Los Alamos Historical Museum Los Alamos Medical Center Los Alamos National Bank Los Alamos Properties Los Alamos Public Schools Lou Santoro State Farm New York Life North Road Inn Pajarito Greenhouse Pajarito Mountain Ski Area Pet Pangaea Real Estate Associates Ruby K’s United Way of Northern NM UNM Los Alamos UPEX
Welcome to the Essence! The Essence, a bi-monthly publication, created to inform and remind the community of what’s special about living in Los Alamos and White Rock. The Theme of this issue is “Going Green.” We must change our lifestyle to benefit the environment. It’s up to us to make a conscious decision every minute of the day that effects global warming, pollution and loss of animal habitats. The future depends on us. Going green involves sustainable living, using environmentally friendly products and reusing/recycling. Sustainable living is limiting the use of natural resources and increasing self sufficiency by altering modes of transportation, conserving energy, changing one’s diet and buying locally produced items. Please try to buy local first support our CommunityMatters participants (left). Buying environmentally friendly products is so easy now. They are available at our local markets and retailers. Recycled paper products, nontoxic household cleaners and organic foods minimize the damage or harm to our air, water, soil and animal life. The Essence is printed on 100% recycled paper. All of the inks are soy based. We recycle all of the printing plates and any other materials used in the process. Recycling has become second nature. We just have to go the extra mile to recycle the things, like glass, that cannot be taken by the County. Information is knowledge. I hope you can take away important information from these articles. à à à à à à à à
Upcycled Art Romero Farms organic methods Top 10 Ways to Recycle Essential Person – Robert Hockaday Green Halloween Local Business Owners offer sustainable gifts CommunityMatters interview with Jim Nesmith Green Businesses
The smallest steps can be taken towards living green. Just start. The more you learn, the more you will want to do for our planet earth.
Suzette Fox, Editor Community Projects Coordinator/LA MainStreet Manager Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation 505.661.4844, suzette@losalamos.org
ABOVE: The exterior may be blue, but under the hood this car is all green. This 1974 Porshe 914 , converted to battery power, can be seen cruising the streets of Los Alamos. ON THE COVER: Matt Romero cooks up his organically grown green chilies at the Los Alamos Farmer’s Market.
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the Essence Suzette Fox Editor
Claire Roybal Ads Coordinator Cindy Whiting, Katy Korkos, Kevin Holsapple Content Editors FYILA.com Your best local resource for news, events, business directory and more.
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Getting Green Locally At CB FOX you can find a recliner made from recycled leather or a reusable shopping bag that is both stylish and eco-friendly.
Products from renewable resources, products made from post-consumer things like soda bottles and paper, natural products that take the place of synthetics, cleaning supplies that can be tolerated by babies and people with allergies- products that will keep us, our pets and the planet happy and healthy. Our local business owners, like Cheryl Sowder from Finishing Touch, Cyndi Wells from Pet Pangaea and Dave Fox from CB Fox are all looking out for those perfect products and bringing them to us savvy shoppers. Pet Pangaea- poison-free fly trap, biodegradable dog waste bags, pet toys made with recycled materials that have the added benefit of donating a percentage of sales to canine service organizations. Finishing Touch- HunterDouglas shades made from recycled soda bottles, cork flooring made from leftover cork (renewable resource) after wine corks are punched from it, Mohawk’s Carpets made from corn, tiles made from more than 50% post consumer recycled materials, from a factory less than 500 miles from the Finishing Touch, creating a smaller carbon footprint. CB FOX- lightweight refillable water bottles, eco-friendly bags that roll up into a tiny package to fit inside a woman’s purse, yet carry up to 44 pounds, comfy furniture made with recycled leather, blankets made 100 percent from recycled materials, pillows and comforters that mimic down but are made completely without petroleum or animal products.
Finishing Touch carries a variety of flooring made from renewable and earth-friendly materials
Holiday Inn Express- is working to save both energy and money with low water flow fixtures, timers and dimmers for lighting, air-conditioning controls and a master switch for electricity. Los Alamos Cooperative Market- as you might expect, the Coop is at the forefront of environmentally sound business practices in Los Alamos, with organic and local produce and organically produced milk and meats. But it’s not all brown rice and beet greens- organic chocolates, fair trade coffee and tasty fresh fruit are in ample supply.
Fresh organic produce and recycled paper towels available at the Los Alamos Co-Op Market.
Uli’s- Stylish natural fibers are the order of the day at Uli’s Boutique. Owner Uli Campbell is constantly on the lookout for locally sourced items such as the Naptime Bears and organic wool-filled bedding from New Mexico. She also prefers to buy direct from artists and artisans, where she can have input on how the items are produced. Shopping locally is a good way to reduce your carbon footprint, too.
CommUnityMatters Deep down inside, we all know how much our community matters to us- but sometimes it takes a crisis to bring that knowledge home to us. The CommUnity Matters program of the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce got its start when our largest employer was threatening layoffs, and there was a real need for connections and support from both the business and the non-profit community. Since that time, the program has continued to try to strengthen the ties between the community and Chamber members. When you read The Essence, you are reading a publication of the Chamber of Commerce’s CommUnity Matters initiative. In it, we’re not trying to beat anyone over the head with any message about “shop locally” – we’re just trying to tell the story of our Community- the people and organizations that make it a unique and wonderful place to live. The Chamber started this initiative because our members requested it.They came to us saying “we’re having a hard time telling our story, and getting the word out about how much we care about the community. Features of CommUnity Matters include not only the Essence, but lots of other programs, such as our booth at the Gordon’s Con-
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certs, our Destination Retail Summit, and even the fyiLA calendar. If you’ve ever used one of the special offers from LA Deals, or filled out a feedback card at a local business, you’ve been a part of this program. We’ve handed out all of the thousands of reusable bags that CommUnity Matters produced, and helped the whole Community come together after the Las Conchas fire by providing communications to the business community, from Bandelier, the County and from state government. You can read these words many different ways and all of them are correct: • These are Matters that concern our Community • Our Community Matters (is of importance) to us The Unity of our Community is what matters- the fact that we can gather together and form lasting relationships
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CommunityMatters Commuter to Community Essence Interview with Jim Nesmith
Essence: Tell us about yourself and your history with the Los Alamos community. Jim Nesmith: I first came here around 1990 from Chicago as an immigration specialist. My wife Jamie had a position as an immigration officer in Albuquerque and I commuted to work here -- we lived in Rio Rancho at the time. Life as a commuter to Los Alamos went on for eight years into the late nineties and we eventually relocated to Texas where, after continuing to commute to Los Alamos for another year or so, I was able to get a position as international faculty coordinator at Texas Tech. In 2006, another position came up in Los Alamos that I wanted and I became a long distance commuter again commuting weekly for the next three years. As a commuter, you live a somewhat schizophrenic existence. The communities were so different and I never spent enough time in either to feel like I was fully part of a community. The commute in New Mexico was sure better and a lot more beautiful than in Chicago. But I’m sure glad that commuter days are behind me. Our kids stayed in school in the Lubbock area and my wife was still working at her position there. Jamie was killed in a car accident in in Lubbock in 2009 and there was no way for my kids and I to stay in Texas with my job being here. We moved up here, and the response of this community to our needs during the incredibly difficult times for us was just phenomenal. My son and daughter transitioned to the schools here and are in high school here now. Linda Hull and Lou Santoro were truly phenomenal in helping us out. They were the ones who introduced me to Rotary Club, a community organization that I have gotten involved with that has given me a great perspective on our community and what it means to get involved with helping a small town to be its best.
are important resources. Often, immigration law prevents the trailing spouse from seeking a job, so compatible opportunities to volunteer can be both a big help and a great opportunity. A story I heard recently was that one of the founders of Self Help here in Northern New Mexico was a trailing spouse of a LANL scientist from India who saw a need and an opportunity and helped to get that organization started. Something that I think would help this part of our community would be a center, or a gathering place for the trailing spouses. Essence: What other things have you been getting involved with? Jim Nesmith: Keep an eye on the Rotary Crabfest. That is A fairly new event in the community, but I think it has been a kick! I am also working on this year’s Ruby K’s Yum Run. The Yum Run is a fun event that benefits LA Cares. It’s about fun ... community spirit. I got involved by accident as I’ve been taking up running and the Yum Run was suggested as an event that wouldn’t be too much to handle for a beginner like me. I’ve been working with Ruby and many other people who have been involved with the Yum Run over the years on a plan to permanently move the Yum Run to the Saturday morning of Halloweekend and encourage runners to wear costumes. Rotary has already pledged additional donations for the first fifty entrants to wear costumes and I hope other organizations and individuals will consider doing the same. Events like the Yum Run are yet another example of what makes this a fun community to be a part of. I have to say that there is so much that goes on here, I can only participate in a fraction of what I hear about that interests me.
Essence: I know that you have become active in the Los Alamos Rotary Club. What has that been like, and what gets you excited about that? Jim Nesmith: Rotary is working on some really fun things and it is a group that works at personal and community growth in a collective way. It is also an organization that makes a difference world-wide, and that connects well with me as my work at LANL is about helping foreign nationals to make the transition to working and thriving here. My own aspiration for Rotary is that its membership will increasingly represent the whole demographic of the Los Alamos community. We have a fascinating international diversity here and I don’t know that the whole community recognizes that. You know, we have more than 90 countries represented here. Essence: Tell us about your work and what you think are the key challenges for foreign nationals who come here. Jim Nesmith: For foreign nationals I work with, Los Alamos is often their first experience with the U.S. For the spouse that works at the lab, there is an established, built-in support system. But for their spouse and family, it can be much more difficult. Language can be tough, although programs like the English as a Second Language (ESL) program at UNM-LA
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What: 1K, 5K, and 10K fun runs to benefit LA Cares When: Saturday October 29th as part of Los Alamos Halloweekend. Costumes encouraged! Invite a friend from out of town. Where: Downtown Los Alamos start and finish
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The Frolic Have a Green
Halloween
By Mandy Marksteiner Last fall, I found an enormous package on my doorstep. I used both hands to pick it up, a knife to cut through the packaging tape, pulled out a thick wad of paper, used a pair of scissors to rip into the protective inner bubble wrap bag and finally ripped the inner-inner plastic bag to reveal a tuft of brown polyester fur. My son’s Chewbacca costume had arrived! Unfortunately the joy of seeing my two-year-old son dressed up like a Wookiee (and frankly, looking more like an Ewok) was short lived. He couldn’t wait to get out of the itchy costume, and I couldn’t wait to get rid of the heap of packaging. I made a resolution to never again buy a costume online, but make them myself. After all, Halloween is the perfect opportunity to teach your kids how to be both creative and sustainable. Here are some ways to reduce your Halloween carbon footprint. Attend Family Strengths Network’s Costume Swap. On October 4th, from 3:45 – 5:00 Family Strengths Network will host a costume swap for children ages newborn through 6th grade. Cookies and milk will be served. Bring costumes, dresses and craft materials to swap. If you don’t have a costume to give, come anyway and bring a small donation. Any costumes that remain after 5:00 will be donated.
Use your old costumes to make new ones. In my case, I could turn my toddler Wookiee costume into a Viking costume by cutting out a fur vest, and use hot glue to make a fur lined hat and fur lined boots. (www.greenhalloween.org has directions for easy DIY costumes) In addition, my husband’s Darth Vader cape could be turned into a wicked witch cape, and the Darth robotic utility belt could become part of a robot costume. The sky is the limit with what I could do with the inflatable Jabba the Hut costume I wore.
Use cardboard boxes and other packages. Village Arts has everything you need to make a wild box costume. They have pipe cleaners, foam shapes, paint, construction paper, yarn and knitting supplies and ribbons. Create box-shaped items you might want to be i.e. a toaster, refrigerator or a box of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes.
Raid your recycling bin. Have your kids glue scary faces to milk jugs and place a candle in the bottom to make ghost lanterns for your front walk. Use cardboard boxes to make a robot or a fire truck costume. Want to decorate your haunted house with super scary monsters like the ones in the windows of Village Arts? The book Paper Mache Monsters; Turn Trinkets and Trash into Magnificent Monsters was their inspiration and guide.
Use maternity clothes. New moms have plenty of usable fabric in the form of maternity clothes. And (maybe it’s the hormones) but a lot of maternity dresses have bright colorful designs perfect for a baby costume.
Visit secondhand stores. Second hand stores usually put out a rack of costumes that have been donated throughout the year.
Hand out sustainable candy. Don’t give your trick-or-treaters more of the same-old. The Co-Op has 13 flavors of Endangered Species Chocolate as well as other brands of organic and fair trade chocolate. Fast Company named Endangered Species ($3.29) one of the four most sustainable brands of candy. They also carry Surf Sweets ($1.99) pouches of all-natural gummy bears, gummy worms and jellybeans made with organic fruit juice. When Halloween approaches, they will have displays of smaller organic and sustainable candy.
Think outside the box. Sometimes it seems like kids are only interested in being Dora the Explorer, Sponge Bob Squarepants, or some other prepackaged trademarked character from TV, which makes it hard for them to accept a homemade costume. Try having a contest to see who can come up with the most creative costume.
Start small and have fun! Nalani Kimball is a YMCA instructor and mother of three. Although she didn’t have time to make a costume for her kids, she was able to make simple costumes for her dogs using old t-shirts. There wasn’t as much pressure to make it perfect, but taking the dogs door to door dressed as Peter Pan and Captain Hook was fun. Sources: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/ethical-halloween-candy4-most-sustainable-brands
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INSIGHT LANL achieves environmental milestone By Carol A. Clark Los Alamos National Laboratory has completed excavation of its 1940s Waste Disposal Site at Technical Area 21. Also known as the Delta Prime Site on DP Road, it was the area of chemical research for refining plutonium and plutonium metal production from 1945 to 1978 and as a result, most of its waste disposal activities involved plutonium. “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus funding was a tremendous boost to our TA-21 legacy cleanup,” said Manager Kevin Smith of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Site Office. “The skyline change is observable to the residents of Los Alamos and a clear symbol of NNSA’s commitment to cleaning up the environment. We are certainly pleased with the TA-21 ARRA results and we look forward to transferring the property to Los Alamos County for its reuse.” The laboratory received $212 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to perform environmental remediation work. In addition to the excavation of MDA-B, LANL’s Recovery Act projects included demolition of 24 Manhattan Project and Cold War-era buildings and the installation of 16 regional groundwater monitoring wells. As LANL’s oldest waste disposal site, Material Disposal Area B (MDAB) at TA-21, was used from 1944-48 as a waste disposal site for Manhattan Project and Cold War-era research and production. The excavation project involved removal of about 43,000 cubic yards of contaminated debris and soil from the six-acre site. The environmental cleanup work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management through the ARRA. “The completion of the excavation of MDA-B is a landmark for our Recovery Act projects and environmental cleanup efforts,” said George Rael, assistant manager for Environmental Operations at the Los Alamos Site Office. To protect workers and the public, the excavation of MDA-B was performed inside sturdy metal structures that resemble airplane hangars. The structures were equipped with fire and dust suppression systems and high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. Excavation was monitored via closed circuit television and infrared sensors. “Our crews removed the waste from this 65-year-old disposal site safely and efficiently,” said Bruce Schappell, executive director of the Recovery Act projects at the Lab. “Safety for the public, the environment and our workers was always our top priority.”
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MDA-B consisted of narrow trenches up to 35 feet deep. Though most of the waste excavated from MDA-B was soil and run-of-the-mill trash such as cardboard and protective clothing, items uncovered during excavation included the remains of two mid-1940s pickup trucks, nearly 30 inert artillery shells and a calendar from 1946. The excavated waste has been packaged per regulations and transported to appropriate disposal facilities. “Though work remains to be done at MDA-B, the completion of excavation is a real success story,” Smith said in a news release. “When the stimulus funded project is complete, the land will be available in the not too distant future for county reuse.” As per Public Law 105-119, Tract A-16, which includes MDA-B, will be conveyed in whole or in part to Los Alamos County. The laboratory also has made significant strides in terms of shipping its transuranic (TRU) waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad. “We’ve eclipsed our goal for shipping 158 shipments and will probably reach 170 shipments by the end of the month,” LANL spokesman Fred deSousa said. As part of its environmental endeavors, LANL’s new waste-processing capability allows for the repackaging of oversized TRU waste containers and accelerate inventory reduction of TRU waste at TA-54, Area G. As part of the TRU Waste Program, the new process repackages TRU waste originally packed in fiberglass reinforced plywood boxes called FRPs. The waste consists of debris from the demolition of the Lab’s first plutonium facility in the mid-1970s and process waste from the Chemistry and Metallurgy facility in the 1980s. About 90 percent of the waste is packaged in FRPs, ranging in size from 4 feet by 4 feet by 7 feet to 30 feet by 12 feet by 12 feet. About 200 FRPs are stored aboveground in domes, and an additional 200 are buried and will be retrieved as part of the project. “This new operation opens up a huge capability for us,” said Program Director Kathy Johns-Hughes in a statement. “FRPs account for roughly half of our radioactive inventory, so we’ll be able to repackage this waste for eventual shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and make real progress toward removing our legacy TRU waste.” The new process began July 21 with a phased startup approach of low-complexity boxes with lower levels of radioactivity. Project Manager Mike Romero estimates that one small box per day and one large box per week will be repackaged. By reducing the amount of TRU waste, the process helps the Lab comply with the Consent Order, an agreement signed with the State of New Mexico to remediate legacy waste. TRU waste must be removed before Consent Order remediation can take place at TA-54. Repackaging the waste into metal containers also reduces the risk that the waste could be impacted by fire. Plans are also in the works for a similar waste-processing program that will repackage larger, more complex waste, such as glovebox trains, duct work, and machining equipment.
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Arts & Culture
Upcycled Art By Mandy Marksteiner After my mom died I kept a bag of her old clothes. I stuffed the bag in the top shelf of the closet in my New York apartment. There was nothing valuable about them; they weren’t stylish, and they didn’t even fit me. But I couldn’t throw them away, because they were hers, and so they collected dust and deteriorated in the closet. When I became a mom I decided to stitch her clothes together to make a quilt for my son. I joined a Monday night craft club and got to work. After two hours I managed to join two squares. At the rate I was going the quilt would no longer be a baby blanket, but a graduation present. Luckily help was down the street at Dunn Quilting. I brought the bag (which now contained my dad’s pajamas and sweatshirt, because he too had passed away from cancer) to Nicole Dunn. I explained the situation: I wanted to show my son that his grandparents loved him. I wanted a special quilt that would keep him warm, secure and safe. Nicole was excited about the project and started spreading the garments across her worktable and asking questions about what my parents were like. Together we made a sketch of what the quilt would look like. A few weeks later it was done and I was able to start using it to tuck Calvin in at night. I loved that Nicole was so sensitive to my feelings and that she believed that using the old clothes was what made the quilt special. Using her artistic skills she was able to transform something that was losing value every day to something priceless that we will hold on to forever. When my daughter, Gloria, was born I went back to Dunn Quilting. This time I included a dress (with an impossibly tiny waistline) that my grandma wore, some hand-embroidered baby clothes that I found in my dad’s house, and some pajamas that Gloria wore when she was just born. Narra Tsiagkouris designed this quilt with little angles, hearts, and Gloria’s name embroidered on the front. Tsiagkouris is a fiber artist who often takes apart garments and repurposes them for other things. Quilts are the first things that come to mind, but she also makes pillows and handbags. When she started working at Dunn Quilting she became interested in the long rigid cardboard tubes the fabric is shipped on. They were already recycling them, but she started coming up with other uses for the tubes. Tsiagkouris started small and made recycled pincushions, which were featured in a recent issue of Greencraft magazine, published by Stampington, Inc. She then thought of dozens of other projects using the
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tubes, like a fort in a child’s bedroom, a pirate’s treasure chest, or a picture frame. “It just doesn’t end, it’s so cool!” She has so many ideas that she is writing a craft book about all the things you can make for kids using cardboard tubes. Recycling tractor parts, hardware and Grandma’s knick-knacks The Karen Wray Fine Art Gallery, on Trinity, is in a non-descript building that is easy to miss. Luckily there is an enormous scrap metal dragon in the front garden. Richard Swenson is a prolific scrap metal sculptor who began his artistic career after he retired from a scientific career. As he restored a complete collection of 64 John Deere tractors built in the 50’s, he had accumulated a ton of spare tractor parts. He said, “I started looking at the geometry and making figures out of it.” Swenson’s neighbor, David Trujillo, became interested in scrap metal art, and Swenson helped him to quickly develop the skills needed to make his own scrap metal creations (like snakes and armadillos, fish, kokopelli, and Saint James slaying a dragon) come to life. Because they are fun and reasonably priced, Trujillo’s sculptures are very popular. Karen Wray sells about two a month, and he sold six paintings at his booth at the Contemporary Indian Market in Santa Fe. He is currently working on a 6-foot snake made from a chain that must have come from a big tractor. Trujillo started out using extra parts from Swenson’s stash, but now he mainly finds the parts that he needs at the metal recycling center in Española where they take cars apart and sell the scrap for fifteen cents per pound. Once Trujillo buys it he has to sort through it, take it apart, sandblast it, polish it and weld it together. “I’m always on the lookout for metal parts,” he said. “People give it to me sometimes. Unfortunately, 50% of the stuff I get isn’t weld-able, but I’m happy to get it anyway.” Once he found a set of tools that someone threw away in the dirt of the scrap yard and was able to buy them by the pound. He also checks engine and transmission shops for parts, but he has to get there before the shop owner sells it to a refinery to be melted down and reused. “Steam Punk” and “Victorian Industrial” are two phrases that Garth Tietjen used to describe his artwork; sculptures that are made from 50-80% recycled materials. “I use gears, cogs and watches. Most of my parts actually come from relatives’ houses,” said Teitjen. “I also get some of my things from the Black Hole and second hand stores. It’s economical. And there’s just so much stuff that’s thrown away.” Insects inspire him; particularly how all the parts of an insect fit together so elegantly. For example, a beetle’s shell is so hard and shiny, but then it opens up to reveal the wings and legs. Using recycled materials allows (or forces) him to create art that is as unique as the insects he studies. “A lot of the parts and pieces become obsolete so quickly. I have to be very noncaring about what I’ll be using because every day is a new day, and I may not have all the parts and pieces that I had yesterday. So if I decide that I want to make robots, they’re all unique.”
Essence October/November 2011
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Discover Our History
What ever happened to that sweet little girl? Counseling for children, teens, adults, couples and families.
Preservation is green. Be a part of it.
For a full range of mental health and substance abuse issues.
Los Alamos Family Council 505-662-3264
Visit the Los Alamos Historical Museum, 1050 Bathtub Row Just North of Fuller Lodge
Don’t wait until there’s a serious problem.
Free Admission, 9:30-4:30 Mon.-Fri., 11-4 Sat., 1-4 Sun. www.losalamoshistory.org 505-662-6272
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Essential Person
Day Dream Believer By Kelly Dolejsi Robert Hockaday looks like an ordinary guy. He’s a little tall, but not outrageously. He’s thin, but not scrawny. His graying mustache is demure, his spectacles the standard wireframed variety. He favors khakis and collared shirts. He looks perfectly harmless until he starts talking about solar panels, heat sinks, military goggles and the human simulator. At that point, his blue eyes become so excited, electric, energized they’re almost giggling, and one starts to realize he’s not just unusual: He’s a guy out to change the world. As he puts it, “I want to infect the world with a better idea.” Hockaday is the founder of Energy Related Devices, a small Los Alamos business devoted to wacky engineering ideas that just might save the planet. He is an organizer of and regular presenter for Los Alamos Sustainable Energy, a subchapter of the New Mexico Solar Energy Association. Earlier this month, he also exhibited his work at Los Alamos MainStreet’s Next Big Idea festival and led hands-on activities with kids on STEM Student Day, an event designed to stimulate interest and inspire young people to seek careers in science, technology, engineering and math. He said he likes to show kids safe explosions, because as it turns out, most of today’s engineers were inspired by explosions. Mostly though, Hockaday’s an inventor. He created a heat-exchange system for goggles that keep out moisture under the hottest, most sweat-soaked conditions. He made doll hair that curls up and straightens depending on the temperature. The “hair” is made out of the same material as bags of potting soil and frozen green beans. The Mylar and polyethylene plastic can also potentially be used to make air vents for green houses and even photovoltaic solar roofs that store heat for use during the night -- “like a venetian blind that runs itself,” Hockaday said. It’s similar to what plants do. It costs pennies. Hockaday formulated kind of steel mesh that significantly increases the efficiency of solar panels. Because anything that gunks up the surface greatly decrease a solar panel’s energy absorbance, he’s also working on a photocatalyst that will “eat” bird excrement right off. In the near future, Hockaday envisions making infinitely rechargeable batteries and a car that runs on algae. He wakes up with new ideas every morning. It’s easy to figure out devices and products the world needs. The hard part is convincing the world. “It’s a tough thing we do,” he said. “We create gadgets. We’re trying to sell inventions.” Smiling, he added, “Inventors need a spouse with a good job.”
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Hockaday’s wife, Mary, is the Deputy Associate Director of Weapons Physics at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Before Robert took an entrepreneurial leave of absence in 1995, he and his wife were colleagues at LANL. He was a physicist trained in X-ray physics working in nuclear weapon test diagnostics, a relatively narrow field that didn’t quite suit this self-admitted daydreamer and compulsive inventor. But once their son turned 5 and the couple had enough income, Mary gave her husband permission to fully explore his “Book of Dreams,” a list of inventions he compiled while at the lab. According to Hockaday, inventions don’t have to be complicated or expensive. Sometimes, an invention is merely a novel application of a familiar product, such as the affordable plastic he is looking at for solar roofs. Whether used on the eyelids of a doll or on top of a home, it curls. In terms of solar roofs, if the plastic is white on one side and black on the other, it can be flat and white in the summer, reflecting the sun, and then curl to expose its black, energy-absorbing side in the winter. Simple. And yet, as Hockaday said, “it’s not obvious to everyone.” Inventions require someone to see all the untapped functions, all the planet-saving possibilities. Occasionally, they require someone who used to roast little green Army men as a kid and swears he learned about spherical solar cells by playing in the dirt. Hockaday meets those criteria. More importantly, he’s also someone who aims to improve life not only for humans but also for all animals and plants, for our entire biosphere. “We’re related to all life,” Hockaday said. “We want to continue to exist, not just turn back into dust ... But at the rate we’re going, we’re going to have to find an energy alternative quickly.” He said that in the past, for every one barrel of fuel we used harvesting petroleum, we gained 30. But today, that gain has plummeted to five. Journalist Russell Baker once quipped, “Is fuel efficiency really what we need most desperately? I say that what we really need is a car that can be shot when it breaks down.” But in the absence of a living, biological car, Hockaday suggested we really are desperate. However, in his view, we’re also capable. “We’re smart enough to be able to harness solar energy,” he said. “The answer is just beating down on us. And the wind -- tremendous amounts of energy are just blowing by us.” Hockaday added, “Why dig when we can just grow (our energy in the form of algae) or take it from the sun and wind?” How can humankind find the energy it needs to survive? It’s a serious question, but the solution will undoubtedly involve a lot of fooling around and seeing new applications for familiar objects. As Hockaday said, “Imagining and daydreaming are very important. They’re our way to be playful and manipulate things ... It’s not pre-ordained what will happen.” It seems our future is in the hands of the daydreamers, the grown men and women who aren’t afraid to play with dolls. Contact Hockaday and his staff at Energy Related Devices, located at127 Eastgate Drive, at 662-0660. Visit ERD’s Web site at http://www.energyrelatedevices.com/.
Essence October/November 2011
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Don’t Trick. . . Treat! With
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To Purchase or for more information, visit the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce call 661-4815.
Sat., Oct. 8
Jazz Night with The Jan
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Sun., Oct. 23 -- A Wine-Tasting
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For reservations call (505) 662-6305
www.losalamoschamber.com
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Business
Local businesses grow ever greener By Carol A. Clark Even before opening its doors March 2, the Los Alamos Cooperative Market proactively sought expert advice to create a sustainability plan for its business. “We wanted to identify best practices, prioritize recommendations and develop a sustainability roadmap for us to use over the next decade,” said General Manager Steve Watts of the community-owned grocery store at 95 Entrada Dr. “We commissioned Village Green Builders, Inc, which is doing business as EcoBuild Systems, LLC to conduct a study of our sustainability strategy to leverage the biggest impact that we could utilizing a limited amount of funds.” “The Co-op is much more than a grocery store – it is a place to learn, share your gifts, and be inspired about where you live, how you live and your effect on the planet,” Watts said. “Almost every decision the store makes is within the framework of a unified sustainability strategy,” he said. “It’s a conduit for community enrichment. Sustainability is much more than throwing a couple of solar panels on the roof. We want the Co-op to serve as a model of sustainability through innovative decentralized thinking – creating energy, creating jobs, creating food that its members buy and eat.” Board President Karen Kendall explained that many sustainable features are dependent not upon capital resources, but upon efforts of the staff, members and volunteers. “The Co-op was founded and funded entirely by its members through peer-to-peer lending and without a single dollar from any bank and serves as a model for other socially responsible businesses,” she said. “The store was built near bike pathways and a public transportation stop, which reduces its carbon footprint. It utilizes LED and fluorescent lighting and intends to install a 2,900 gallon water catchment system in the spring that will provide recycled water to flush toilets and water its herb gardens.” The Co-op recycles 100 percent of its cardboard and paper. With the help of two 180-gallon composting bins, 100 percent of its compostable waste is recycled. “We have an ambitious goal to have 100 percent of the store’s waste recycled in the next two to three years,” Watts said. From inception, the Co-op’s guiding vision was to establish a sustainable, creative community commons centered on a thriving natural food grocery store. It purchases a significant percentage of food and merchandise from local suppliers, providing a retail outlet for local small businesses. The Co-op’s 2011-2012 Board of Directors includes President Karen Kendall, Vice President Andrew Erickson, Secretary Jane Riese and Treasurer Cecile Hemez. Nancy Savoia, the initial driving force behind getting the Co-op started and built, is the immediate past president. Other companies in Los Alamos focused on sound environmental practices include Primak Builders at 1391 44th St. The residential construction company has been operating in Los Alamos since 1996 and specializes in building green. Primak also is involved in volunteer work for the Habitat for Humanity of Los Alamos and Rio Arriba counties. He took the lead and served as the project manager for Los Alamos
National Bank’s Habitat for Humanity home constructed in Espanola. “All of the Habitat homes are now energy star rated, solar equipped and we have recently received a grant to incorporate solar electric as well,” Primak said. Primak Builders constructed the first certified “Energy Star” rated home in Los Alamos County. The home at 520 Camino Cereza in North Mesa, is 40 percent more energy efficient than a conventional home of equal-size. “To earn the ‘Energy Star’ certification, a home must meet strict guidelines for energy efficiency set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy,” Primak said. Certified homes are a minimum of 15 percent more energy efficient than homes built to the 2006 International Residential Code, he said, and include energy-saving features that typically make them 20-30 percent more efficient. As a company, Primak and his team began asking themselves what the term “green” actually meant, he said. The resulting outcome has been the growth and development of incorporating green building practices into their homebuilding business. “We believe that green building concepts are important and that it is a responsibility we hold as professionals to educate not only ourselves, but our citizenry in tackling the energy issues we all face,” Primak said. Primak Builders utilized Value Engineered Framing, stacking wood on top of one another, using 20 percent less material than a typical home of equal size for the Camino Cereza home. The 2,100-square-foot home is oriented for winter solar gain, low E glass, has no windows on north side of house and only one sliding glass door, he said. “We used superior insulation including polyurethane foam with an effective rate of R54 in the ceiling and R24 in the walls, an insulated concrete slab and foundation with a radon gas barrier,” Primak said. We also used a 92 percent efficient boiler with a built-in, tankless on-demand hot water heater as well as efficient, in-floor heat.” Along with its involvement in the Habitat for Humanity project, LANB also maintains an assertive environmental commitment. The bank has dedicated $10 million in special financing to fund consumer loans for earth friendly purposes such as renewable energy or low energy consumption vehicles and appliances. As part of its commitment to creating a sustainable future, LANB is promoting ecologicallyfriendly development and has dedicated $50 million in low-cost commercial loans for green construction projects. “LANB is proud to be a part of sustainable development in northern New Mexico,” President Steve Wells said. “We are invested in the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the communities we serve. As supporters of ecological sustainability, we understand that each individual and business must do their part to maintain our current quality of life. We also believe that actions speak louder than words, by establishing green initiatives within our organization we hope to do our part to create an even brighter future for our organization and for the communities we serve.”
Los Alamos Co-op General Manager Steve Watts demonstrates one of the store’s two composting machines. Photo by Carol A. Clark
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Join HOPE FELLOWSHIP a miracle-believing Christian ministry
Tuesdays at 6:30 pm for prayer and Bible study 2390 North Road in the Youth Room of Bethlehem Call 505.662.HOPE or visit www.HOPEACTS.com Rev. Allen Weiser, an ordained minister with the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI), leads the group. The views and policies of Hope Fellowship are not necessarily endorsed by Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church.
www.FrancineMendoza.com 2177 43rd St, Los Alamos • $269,000 2179 34th St, Los Alamos • $260,000 3550 Ridgeway Dr, Los Alamos • $175,000
At the co-op, fresh, delicious food is just the beginning.
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$322,000 95 Entrada Drive, next to Holiday Inn Express Francine J. Mendoza, CRS
Open Daily: Mon. - Sat. 7 a.m. - 9 p.m.; and Sundays 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 695-1579 - Membership not required to shop.
Associate Broker 1460 Trinity Dr., Suite 1 • Los Alamos, NM 505-662-7717 Office
505-670-1407 Direct FrancineMendoza@Realtor.com
Sierra Los Pinos Subdivision, NM
CommunityMatters “STRENGTHENING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN OUR MEMBERS AND OUR COMMUNITY”
GIVE LOCAL. SEE RESULTS. Your generous donation helps United Way Community Partners directly serve friends, families, and neighbors in Los Alamos and Rio Arriba Counties.
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JOIN US!! Sign up for CommunityMatters today and get your FREE 1/8 page Ad in the ESSENCE!
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THE CONDITION OF ALL. Give www.UnitedWayNNM.org United Way of Northern New Mexico
For more information Contact Katy Korkos at 661-4816
www.losalamoschamber.com
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Ten ways to reduce & recycle your trash In the United States, the average person produces 4.34 pounds of garbage per person per day. Here are ten ways to reduce waste, reuse materials and recycle more to help create a more sustainable Los Alamos County.
recycled, it can be composted. “It breaks up and provides nutrients to the soil.”
sure that you’re using the curbside 1Make bins correctly.
Over one million plastic bags are consumed per minute worldwide. These single-use bags are made of high-density polyethylene, a low-quality plastic that rarely gets recycled and does not biodegrade. Recycle these bags in the bins provided at Smith’s, not in your curbside bins.
“The main thing is to make sure that there are no contaminants in the bin,” said Environmental Services Specialist, Tom Nagawiecki. “That there are none of the items that we don’t accept.” Recycling loads that are taken to the Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station (BuRRT) in Santa Fe have to meet contamination standards. If there’s a large amount of plastics other than the accepted #1 and #2,paperboard from cereal boxes, or other contaminants the load will be disposed of as trash.
out where to bring things that can’t be 2Find picked up. The following items can be brought to the Eco Station for recycling: refrigerators, tires, concrete and asphalt, electronic waste, books, metal, brush and household hazardous waste. There are also additional items that can be recycled at local businesses and this information is available at the “How do I recycle my…” page on www.losalamosnm.us/gogreen Los Alamos doesn’t recycle glass because a dependable market is not close enough to make it environmentally or economically feasible to collect it. To find out more about the reasons behind why glass is not recycled in Los Alamos County check out the article posted on www.losalamosnm. us/gogreen. But with a little legwork, it’s still possible to recycle bottles and jars. The first option is to bring the glass directly to BuRRT during their 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m business hours. The address is 2600 Buckman Road, in Santa Fe. Albuquerque also accepts glass at several drop off sites listed on their website http://www.cabq.gov/solidwaste/ recycling/dropoff. The Hilltop Recycling Bin, located at 427 DP Road, recycles steel, copper, aluminum, brass and other metals in bulk, and pays for it. They don’t melt the metals down, but take them to another facility that does. If you plan to drop something off, call ahead. The number is (505) 412-3437. “If I can’t help them out, I know who can,” said owner Kenny Stimson, who is a member of the New Mexico Recycling Coalition. “I constantly answer questions about recycling.”
Support glass recycling.
3
Recycled glass pebbles that can be used for landscaping applications are available from the Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station (BuRRT) for $ per ton. This material has been used in the landscaping at the Los Alamos County Eco Station, feel free to stop by and check it out.
4Start Composting.
The Eco Station sells backyard compost bins that come with an assembly guide and a composting guide, for $40. People can get mulch and manure from the Eco Station to assist in their backyard composting. Nagaweicki said that even though paperboard (like in cereal boxes) cannot be
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5B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bag).
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Try cloth diapers.
Americans throw away 49 million diapers per day. At first glance, cloth diapers seem expensive. Each pre-fold diaper is $2 and babies usually need two-dozen of each size: $144. Then to get seven covers in each size can be $210 if you buy them new (but you can get diapers and covers secondhand). But that’s much cheaper than buying disposables. Before being potty trained the average child will use between 8,000 and 10,000 disposable diapers. At 25 cents apiece for a name brand diaper, that comes out to $2,000-$2,500!
Buy a reusable coffee mug and water bottle and carry it with you.
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By doing this you can avoid throwing away up to 500 disposable cups every year. Buy the perfect cup at Film Festival, Ruby K’s or the CoffeeBooth Café.
Rethink plastics and use glass containers in your home.
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You can wash out your glass bottles and use them to store things. Be sure your plastics are BPA free. BPA stands for bisphenol A. It is an industrial chemical used to make certain plastics such as water bottles, baby bottles, cups, toys, dental sealants and composites. There is some concern BPA’s effect the brain (behavior and prostate gland) of infants and children. Seeking PBA-free products in not always easy - some manufacturers label their products BPA-free. If a product isn’t labeled, keep in mind that most aluminum cans or bottles have linings that contain BPA, while steel bottles or cans don’t. Microwave cautiously, use alternatives like glass, porcelain or stainless steel products for hot foods and liquids and reduce your use of canned foods.
10Use the blank side of paper.
Every year the typical American uses 650 pounds of paper, and every year Americans make 400 billion photocopies. That’s 750,000 copies per minute. Most of these copies are one-sided, so why not use the blank side for scratch paper to write complicated physics equations, shopping lists and rough drafts? Source for recycling and garbage statistics: United States Environmental Protection Agency. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2009
ACCEPTED Cardboard (with waffles) – glossy OK Tin and aluminum cans Magazines, catalogues and newspaper Junk mail, colored paper and white paper Plastic #1 and #2 bottles ONLY Brown paper bags & brown packing paper
NOT ACCEPTED Glass Small appliances or metal parts Cereal boxes or six packs Styrofoam Oil containers Manila envelopes Egg cartons (any kind) Plastic tubs Wax cardboard Yard trimmings or wood Source: http://www.losalamosnm.us/gogreen/ Documents/RollcartInstructionsFlyer.pdf
Your trash may be someone else’s treasure.
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Visit second hand stores, check out Craig’s List and freecycle.com Little Forest Playschool raises most of its budget by hosting a biannual community wide re-sale. Sellers can earn 70% of the sale price of gently used children’s toys, clothes, baby gear and books. The Black Hole (4015 Arkansas) will take anything they believe they can sell, like electrical equipment and motors, test equipment and metal objects. Complete the loop by buying used items there like bookcases and filing cabinets and giving them a new home in your home.
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Essence October/November 2011
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. # FREE Monthly Lecture Series Join LAFC and Trinity Natural Health professionals for our FREE health & fitness lectures —held at the beginning of every month of 2011!
Topics include arthritis, fibromyalgia, therapeutic yoga, stress management, herbology, massage, acupressure, injury prevention, emotional health, and much more!
Call 662-5232 or visit www.losalamosfitness.com for dates & times
Just some of the many benefits of being a Y Member: FREE to Members Fitness Classes Over 50 fitness classes a week to choose from: Zumba, Yoga, Pilates, Y-Ride (“spinning”-type classes), Step, Aerobics, PowerUp, Exercise Lite, SilverSneakers...
FREE to Members Child Watch The Family YMCA 1450 Iris Street 662-3100 www.laymca.org
Child Watch provides Y Members with free on-site supervision for their children, while in the facility working out or attending classes. Too many benefits to mention here, call us, come in or visit our website, www.laymca.org for information on all of our programs.
www.losalamoschamber.com
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October 2011
Events 23 Fuller Lodge Arts & Crafts Fair at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
1 Petroglyph Hike presented by Pajarito Environmental Education Center meets at Red Dot Trailhead in White Rock 9:00 am to 12:30 pm Dorothy Hoard will lead a hike into White Rock Canyon to view many petroglyphs in their natural settings.
1 – 9 Valles Caldera National Preserve presents Jemez Mountains Elk Festival Daily festival activities will include elk viewing, elk education booths and various demonstration booths. This event is free and open 9AM-5PM daily.
6 Los Alamos Farmers Market at Mesa Public Library parkng lot 7:00 am to 1:00 pm Produce, meats, cheeses, plants, prepared food items, crafts, and more from Northern New Mexico. An inviting and colorful community tradition!
8 – 9 Pajarito Trail Fest Run at Pajarito Ski Area 9:00 am The first half of the 10k course in unchanged from years past, and is nearly unburned. The second half of the course is using new trails this year due fire damage. We think the new route down the mountain is just as fun, if not more so, that the previous course.
8 Wine Appreciation Class at Don Quixote Distillery 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm
The 34th Annual Fall Arts & Crafts Fair features artists from all over northern New Mexico.
27 Los Alamos Farmers Market at Mesa Public Library parkng lot 7:00 am to 1:00 pm Produce, meats, Produce, meats, cheeses, plants, prepared food items, crafts, and more from Northern New Mexico. An inviting and colorful community tradition.
28 Trick or Treat on MainStreet at the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm Downtown Los Alamos will play host to trick-or-treaters!
28 – 29 Los Alamos Light Opera Performance - Into the Woods at Duane Smith Auditorium 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Tickets at the door or CB Fox in advance Adults $15, Students and Seniors $12
29 Los Alamos MainStreet Halloweekend (Saturday) on Fuller Lodge Lawn Ruby K Yum Run 7am-11am @ Ruby K’s, Pumpkin Carving 10am12noon,Haunted Trail @ Fuller Lodge Lawn 5pm-6:30pm, Pumpkin Glow 6pm to 9pm
30 Los Alamos Light Opera Performance - Into the Woods at Duane Smith Auditorium 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Class focuses on how to purchase, taste, store, and pair wines and spirits with food. History and production methods are discussed.
Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Tickets at the door or CB Fox in advance Adults $15, Students and Seniors $121
11 Historical Lecture: Homesteads on the Pajarito Plateau at Fuller Lodge 7:30 pm
November 2011
Joe Gutierrez, president of the Pajarito Homesteaders Association, will talk about some of the history of homesteading in the community, 1880-1942.
13 Los Alamos Farmers Market at Mesa Public Library parkng lot 7:00 am to 1:00 pm Produce, meats, cheeses, plants, prepared food items, crafts, and more from Northern New Mexico. An inviting and colorful community tradition
15 A Musical Potpourri at Crossroads Bible Church 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm
4 Los Alamos Light Opera Performance - Into the Woods at Duane Smith Auditorium 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Tickets at the door or CB Fox in advance Adults $15, Students and Seniors $12
8 Lecture and Book Signing: Peggy Pond Church at Fuller Lodge at 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm
Los Alamos Community Winds - With special Guest Conductor, Dr. William Carson , director of bands, Coe College.
Peggy Pond Church was a beloved New Mexico poet and the daughter of Los Alamos Ranch School Founder Ashley Pond. Her long-awaited biography by Sharon Snyder will be released by the Los Alamos Historical Society in November.
16 Piffaro, The Renaissance Band at Duane Smith Auditorium 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
12 Festival of Chocolate at the Betty Ehart Senior Center 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Shawms, sackbuts, krumhorns, recorders and bagpipes! Lutes, guitars, harps and percussion!
20 Los Alamos Farmers Market at Mesa Public Library parkng lot 7:00 am to 1:00 pm Produce, meats, Produce, meats, cheeses, plants, prepared food items, crafts, and more from Northern New Mexico. An inviting and colorful community tradition.
Come delight in delectable desserts while listening to live music.
19 Festival of Trees at the Betty Ehart Senior Center 10:00 am to 2:00 pm The Festival of Trees will showcase a variety of holiday trees, pictures with Santa and a craft fair.
22 The Milky Way and Surroundings on the Caldera 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm During this two hour tour of the universe, you will be able to see for yourself many different wonders, including nearby planets, beautiful star clusters, the Milky Way, and spectacular distant spiral galaxies.
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Community Calendar, searchable business directory, full event details, more events, and contact information at fyiLA.com
Essence October/November 2011
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Edible Essence Organic methods produce gorgeous vegetables and high profits at Romero Farms
By Bonnie Gordon
Matt Romero grows beautiful food. Strolling through his field, Romero paused to point out glistening purple eggplants and perfectly formed bell peppers. “Look at this pepper.” he said, holding up a huge bright red one. “It’s perfect. Every vegetable is a work of art.” Of course food isn’t just about looks, it’s all about flavor. Romero uses his training as a chef to cook up samples for his Los Alamos Farmer’s Market customers every Thursday. “You don’t have to tell them your produce is the best,” said Romero. “They tell you.” Romero farms 12 acres in three fields near Alcalde. His farm is 100% organic and saving energy and water are important considerations. “This is the way you’re supposed to farm,” he said. Romero uses only BT (Bacillus thuringiensis), a naturally occurring bacteria, deadly to caterpillars, but harmless to beneficial insects, animals or people, to protect his crop from pests like tomato worms. He uses locally produced compost, about 15 tons of it, to fertilize his crops. His soil is a rich deep black by mid-summer. Romero’s drip irrigation system uses the natural pressure of the 10 to 12 foot drop from his ditch to his fields. There is no energy lost to pumping and the drip system delivers water directly to the plant rather than wasting it where it isn’t needed. Weeding is done the old fashioned way, by hand. When food is ready to pack up for sale, no refrigeration is needed. This not only saves energy, it keeps the food fresh. Wet burlap bags are the secret. Vegetables are washed, then placed in boxes lined with wet bags. The food goes in moist and cool and another layer of burlap holds in moisture. “The temperature in the box will slowly rise to 60 degrees, but the produce will stay moist and fresh,” Romero pointed out. The farm produces more than 100 crops, including 25 kinds of peppers and 10 varieties of melons. Romero sells his crops at farmer’s markets in Los Alamos and Santa Fe, as well as to the Los Alamos Cooperative Market and La Montanita Coop. Produce also goes to high-end restaurants like The Coyote Café. Chefs appreciate the good looks, good taste and great variety of Romero’s produce. Romero has been farming for 11 years. He gave up a high-stress career as a chef to return home to New Mexico and farm. Organic farming is profitable, but it’s hard work, he said. Romero is out in the fields seven days a week from dawn to dark. He doesn’t stop for lunch, he just picks something right from the plants. It doesn’t stop in the winter. Two large greenhouses keep production going all year. Hardy crops like bok choy and greens can grow outside when protected by row covers. Romero couldn’t keep us his grueling schedule without the support of his family, His wife,
Emily, is a speech therapist at Chamisa and Pinon Elementary Schools in White Rock. They have three daughters. He also has the help of his employees. Romero employs three workers to help on the farm and five others who sell at the market. When Romero began farming, he had no experience as a farmer. He jumped right in and learned as he went. “I didn’t teach the plants anything, but they’ve taught me a lot,” he said. The Los Alamos Farmers Market is a program of Los Alamos MainStreet. Los Alamos MainStreet’s goal is to bring more people downtown, more of the time.
The smiles says it all, as Romero holds up a beautiful organic chili he has grown on his Alcalde farm.
Electric Cars Reduce Energy Use and Emissions by Skip Dunn, Electric Auto Association Editor’s note: The Northern New Mexico chapter of the Electric Auto Association had a popular exhibit at last weekend’s Next Big Idea Festival presented by Los Alamos Main Street. The EAA’s mission is to accelerate the widespread adoption of plug-in electric vehicles through education and advocacy. For more information, look for the New Mexico chapter at www.electric auto.org. Readers are probably familiar with all the reasons for reducing carbon fuel use and their attendant CO2 emissions. One goal often mentioned is a reduction of 80% by the year 2030. A car that uses 80% less gasoline would mean it would have to get 100 mpg. Is that possible? Internal combustion engine (ICE) cars just can’t make the 100 mpg threshold. But electric vehicles (EVs) can. The EPA just released its mileage estimates for the Nissan Leaf and it rests right around 100 mpg equivalent. The EPA’s ,www.fueleconomy.gov, website explains why EVs are so effective: they are 4x more energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, have performance benefits, and reduce energy dependence. EVs produce no noise, no heat, no stink; and need no tailpipe, no pollution equipment, no oil
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changes, no antifreeze, and no trips to the gasoline station. While new EVs are coming on the market, they are expensive and are unavailable in New Mexico. But for those who would like to have an EV now, one can do an EV conversion of an ICE car. Since 1967, the Electric Auto Association has been encouraging and assisting members in the building, promoting, and exhibiting of electric vehicles. Last December a Northern New Mexico chapter (NNMEVA) was re-established to carry on the mission and purpose of the EAA in New Mexico. The Chapter already has over 100 members and friends. What kinds of cars can you convert? Well, most anything! Singer Neil Young converted a 1959 Lincoln to a MicroTurbine powered Bio-Electro-Cruiser, dubbed the LincVolt. Locally, a NNMEVA member is building a Tesla-like exotic car from the ground up. Other local members have conversions of smaller, lighter cars and pickups with manual transmissions. A couple of local conversions include a 1980 Honda Civic and a 1973 Porsche 914. If you like to scrounge for bargains, you can do with much less. A Los Alamos family is converting a Suburu Sidekick that they purchased with a dead engine for the proverbial song. They promptly got much of their money back selling the
Essence October/November 2011
the radiator, the alternator, and various other accoutrements needed for an ICE car. They unearthed a big castoff electric motor, and are making an adapter plate to connect it to the clutch housing. They also found a set of gently used batteries from another chapter member. As gasoline gets more scarce and prices go up, and the air becomes more fouled, ICE cars will become lawn ornaments. Meanwhile, PV-charged EVs will be providing us with mobility as long as the sun shines.
Neil Young stands next to the “LincVolt”.
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Darkness falls across the land the midnight hour is close at hand. Ghostly Ghouls roam the streets in search of sugary scrumptious treats! Come downtown If you dare. . . Join us for a frightful scare!
Trick or Treat on MainStreet Friday October 28th 4:00-6:30pm
Haunted Trail on Fuller Lodge Lawn Saturday October 29th 5:00-6:30pm
Pumpkin Glow Saturday October 29th 6:00-9:00pm
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Essence October/November 2011
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