November 2013 Green Fire Times

News & Views

from the

Sustainable Southwest

The New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce New

The Triple Bottom Line Mexico’s Responsible Business Movement

High-Tech

and

Renewable Energy Development

Sustainable Communities

and the

Green Chamber

Thinking Local First • The Green Business Advantage Economic Development

November 2013

and

NM’s National Monuments

New Mexico’s Third Largest Circulation Newspaper

Vol. 5 No. 11

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Vol. 5, No. 11 • November 2013 Issue No. 55 Publisher Green Fire Publishing, LLC

Skip Whitson

Associate Publisher

Barbara E. Brown

Managing Editor Seth Roffman Art Director Anna C. Hansen, Dakini Design Copy Editor Stephen Klinger Webmaster: Karen Shepherd Contributing Writers

Susan Guyette, Carrie Hamblen, Celerah Hewes-Rutledge, Kimberly Kiel, Johann Klaassen, Mike Koepke, Lindsay Laine, Carolyn Parrs, Ray Powell, Lawrence Rael, Seth Roffman, Laura E. Sánchez, Glenn Schiffbauer, Kim Shanahan, Tobin Williams

Contributing Photographers

James Ewing/OTTO. Mike Groves, Anna C. Hansen, Seth Roffman

PUBLISHER’S ASSISTANTs Lisa Allocco, Cisco Whitson-Brown, Susan Claire

Office Assistants

Camille Franchette, Claire Ayraud

Advertising Sales

Skip Whitson 505.471.5177 Anna C. Hansen 505.982.0155 Earl James 505.603.1668 Cynthia Canyon 505.470.6442 Tim Vaughn (Albq.) 505.750.7234 Monica Maes (Española) 505.603.6899 Joe Fatton (Taos) 575.758.3202

New Mexico’s Third Largest Circulation Newspaper

Winner of the Sustainable Santa Fe Award for Outstanding Educational Project

Contents

The NM Green Chamber of Commerce: Welcome to Our Shade of Green. . .. 7 New Mexico’s Responsible Business Movement and Our Own Action-Tank Model . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 9 What Are Triple Bottom Line Businesses? . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . 10 Benefit Corporations in New Mexico . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . 11 Fire the Choir: Why Green Marketing Hasn’t Worked and What to Do About It . . ... . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 12 New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce Member Profiles . . .. . .. . . 12-33 Green Home Building Industry Drives Local Green Economy. . .. . .. . .. . 15 Thinking Local First: The BALLE Model for Sustainable Communities and the Green Chamber . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . 19 New Mexico’s Solar Economic Development Potential . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 20 Everyday Green: 10 Reasons to Buy Locally Produced Food . . .. . .. . .. . 22 New Mexico Health Connections: Commitment to the Triple Bottom Line . . . 25 Economic Development and New Mexico’s National Monuments. . .. . .. . .. 27 Op-Ed: High-Tech and Renewable-Energy Development on State Trust Lands. 29 Water – We Can Do It! . . .. . ... . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 30 Carbon Divestment or Engagement?

Which Is the More Effective Tool to Encourage Change? . . .. . .. . .. . 31 Newsbites . . .. . .. . .. . .. . ... . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 37 What’s Going On. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 38

Distribution

Lisa Allocco, Barbara Brown, Susan Clair, Co-op Dist. Services, Joe Fatton, Nick García, Andy Otterstrom (Creative Couriers), Tony Rapatz, Wuilmer Rivera, Skip Whitson, John Woodie Photo courtesy of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce

Circulation 25,000 copies

Printed locally with 100% soy ink on 100% recycled, chlorine-free paper

Green Fire Times

c/o The Sun Companies PO Box 5588 Santa Fe, NM 87502-5588 505.471.5177 • info@sunbooks.com © 2013 Green Fire Publishing, LLC Green Fire Times provides useful information for anyone—community members, business people, students, visitors—interested in discovering the wealth of opportunities and resources available in our region. Knowledgeable writers provide articles on subjects ranging from green businesses, products, services, entrepreneurship, jobs, design, building, energy and investing—to sustainable agriculture, arts & culture, ecotourism, education, regional food, water, the healing arts, local heroes, native perspectives, natural resources, recycling and more.

Sun Companies publications seek to provide our readers with informative articles that support a more sustainable planet. To our publisher this means maximizing personal as well as environmental health by minimizing consumption of meat and alcohol.

GFT is widely distributed throughout northcentral NM. Feedback, announcements, event listings, advertising and article submissions to be considered for publication are welcome.

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One of thousands of petroglyphs located throughout the area that would be included in the proposed Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument (See story, page 27).

COVER:

the organ mountains in southern new mexico

laura e. Sánchez, ceo of the nm green chamber

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photo by mike groves

photo by seth roffman

Green Fire Times is not to be confused with the Green Fire Report, an in-house quarterly publication of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. The NMELC can be accessed online at: www.nmelc.org

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The NM Green Chamber of Commerce

Welcome to Our Shade of Green Lawrence Rael, President, New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce

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hank you for the opportunity to welcome you to this issue of the Green Fire Times, focused on the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce’s work and its members. We are thrilled to work with Green Fire Times to deliver our message to its informed readers.

The New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce (NMGCC) was officially incorporated in March, 2010, and its first chapter was started the same year in Las Cruces. Since that time we have steadily grown in membership and chapters around the state. We now have five chapters—Albuquerque/Río Rancho, Las Cruces, Santa Fe, Silver City and Taos. We also have 10 members on the board of directors, who represent a variety of small businesses around New Mexico.

The board, through our CEO and staff, directs activities for the Green Chamber of Commerce and ensures we bring value to our members through our work.

Responsible businesses can turn a profit by harnessing the green business advantage.

We are the largest statewide chamber in New Mexico, with over 1,100 members statewide. Many of our members find membership in the NMGCC to be particularly valuable to their business operations—whether through networking opportunities that expand their market or by learning of new clean technologies and green practices to improve business efficiency. Most of our members are small businesses. We are often asked how we define “green” and whether a business that does not produce or sell green products can join. Our response is a

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resounding: YES! We welcome anyone to join who can adopt our values and wants to preserve New Mexico’s unique local, cultural and environmental assets while furthering their long-term sustainable business success.

Many of our members also value our legislative involvement. We have actively supported legislative proposals that are important to our members. We have also actively opposed certain legislation that our members oppose and which they see as bad for New Mexico’s responsible businesses. In the recent 2013 session, seven bills that we supported were passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor. Among those were several renewable energy-related bills, including geothermal resource leasing (HB 85), solar collection permitting (HB 279) and joint House and Senate memorials to review and recommend incentives for renewable-energy storage (HJM 10/SJM 43). In the area of energy efficiency, we supported a bill on utility energy efficiency and load management (HB 267), an extension of the sustainable business tax credit (SB 14) and a bill on energy conservation bonds (SB 101). Finally, along with a broad coalition of interests, we also supported the bill to establish commissioner qualifications among the Public Regulation commissioners (SB 8).

There were also four bills this past session that we supported and that were passed by the Legislature but were later pocket-vetoed by the governor. Among these were the valuation of renewableenergy equipment (SB 284) and utility charges for certain schools (SB 321). One important bill for transparency of our state government was the tax-expenditure

report and revenue budget and reporting bill (SB 7), which would have required the tracking of certain revenue and expenditures to demonstrate the public benefit. Finally, the New Mexico Green Chamber worked very hard with our member businesses to pass the designation of benefit corporations (HB 40). The bill was Las Cruces City Council members surround Mayor Ken passed by the House Miyagashima during solar carport ribbon cutting at City Hall and the Senate, but was unfortunately themselves and their employees, as well as pocket-vetoed by the governor. This is an increase in profits from harnessing the undoubtedly an issue that will come up green advantage.We believe this is the way again, and we will continue to support our to ensure sustainable long-term profits. members businesses in that effort.

We invite you to attend one of our Green “Green” to us stands for environmental Drinks events held monthly around the stewardship, but also profit. We believe state, so you can network with other green leads to green. That is, adopting a Green Chamber members. We also invite green approach leads to producing more you to join a chapter of the NMGCC green $. We believe that responsible near you. You can find more information businesses can turn a profit by harnessing about our membership and sponsorship the green business advantage and appealing levels, as well as our events, on our to a more socially conscious consumer. We website: www.nmgreenchamber.com are not an environmental organization, Best wishes for a Happy Holiday but our business members do care about Season and a successful 2014! i protecting our environment—including public lands, air and water. Our businesses Lawrence Rael, a native New Mexican, has served as executive director of the Midbelieve in the triple bottom line: people, Region Council of Governments, chief place and profit. They believe not only administrative off icer for that they can build a successful business the city of Albuquerque, while doing no harm to the planet, legislative assistant to but they also believe that doing things US Sen. Jeff Bingaman, responsibly will also distinguish them acting secretary for the NM Transportation Dept. from other businesses, thus leading to and state program director a market advantage among responsible for the NM Employment consumers. So far, our members have Security Dept. reported improved quality of life for

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New Mexico’s Responsible Business Movement and Our Own Action-Tank Model

Laura E. Sánchez, CEO, New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce

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s you may know,“socially responsible business,” “sustainable business” and “corporate social responsibility” are hardly new concepts. Institutions like the University of California-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business has had a Center for Responsible Business for a decade, and SustainableBusiness. com opened its “web doors” in 1996.1 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has also been around for many years and is understood as the integration of business operations and values, where the interests of all stakeholders are reflected in the company’s policies and actions. These stakeholder views often include investors, customers, employees, the community and the environment.2 CSR is now a regular component of most business school curricula.

We take an “action-tank” approach, transforming good ideas into action.

The novelty in these ideas is the New Mexican flavor of the movement that has emerged in the last few years and which is currently surging from Las Cruces to Taos. This article explains how our responsible business movement in New Mexico started and how two institutions for change, the Green Chamber of Commerce and its sister organization, the Partnership for Responsible Business, have developed.

The History

In 2009, a group of concerned business owners, many of them sole proprietors, such as doctors, lawyers, consultants and

other service-oriented entrepreneurs, believed they were not being adequately represented by the traditional chamber.

These business owners were tired of hearing that the U.S. Chamber was opposing important environmental matters nationally, claiming to speak for all business monolithically. Something seemed inherently amiss. At the same time, the traditional chamber entities in New Mexico were making similar claims at the Legislature where environmental or social equity issues were involved. Concerned small business leaders wanted to focus on a more responsible approach to making a profit, one that considered the impact on our planet as well as on our people, such as employees, customers and the community.

By 2010, there had been enough of a groundswell of businesses in support of this new socially responsible approach that organizers decided to hire an attorney, yours truly, to help them file to incorporate and advise them on their new organizational structure. From this emerged the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce, incorporated in March, 2010.

At around the same time, a group of individuals who were not business owners, but many of whom had been involved in nonprofit work, wanted to help this growing business organization.

A small group of founders emerged to create the board for a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that eventually decided to call itself the Partnership for Responsible Business (PRB). The PRB Board sought to create an educational outreach organization whose mission was to educate the public about sustainable economies, buying local and green practices.

NMGCC Staff. Front row (l-r): Celerah Hewes-Rutledge (COO), Cissy McAndrew (ED, Southwest NM) and Lindsay Laine (Project Coordinator); Back row: Alex Merlino (CFO), Laura E. Sánchez (CEO), Glenn Schiffbauer (ED, Santa Fe) and Carrie Hamblen (ED, Las Cruces)

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Thus emerged the NMGCC and the PRB. Each organization has been making its own mark on the New Mexico business community, at the Legislature and at the Public Regulation Commission, and each continues to grow its work incrementally to address New Mexico’s pressing economic needs.

US Senator Tom Udall (center) hosts Alex O. Romero, president and CEO, Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, and Laura E. Sánchez, CEO of the NM Green Chamber of Commerce

Distinguishing the Green Chamber

More than any other question, people ask me how the Green Chamber is different from other chambers. Several factors distinguish the Green Chamber from other business organizations in the state. First, the NMGCC emerged as a grassroots movement, rather than a top-down effort. That is, its first chapter formed in Las Cruces, providing a local perspective on the value that the organization could bring to its members.

The next chapter to develop was the Southwestern Chapter, encompassing Silver City and greater Grant County.To date, both of these chapters are still the NMGCC’s strongest and most dedicated chapters. Later a chapter emerged in Taos, followed quickly by Santa Fe and Albuquerque/Río Rancho. While the organization’s resources are centrally managed, the local chapters determine their own events and local priorities, and they hold their own local board meetings.

The NMGCC staff provides support, while locally each chapter has an executive director, managed by both the local board and the NMGCC staff.

Another distinguishing factor is that our members believe in the Triple Bottom Line—also not a new concept, and one which is explored further in a separate article in this month’s GFT. Our members also believe that supporting local businesses results in keeping more money locally—which goes to local vendors, area farms, local employees, and ultimately generates local tax revenue. Our “think-local”efforts are also described in a separate article in this publication.

A further distinguishing characteristic

of our Chamber and our members’ expectations is that we don’t approach issues as a “think tank.” We don’t produce white papers and studies to think about important issues, and research viable solutions. We purposely did not set out to create a policy institute. We take an “action-tank” approach. In a think tank, a team of experts researches solutions to problems. In an action tank, participants transform good ideas into action. We work to efficiently put our plans into actions, learning quickly as we go, and incorporating feedback to improve our effectiveness.

Actions at Work

In our short three years, we have been involved in a number of exciting efforts in the name of responsible business. As you can read in NMGCC President Lawrence Rael’s Welcome Article in this GFT issue, we had a number of successes at the Legislature this year.

More importantly, this past session we really began to emerge as an important business voice in the community. Our supporters know we have hundreds of business members, and they know our members are willing to show up, write letters or make calls when necessary to garner support for an important issue.

Several bills we supported passed the Legislature and were signed by the governor. Four other bills were passed by the Legislature but unfortunately were pocket-vetoed by the governor. The bill that designated a benefit corporation was among those that fell into the latter category. This bill even had bipartisan sponsorship from Rep. Zachary Cook (R-Lincoln & Otero) and Senator Tim Keller (D-Bernalillo County), but was continued on page 33

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What Are Triple-Bottom-Line Businesses?

The New Mexico Green Chamber Seizes the Green Business Advantage Lindsay Laine

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he New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce (NMGCC) and its local chapters are a coalition of businesses and organizations dedicated to building healthy economies in New Mexico’s diverse communities.

improve the quality of life in our communities. The Green Chamber’s annual Recycling Recognition Awards are held in each region around America Recycles Day, Nov 15.

NMGCC businesses are guided by the triple bottom line. That means investing in people, protecting our air, land and water, and creating long-term profits. These are not mutually exclusive goals. This is where profits and values meet.

Green Business Practices can be a marketing tool for businesses. The NMGCC offers extensive advertising and promotional opportunities to member businesses.

The Chamber’s online directory serves as a clearinghouse of information for consumers.

Through programs such as Think Local First, the NMGCC promotes locally owned, independent businesses. Compared to chain stores, these businesses recycle a higher percentage of profits back into the local economy, supporting a wide range of jobs and enriching the whole community. The tax revenue from local business stays in our communities to support schools, parks, police, fire departments, etc.

The NMGCC is also a strong advocate for entrepreneurship and innovative small businesses. Each year NMGCC chapters produce a Think Local First Guide that features information on shopping in their area, as well as a directory of local Green Chamber members. Buying local helps grow small business. In a survey released last year by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 75 percent of small companies across the country said that buy local campaigns have a significant impact on their business.

Green business practices contribute to a sustainable future. The NMGCC is working to provide businesses with resources and steps to become more energy efficient, thus reducing expenses, as well as a business’s carbon footprint. Being more energy efficient and practices such as reducing or reusing waste can ultimately

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This is where profits and values meet.

The New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce also promotes economic development through renewable energy and seeks to position New Mexico as a leader in job creation and investment in the industry. Clean Edge 2012 ranks New Mexico’s Clean Energy Economy as eighth in the nation, based on advanced technology, policy innovation and capital investment.The state is ranked second for solar potential, 12th for wind potential, and has vast largely untapped geothermal and biomass resources.

To learn more about triple-bottom-line businesses and the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce: 505.244.3700, info@nmgreenchamber.com, http://nmgreenchamber.com/ Lindsay Laine is the statewide project coordinator for the Green Chamber, and began as an intern in 2011. She has an MBA in Management of Technology from the Anderson School of Management. Lindsay@ nmgreenchamber.com

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Benefit Corporations in New Mexico

Glenn Schiffbauer

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A benefit corporation’s directors operate the business with the same authority as in a traditional corporation. However, where a traditional corporation is held to maximizing profits for the corporation’s shareholders, and can be sued for decisions and policies that are counter to that mission, shareholders in a benefit corporation determine if the benefit corporation has achieved a material positive impact. Benefit corporations also differ in their accountability and

© Anna C. Hansen

uring the 2013 New Mexico legislative session, the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce supported House Bill 40 sponsored

by Sen. Tim Keller and Rep. Zachary Cook for the designation of benefit corporations. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 33-6 and the House by 62-6. According to the Economic Development Department and the Public Regulation Commission, the bill would have no fiscal impact. Twenty

Senator Tim Keller speaking in support of B Corporations in the rotunda of the State Capitol, surrounded by other legislators

states have passed legislation that allows a corporation to be designated as a benefit corporation, including several states that have Republican governors.

Yet the bill died on Gov. Martinez’s desk in a pocket veto, when she failed to sign the bill.

So, what is a benefit corporation and why are they valuable to New Mexico and its economy? First, a benefit corporation or B corporation, is a corporate form in the United States used by for-profit entities that want to consider society and the environment in addition to profit

Benefit corporations attract capital.

in their decision-making process, true adherents to the triple bottom line. Their goals are to use the power of business to solve social and environmental issues. The difference between a benefit corporation and a traditional corporation lies mainly in the purpose of the corporation. The overriding mission of a benefit corporation is to create general public benefit, defined as a material positive impact on society and the environment. The corporation may identify a specific public benefit in its articles of incorporation. A benefit corporation is more interested in stakeholder than shareholder value.

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transparency practices. Every benefit corporation must submit an annual report to shareholders delineating its progress in achieving the general public benefit or any specific public benefit it has identified, describing the process and rationale for selecting or changing the third-party standard used to measure that achievement and assessing its overall social and environmental performance. If a dispute occurs it is up to the courts to determine if the benefit corporation did achieve a material positive impact. Additionally, through the issuance of an annual benefit report to the public, consumers are provided information to determine if they agree or disagree with the benefit corporation’s methods of achieving a material positive impact on society and the environment.

• 1 8 percent more likely to use suppliers from low-income communities • 4 times more likely to give paid professional development opportunities B Corps create higher quality jobs for their workers because compared to other sustainable businesses B Corps are: • 55 percent more likely to cover at least some health insurance costs for employees • 4 5 percent more likely to give bonuses to non-executive members • 2 8 percent more likely to have women and minorities in management • 2.5 times more likely to give employees at least 20 hours per year paid time off to volunteer in their community And finally, benefit corporations are good for New Mexico because they attract capital. There is over $3 trillion of Social Impact Investment dollars in the US with 842 benefit corporations in 20 states.

Given this information, why wouldn’t we want our state’s economy and businesses to have access to a portion of that pie?

The steps to becoming a benefit corporation include both legal and performance requirements that are not susceptible to companies looking to greenwash. Besides high-profile companies like Ben & Jerry’s and Patagonia, the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce has four members that have gone through this rigorous process to become B Certified.

They are Positive Energy Solar, Your Day, Inc., Concept Green, LLC and Dapwood. We support and applaud their missions and accomplishments. i 1 B Lab is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that serves a global movement of entrepreneurs using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. See http://www. bcorporation.net/what-are-b-corps/thenon-profit-behind-b-corps

Glen Schiffbauer is executive director of the S anta Fe Green Chamber of Commerce.

505.428.9123, Glenn@nmgreen chamber.com

Why would benefit corporations be good for New Mexico? According to an assessment done by B Lab1, here is why New Mexico should value having a benefit corporation designation: • B Corps are improving the quality of life in their communities because compared to other sustainable businesses they are: • 68 percent more likely to donate at least 10 percent of profits to charity • 47 percent more likely to use on-site renewable energy

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Fire the Choir: Why Green Marketing Hasn’t Worked and What To Do About It Carolyn Parrs

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e’ve heard the rumors, read the blogs and seen the headlines that said green marketing is dead. To me, that was good news. We certainly do not need another man-hugging-polar-bear commercial. I think marketers figured out few people buy an electric car to save melting ice caps. They buy it to save themselves from melting down at the gas pump. What’s dead in green marketing are those assumptions that people would choose the environment over their own needs, like saving money and providing healthy food for their kids.

Green doesn’t just have to do good, it also has to work great.

The good news is green business is still alive and well. According to a recent Big Green Opportunity Report, green industries are experiencing far faster growth than their conventional counterparts across the country. These businesses are steadily grabbing market share from non-green businesses, and consumers continue to flock to the other side where the grass truly is greener. It’s true, green is still a niche market, but with super-savvy marketers that position themselves beyond green, we will see more and more market share.

So you want to smarten up your green marketing? Here’s how: Fire the Choir.

You know who they are. As a matter of fact, you might be one of them (I know I am). So hurray if you are driving a Prius, buy veggies from a co-op and swore off chemical preservatives years ago. That puts you in the top 7 percent of consumers. And that puts you in the choir.

The truth is, green is for everyone. You may know that. But 48 percent of the population doesn’t. This is where good messaging comes in. So instead of leading your marketing with a green halo, dig in and find the common denominator in your brand. One great question to ask is “Why bother?”Meaning, why would your target market(s) bother buying your stuff?

What’s meaningfully different about it?

How will this make their life better, easier, more fulfilling? When you get down to that level, to the core messages, then the

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green part can be the tipping point in your direction. We all want to do good.

We all want to breathe clean air. We all (well, most of us anyway) want to protect our environment. Let green be the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.

Quit Saving the Planet

A recent Google search for the phrase, “Saving the planet one [whatever] at a time” revealed more than 17 million responses, with everything from saving the planet “one flush at a time” to “one hanger at a time” to “one bag, one shower, one burger, one carpet, one idea...” But if we’ve learned anything in the past five years of tumultuous economic activity, it’s that saving the planet one “whatever” at a time doesn’t work as a sales incentive. Not only do consumers have a serious case of green fatigue, many are pinching pennies and carefully deliberating every purchase.

Instead, make green a part of the story, not the whole story. That means you can’t just tell us what you’re not, you need to tell us what you are. Green doesn’t just have to do good, it also has to work great. Only the most zealous greens among us will sacrifice product performance for ecological advantage.

So what does all of this mean when trying to make your green message heard and translated into sales? It means you have to stop aiming to save the planet and start crafting messages that are relevant to the fate of the people living on it.

Ta k e M e t h o d , f o r i n s t a n c e, a biodegradable soap company that is dominating its industry, and not because of its size; at roughly $100 million annual revenue, it is barely a drop in the multi-billion-dollar household cleaners sector. Rather, its ingenuity and willingness to think outside of the green marketing box has helped to redefine green messaging altogether.

According to one of Method’s founders, Adam Lowrey, “We don’t really think about the green consumer as a single type of consumer. There’s a little bit (or a lot) of green consumer in everyone.

We use this phrase, ‘Making it selfish.’

It’s kind of tongue-in-cheek, but what

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it means is if you can make sustainability part of the product that you’re selling, and then make the product better for all of the other reasons that they buy it— convenience, price, value—then you’re creating a layer of reasons why that c on s u m e r wo u l d want to buy that Mind Over Markets booth at the Sustainable Business Expo, Crowne Plaza, Albuquerque product.”

Enough of Us vs. Them

There is nothing more destructive to the whole green movement than separating the so-called good guys (environmentalists, activists, green businesses, etc.) from the bad guys (corporations, capitalists, conservatives, etc.). After 10 years entrenched in green marketing, I have seen enough barbs thrown at “them”—and where did that get us? As polarized as our government, that’s where. The truth is we’re all in this together. We can engage with the big boys without compromising our vision and values. It can be tricky, but it can be done.

Green Marketing: The Next Generation

The green market is estimated to reach $1 trillion in the next five years. If you

want to be part of that growth, you have to be as smart, aware and authentic as the consumers you want to reach.

So stop preaching to the choir, and start singing to the crowd. What’s your song going to be? i Carolyn Parrs, board chair of the Santa Fe Green Chamber of Commerce, is CEO of Mind Over Markets, a green marketing communications and design company. For over 10 years she has helped entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations succeed. Her clients range from renewable energy to organics to non-toxic paints, pet food and more. Parrs’ multi-media blog and Facebook community provide a voice for women focused on environmental and social issues. 505.989.4004, www.womenofgreen. com, www.facebook.com/womenofgreen

EXHIB-IT! – A Fast-Growing Trade-Show Marketing Firm

EXHIB-IT! specializes in high-quality trade-show displays and trade-show management. The small Albuquerque-based business with seven full-time employees and 3-5 seasonal contract employees provides a wide range of services, from design, printing and exhibits, to installation, storage and marketing of booths.

Although 72 percent of the products the company offers are sold nationally over the Internet, 71.3 percent of EXHIB-IT!’s expenditures are made locally. The woman who owns EXHIB-IT!, DJ Heckes, says that having a passion for community causes has helped grow EXHIB-IT! globally. Seventy percent of EXHIB-IT!’s product lines are green, including eco-friendly trade-show booths constructed of recycled materials.

Heckes is the author of two books: Full Brain Marketing, and The Noise Behind Business. She writes about effective forward-thinking strategies for small businesses and provides a guide to utilizing trade fairs. Heckes also has a blog on her website.

She says, “EXHIB-IT! knows how to help businesses by putting their brand to work for them. We make sure our customers stay innovative, unique and creative, all critical for success in the marketplace. We present their message in a way that sets their company apart and drives traffic to their booth when they exhibit at a show.”

EXHIB-IT! Displays, Graphics, Marketing 877.964.1965, local: 505.440.1878, www.exhib-it.com

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Green Home Building Industry Drives Local Green Economy

Kim Shanahan

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ot too many years ago the local homebuilding industry was the scourge of the environmental movement. Developers were seen as gobblers and scrapers of the ecosystem with no consideration of anything beyond maximizing profits. Builders were denuding the forest with an insatiable demand for more lumber. Growth was a cancer.

In New Mexico, however, a solid core of progressive, innovative builders and developers has been part of the landscape for decades. Going back to the self-reliant youthful enthusiasm of the ‘60s and ‘70s, this now aging batch of baby boomers and their younger colleagues have shepherded a green building movement that has been grabbing national attention.

The race to net-zero energy is on!

When 75 percent of newly permitted homes in Albuquerque routinely earn Home Energy Rating System (HERS) ratings below 60, meaning a 30 percent more energy-efficient home than a current code-built home, it is safe to say the market paradigm has shifted. It is true that a huge tax credit called the New Mexico Sustainable Building Tax Credit is primarily responsible for the paradigm shift. Unfortunately, that credit is set to expire in a couple of years, but there is no question that even the huge, publicly traded builders are now in the game to demonstrate the most efficiency. The race to net-zero energy is on!

The consequence is a transformation of the homebuilding industry that is radical and ongoing. The recent explosion in the percentage of “green-built” homes has fueled a new green economy that prevented the Great Housing Depression from being much worse than was experienced. The growing maturity of that green economy means new ideas for business and trade associations.

Both Santa Fe and Albuquerque Home Builders associations have large and active green building councils whose members are seen nationally as pioneering stalwarts of the green building movement. The time has come for those members to lead their industry into a wider green market and become members of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce.

I’m not suggesting that they should trade one organization for another, because they should not.

Green building councils are about educating their membership on the fast-moving developments of the industry.The Green Chamber is about broadening their market reach and recognizing the importance of coalition advocacy on issues that promote the bottom line of their businesses. i Kim Shanahan is executive officer of the Santa Fe Area Homebuilders Association, a nonprofit trade association in the Santa Fe, Taos, Angel Fire and Los Alamos areas. 505.982.1774, www.sfahba.com

Aerolenz

A Santa Fe-based manufacturer of energyefficient daylighting products, recently completed a project with Studio 804, an architectural firm at the University of Kansas. The Hill Engineering Research & Development Center, also known as the “Ecohawks Building,” where researchers are working to create a better electric car, was designed and built by graduate architectural students, led by professor Dan Rockhill.

© James Ewing / OTTO. (2)

Aerolenz provided translucent, aerogelfilled panels to create retractable curtain walls that provide year-round diffused light and energy savings for the LEEDPlatinum building.

For more information on Aerolenz products, including energy-efficient sky lights, c all W illiam Kur tz at 505.603.7703 or visit aerolenz.com

www.GreenFireTimes.com

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Nubu Design sustainable interior design planning for our changing times Do your purchases reflect your values? If not, why not? Because it has simply become too complicated? Can you follow the unintended consequences of your purchases?

Probably not. Sources of production are remote and mostly unaccountable.

This is where Nubu comes in. Nubu has developed a protocol to help its clients and the interior design industry, based on examining its suppliers for proof of triple-bottomline business practices. Nubu is constantly seeking better partners, those that balance social justice issues and environmental protection with the need for financial reward. With the awareness of so many negative production impacts, many of the old definitions of “beautiful” have fallen away for Nubu, which refers to this consciousness shift as the “new beautiful” or NUBU. Nubu’s LEED-credentialed designer Chris Putnam is writing a book on sustainability. Putnam is a founding board member of the Santa Fe Green Chamber of Commerce, a group of values-driven, small and local businesses dedicated to a better world through much improved business practices. Rewarding triple-bottomline businesses is at the core of Putnam-Pritchard Interiors’ Nubu Design initiative.

www.nmecoteam.com 575-590-1161

Nubu Design 3600 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe, NM 87507 505.424-1010, chris@nubudesign.com, • www.nubudesign.com

RainVessels: if you have one, it will rain.

RainVessels emerge from prototyping and are ready to launch.

RainVessels is the new business venture of Santa Fe architect and custom green homebuilder Bob Kreger of Kreger Design Build, LLC. When Kreger first learned of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce, he joined immediately. “The New Mexico Green Chamber really embraces what is important to me: not just profit, but people and planet too,” he says. “To grow a business and prioritize environmental accountability is just common sense.”

Kreger is always looking for better sustainable solutions. He has patented a unique system that substantially expands opportunities for collecting and storing rainwater and grey water in locations that were never allowed for that purpose before. RainVessels can work with planned developments, design review communities and historic districts coast to coast. The innovative cisterns will work in urban contexts, for rural businesses, industrial, municipal and even government sites.

Unlike disruptive high-liability buried cisterns or ugly above-ground industrial tanks, RainVessels are architecturally enhanced to blend with any building style, and are sized from 600 to 10,000 gallons to match each client’s needs, and they can be insulated up to R-45.

“There is no system like it,” Kreeger says. “The design and fabrication processes solve major challenges currently inhibiting wider adoptions of non-potable water.”

RainVessels USA 505.660.9391, kregerdesignbuild@msn.com http://RainVesselsUSA.com• http://www.KregerDesignBuild.com/

Southwest Green Building Center

Please Advertise in

GREEN FIRE TIMES Support our work for a more sustainable world.

Call Skip Whitson at 505.471.5177 or Anna Hansen at 505.982.0155 16

Green Fire Times • November 2013

smarter products for better living Locally owned and operated Southwest Green Building Center, with 2,000 square feet of showroom and retail space, offers a wide array of healthy, safe, efficient, durable and ecological products. Owner Cathy Kumar stocks nontoxic paints, stains, glues and finishes for every surface; cork, wood, bamboo and Marmoleum flooring; insulation; low-flow water fixtures; LED lamps and organic mattresses. The wide variety of green living products will add value to any home or office. They are presented in a friendly, educational and professional manner.

SWGBC is also a recycling center for all rechargeable batteries and cell phones.

Being on the I-25 north corridor provides easy access for Albuquerque, Río Rancho and Santa Fe residents.

The center is open 10-6 Monday thru Friday and Saturdays from 10-2 and ships anywhere in the USA. Southwest Green Building Center, 5620-L Venice Avenue NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113 505.821.6259, info@swgbc.com, www.swgreenbuildingcenter.com

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Thinking Local First The BALLE Model for Sustainable Communities and the Green Chamber Celerah Hewes-Rutledge

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ne of the most essential aspects of our mission at the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce (NMGCC) is to support local economies, as we believe that a vibrant locally owned business community is necessary to a sustainable New Mexico. We also believe that local businesses can be green businesses.

That is why our established Green Chamber chapters around the state are members of the Business Alliance for L ocal Living Economies (BALLE). The BALLE model for sustainable communities emphasizes that local ownership means a stronger and more profitable community.

Local business owners are more accountable to their communities, often pay a higher wage, and are happier with their vocation. By encouraging localism, we become a greener state.

By choosing to support local business, we not only reduce the amount of carbon emissions that are necessary to bring products to consumers, we also make our state a place where community comes first. While this is true in manufacturing and retail, it is also true in food production and energy—two areas where New Mexico could be a national leader. Thinking local is about bringing together people to become more self-sufficient—part of the path to being green.

As traditional green industries and businesses capitalize on the green trend, the Green Chamber encourages a broad range of locally owned businesses to claim ownership of their green potential as well.

To help strengthen local business, the Green Chamber chapters around the state participate in Think Local First promotion and education. Four of our five local chapters have partnered with local publications to produce a Think Local Guide.

The Viva Verde Guide in southwest New Mexico and Think Local Guides in

Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Taos help direct consumers to buy local and help independently owned businesses define themselves as local, while also providing educational information about the benefits of buying local and supporting the community. Santa Fe will be joining the rest of the chapters with its first Think

Local Guide in 2014.

and promote local shopping across the state.

The Green Chamber also participates in BALLE’s national Shift Your Shopping campaign.

This effort takes place throughout November and December and is directed at getting consumers to spend more money at local businesses during the holiday season. By educating people on the benefits of shopping locally during the busiest time of year for retail businesses, the Green Chamber hopes that people will continue to support local business year-round.

We partner with local city and county governments to host events

As the Green Chamber and BALLE move forward with the Think Local First message, we are working to help New Mexico establish itself as a leader in sustainable business. If we all come together to keep it local, we can keep more money in our regional economy and continue to support the diversity of the New Mexico businesses that make our state so unique. Please help us support Green Chamber businesses. Think Local First!

For more information on Think Local First programs and Shift Your Shopping campaigns, visit: www.nmgreenchamber.com i Celerah Hewes-Rutledge is the chief operations officer for the NMGCC and has been with the Green Chamber since January, 2011. She was born in Corrales, NM.

Sol Luna Solar

Sol Luna’s construction background allows its contractors to operate a full-service company with licenses in solar, general construction, mechanical (plumbing) and electrical. The company is unique in that it can perform all of its services in-house, limiting the cost and need for subcontractors.

The company began the journey to renewable energy and specifically solar when it started as a small cabinetmaking business called Los Ebanistas, Inc. Over the years, owner Mark Johnson developed a successful custom homebuilding business, with a main focus on sustainable building practices. This included installing some of the first solar greenhouses in northern New Mexico and constructing homes that were highly energy efficient.

Sol Luna constructed the first Community Solar installation in New Mexico at the Taos Charter School.

This was done with the Clean Energy Collective of Colorado, in partnership with Kit Carson Electric Cooperative. This installation allows Kit Carson members who cannot locate solar panels at their homes or businesses to purchase panels in a centrally located 98kW array. Sol Luna Solar looks forward to continuing to be an active participant in the growth of solar, not only as a means of providing jobs, but also of helping produce sustainable communities that will grow and thrive.

Sol Luna Solar is a family-run solar company based in Dixon, New Mexico. Sol Luna’s staff, with over 30 years of experience, excels in both photovoltaic and solar thermal radiant/hot water design and installation.

Los Ebanistas started installing solar thermal radiant and solar hot water systems in the custom homes it was building as a way to offset natural gas and propane costs. These systems became so efficient that in recent years Los Ebanistas has installed them in every home the company has built.

With renewable-energy demand rising, Johnson decided to create a segment of the business to handle solar installation; thus, Sol Luna Solar was born. The mission was clear: create reliable energy solutions for more homes and businesses, and do it using the same competitive pricing and transparency that had been achieved over the years in custom homebuilding.

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Sol Luna Solar – 575.770.7042, sollunasolar.com, www.sollunasolar.com

Renewable Energy in North-Central New Mexico A panel discussion in Taos • November 7

Sol Luna Solar and Renewable Taos are sponsoring this free public event, moderated by Roberta Sálazar, Exec. Dir. or Rivers and Birds, 6-9 pm at the KTAOS Solar Center. The panel will feature Luís Reyes, CEO of Kit Carson Electric, William Brown of Renewable Taos, Nichole Koontz of Canadian Solar, Inc., and Mark Johnson of Sol Luna. RSVP: 575.770.7042

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Consolidated Solar Technologies

The owners of locally owned and operated Consolidated Solar Technologies (CST) believe that, with the power of the sun, they have an opportunity to equip communities with the technology and products necessary to achieve energy independence and help secure the environmental health of our state.

In addition to its Albuquerque facility, the company has two new store locations, in Santa Fe and Las Cruces. The CST team has g reat expertise to facilitate the professional design, engineering, installation

CST helps people save money on electric costs when they convert to solar. The Union of Concerned Scientists found that, by 2020, the utilization of renewable energy in this country is projected to save $190 million in electricity and L-R: NMGCC Project Coordinator Lindsay natural gas bills.

Laine, NMGCC CEO Laura E. Sánchez and Congresswoman Michelle Luján Grisham at a Investment in New Mexico’s renewable energy press conference at CST Solar renewable-energy industry has the potential to create thousands of green jobs. To promote clean-electricity production, CST fosters strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations such as the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce. Through internships, CST also provides opportunities for youth to learn and utilize the principles of sustainability and environmentally friendly practices.

C o n s o li dat ed S o la r T e c h n o lo g i es —A lb u q u erq u e : 505.792.6359; Las Cruces: 575.305.3028; Santa Fe: 505.982.9044, www.gocstsolar.com

NetSolar Homes

Las Cruces-based NetSolar Homes has demonstrated its commitment to the triple bottom line. NetSolar is breaking new ground with its LEED Platinum-certified solar homes in Metro Verde, a master-planned community. To date, every home built by NetSolar in Metro Verde has already been awarded LEED Platinum or has met all requirements and is anticipated to achieve this highest designation offered by the US Green Building Council.

NetSolar Homes owners Javier Cabrera and Emmanuel Domínguez are dedicated to making all the green-built benefits of LEED Platinum-certified homes available to homebuyers at prices that are comparable to other homes that lack the energy efficiency, solar photovoltaic systems, water savings and superior indoor air quality that their homes offer. The Home Energy Rating System (HERS) indices of these homes range from 21 to 29, and promise to save homeowners The kitchen of a NetSolar home in the thousands of dollars on their utility Metro Verde community bills each year.

NetSolar Construction LLC 575.323.1112, info@netsolarllc.com, www.netsolarllc.com www.smartliving.com, View lascruceshomes.com

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Tobin Williams

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and monitoring of residential, commercial and utility-scale photovoltaic solar systems across New Mexico.

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NM’s Solar Economic Development Potential

urns out New Mexico, despite the recession, is a grand place to be involved in the solar industry. Aside from 310 days of sunny weather a year and broad public support, New Mexico sports a specialized workforce and proximity to national labs and university resources. A recent study conducted by the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) found exceptional growth potential in the solar industry sector, particularly in Albuquerque. Bernalillo County already has an interconnected industrial ‘cluster’ of solar services. The state’s small but well-trained solar-technician workforce is growing, and both UNM and CNM offer programs to train students in renewable-energy technologies. Sixty-six percent of voters want to encourage the use of solar power, and 71 percent believe that renewable energy can create more jobs in New Mexico. There are a number of state incentives that bolster the industry, like various tax credits or the Renewable Portfolio Standard, which demands that a certain slowly rising percentage of energy provided by utilities come from a clean energy-generated source. New Mexico already ranks fourth nationally for solar energy production, at 166.9 megawatts/year due to several large commercial solar photovoltaic installations and increasingly large numbers of rooftop solar on private homes.

October 2013 Solar Cluster press conference at Affordable Solar (l-r) David Hughes, president and CEO of Affordable Solar; Laura E. Sánchez, CEO of the NMGCC; Phil Gasteyer, mayor of the Village of Corrales; Patrick Griebel, general manager-residential of Affordable Solar; Dewey Cave, ED of MRCOG; Debbie O’Malley, Bernalillo County commissioner; Lawrence Rael, president of the NMGCC; and Ann Simon, Economic Development program manager, MRCOG

The industry is not without its challenges, however. The physical isolation of New Mexico puts a strain on the transportation of materials and the transmission of generated energy. Additionally, although the international accounting firm Ernst and Young ranked New Mexico in the top-five states for solar investment, New Mexico is not overflowing with eager investors.

The MRCOG study was the result of local leaders and key stakeholders from the region partnering to propose developing a solar-energy cluster map in order to establish baseline data on existing activities related to these technologies and to identify opportunities for future development. MRCOG staff analyzed the results, conducted additional research and wrote the study with industry feedback. The final draft was vetted by members of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce, experts in financial markets and authorities on educational and training programs.

An MRCOG and NMGCC report on the study includes recommendations such as bolstering specialized education, providing investment tax credits, encouraging energy self-sufficiency in public facilities, and spreading awareness and utilization of solar facilities and Sandia National Labs. The report also recommends the creation of a solar cluster association to enable greater communication and collaboration between interdependent companies.

“We have a great start in capitalizing on solar power here in the Albuquerque metropolitan area,” says Mayor of Corrales and MRCOG Board Chair Phil Gasteyer.

“Now we need to foster economic conditions for an industry cluster—concentrating companies and institutions—to enhance the success of the interrelated solar businesses here in central New Mexico.”

To view the Solar Technology Cluster Report, visit: http://nmgreenchamber.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/10/Solar-Technology-Cluster-Report.pdf i

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Positive Energy Solar

PPC Solar – Taos

Positive Energ y Solar (PES) has added solar to thousands of homes and businesses in New Mexico since 1997. The demand for solar today is greater than ever before.

More and more people are realizing that solar saves them money, fixes longterm energ y costs and helps the environment, all at the same time.

People choose Positive Energy Solar because of its highly qualified team, and because it’s a local, values-based business committed t o c o m mu n i t y, c u s t o m e r s , employees and sustainable business practices.

PPC Solar, a second-generation Taos solar electric installer with a branch in Colorado Springs, Colo., is ranked number 86 on the Solar Power World 2013 Top 250 solar contractors list for the US and number 2 in New Mexico. The list ranks applicants according to influence in the residential, commercial and utility solar-installation markets, and includes companies small and large, privately owned and publicly traded. With 10 employees, PPC Solar qualified for its ranking by installing 3.45 megawatts in 2012, with 5 mW installed since its founding in 1979.

Its most recent utility project is a 1.5 mW single-axis tracking system for Blue Sky Energy in Taos.

It is PES’s practice to provide the highest-quality solar products and installation ser vices. As documented on the Nor th American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners’ website ( n a b c e p. o r g ) , PES h a s a n abundance of nationally certified installers and sales advisors. Every job it does has either a residential or commercial electrician on hand to ensure the quality of the work. You can see what its customers have to say at solarreviews.com/installers/positive-energy-solar Only Solar B Corp in New Mexico PES is the only solar company in New Mexico that is a certified benefit corporation. PES has been evaluated by a third party and certified as being beneficial to the community, the environment, its customers and employees.

PES’s Beneficial Practices: • Recycling cardboard, paper, aluminum, glass, wire, metal scraps and batteries—Top Business Recycler Award 2012 from the NMGCC • Materials are sourced locally first • Energy conservation and carbon footprint are offset 100 percent • Offices are solar powered • Supports local and state legislation to promote renewable energy • Pays a portion of health insurance costs for employees • Guarantees 100 percent customer satisfaction • Evaluates products for lifecycle impacts Solar Panels Deliver ‘More Power For Life’™ As a SunPower® Elite dealer, PES says that it installs the most efficient solar panels available. SunPower® is advertised as the only solar panel manufacturer that offers a 25-year product and production warranty, which not only covers product replacement, it pays for shipping and labor as well.

Drive Green for Life™ As a result of the momentum behind electric cars and the importance of solar to help offset the electric charging cost at homes and offices, PES has a partnership with Chalmers Capitol Ford Lincoln to promote a net-zero lifestyle and help their solar customers switch over to driving gas-free. For many people, this makes it possible to go into town, run errands, and still be well under the approximately 75 miles before needing to recharge.

Join the Solar Movement PES has financing partners who can help you go solar for $0 down. To request a free home solar evaluation and quote, call: Positive Energy Solar • 855.344.8931 •

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www.positiveenergysolar.com

“PPC has built a reputation for excellence,” says Frank Andorka, editorial director of Solar Power World. “Their obvious humility and passion for solar is exactly what this industry needs. Many companies applied, and not all made the list. The team at PPC should be proud.”

Paradise Power Company / PPC Solar 1036 Reed Lane, Unit A, Taos, NM 87571 575.737.5896, larisa@ppcsolar.com, www.ppcsolar.com

Sunspot Solar – Las Cruces

Locally owned and operated Sunspot Solar Energy has been recognized among the nation’s top solar energy contractors by Solar Power World magazine in its September 2013 issue. Ranked by total amount of megawatts installed in 2012, Sunspot was number 40 among residential contractors nationwide and the highest-ranked New Mexico-based residential contractor on the list. “Solar energy is expanding in popularity and consumer acceptance,” said Mellow Honek, owner of Sunspot. “We work hard to deliver outstanding value and service, and the results keep showing up.”

The company works with each business and homeowner to determine their energy usage and requirements. Then Sunspot designs a system that fits the aesthetics of the location and the client’s budget. Once installed, the owner is paid for all the electricity the system produces, and even the amount used, through El Paso Electric Company’s Renewable Energy Credit.

Sunspot is a valuable member of the community, actively supporting many area events and organizations. The company uses racking systems made in New Mexico.

Every solar system installed includes a monitoring system to inspect the system’s performance remotely through a web browser.

Sunspot Solar Energy 575.541.3533, janet@sunspotenergy.com, www.sunspotenergy.com

Wentz Electric – Silver City

Wentz Electric is a trusted name for quality, energ y-efficient electrical and solar PV systems for homes and businesses. In business in Silver City, NM since 1987, Wentz Electric has built numerous electrical systems for custom homes and remodels and has built over 60 solar PV systems for grid-tied, stand-alone, or hybrid capability, using Journeyman-electrician and certified conventional or building-integrated solar installer Jen Cooper pulling wire installation techniques and equipment. for a solar PV installation Craig Wentz, the owner and master electrician, has over 35 years of experience in residential and industrial electrical work, is a NABCEP-certified PV installation professional, and is a member of the American Solar Energy Association and the NM Solar Energy Association.

The company works to help improve the community by making people aware of the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy, by recycling building and office waste, by buying NM-made products, and by training the next generation of NM green electrical workers.

Wentz Electric Company, LLC, P.O. Box 5129, Silver City, NM 88062 wentzelectric@signalpeak.net, 575.388.1727

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EVERYDA Y GREEN

10 Reasons to Buy Locally Produced Food Susan Guyette

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he expansion of a local food supply is not only an exciting prospect, but also a practical necessity. As Gary Nabhan points out in Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land, this future is now.

However, we still have a long way to go to develop a sufficient local food supply, and the actions of each individual make the cumulative difference.

farms in use and supporting local farmers.

• F armers need income to retain their farms. Over 72 percent of New Mexico farmers make less than $10,000 a year.

• When you buy at farmers’ markets, except for a booth fee of $20-$30, 100 percent of the sale goes to the farmer.

A local farmer gets 60 to 70 percent of the retail price when selling to stores.

• F oods in season cost less.Eating according to the readiness of crops can free up funds for eating organically.This is also the time for freezing, drying and canning.

© Seth Roffman (2)

• E ating locally is important for your family’s health. Local vine- and treeripened foods contain more nutritional value than foods picked green and shipped from afar. The nutrition in organic and heirloom varieties is higher overall than conventional varieties developed for bulk to increase profit, as shown by the Organic Center in Oregon.

How do we get there? There is a difference between buying locally produced food and food from a locally owned store, although an intersection between the two is possible. Farmers need both primary markets (e.g., farmers’ markets or direct to the customer)—as well as secondary markets (e.g., grocery stores and restaurants) to financially sustain the farm.

In the broader sense, a purely economic view of a food system considers the means of production, distribution and consumption. In contrast, a culturally based view includes much more: seed saving, nutrition, medicinal uses, ways of storing, cooking, sharing, expressing gratitude and spiritual beliefs. Preserving the rich heritage of traditional food knowledge is of utmost importance for New Mexico ecosystems. And buying locally produced food is the key.

• N ew Mexico loses more than 35 acres of farmland a day (American Farmland Report). Retaining agricultural land rather than losing acreage to development is only possible by keeping

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• F ostering a cooperative community with your food dollar is the path to a viable food system.

What You Can Do

their radar screen.Talking with managers enhances their awareness that imported is not favored by customers and can lead to a shift.

Taking the effort to purchase food locally is a way to know our place in the universe, a way of being in relationship with place in our ecosystem. What can you do to further a shift to locally produced food?

Many CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share programs operate during the winter, balancing greenhouse produce, stored foods and locally made food products.http://ediblesantafe.com/csa

To give full benefit to the local farm, buy directly from farmers and from the stores that buy from local farmers. As one farmer told me recently, “Growing is the easy part; the selling—the marketing—is the hard part.”

Shop at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market pavilion throughout the winter.

Opportunities abound. The Farmers’ Market Institute provides funding for greenhouses, extending the growing season year-round. Farmers sell stored root vegetables, herbs, greenhousegrown greens and products made locally from produce. Jams, dried herbs, dried beans and posole, soup mixes, soaps, and

Ask store managers where their food is produced—if it’s not clearly marked, it is a clue that where it’s grown is not on

Local Groups Call for a Full and Fair Farm Bill

The Farm Bill expired on Oct 1. Lack of action by Congress has left food and agriculture programs with an uncertain future. Grassroots organizations are fighting for a bill that protects gains made in the last two cycles.

• B y talking directly with a farmer, you can find out what you are getting and not getting, in terms of varieties and whether pesticides or other chemicals are used. There are good bargains on non-pesticided, yet not-certifiedorganic vegetables at the farmers’market.

Vegetables grown abroad and shipped, even organic, are usually picked before they’re ripe and then sprayed with argon gas to slow further ripening.

• Th e taste of fresh, ripe, picked-thatmorning produce is simply delicious and beyond comparison.

• A s fuel prices escalate, those cheap imported foods may no longer be available. Small farms use less fuel to produce the crop than agri-biz.

Looking to the future, developing local products is a wise approach to fuel conservation.

• B uying locally and learning about foods through meeting the growers is an educational experience and helps preserve local food knowledge.

• C hildren’s health and developing nervous systems depend upon good quality food. Avoiding the ingestion of pesticides is particularly important.

Green Fire Times • November 2013

On Oct. 16, a coalition of leaders from agricultural, ranching, acequia and economic development groups throughout NM came together to urge Congress to reauthorize a “full and fair” farm bill and to call attention to the significance of locally grown food. The rally on the United Nations’ World Food Day was coordinated with over 400 organizations across the country that signed a joint statement advocating support for small-scale and beginning farmers and ranchers, not just agribusiness. They also want a bill (typically $500 billion) that promotes equality for historically underserved farmers and ranchers, restores funding for food and nutrition (SNAP) programs, improves access to healthy, fresh, locally grown food, and promotes conservation of land, water and natural resources.

Speakers representing organizations hosting the action at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market included: Paula García of the NM Acequia Assn., Pati Martinson and Terri Badhand of Taos Economic Development Corp., Dave Sánchez of the Northern NM Stockmans’ Assn., and Don Bustos of the American Friends Service Committee.

The Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute was another of the participating sponsors.

National co-sponsors included the Rural Coalition and the National Latino Farmers and Ranchers. Supporters included the National Family Farm Coalition, the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, and the Community Food and Justice Coalition. For more information online, visit http://ruralco.org

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EarthGift Herbals

© Anna C. Hansen

Holistic, sustainable, eco-friendly: all buzzwords in the new green economy. These words mean nothing unless they actually solve a problem; at least so says founder of The EarthGift Group, Asaera Patricia Coté. She has a solution she thinks can help a lot of people.

handmade goodies make great gifts. www. santafefarmersmarket.com

that justify the resources used.” This philosophy works toward economic justice.

Support the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute, the behind-the-scenes nonprofit actively engaged in strengthening northern New Mexico agriculture. Information on programs and membership can be found at www.farmersmarketinstitute.org

Connecting To Our Food

Avoid eating processed foods—they contain much less nutrition and more additives, preservatives and dyes—plus they are more expensive than whole foods.

You vote on the region’s food supply with daily choices of fresh foods.

Support the return of local roadside vending. Twenty-five years ago farmers in New Mexico were selling produce roadside and have since been pushed out of numerous areas due to policy changes and regulations.

Express thanks to farmers for their hard work and dedication in producing locally.

See what a difference this appreciation makes to their day.

La Montañita Co-op’s global ends statement reflects the values and actions needed for a healthy, local food supply: “A cooperative community based in the shared benefits of healthy food, sound environmental practices and a strengthened local economy, with results

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I encourage you to look at food in a broader way. In the Indigenous sense, the healing properties of food on an everyday basis— and the spiritual nature of foods—are also an important part of the food system. Eat in your ecosystem and feel a connectedness to nutritious varieties. A sustainable food supply is local by definition, supporting New Mexico cultures, our economy and healthy ecosystems.

As we enter the holidays, this can be a time for living by the seasons and appreciating the harvest. Thanksgiving is an opportune time to be grateful that we live in a region retaining a high level of traditional food diversity. Our actions to support farmers now will determine our food future. i Susan Guyette, Ph.D. is Métis (Micmac Indian and Acadian French) and a planner specializing in cultural tourism, cultural centers, museums and native foods. She is the author of Sustainable cultural Tourism: Small-scale Solutions, Planning for Balanced Development, coauthor of Zen Birding: Connect in Nature, and the author of several texts for American Indian Studies. www. susanguyette.com

Because of her own sensitive skin she started a handcrafted soap company many years ago in the mountains east of Albuquerque.

Her soaps have garnered a loyal national following because of their skin-softening and moisturizing emolliency. The key ingredient to these spa-quality soaps is sunflower oil. And herein lies both problem and solution.

EarthGift’s oil currently comes from other parts of the country. Coté is keenly aware of both the economic and ecological costs of transporting raw ingredients. Like many fellow members of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce, EarthGift strives to buy locally and leave a minimal manufacturing footprint. Coté looked for a sustainable local sources of sunflower oil. After a little research, she discovered that the entire Estancia Basin was once covered in sunflowers that farmers tilled under for bean and alfalfa production. She also discovered there is a migration toward the Southwest for sunflower oil-seed production. Coté thought, “Why not create a new industry to help New Mexico’s farmers and create jobs for our local community?”

To that end, EarthGift Herbals has worked with federal, state, municipal and local rural authorities, including EVEDA (Estancia Valley Economic Development Association), to analyze the soil, water, seed and economic conditions necessary for viable sunflower farming and oil-seed processing. Though still in the exploratory phases, “The New Mexico Sunflower Project” has gathered together a group of organic farms, growers, artists, restaurant owners, personal-care product manufacturers and technical professionals to create support for an ecologically based economic development project. Given enough imagination, political will and funding, many different businesses and jobs could be established.

The draw of working with the sunflower is its versatility. It is essentially a zero-waste plant. Farming sunflowers can be used in rotation to improve soil health and greater yields of other crops. The oil, once processed, is an excellent zero-trans-fat cooking oil with high-heat qualities similar to peanut oil but without allergens. Sunflower oil can also be used as feedstock for other processed food products, especially those that currently use unhealthy and unsustainable palm oil. The mash residue from the oil processing can be turned into range cakes for cattle and seed cakes for birds.

The stalks, stems and flowers can be shredded for agricultural mulch, livestock bedding and feed roughage, as well as for pulp in paper production.

“Growing sunflowers and having them dot the landscape is a beautification that enlivens the soul,” says Coté. “It could also create economic development to sustain the East Mountain rural communities through agritourism and attract additional artistic interest to our region. It also helps me as a merchant and resident to go beyond just business and reach out to create healthy communities. Nothing can be more sustaining than that.”

EarthGift Herbals 3620 Wyoming NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111 505.281.8588 or 505 288.2233

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Appointments in the comfort of your own home.

Dr. Audrey Shannon, DVM, has training in both Western veterinary medicine and in traditional Chinese veterinary medicine.

Her integrated holistic approach focuses on acupuncture and acupressure, with nutritional and herbal therapy to ensure your animal’s optimal health and well-being.

Treatment is available for dogs, cats, and horses.

www.animalacupuncturevet.com

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Green Fire Times • November 2013

505.820.2617

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New Mexico Health Connections Commitment to the Triple Bottom Line

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t’s probably not all that common to see a health insurance company committed to the triple bottom line, but New Mexico Health Connections (NMHC) is not your common health insurance company.

NMHC was created to shake things up in health care. The company sees itself as an agent of change.

and ensure they are doing the simple things like taking their necessary medications, living in healthy environments and focusing on wellness. This investment in community health will allow doctors to better care for their patients and reduce the need for acute interventions such as emergency room visits and procedures.

NMHC was created by the Affordable Over time, this brand of care will lead to Care Act as a nonprofit, consumera much healthier population. Profits will operated and -oriented (co-op) health likely be lower, but our communities will plan. The company’s mission is to provide New Mexico Health Connections board and staff be much stronger.

New Mexico individuals and small Planet businesses with an affordable nonprofit option for their health coverage. This Since NMHC was created in 2012, it has a unique perspective that the older means that any profits must be driven back either into expanded benefits or lower health plans lack. The organization was created in a digital age, and from day costs for members. one it has focused on creating a nearly paperless experience for its members. This People means being an innovator in leveraging technology for communications and being New Mexico Health Connections is focused on keeping New Mexican conscientious and thoughtful about its footprint. NMHC believes that this is one communities healthy. Its mission is to make sure every New Mexican has access of the many ways it can serve its members best. to affordable health coverage. NMHC has worked hard to make its health plan A healthy planet is essential for healthy communities, and healthy communities available throughout the state—especially in rural areas where it might be hard facilitate health in people and families. NMHC is passionate about its commitment to find health coverage options. to a healthy triple bottom line. i No one should go without the security of health coverage. Experience can testify New Mexico Health Connections that having it available makes communities healthier. Doctors are able to see 2440 Louisiana Blvd. NE, Suite 601, Albuquerque, NM 87110 more patients early, before minor problems become chronic conditions. This 505.633.8020, info@mynmhc.org, mynmhc.org keeps people healthy and active and helps reduce the need for hospitalizations and costly procedures.

In the end, putting people first is the job of any consumer-operated plan. Like other co-op models, members will make up a majority of the board of directors, putting health plan members squarely in charge of the health plan.

Profit

As a nonprofit co-op, any profits must be shared with members in the form of lower costs or expanded benefits, but this doesn’t mean NMHC isn’t committed to a healthy business model.

NMHS is based on a strong investment in New Mexico’s primary-care system, especially community health workers who will help doctors reach out to patients

GreenClean – A Local Company

Founded in 2010 in Albuquerque, GreenClean is a small business that promotes itself as the only janitorial service in New Mexico with LEED-accredited professionals managing all operations. GreenClean puts a strong emphasis on quality and sustainable practices. Its commitment to the environment includes continual attention to its own facility.

Harmful chemicals in cleaning products, some of the worst created, are unknowingly used every day by people, even many who are environmentally mindful. Rough cleaning chemicals may do more damage to the people exposed to them than to the material being cleaned. GreenClean uses only products that are human-, pet- and earth-friendly and contain no VOCs (volatile organic compounds) or ozone-depleting substances. The company uses products with certifications such as Green Seal, DfE (Designed for the Environment) or CRI (Carpet & Rug Institute).

GreenClean operates in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe areas, offering a range of facility maintenance services such as janitorial, carpet cleaning, upholstery, pressure washing, etc.

GreenClean Janitorial LLC – 505.385.8383, www.staycleanabq.com

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Black Range Lodge An Eco-retreat in the Gila

Located in Kingston, a former mining boom town three hours southwest of Albuquerque, the Black Range Lodge is solidly built from local stones and ponderosa pine.

More than 20 years ago, the current owner, Catherine Aerial view of Kingston, NM Wanek, began experimenting with permaculture: planting fruit trees, grapes and berries, sheet-mulching the garden and raising chickens. Then she built a solar straw-bale greenhouse for winter heat and vegetables. Gradually, Wanek transformed the grounds into a productive and edible landscape and developed the lodge as a demonstration center for natural building.

Natural building, an ideal approach for the do-it-yourself owner-builder, utilizes local materials in construction and emphasizes energy-efficient design. Stone, earth, local lumber and straw are low-cost materials that, when combined with passive solar design, can create comfortable living spaces with a minimum of fossil fuel input.

Since 1995, the lodge has offered straw-bale-, cob- and plastering workshops, and the construction of a new passive-solar classroom is expanding the facility’s potential for eco-education. The classroom is a 600-sq.-ft. flexible meeting space for up to 35 people. Groups may book the lodge and classroom for their own events.

Beginning in the spring of 2014, Wanek plans to utilize the outdoor landscape for a natural building and permaculture tour once a month.

Open all year as a nature-oriented bed & breakfast, the Lodge invites guests to relax, restore and explore the nearby Gila, the world’s first designated wilderness.

Comfortable guest rooms and suites offer private baths and balconies. You can enjoy a healthy breakfast in the morning, with fresh-baked bread, home-cooked eggs, organic coffee and much more. The lodge is family- and pet-friendly. Amenities include a free game room, a movie library, a guest computer, and, of course, free wi-fi. Restful activities include stargazing from the hot tub, receiving a therapeutic massage, or just curling up with a book in a quiet nook. If you are looking for a quiet retreat off the beaten path, consider staying at the Black Range Lodge.

Black Range Lodge 119 Kingston Main Street, Hillsboro, NM 88042 575.895.5652, cat@blackrangelodge.com, www.blackrangelodge.com

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Courtesy Black Range Lodge

In a creek-fed valley of the Gila National Forest in southern New Mexico, the historic Black Range Lodge has long offered visitors a green getaway. Nearby hiking, biking and bird-watching options abound, including the spectacular Crest Trail, which leads through the Aldo Leopold Wilderness to the fire lookout at Hillsboro Peak. And recent additions to the lodge itself have expanded its appeal to the eco-adventurer.

Economic Development and New Mexico’s National Monuments

Organ Mountains • Las Cruces, NM

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very morning, residents of Las Cruces and surrounding areas look to the east and gaze at our beautiful Organ Mountains, shadowed by the rising sun. Although there are a number of beautiful mountain ranges throughout the country, residents of southern New Mexico often declare that there really is no comparison to the Organ Mountains.

Something about the color at sunset seems to surpass any other mountain range.

Chamber support the designation of the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks (OMDP) as a National Monument. There are several mountain ranges that would fall under this designation, including the Organ Mountains, the Potrillo Mountains and the Sierra de las Uvas Mountains. In these areas are found Billy the Kid’s Outlaw Rock, Geronimo’s Cave, World War II aerial targets, thousands of petroglyphs and so much more.

Over the past year or so, the movement to protect the Organ Mountains and surrounding areas has picked up steam, as residents have realized our beautiful mountain range and open spaces should be free of development. This discussion among people who really love our beautiful vistas has often been passionate. What we are seeing is a deep commitment to our region.

According to a study by BBC Research and Consulting, an independent nonpartisan research firm commissioned by the Las Cruces Green Chamber, the benefits of establishing the OMDP as a National Monument are solid. The results demonstrate that protecting the OMDP this way would have a “significant positive effect” on the local economy. Of the numerous findings, three main points stand out.

The Las Cruces Green Chamber of Commerce has helped to increase public awareness of the many layers of conservation of our public lands. Not only does our area include thousands of petroglyphs, ancient sites, historic locations and cultural treasures, it also contains wildlife, outdoor recreation and hunting opportunities coveted by area enthusiasts. As many of us have experienced, people are coming from other parts of the country to bask in “our” Southwest, and they are spending money in our community while enjoying the outdoor spaces.

Perhaps the most notable is the amount of revenue that will help support the local economy. Designating the OMDP a National Monument would contribute more than $7.4 million in additional annual economic activity. In addition, the National Monument designation would create 88 new jobs, doubling the number that these public lands support in outdoor recreation and tourism. Finally, an additional $562,000 per year in combined state and local government tax revenue would result from the National Monument designation.

The economic opportunities that come from these travelers, in addition to the jobs that will be created, are why the Las Cruces Green Chamber and the New Mexico Green

The pursuit of protecting open spaces is not new to New Mexico. Most recently, we have seen the highest office in the nation agree that protecting open spaces in northern New continued on page 28

Foundation for Las Cruces Museums Keeps the Fabric of Southern New Mexico Vibrant

The Foundation for Las Cruces Museums (FLCM), a nonprofit organization, is committed to the community and culture of the Las Cruces region of southern New Mexico.

Four Smithsonian-affiliated museums in the area—the Branigan Cultural Center, the Museum of Art, the Museum of Nature & Science and the Railroad Museum—offer exceptional exhibits, programs and classes relevant to the culturally diverse Southwest, enriching the experiences of residents and visitors.

As a membership-based group providing resources, volunteer efforts and advocacy for the museums, the Foundation also creates public and financial support and works to increase community attendance at the museums and advocate for legislation and appropriations.

Because the museum system is part of the municipal government, the programming is subject to the availability of tax revenue. The museums often have limited resources to accomplish their missions and visions, so the Foundation assists by generating fundraising events and encouraging gifts and endowments.

The Foundation for Las Cruces Museums donated the newly installed, energy-efficient architectural lettering sign at the

Although exhibits at the museums often coincide with current curricula, some schools cannot afford to rent buses for Museum of Nature & Science on Main Street the half-day field trip. One of the foundation’s most recent projects was the launching of a pilot program to provide buses for children in the Las Cruces Public Schools system in an effort to encourage museum access to school-aged children.

The Foundation also recently purchased signage for the Museum of Nature & Science (also know as MoNaS, celebrating its first anniversary this November). Last month, the energy-efficient LED architectural lettering sign was installed, keeping with the theme of MoNaS and sustainability that began with the building’s design conception. The final wind turbines were also recently installed on the Water Street side, adding to MoNaS’ effort to become an exhibit of sustainably within itself.

The Foundation’s mission is to ensure the museums remain a vibrant piece of the fabric of Las Cruces. To become a member, visit www.foundationlcm.com, www.facebook. com/FoundationLCMuseums, or email: info@foundationlcm.com Foundation for Las Cruces Museums, PO Box 2783, Las Cruces, NM 88004-2783, friendsoflcm@gmail.com, www.foundationlcm.com

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© Mike Grovess

Carrie Hamblen

National Monuments

continued from page 27

Mexico is important. On March 25, President Obama designated the Río Grande Del Norte (RGDN) as a National Monument. This happened because of the commitment to conserving open spaces from the local community, sportsmen, small-business owners and people across the region. As a result of designating the area a National Monument, the heritage of our state’s diverse Hispanic and Native American communities will be protected. Habitat that is prized by hunters, anglers and wildlife enthusiasts is now protected, and, already, local businesses are seeing significant economic benefits.

In August, the New Mexico Green Chamber hosted a forum entitled “Land and Culture: Economic Opportunities from Conservation” in historic Old Mesilla. The forum was an opportunity to share the information learned from those responsible for the RGDN designation, in addition to sharing the results of the BBC economic study.

The event featured Mesilla Mayor Nora Barraza, tourism and marketing experts and business owners who spoke firsthand about the benefits that a National Monument designation would mean for the area. Over 50 attendees walked away from the forum understanding how important the OMDP would be to southern New Mexico.

As documented in the BBC study, small-business owners and economists agree that protecting our public lands could give Doña Ana County a competitive advantage in attracting new businesses, tourists, sportsmen, retirees, students and families to the area.

Permanent protection of the OMDP area is an investment in the sustainability of New Mexico’s economy and ensures that our region’s unique role as the crossroads of southern New Mexico’s heritage will continue and grow into the future. i Carrie Hamblen, executive director of the Las Cruces chapter of the NMGCC, served as operations manager for the Las Cruces Public Radio affiliate KRWG and was the local host of Morning Edition and the public affairs program, Images. She has been in Public Radio for 20 years. Carrie@nmgreenchamber.com

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center

On any given day you may read an article in your local press about fights to protect New Mexico’s water, air and land from pollution, and preserve the public’s right to have a say in government decisions that affect their everyday health and well-being.

These articles may or may not mention, by name, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC).The Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest law firm that provides free and low-cost legal representation to underserved communities throughout the state, working to protect public health, natural resources, quality of life, traditional lifeways and sacred places. The Law Center also fights for the voice of citizens throughout New Mexico to be heard in rulemaking decisions that affect their health and environment.

The NMELC represents a broad spectrum of clients, including grassroots groups, tribal and county governments, and environmental and social justice organizations. Most of the communities served have few financial resources, and more than 50 percent of its clients are members of Native American and/or Hispanic communities. Its work is made possible by private foundation grants and by contributions from individuals and families who are dedicated to protecting this beautiful state.

Whether it’s an extended effort to prevent the copper-mining industry from polluting New Mexico’s groundwater, an ongoing battle against renewed uranium mining on Native lands, or a fight against massive water speculation in the state, the NMELC does not shy away from taking on industrial giants and the state’s own government, when necessary.

Since its founding 25 years ago, the NMELC has worked with communities to keep oil and gas drilling out of the Galisteo Basin; helped return sacred lands to the people of Picuris Pueblo, so they could keep making traditional micaceous pottery using local materials; and negotiated the transfer of land to create the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens’ Ortiz Mountains Educational Preserve.

“The Law Center is the most important environmental organization in New Mexico today. It has credibility with the Legislature, credibility with communities, and it takes on the right issues,” according to former New Mexico State Rep. Antonio Lujan.

With its members’ and funders’ support, the Law Center will continue to work for decades to come to protect the natural and cultural resources unique to New Mexico.

A video on the Law Center’s work, entitled “A Big Damn Deal,” can be found at nmelc. org/25years.

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center 505.989.3769, nmelc@nmelc.org, www.nmelc.org

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OP-ED

High-Tech and Renewable-Energy Development State Trust Lands Create Good Jobs and Revenue for Education

By Ray Powell, Commissioner of Public Lands

On the Job Creation f ront—the Land Office is working with privatesector companies to provide land to create high-paying jobs, including the manufacture of world-class solar panels and other energy-associated technologies. Two examples are EMCORE and Sumitomo, which are located on state trust land in the Sandia Science and Technology Park in Albuquerque. Other state-of-the-art companies are locating at Innovation Park, another State Land Office project in Albuquerque at Mesa del Sol. Almost 5,000 high-paying jobs have been established in these two locations alone.

Construction began this summer on the largest solar array in NM.

Recently, we have partnered with Lea County to create a 1,400-acre business park near Hobbs. One of the first tenants is Joule Inc., which is developing an innovative renewableenergy-producing technology. Salt water and CO2, by-products of the oil-and-gas industry, are converted to high-quality biofuels by using sunshine to promote photosynthesis of patented algae. As Joule ramps up production, about 1,000 acres of state trust Land will be used to produce millions of gallons of biofuel each year.

The State Land Office is also working with private and governmental entities to expand the state’s electric transmission capacity to increase the use and export of New Mexico-generated power. As transmission lines develop statewide, revenue f rom renewable-energ y production will grow substantially.

In addition, we worked with state Rep. Brian Egolf (D-Santa Fe) to pass legislation to provide incentives for the use of geothermal energy.

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This makes New Mexico competitive in attracting this growing industry.

As a result of this new law, New Mexico’s first utility-scale geothermal project can expand to nearby state trust lands.

On the Rene wable Energy f ront— New Mexico has an abundance of sunshine, wind and geothermal resources, making it a natural location for renewable-energy production and clean-energy jobs. In fact, New Mexico has vast geothermalenergy resources and is ranked second in the nation for potential solar-generated electric power production and 10th in wind potential. Taken together, New Mexico has more renewable-energy potential than any other state.

A new and growing source of income for the State Land Office is renewableenergy leasing, which is expected to be the largest growth area for commercial leasing. In 2002, during my previous administration as state land commissioner, a lease was signed creating New Mexico’s first wind farm with the utility Florida Power and Light in east-central New Mexico near Fort Sumner.

Today, there are three existing windenergy projects located on state trust lands that are expected to earn more than $9 million over the life of the projects. There are also five pending applications that are projected to earn more than $138 million in future years.

A wind farm near Fort Sumner, NM, owned by Florida Power & Light

electricity. The project would be built in several phases over the next 10 years, creating 1,600 construction jobs and over 250 permanent positions.

In terms of solar projects, there are four existing solar-energy arrays located on state trust lands that are projected to generate more than $12 million, and five pending applications, which could earn more than $149 million.

In May 2013, I was pleased to participate in the groundbreaking of the state’s largest distributive solar array, located on state trust lands at the Sandia and Science Tech Park, which transformed a former landfill into a clean-energy producing site that will power 20 percent of the energy needs for the EMCORE facility.

Construction began this summer on the largest solar array in New Mexico, expanding the state’s solar capacity by over 20 percent, on about 440 acres of

state trust land in Luna County. This will create 200 jobs during the construction phase and provide clean, efficient solar power for use by New Mexicans. First Solar, our private partner, manufactures its own solar panels, which use the most current technology to provide the same amount of electricity with half the size of regular solar panels, reducing the impact on the surrounding natural world.

These projects provide us with a tremendous opportunity to earn more money for state trust land beneficiaries— public schools, universities, and hospitals—and to do so while creating jobs and protecting our spectacular and unique natural wor ld in New Mexico. i

One pending wind-energy project, proposed by lease applicant Iberdrola, would be located on 39,400 acres of trust land in Torrance County. The proposed “El Cabo” project ultimately could generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity—enough to supply up to 400,000 homes.The development would reduce CO2 emissions by 2.6 million tons and save over 1.1 billion gallons of water annually compared to coal-driven

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© Anna C. Hansen

N

ew Mexico has the potential to lead the nation in new energy jobs and the production of clean, renewable energy. The New Mexico State Land Office is working hard to seize the opportunities to create a bright future.

Water – We can do it!

Mike Koepke

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his past year has really brought into focus the significance of our water shortage in New Mexico. With the Río Grande running out of water before it even leaves the state, our reservoirs at record lows and our water tables continuing to drop, it is easily apparent that we need to change the way we use our water.

The city of Santa Fe has done a particularly good job in bringing this to the consciousness of its citizenry with its promotion of low-flush toilets, water-efficient appliances and xeriscape gardening techniques. You may ask, “What more can we do?” The truth of the matter is, we have just scratched the surface.

Industrial agriculture is the main water user in New Mexico. We have already begun changing f rom open-ditch irrigation to closed, piped systems.There is drip irrigation, and new greenhouse methods are being developed that produce more plants on less water. The Bioponics Institute, in collaboration

with Santa Fe Community College, is building an aquaponics model for demonstration and education.

Aquaponics is a means of producing fish for consumption in a symbiotic relationship with the hydroponic growing of produce. Growing organic produce in this manner consumes as little as 2 percent of the water needed to grow the same amount of produce in a field.

The conservation focus has largely been on residential use. Commercial and industrial water users consume a great deal. There are major potential water savings to be realized in this area as well. Some examples include evaporative coolers and cooling towers. The Santa Fe County Public Works Complex on Hwy. 599 has 22 evaporative coolers. In order to deal with lime-scale buildup, it was bleeding off 5 percent of the feed water. This is a lot like leaving 22 faucets running. By installing a HydroFlow device to deal with the lime-scale and eliminate the need to bleed off water, the savings are

A water cooling tower at Sandia National Laboratories

about two million gallons annually. A large, 500-ton cooling tower can dump approximately 300,000 gallons a month down the drain to avoid lime-scale buildup. The HydroFlow system can cut water waste by as much as 50-to95 percent.

Even with xeriscaping, there still is a lot of turf requiring a significant amount of water (Example: Santa Fe Plaza, city parks, resorts). At New Water Innovations we are working with a company that, through the use of buried wireless sensors, can accurately control the water being applied to assure healthy turf without overwatering. The resultant water savings are 30-40 percent. Looking

to the future, we are working with a German company, Busse, that has a small, self-contained, residential water treatment system that will process all of the residential wastewater, reducing it to bacteria-free water cleaner than rainwater. We are hoping to get state approval to allow this unit to furnish clean, recycled water for reuse in toilets, washing machines and showers.

Our dwindling water is a significant problem, but with imaginative solutions we have the opportunity to make tremendous strides in water savings that will allow us to continue to live in harmony with our beautiful environment. i Mike Koepke is with New Water Innovations.

New Water Innovations

New Water Innovations is a small Santa Fe-based business with over 20 years of experience providing chemical-free water treatment solutions to residential, commercial and government clients. NWI’s HydroFlow system can be the solution for lime scale, bacteria, algae, filtration enhancement and corrosion reduction.

There are other environmental and financial benefits including: reductions in electricity and water heating equipment usage; reduction or elimination of chemical usage, safety precautions and chemical disposal; non-intrusive installation, no change to the existing footprint and no plumbing alterations; average return-oninvestment is less than two years.

New Water Innovations 1512 Pacheco St., Ste. C-104, Santa Fe, NM 87505 505.216.0880, newwaterinnovations.com

Anne La Lopa • Water Lady

Anne La Lopa/Water Lady has been a small womanowned business for 15 years, treating hard water in a green way. Zeta Core catalytic water conditioners treat hard water without salt or chemicals.

Zeta Core eliminates scale buildup. There is no maintenance, and it come with a 10-year warranty.

La Lopa’s customers include San Juan Community College, the New Mexico State Capitol, Río Grande Community Farms, the Village of Melrose, and she has numerous commercial, agricultural and residential clients.

Anne La Lopa/Water Lady 505.660.4162, anne@waterlady.biz, www.waterlady.biz

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Carbon Divestment or Engagement?

Which is the more effective tool in encouraging change?

Johann Klaassen & Kimberly Kiel

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s investment advisors who specialize in “sustainable, responsible impact” investing (SRI), we do not offer most of the biggest fossil-fuel companies in our client portfolios. The ecological devastation caused by the largest of those companies is impossible to ignore, and they appear to have no real interest in addressing the problems they’ve caused. But a small number of fossil-fuel companies—smaller firms, mostly, and companies that have a record of being willing to talk to environmental activists and shareowner advocates—do appear in our clients’ portfolios. One of the most frequent questions we’ve heard recently is about those firms: should we divest from those last few carbonenergy companies?

Sustainable, responsible impact investing

Bill McKibben and the folks at 350. org, GoFossilFree.org, the Responsible Endowments Coalition and a wide variety of other groups are urging us all to divest from carbon-energy companies now. We ’ve already overloaded our atmosphere with CO2, they argue, and we have to stop adding more immediately. The companies that are making money pulling carbon out of the ground can’t be expected to stop themselves, so we need a divestment movement to withdraw any sense of support for those companies that are causing catastrophic climate change.

The idea is this: If we all sell the shares of those companies and are open, even loud, about why we’re doing so, we can bring attention to and put pressure on those companies and drive them out of business. It’s too late to do anything but divest, it is argued; to do otherwise is actually immoral.

Taking their cue from the anti-apartheid movements of the 1980s, these groups are working to convince institutional investors like college endowments, large pension plans, and even some city governments to sell all of their fossilfuel-company shares and reinvest in nonpolluting alternatives. To date, while the divestment movement’s progress has felt slow, it has actually gained more ground faster than any similar movement of the

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last century. The pressure on carbonenergy companies may not be high yet, but it’s rising.

Others—perhaps most notably Joe Keefe of Pax World Funds—argue that while we all agree that these companies are a huge part of the problem, we can’t simply do away with them and create a carbon-free world economy overnight.

Simply put, we don’t have an alternative infrastructure in place to support our existing world; we can’t turn off the gas pumps until we have something to replace them. Instead, we would be better off pursuing an engagement strategy with carbon-energy companies, to get them to help make the transition smoother and cleaner than it could be.

We probably need to set ourselves a timeline for the transition from carbon energy to renewables, and to keep in mind that we will be shifting from engagement to divestment along that timeline, but there is work to be done before we divest completely.

today and not wait for engagement’s impact; we have developed a Zero Carbon Energy portfolio to help those clients. But we believe that an energetic engagement strategy that tapers smoothly into a divestment strategy is the best approach to take: we want to talk to carbon-energy companies now in order to help them make a transition to a carbon-free energy future. i

Disclosure: Kimberly Kiel is the president and Johann Klaassen is the chief investment off icer of Horizons Sustainable Financial Services, Inc. in Santa Fe, NM. Horizons is a Registered Investment Adviser firm offering advisory services in the state of New Mexico and other jurisdictions where registered or exempted. Horizons is an independent investment firm providing investment advice to clients who want to invest with their values and focus on sustainable investment practices.

505.982.9661, http://horizonssfs.com

Many of the largest carbon-energy companies are resistant to engagement strategies, and they refuse to talk with their shareowners about these issues. But there are some exceptions, and some of the smaller firms are recognizing that the world is changing around them. If some of these firms can be convinced to reorganize their fundamental business models and to lower their carbon footprint while we all search for an alternative-energy future, the result might just be a lower hurdle to jump when the time comes.

If we don’t even try to engage these companies, though, we’ll be missing out on that important opportunity.

Both strategies have strong points.

We’re well past the point where climate change denialism is anything but a crackpot’s position, and we clearly can’t continue pumping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into our atmosphere for much longer. But we can’t simply turn off the carbon energy today, or tomorrow, or in the coming year, because we aren’t ready with zeroimpact energy solutions to replace it. We understand that some of our clients want to take a divestment stand

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Ask us about Zirconium Implants for people with metal allergies!

The Climate Change Leadership Institute Encouraging Local Leadership

SF Carbon Offset & Community Service Project The Climate Change Leadership Institute (CCLI), in collaboration with the Santa Fe Green Chamber of Commerce, New Mexico Energy Smart Academy at Santa Fe Community College and a number of other institutions, is spearheading the Santa Fe Carbon Offset & Community Service Project to fund energy-efficiency assistance for low-income households and do carbon sink planting with native grass throughout Santa Fe County. A carbon sink is anything that absorbs, accumulates and stores carbon for an indefinite period. Excessive carbon dioxide emissions, such as from coal-fired power plants, have been shown to impact the climate in ways that affect a region’s livability.

This project aims to achieve many goals at once: save water and energy, empower those in need, beautify the community, reduce our carbon footprint and raise awareness of the need to take care of the environment. Teams of citizens and local businesses are being asked to volunteer and contribute as a way to help offset current emissions of carbon dioxide in the US. Foundations are being asked to make donations, including matching contributions from what is raised in the local community. Businesses that donate an amount proportionate to their carbon footprint are eligible for a higher level of green certification by the Green Chamber.

Seed Grants and Leadership Awards Each year the nonprofit CCLI gives out a series of community seed g rants and awards to businesses and individuals to encourage leadership in the advancement of c limate action, clean energ y and conser vation. T he recipient of this year’s Innovation Seed Grant Award is Robert Hockaday, who, after years of work with Robb Hirsch (r), founder of the Los Alamos National Climate Change Leadership Laborator y, started Institute, presented the E n e r g y R e l a t e d Innovation Leadership Award Devices and made a cooling Black Tip to Robert Hockaday. device that makes solar panels last longer and perform better, and created a solar mounting technology using recycled tires that endures extreme weather. Hockaday is building his business in the eastern plains of New Mexico and marketing his products to the ranching community.

Climate Leadership Weekend The CCLI stages an annual weekend of community engagement events in October to educate the public on climate-change solutions. This year included the inauguration of the Native Prairie Grass Project at Santa Fe Community College, a “Fun-raiser” at Tesuque Village Market and a Kids’ Climate Ride.

Climate Change Leadership Institute 505.988.3364, ccli@takeresponsibility.us, www. takeresponsibility.us

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EnviroKarma, LLC: converting vehicles to electric power

Bailey’s Chimney Cleaning & Repair A Green Business

My Santa Fe-based business, EnviroKarma, LLC, is focused on converting used vehicles from gasoline to full electric power. I decided to start this particular business because I believe that electric vehicles will play a big part in helping move individuals and businesses to greener transportation solutions for their urban and suburban needs.

In February 2011, due to an extreme weather event in Texas, which knocked out a power plant, pressure in the grid of natural gas lines dropped precipitously, and the gas company decided to cut off the natural gas supplies to Taos and Río Arriba counties. Meanwhile in northern New Mexico, temperatures dropped to 20 below zero.

Dan Baker

Refurbishing a broad choice of used vehicles to run on electricity not only shifts to cleaner sources of power; it avoids a good portion of the carbon footprint required to manufacture a new vehicle, resulting in lower total cost to the consumer and the environment.

I recently joined the Green Chamber to network with like-minded small businesses and offer my services to those seeking cost-effective ways to improve their “triple bottom line” by reducing their fuel costs by about 60 percent and being green at the same time. As my business grows I am looking to provide a career path in a new industry utilizing local, vocational, semiskilled labor to provide good-paying, green-collar jobs in any community.

Services that I currently provide include lectures and classes to students or adults, consulting and tool rental for the DIY enthusiast, and turnkey “build-to-suit” conversion services.

EnviroKarma, LLC, dtbaker61@gmail.com, www.EnviroKarma.biz

Business Movement continued from page 9 nevertheless not signed into law. You can read more about benefit corporations, or B Corps, in a separate article in this month’s Green Fire Times.

At the federal level, we were also involved in the effort to get the Río Grande del Norte (RGDN) designated as a National Monument. President Obama issued the proclamation designating New Mexico’s newest national monument on March 25, 2013. An economic study estimated that the new monument could bring $15 million in additional revenue to the area, create 279 new jobs in Río Arriba and Taos counties, and bring an additional $1.8 million in state and local tax revenue.3 The Bureau of Land Management’s Taos Field Office recently reported that RGDN visitation for fiscal year 2013 (Oct. 1, 2012 to Sept. 30, 2013) jumped by 40 percent over fiscal year 2012 visitation, from 130,002 visitors in FY12 to 182,501 in FY13. This increase in visitation was for the entire fiscal year 2013 over all of last fiscal year, and the monument has only been official for the last six months. So these numbers are promising for local businesses, which may see increased sales in equipment, food and beverages, shopping and hotel-nights.

The NMGCC looks for ward to continuing to gather information about the impact of increased visitation on local businesses in Taos and Río Arriba counties. Thankfully, the federal government is now back open and visitors

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can return to enjoying the gorgeous views in the RGDN National Monument. The Green Chamber will continue to work with local businesses to help market the new monument to ecotourists and other potential visitors around the state and around the country.

Another effort to capitalize on New Mexico’s scenic public lands is currently underway in Doña Ana County.The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks (OMDP) is another Land of Enchantment gem that we hope will bring much economic gain to the Las Cruces area in increased visitation and ecotourist dollars. You can read more about the OMDP effort in a separate article in this month’s Green Fire Times.

A Business Organization First and Foremost Ultimately, the NMGCC is an alliance of small businesses interested in developing the responsible business movement here to create more economic value for a better quality of life for all New Mexicans. We work to walk our talk through collective action. We are nonprofit and nonpartisan, and we work with the PRB to educate the community about sustainable economies, environmentally and socially responsible entrepreneurship and to advance socially responsible economic and community development policies. While we often support policies to responsibly protect the environment, we are not an environmental organization. However, we do believe that protecting the environment is a value that

Justin Bailey

People who depend on natural gas for heat tried keeping warm with electricity. The electric grid quickly failed due to overload. With no Internet, radio talk show hosts like Nancy Stapp and Paddy Mac stayed on the air around the clock, providing crucial information. People listened to the radio in their cars with the heat turned up high.

Plumbers drove around dealing with a deluge of frozen, broken pipes. Folks with kiva fireplaces kept them going 24/7. All over Taos, walls in homes adjoining these fireplaces caught on fire. Fire trucks drove screaming all over the place to put out the fires.

This went on for almost two weeks.

Those of us who own wood stoves, however, were warm in our homes. We heated water on our wood stoves to take a bath.

We fried eggs on our wood stoves and made pots of soup and stew to distribute to our less fortunate neighbors. Our pipes didn’t freeze. Our homes didn’t catch fire.

Heating our homes with wood—a local, renewable source of energy—gives us a level of independence and self-reliance unknown to those who depend exclusively on the utility companies for energy.

I’m a chimney sweep; I install woodstoves, consult on wood heat, and clean, inspect and service chimneys of all types.

My phone, of course, was ringing off the hook during the gas outage. My business, Bailey’s Chimney Cleaning & Repair, facilitates safe heating with wood. We are here to help you be prepared for events like the gas outage of 2011. Installing wood stoves is my favorite thing about work because I get to help people free themselves from the bondage of dependence on the energy grid.

Heating with a modern EPA-approved woodstove, we can reduce our carbon footprint, keep our money in our communities and protect ourselves from the failures and greed of politicians and energy executives.

To those of us who live in rural areas in or near forests, it is obvious that the health of the forest depends on responsible thinning. This thinning provides us fuel for heat.

When we burn a piece of wood in our woodstove, it emits the same amount of carbon as if that piece of wood rotted on the ground or burned in a forest fire. Efficient woodstoves emit very little particulate matter because they are equipped with a re-burn chamber that burns the combustible gases and particles in the smoke before it leaves the stove.

Everywhere we go, it seems, we hear about the need for green energy and green jobs.

Heating with wood in an efficient woodstove is green energy, and the jobs of chimney sweeps and woodcutters are green jobs. We spend our money right here at home. Bailey’s Chimney C&R is a member of the Green Chamber of Commerce because we provide good green jobs and green services.

Why send your money to a utility company out of state when you can buy a cord of wood from a local father and husband who will turn around and spend that money here in the community, helping to provide more local jobs?

Bailey’s Chimney Cleaning & Repair—575.770.7769, baileyschimney.com

we must consider, along with considering the quality of life of our employees, their families and our communities. (And we believe we can do this responsibly to attract socially minded consumers.)

V i s i t o u r w e b s i t e a t w w w. nmgreenchamber.com for information on upcoming events and come to one of our monthly Green Drinks. You can also learn more about the PRB by visiting www.prbnewmexico.org i

1 S ee http://responsiblebusiness.haas. berkeley. edu/about/index.html and http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/info.aboutus 2 See http://www.csrwire.com/about 3 See http://www.riograndedelnorte.org/ wp-content/uploads/2012/10/EconomicImpacts-of-Monument-RGDN-FINAL.pdf

Originally from Deming, Laura E. Sánchez is the CEO of the NMGCC and is also a practicing attorney. She also holds a master’s in Public Administration with a focus in public and nonprofit finance and local government, and is currently an adjunct professor in business law in NMSU’s MBA program.

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© Anna C. Hansen (2)

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2885 Trades West Road (off Siler) Santa Fe, NM 87505

960-C Highway 550 Bernalillo, NM 87004

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Consider placing an ad in this award-winning publication. Call Skip Whitson (505.471.5177) or Anna Hansen (505.982.0155) 36

Green Fire Times • November 2013

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NEWSBITEs Danish Renewable-Energy Pioneer in Santa Fe LANL Climate Researcher Presents Dire Forecast for SW Forests

CEO of the Samsø Energy Academy in Denmark, Søren Hermansen, whom Time magazine lauded as a Hero of the Environment in 2008, spoke in Santa Fe last month before the City Business and Quality of Life Advisory Committee and at Santa Fe Community College about implementing renewable energy on a broad scale. Samsø is an island community of about 4,000 people. It has gained international recognition for being one of the first communities in the world that is 100 percent-powered by renewable energy.

Hermansen related how in 10 years his community reduced its carbon footprint by 140 percent, creating jobs and setting national and international precedents along the way.

Søren Hermansen The small Danish isle heats its buildings with cooperative biomass districts, where all the buildings receive heat from biomass centers via submerged pipes. Moreover, Samsø uses wind turbines, both on and offshore, to generate enough electricity not only to serve the needs of the entire island’s inhabitants, but with surplus to sell to the mainland. Hermansen says that communities have to be widely collaborative to pull off such a big project. “Get everyone involved, including people you might not like. Be pragmatic and look for solutions,” he said. “We need more doers and fewer political talking heads. The solutions of the future do not come from headquarters, but from the outskirts where communities govern common resources.”

Hermansen’s presentation was preceded by a dire forecast by Los Alamos National Lab’s climate researcher Dr. Cathy Wilson, who warned that if the planet maintains its current trajectory, it is highly likely that the entire Southwest will lose the vast majority of its forests by 2050, with the Pacific Northwest following closely behind.

Hermansen believes in a positive approach to such daunting news. He doesn’t think the old adage of “think globally, act locally” is quite right, preferring “think locally, act locally.” Søren Hermansen’s talk at a subsequent visit to a university in Iowa was televised and can be viewed online at http://new.livestream.com/mum/Hermansen

Climate-Change Study Predicts the Old Maximum Is the New Minimum Get Ready for Ecosystems Never Seen Before

A new study suggests that the maximum global temperatures and levels of precipitation of the last 150 years will be the new minimum by 2047, give or take 14 years, depending on location. Lead author of the study, Camilo Mora, a biogeographer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, predicts “environments like we have never seen before.”

The study seeks to pinpoint the timing of this transition in specific cities and regions across the globe. The tropics are going to be hit much sooner than the poles, while Anchorage, Alaska can expect that prophecy to come true by 2071, barring extensive efforts to mitigate climate change. Manokwari, a provincial capital in eastern Indonesia, could see the results of these impacts by 2020.

The new extremes, besides greatly impacting human communities, will place a lot of stress on wildlife unused to extremes in an otherwise relatively steady climate.

The study is based on 39 climate models that the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change used for its latest climate-assessment reports. Climate records from 1860-2005 to consider natural variability were also used. Despite the study’s conclusions, scientific understanding of sea-surface temperature and air pressure patterns in the tropical pacific known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation are not fully understood. Still, Frank Lowenstein of the Nature Conservancy says that the study’s results err on the side of conservatism, rather than overstating the evidence. The study is extremely valuable for beginning to construct a reliable timeline for the changes that are beginning to engulf the planet.

White House Announces Economic Aid to Rural Areas Including New Mexico Pueblos

US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced 188 recipients for rural development loans and grants. Among these, the Santa Fe Community Foundation will receive a $100,000 Rural Business Opportunity Grant to provide development opportunities related to MoGro, the mobile grocery store that provides access to fresh produce and other healthy foods for tribal members. MoGro currently serves residents of Kewa (Santo Domingo) Pueblo, San Felipe, Laguna, Jémez and Cochiti pueblos.

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The funding will underwrite leadership training to develop food co-ops and other businesses. USDA Rural Development State Director Terry Brunner congratulated the Santa Fe Community Foundation on its initiative and stated that there is still much more to be done to assist other New Mexicans living in a “food desert.”

The announcement took place at the second convening of the White House Rural Council, where officials from economic development districts, county governments and nonprofit organizations discussed ways to replicate successful regional development strategies.

Creative Santa Fe’s Campaign Highlights Santa Fe’s Walkability

Walkability directly impacts the vibrancy, energy, health and prosperity of communities. “The walkable city is not just a nice, idealistic notion. Rather, it is a simple, practical-minded solution to a host of complex problems we face as a society,” says urban planner Jeff Speck, author of Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time.

Creative Santa Fe (CrSF), an organization dedicated to strengthening SF ’s creative economy and enhancing the quality of life for its citizens and visitors, has begun a campaign that runs through November to demonstrate simple, affordable and practical ways to increase the city’s walkability. Walk [Santa Fe] aims to show residents, business owners and visitors the impact clear signage and designated walkways can have on kindling a more vibrant and connected center of town. The project is in collaboration with the national initiative Walk [Your City], and is supported by a coalition of over 80 participating partners.

CrSF has designed and set up a web of meticulously well-signed pathways across the downtown area. Each sign has an imbedded QR code with specific directions via Google Maps, pointing the way to museums, galleries, shops, restaurants and parks. CrSF hopes to get people who wouldn’t ordinarily walk downtown to explore and embrace the opportunities there. Walk [Santa Fe] “ambassadors” will be on the streets to answer questions and discuss the project.

Vehicular traffic has come to define the layout of cities and towns. In the ‘80s, city planners began to challenge the rationale behind motor-vehicle-based urbanism and argued for a reintegration of walkability by re-imagining city and neighborhood centers, culminating in a movement called New Urbanism. Walk [Santa Fe] reflects this movement. To learn more and see a pdf map and a list of participating partners, visit http://creativesantafe.org/walk-santa-fe/

Dairy Industry Petitions to Weaken Groundwater Protections

The New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) has set a March, 2014 meeting to hear the dairy industry’s petition to substantially weaken groundwater discharge rules. The WQCC endorsed the New Mexico Environment Department conducting a stakeholder advisory process on the changes to the rules prior to the March hearing. The industry is proposing changes that include: • Cutbacks on routine water testing, disallowing early detection, prevention of pollution and implementation of cost-saving clean-up actions • Cutbacks on monitoring wells placed to detect pollution at dairy facilities before public-use waters are threatened • Eliminating the synthetic plastic liner requirement when there is evidence of leeching of large quantities of liquid animal waste into the land and groundwater • Making discretionary the Environment Department’s continued groundwater monitoring and potential site clean-up by dairy operators once their facilities have ceased operation The New Mexico Environmental Law Center, with support and assistance from Socially Responsible Agricultural Project (SRAP), represents clients, the Río Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club and Amigos Bravos, who are opposed to the changes. “A full 90 percent of New Mexico residents drink water from ground sources, which can easily be contaminated with dairy manure,” said SRAP Executive Director Danielle Diamond. “Governor Martinez and the Water Quality Control Commission should be working to protect the health of our water sources, not rolling back hard-fought safeguards that could put families and the public health at risk.”

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What's Going On! Events / Announcements

ALBUQUERQUE Nov. 2, 8 am-2 pm Doggie Dash & Dawdle Balloon Fiesta Park

Pet festival to benefit Animal Humane NM. Have fun with your 4-legged friend. Registration: DoggieDashAndDawdle.org

Nov. 2 Walkin N Circles Trainers’ Challenge NM State Fair Horse Arena

A horse trainers’ competition. Two classes with rescued horses. Prizes. Open to the public. Masked Cowboy Ball at the Youth Center at the NMSF grounds starting at 8:30 pm.

Tickets: 505.286.0779, saveqhorse@wncr. org, www.wncr.org

Nov. 6, 5:30-7:30 pm Green Drinks Hotel Andaluz, 125 2nd St. NW

Network with people interested in local business, clean energy and other green issues. Featured speaker: Wayne Sleep, Snow Survey Hydrologic Technician, USDA, Natural Resource Conservation Service. Hosted by the ABQ & Río Rancho Green CofC. Info: 505.244.3700, lindsay@ nmgreenchamber.com

Nov. 6, 9:30 am-12:30 pm Business Recycling Forum: Food Scrap Management NMSU ABQ Campus, MEGA-Classroom

Forum aimed at businesses and facilities interested in saving money in trash expenses by source reduction, recycling and food scrap management. RSVP to English@recyclenewmexico.com, www.recyclenewmexico. com/Food_Scraps.htm

Nov. 13-15 2013 Quivira Conference: Inspiring Adaptation Embassy Suites Hotel

Scientists, ranchers, farmers, conservationists, urban planners and others who have bright ideas and important tools to share from their adaptation toolbox. 505.820.2544, Registration deadline: 11/5. quiviracoalition.org

Nov. 13, 7:30 pm Gary Snyder and Jack Loeffler Embassy Suites Hotel

Pulitzer Prize winner in poetry and aural historian speaking on “Adaptation” at the Quivira conference. Open to the Public: $30. Tickets online: quiviracoalition.org.

505.820.2544

Nov. 23, 1:30-3:30 Vermiculture and Vermicomposting Class Open Space Visitor Center 6500 Coors Blvd. NW

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Food scraps, junk mail and paper products make up about 30% of our garbage. Learn how to use red worms to turn organic waste into high -quality compost and in the process, reduce the volume of waste that you send to the landfill. Registration: 505.897.8831, registere@nmcomposters.org

fense Fund, will speak about the new movement emerging across the US seeking to transition toward economic and environmental sustainability and elevate the rights of people, communities and nature above powers claimed by corporations. By donation. Info: 575.666.2529 or info@nmccr.org, www.celdf.org

Dec. 9, 4-8 pm Engaged Citizen Awards NM Museum of Natural History and Science

Nov. 3, 3-6 pm Friends of Archeology Holiday Party Hotel Santa Fe, 1501 Paseo de Peralta

A statewide award program. Categories: “Visible Accomplishments” and “Behind the Scenes” efforts resulting in increased engagement with the outdoors. Reception, awards ceremony, music. Sponsored by the NM Outdoors Coalition, a collaboration among federal and regional public lands agencies, private and nonprofit organizations. Free. RSVP: newmexicooutdoorscoalition@gmail.com, Info: 505.435.2356, dacohen77@gmail.com, www.newmexico outdoorscoalition.wordpress.com

January 16-17, 9:30 am-5:30 pm Clean Economy Conference: Building Resiliency ABQ Embassy Suites 1000 Woodward Place

Pre-conference 1-day workshop on local food production with conference keynote Joel Salatin. Two-day Carbon Economy Summit with speakers, plenary sessions on wise water use, regenerative agriculture, zero-waste, organic food, soil food web and a Sustainability Tradeshow. Plus a Farm-to-Table celebrity chef Gourmet Steward’s Dinner. $125/day or 3 days/$275. www.carboneconomyseries.com

SANTA FE

Nov. 1-10 Salt and Pepper Teatro Paraguas Studio 3205 Calle Marie

Humerous play by Los Alamos playwright Robert Benjamin set in SF. Upbeat tales about maturing with grace, courage and humor. Fri. and Sat. eves. at 7:30 pm; Sat. and Sun. matinéesat 2 pm. $18/$15. www.teatroparaguas.org

Nov. 2 Making Things in a Digital Age Various Locations

“The Exploration of Craft and Technology, Process and Product.” 9:30-11:30 am: Design dialogue with international designers, NM History Museum; 2-3:20 pm: Workshops: Handson Textiles, Lannan Foundation ($30); 3:30-4:50 pm: User-Driven Design, Lannan Foundation ($45/$20); 2:30-4:30 pm: Material Shift at Zane Bennett Contemporary Art ($30/$15) Designsantafe.org, Tickets: www.lensic.org

Nov. 2, 5-7 pm Design Lab: Next Nest Opening + Awards Party Site Santa Fe, 1606 Paseo de Peralta

Exhibit of juried exhibition of works by 17 artists, designers and architects. Free. Runs through Nov. 29. Designsantafe.org

Nov. 2, 7-9 pm A New Community Rights Movement Unitarian Universalist Church 107 W. Barcelona

Thomas Linzey, attorney and executive director of the Community Environmental Legal De-

Green Fire Times • November 2013

A celebration of archeology. Party, demonstrations, silent auction of original artwork, jewelry, pueblo pottery, books. $20. Tickets: 505.992.2715 or at the door. www.museumfoundation.org/friends-archeology

Nov. 4, 2-3 pm Earthships – Water Recycling and Green Building SF Women’s Club 1616 Old Pecos Trail

Lecture by Michelle Locher on the Earthship concept and the production of food in these sustainable, off-grid homes built from recycled materials. SF Botanical Garden members free; non-members $10. 505.471.9103, info@santafebotanicalgarden.org, www.santafebotanicalgarden.org

Nov. 4-7, 9 am-5 pm Serigraphs for Fine Artists Workshop Eldorado, NM

Learn the skills necessary to produce highquality serigraphs using traditional techniques, creating plates from scratch. Limited to 6 students. $500. http://www.eventzilla. net/event?eventid=2139008190

Nov. 5, 3-5 pm Eldorado/285 Recycles

Eldorado area recycling advocacy group monthly meeting. Info: 505.570.0583, joseigner@gmail.com

Nov. 7, 6:30 pm Slow Food Annual Dinner/Silent Auction 315 Restaurant

Nov. 8, 9 am-12:30 pm Greening the Workforce SF Community College Jémez Room

Interactive workshop led by corporate sustainability expert Bea Boccalandro. Leading companies are involving their employees in recycling, on-site gardening, energy conservation and other efforts.

Transform your workers and your company. $145. 505.819.3828, www.carboneconomyseries.com

Nov. 8, 6-10 pm Celebration of Land Conservation in New Mexico SF Farmers’ Market Pavilion

NM Land Conservancy award presentation to Jim Winder, 4th-generation rancher. Live Western Swing music. Guest speaker Hampton Sides. Buffet dinner, silent auction.

Tickets: $125 505.986.3801, ladkins@nmcon servancy.org, www.nmlandconservancy.org

Nov. 8-10 Fuze-SW Museum of Intl. Folk Art, Museum Hill

Food & Folklore Festival. A series of keynotes, talks, panel discussions, creative interludes and food. $250/$200. 505.476.1126, Shirley.Lujan@state.nm.us, http://fuzesw. museumofnewmexico.org

Nov. 9, 5-8 pm Art Auction for Acequia Madre Elementary School SF Convention Center

Live and silent auctions, live entertainment, food, more. $15 admission includes free childcare. Supports Acequia Madre’s programs. Info: 505.467.4000

Nov. 11-14, 9 am-5 pm Serigraphs for Graphic Artists & Illustrators Eldorado, NM

Fundraiser to provide financial support for NM farmers attending Terra Madre biannual event in Italy. $35. Reservations: 505.986.9190, slowfoodsantafe@gmail.com

Learn skills necessary to produce highquality serigraphs using both traditional and digital techniques. $500. Limited to 5 students. http://www.eventzilla.net/web/ event?eventid=2139008231

Nov. 7, 7-8:30 pm Peter Buffett: Life Is What You Make It Lensic Performing Arts Center

Nov. 15; Trash Bash and Fashion Show Institute of American Indian Arts 83 Avan Nu Po Road

A concert, conversation and multimedia presentation with Peter Buffet on piano with cellist, Michael Kott. Book signing afterward.A benefit for the Academy for the Love of Learning. Tickets: $15/$50. Discounts for students and teachers. 505.988.1234, Ticketssantafe.org

Nov. 7-8, 8:30 am-5:30 pm GRI Certified Sustainability Training SF Community Foundation HUB 501 Halona Street

Training course for corporate social responsibility reporting. Presented by the ISOS Group, Concept Green and the NM Green Chamber of Commerce. Guest speaker: Carolyn Parrs.

Registration: 619.246.1122, http://isosgroup. com/gri-certified-reporting/trainings/santa-fe

Art Reception: 6 pm in the Learning Support Center; Fashion show: 7 pm in the Digital Dome (Science & Tech Building) Presented by Student Sustainability Leadership. slapointe@ iaia.edu, sstock@iaia.edu

Nov. 15-17 Recycled Santa Fe Art Festival Santa Fe Convention Center, 201 W. Marcy

15th annual show, one of the hippest, eco-conscious art markets and juried art events any-

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where. Friday night fashion show at 7 pm. Info: 505.603.0558, skpierpont@yahoo.com, http:// recyclesantafe.org, Advance tickets: $15/$20.

505.988.1234, www.ticketsssantafe.org

Nov. 16, 9 am-4 pm Living with Fire in Northern New Mexico Workshop SF Community College

Fire, Forests and Climate Change. Public workshop will provide the best fire science from northern NM. Learn how forest managers are applying that science in restoration work. Information for homeowners and communities on how to become more fireadapted. Sponsored by the SW Jémez Mountains Restoration Collaborative. RSVP: 505.438.5431 or http://livingwithfire.eventbrite.com, Info: www.fireadaptednewmexico. org/LivingWithFire_Agenda.html

Nov. 16, 10 am-2 pm America Recycles Day Celebration Eldorado Supermart at the Agora, Eldorado, NM

Handouts, contest, free electric cord repair to promote reuse. 505.466.9797, kswee ney99@yahoo.com

Nov. 18-21 Serigraphs for Photographers Eldorado, NM

Learn the skills necessary to produce highquality serigraphs. $500. Limited to 6 students. http://www.eventzilla.net/web/ event?eventid=2139008230

Nov. 22 Entry Deadline Children’s Water Conservation Poster Contest

The theme: Saving Water Is Always in Season. Grades 1-6 public and private schools.

The winners will be announced in January and will be featured on the back of a city bus and in the annual calendar. Entry forms: 505.955.4224 or www.santafenm.gov/water conservation

Nov. 24, 3-5 pm Reading/Book-Signing Benefit OpCit Bookstore, Sanbusco, 500 Montezuma, Ste. 101

Elaine Pinkerton and Jann Arrington Wolcott present “An Adoption Story” based on The Goodbye Baby and From Calcutta with Love. Door prizes, refreshments. Benefits Youth Shelters (www.youthshelters.org).

Info: 505.983.9747 or deardiaryreadings@ mac.com

Nov. 24, 3-4:30 pm Santa Fe Poets 2 Inst. of American Indian Arts Campus, 83 Avan Nu Po Road

City of SF Poet Laureate Jon Davis reads, along with Lauren Camp, Joanne Dominique Dwyer, Jamie Figueroa, dg nanouk okpic and Arthur Sze. Info: 505.424.2365 or jdavissimo52@gmail.com

Nov. 29, 2-5 pm Salvador Romero and Ricardo Cate Keshi Gallery, 227 Don Gaspar

Zuni artist and Kewa cartoonist. Book signing. 505.989.8728, keshi.com

Nov. 30-Dec. 1 Winter Indian Market SF Convention Center

200+ Native artists from the US and Canada.

Studio artist demos by award-winning artists.

Film screenings, live music and dance, fashion show, more. $10/day, $15 weekend pass, mem-

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bers and kids free. http://swaia.org/Indian_ Market/2013_Winter_Market/index.html

Dec. 3-4, 8:30 am-4:30 pm Collaborative Forest Restoration Programs Workshop SF Community College Jémez Rooms

A diverse group of stakeholders and forest restoration experts will come together to discuss forest restoration on public lands in NM. Info: 505.982.9805, romero.rosemary@gmail.com, www. fs.usda.gov/detail/r3/workingtogether/ grants/?cid=fsbdev3_022022, Registration: http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/r3/cfrp

Dec. 9, 2-3 pm Successful Gardening in New Mexican Soil SF Women’s Club 1616 Old Pecos Trail

Lecture by Erin Wade of Vinaigrette restaurants and Los Portales Farm in Nambé.

From vermicomposting to soil biodiversity, learn about Erin’s journey and how to create healthy soil.

Through Jan. 5, 2014 New World Cuisine: Histories of Chocolate, Mate y Más Museum of International Folk Art

Exhibit focuses on the mixing of food cultures in the Americas. 505.476.1200, inter nationalfolkart.org

Through March 16, 2014 Cowboys Real and Imagined NM History Museum

This exhibit explores NM’s contribution to the cowboys of both myth and reality from the 1600s to the present day.

First Saturday of Each Month, 10 am-12 pm SF Citizens’ Climate Lobby Natural Grocers, Community Room, 3328 Cerrillos Rd. “Creating political will for a livable world.”

HERE & THERE

Nov. 3, 6-8 pm A New Community Rights Movement Taos County AG Center 202 Chamisa Rd., Ste. B, Taos, NM

Thomas Linzey, attorney and executive director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, will speak about the new movement emerging across the US seeking to transition toward economic and environmental sustainability and elevate the rights of people, communities and nature above powers claimed by corporations.

By donation. Info: 575.666.2529 or kathleen dudley@nmccr.org, www.ccr.org

Nov. 4, 6-8 pm A New Community Rights Movement Ilfeld Auditorium, Highlands University Campus, Las Vegas, NM See Nov. 3, Taos listing.

Nov. 4-14 The Junkman Comes to Tucumcari Tucumcari Elementary School, NM

Composer, percussionist, environmentalist Donald Knaack, aka The Junkman, will offer a guest residency in music, art and the environment for students. They will make a large sound sculpture from local junk and re-used materials. There will be an opening and a closing concert. Info: 802.379.8266, Jeremy@junkmusic.org

Nov. 7, 12-1 pm Home and Garden Inspiration Silver City Food Co-op, Silver City, NM

Jean Eisenhower will teach “Intro to Yard and Garden Infrastructure Design” with consideration to sun, wind, water, cold airflow, privacy, views, noise, animals and more.

Free. homeandgardeninspiration.net

Nov. 7, 6-9 pm Renewable Energy in North-Central NM KTAOS Solar Center

Join Renewable Taos and Sol Luna Solar for a moderated discussion (by Roberta Sálazar) with Luis Reyes and William Brown. Speakers include Nichole Koontz and Mark Johnson. Free admission. RSVP: 575.770.7042, www.sollunasolar.com

Nov. 7, 7 pm Water Dogs: Three Good Otter Stories Pajarito Environmental Education Center 3540 Orange St., Los Alamos, NM

Melissa Savage will explain why otters are important to NM and provide info to help people observe them. 505.662.0469, programs@ pajaritoEEC.org, www.PajaritoEEC.org

Nov. 15-17 Heartbeat of Gratitude: An Alternative Thanksgiving Ghost Ranch, Abiquiú, NM

Teaching and experiences led by Native elders. Music & dance from the Southern Red Singers Drum Group. Full weekend: $95/$25 + lodging & meals. Registration: 505.685.1001, evelyn@GhostRanch.org, www.GhostRanch.org

Nov. 16, 10 am-2 pm Fall Pruning and Yard & Garden Design Silver City, NM

Arborist Cheyenne Thomas will explain pruning dos and don’ts and demonstrate techniques and then Jean Eisenhower will offer an intro to yard and garden design. $20. Registration: 575.534.0123, homeand gardeninspiration.net

Nov. 17, 6:30 am-10 pm Birding Trip to Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge Los Alamos – Las Vegas, NM

Birder Dave Yeamans will lead this trip to the refuge, home to over 254 species of birds. $25/$20. Advance registration required.

505.662.0460, programs@pajaritoEEC.org, www.PajaritoEEC.org

Nov. 20-22 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo Philadelphia, PA

The world’s largest conference dedicated to green building brings together industry leaders, experts and frontline professionals dedicated to sustainable building. Inspiring speakers, workshops and tours. Greenbuildexpo.org

NM Green Chamber of Commerce

The NM Green Chamber of Commerce, with chapters around the state, has a business directory that is a great resource for conscious consumers looking for locally owned and environmentally friendly businesses in their area. Contribute to a sustainable future by supporting businesses in your city/town that are striving to be leaders in green business practices. Info: 505.859.3433, info@nm greenchamber.com, http://nmgreenchamber.com/ members?page=2

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