Green Fire Times July 2012 Edition

News & Views

from the

S u s t ai n ab l e S o u t h w e s t

THRIVE: W hat O n E arth W ill I t T ake ?

A n I nterview

with

F oster

and

K imberly G amble

The Eden Gardens Project Local Food & Energy Security World Renewable Energy Forum 2012 It’s in the Water: Risk in Perspective July 2012

New Mexico’s Fifth Largest Circulation Newspaper

Vol. 4, No. 7

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Green Fire Times • July 2012

www.GreenFireTimes.com

Vol. 4, No. 7 • July 2012 Issue No. 39 Publisher Green Fire Publishing, LLC

Skip Whitson

Managing Editor Seth Roffman Art Director Anna C. Hansen Dakini Design Copy Editor Stephen Klinger Contributing Writers Ben B. Boothe, Camilla Bustamante, Mark Chalom, Faren Dancer, Alan Hutner, Jack King, Alice Loy, Bruce Poster, Vicki Pozzebon, Seth Roffman, Erin Sanborn

Contributing Photographers

Mark Chalom, Anna C. Hansen, Seth Roffman, Dennis Schroeder

Webmaster: Karen Shepherd PUBLISHER’S ASSISTANTs Barbara E. Brown, John Black, Karen Shepherd

Winner of The 2010 Sustainable Santa Fe Award for Outstanding Educational Project

Contents

World Renewable Energy Forum 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The Eden Gardens Project: Food The Urban Store

in

and

Energy Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Albuquerque . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .11

The Local Voice: Growing Green, Growing Local . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 13 THRIVE: An Interview

with

Foster

and

Kimberly Gamble . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 15

Faren Dancer’s Unicopia Green: The Evolution

of

Consciousness . . .. . .. . .. . .17

Sustainable Enterprises: Netroots Nation . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .19 Sostenga! It’s

in the

Water: Risk

Toxic Chemicals Dumped Commemoration

of

into

in

Perspective . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 20

New Mexico’s Waterways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Historic Clean Water Act Settlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Cultural Entrepreneurship: Santa Fe Walkabouts . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 25 Everyday Green: The Green Connection

in

Travel . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .27

Office Assistants

Retire Your Way: After Working, What? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Claire Ayraud, Camille Franchette

Newsbites . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .35

Advertising Sales

What’s Going On . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .38

Skip Whitson 505.471.5177 John Black 505.920.0359 Cynthia Canyon 505.470.6442

Distribution

Barbara Brown, Co-op Dist. Sves., Nick García, Andy Otterstrom (Creative Couriers), Tony Rapatz, Wuilmer Rivera, Skip Whitson, John Woodie

Circulation 22,000 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 Ph: 505.471.5177 Fax: 505.473.4458 info@sunbooks.com www.GreenFireTimes.com © 2012 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, transportation 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 New Mexico. Feedback, announcements, event listings, advertising and article submissions to be considered for publication are welcome.

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From the Editor

A

s regular readers of Green Fire Times may know, this publication often covers topics having to do with the interrelationship of community, culture, the environment and the regional economy. Some editions are developed around particular themes, such as Renewable Energy, Sustainable Tourism, Healthy Living, or next month’s Native American Green: Indigenous Solutions. Occasionally, however, as article submissions come in, a theme we had not intended presents itself. Such is the case this month as a number of articles, in different ways, address concepts of Societal Change and Activism.

The interview with Foster and Kimberly Gamble, producers of the film THRIVE, is a case in point. THRIVE examines how our current systemic societal illness operates. The film discusses existing networks that enable a remarkably few people to shape the world’s economy, and, according to author John Robbins, determine what is known and what is not, which views are accepted and which are not, what priorities and values prevail, whether we will live in war or peace, and how our treasures will be spent. “Their worldview is riddled with fear and ignorance of the abundance of nature and the love and interconnectedness that is our essence,” says Foster Gamble. The solutions the Gambles and THRIVE’s “solution groups” propose to transition from “corporate personhood” to a sustainable economy are grounded in THRIVE Solutions Model, page 15 things that we all can do that don’t take a lot of time and money.

The Eden Gardens Project article presents a practical approach to self-reliance. It is an off-grid integrated local food and energy production system that is not dependent on a potentially vulnerable supply chain. On a related note, you will also find a group of articles related to our region’s water supply, and what dedicated individuals and groups have been doing to address potential significant threats of contamination.

As these individuals and groups working for change around the world take the skills and passions they have been using so effectively locally, and get aligned philosophically and electronically, it’s what author Paul Hawken describes as the greatest emerging social movement in history. One of the key ways to support this movement is to support independent media, such as this publication, because it fosters these types of conversations.

COVER: Cosmic Kernel • Photo © Elliott McDowell

www.ElliottMcDowell.com • Represented by Andrew Smith Gallery – Santa Fe, New Mexico

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.

July 2012 • GreenFireTimes

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Sustainable Business Summit July 26, 2012

Hyatt Regency, Downtown Albuquerque, NM

Better Your Bottom Line

Learn about setting up “Green Teams” moving to solar, reducing waste, supplying locally, smart water and energy conservation, and reaching the green consumer.

Recognize New Mexico’s Sustainable business leaders with awards for:

Sustainable Business Leader Sustainable Product Sustainable Builder Sustainable Business Sustainable Workplace

For more information, visit: www.nmgreenchamber.com

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Green Fire Times • July 2012

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Renewable Energy

World Renewable Energy Forum 2012

n mid-May, downtown Denver became the renewable energy hot spot of the world. The American Solar Energy Society’s (ASES) annual conference was combined, for the first time, with the World Renewable Energy Forum and the International Solar Energy Society. Solar energy was featured, along with hydroelectric, wind energy, biofuels, bio char, wave power and more. Experts in all fields presented technical papers, new goals and achievements. The Denver Convention Center showed off its 300-kw photovoltaic system, installed by Namasté Solar, a Colorado company. The system provides 14-25 percent of the facility’s electricity.

© Dennis Schroeder/NREL

We were presented with a worldwide view of renewable energies happening now and for what looks to be a very bright near future. But it’s not an easy path. There are choices that need to be made and hurdles to be jumped. Many of the main problems are political rather than technical. Many speakers pointed this

My focus was climatically designed buildings. I was presented with a variety of options on that track alone.

There are buildings in various parts of the world that have been artfully designed and built to meet or exceed the Architecture 2030 Challenge. These integrated designs are already working as planned. Their inspiring architecture blends with nature. I saw west-side façades covered with shades that moved in the wind and became kinetic pieces of art. Daylighting technology, utilizing the advantages of natural light, has also become an art form proven to benefit occupants’ health and productivity.

Landscaping has come a long way in its ability to modify climate around a building, collect and process water, promote wildlife, provide usable outdoor spaces, save water, energy and the client’s money.

It was nice to see a strong presence of New Mexico solar businesses and industry. NM Solar Energy Association members came from Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Gallup, Silver City and Las Cruces and proudly represented our state at caucuses, technical sessions and general discussions. New Mexico companies such as Schott and Affordable Solar were part of the trade fair. Among NM’s VIP diplomats were Ed Mazria, Doug Balcomb and Marlene Brown. At the awards banquet, I was honored with a lifetime achievement award. I shared the Passive Solar Pioneer Award with Edna Shaviv, an architect and professor US Energy Secretary Steven Chu was one from the Israeli Institute of Technolof the plenary speakers. ogy. We were fortunate to have time out to us many times in many ways. to get to know each other and promEach morning began with a plenary ised to continue communicating and session. The speakers included US sharing technical information. I was Energy Secretary Chu, Bruce Oreck, able to spend time with people from US Ambassador to Finland, Dan Arvarious parts of the world where there vizu, director of the National Reneware many unbelievable projects. able Energy Laboratory and Ed MazSeveral projects particularly impressed ria of Architecture 2030. All of these me. The largest was the Desertec talks were positive, pointed out the Industry Initiative, a multinational directions we must go and the chalgroup working to generate electricity lenges we face. By 10:25 am we were from concentrated solar in the Sabroken-up into technical tracks dealhara Desert. The energy is intended ing with many issues simultaneously. not only to take care of northern AfThere were also forums, fast tracks, rica; it will also provide 15 percent poster sessions, training workshops of Europe’s needs via high-efficiency and a World Trade Fair showcasing the latest technologies.

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Namasté Solar installed this 300 KW solar electric system for the Denver Convention Center.

transmission lines under the Mediterranean Sea. This multibillion-dollar project, funded by the World Bank and other conglomerates, includes countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. Thermal energy storage will guarantee power 24 hours a day. When advantageous, wind generators along the western coast of Africa will be integrated into the system. Much of the work and research for this project was done at Sandia Labs in Albuquerque, Denver’s big blue bear looking in on the forum financed by the US governtechnologies makes a major impact on ment. Countries such as Germany, manufacturing costs and implementaSpain and Sweden are also to be part tion on a national scale. They plan to of the project. Desertec now has 56 have 3-gw of RE by 2025 and $1.1 bilpartners in 15 countries. lion in energy retrofits alone in 2013.

The US Naval Air Weapons Station The impact of the federal government China Lake in the Mojave Desert reon RE was clearly stated by Energy gion of California has a 270-mw geoSec. Chu and Undersecretary Dorothermal plant that has been operating thy Robyn of the Dept. of Defense. since 1987. Careful post-evaluation The DOD uses the most money on of the DOD’s RE initiatives has led the largest amount of land, owns the to better programs and more efficient most buildings and uses more energy technologies. The money spent by the than any other department in our govDOD alone creates many jobs and ernment. The need for national secuthird-party businesses, as well as major rity and energy independence is a key savings to the government. justification for their pursuit of energy conservation in buildings and utilizaColorado had its chance to shine in tion of renewable energies. The scale the sun at the conference. Former Gov. at which the DOD utilizes these two continued on page 6

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© Mark Chalom

I

Courtesy of Namasté Solar

Mark Chalom

Energy Forum

Ritter spoke at the awards banquet. He is a strong believer in renewable energy, especially for economic growth and creation of clean jobs. Colorado has more RE jobs per capita than any other state and now has more than 1500 RE companies, including three wind turbine factories and three photovoltaic module factories. Gov. Ritter worked with Colorado’s Excel Energy to develop RE. Many Colorado RE projects have received national awards.

Ed Mazria of the Santa Fe-based Architecture 2030

The National Renewable Energy Labs (NREL), a co-host of the conference, had bragging rights to one of the most impressive buildings built to date. The Research Support Facility, a LEED-Platinum, zero-energy building with carbon neutral operations, is a 360,000-sq. ft. building housing 1,300 employees. It incorporates photo-chromatic and thermal-chromatic windows, east and west. Passive solar and daylighting is very well designed,

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with highly reflective solar louvers on the south, maximizing daylight while minimizing glare.

With open interior workspaces, no one is more than 30 feet from a day-lit window. The building generates 1.6 mw of photovoltaic power through a Power Purchase Agreement; NREL does not own the system and pays a third party for its power. The walls are well insulated and incorporate a sandwich of concrete thermal mass. Aside from looking at every energy and material issue possible, they closely reviewed operations and human interactions. Occupants are notified on their computer when it’s a nice day outside, suggesting that they open up their windows for natural ventilation and comfort. The daylighting works so well, rarely is task lighting turned on. Even the janitors work during the day to minimize use of lights at night.

In 2006 Ed Mazria was a keynote speaker at ASES. At that time he was studying the impact buildings have on global energy usage. Energy that went into building and maintaining buildings had not even really been evaluated, compared to transportation and industry usage. It was shocking to discover that buildings were responsible for 40 percent of US energy usage. At that time Architecture 2030 was in its infancy, and Ed was starting to understand what was technically achievable to reduce a building’s carbon impact.

He began to figure out the progression

Green Fire Times • July 2012

© Dennis Schroeder / NREL (2)

continued from page 5

The new zero-energy, LEED Platinum Research Support Facility on the NREL Campus in Golden, Colorado is already achieving carbon neutrality.

and stepped goals necessary to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.

This year Ed was proud to announce how many architecture schools, architecture companies, the US Council of Mayors, most cities, states, the federal government and many countries have taken on Architecture 2030’s goals. He said that many architectural firms have already achieved carbon neutrality. This was a very uplifting presentation.

The Emerging Architecture Session was also very inspiring. The buildings presented use much less energy (well beyond LEED’s standards), push performance, provide social and community benefits and are catalysts for great change. We are now starting to address campus and citywide scales with regenerative ecology and buildings that learn and change. The Living Building Challenge is being met by many architectural firms. Here are some fine examples: The Kensington High School for Creative and Performing Arts (Philadelphia, PA) – This net-zero building is so inspiring, the graduation rate went from 30 to 70 percent.

Chandler City Hall (AZ) – This is an infill Brownfield site and the anchor for a downtown revitalization district.

It incorporates stainless steel plates hinged so that they become an art piece as well as a western shade screen.

This is a building that truly inspires.

The Vancouver Convention Center incorporates a 6-acre green roof – the largest in Canada. It is a living machine; a regenerative ecology that processes all on-site wastewater as well as wastewater from visiting cruise ships. The building’s foundation was designed to provide fish habitat. The roof incorporates four beehives.

The Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus Building (Phoenix, AZ) celebrates the value of water, engaging all of the site’s storm water, developing a wonderful landscape environment. This encourages students to interact with the building and the community.

The Empire State Building (NYC) and its energy retrofit, which includes new windows, radiant barriers, controls for air handling and air-condicontinued on page 30

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Chimney Cleaning, Woodstove RepaiR and installation, insuRanCe inspeCtions, peaCe of mind

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Local Self-Reliance

Agriculture and Food Sector Vulnerability?

The Eden Gardens Project has an answer.

Ben B. Boothe, Sr.

I

© 2012 Eden Gardens Project • Illustration by Lisa Pelletier

f trucking were curtailed or some natural or political event stopped the flow of food shipments to your city, how many days could you survive? Please consider this carefully, because this question has multilayered answers and almost innumerable social implications. How many days?

One fact to consider is that if trucking were curtailed or our interstate highway system made ineffective, shipments of petroleum products would cease as well. This would affect rail and other shipping. Without shipments of fuel—oil, gas, diesel, coal—the utility system would suffer the same shortfall as your pantry. You would not have fuel for travel or electricity for cooking, air conditioning, hot water, communications or lighting. How many days could your firewood, charcoal or candles provide for you?

If transportation and shipping were disrupted, and the food, water and public utility systems failed, and there was no refrigeration, TV or radio, what would your life be like? How would you feed your family? How would you make money? How would you get food and medicine? How would you stay warm, dry or cool?

How would you care for and protect those you love?

We are dependent upon a supply chain that could collapse. Food production, distributed energy and independent sources of essential elements are a matter of critical national security. The ancient Egyptians, Zoroastrians, Greeks, and on to modern scholars and scientists, reaffirm the essential elements of survival: Fire (energy), Water, Air, Land and Food Production.

In the Los Angeles area, 400,000 people experience “food insecurity” on a daily basis, according to the LA Dept. of Public Health. This is in “ordinary” times! How many more would be impacted if there were no food, water, electricity, communications or transportation available?

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A recent meeting of environmental and social experts concluded that Los Angeles has a food stockpile of two days, after which the grocery shelves would be bare. New York City has three days of food stockpiles; Chicago—three days, Dallas—two days, Phoenix—two days, St. Louis—three days, Indianapolis—three days, and Oklahoma City—two days. The average household would run out of fresh meat, milk, dairy and vegetables in two

days. Canned goods might last four days; rice, dry beans, wheat, cornmeal and oats a little longer. Alternative fuels for cooking would become scarce if the electrical system had no fuel to operate. A typical American household would be thrust backwards 130 years or more and forced to “camp,” forage and improvise in a daily effort for survival.

We are dependent upon a supply chain that could collapse.

“Three days is our average food supply around the modernized world; i.e., for cities and their supermarkets. Longterm food stocks have plummeted: Cereal stocks are at their lowest level in 30 years,” reported Worldwatch Institute in its Vital Signs report earlier this year. “This is exacerbated by increasingly weirder weather, compounded by the oil price/supply pressure on food. What can interfere with the three-day situation are truckers on strike (as in Europe), extended/ repeated power outages, and the inability of the workforce to commute to work.” – Jan Lundberg in Culture Change (1-12)

Part of the problem is that the world demand for food stocks, water and energy has, in a growing number of places, exceeded the supply. Note the following excerpt from a Worldwatch report:

Grain Harvest Sets Record But Supplies Still Tight

“Following several years of declining harvests, the world’s farmers reaped a record 2.316 billion tons of grain.

Despite this jump of 95 million tons, or about 4 percent over the previous year, commodity analysts estimate that voracious global demand will consume all of this increase and prevent governments from replenishing cereal stocks that are at their lowest level in 30 years.” (1-10-12, Article # VST101)

Helen Peck, in her 2006 report on business reliance on the food sector, identified a big gap in the preparedness for business continuity management, as very few companies had adopted a proactive or preventative stance to crisis management and operated mostly in the reactive mode.

One of her conclusions is that the drive for efficiency and the “just-incontinued on page

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9

Eden Project continued from page 9 time” philosophy used by the food industry has progressively reduced stock levels throughout the supply chain—with resulting damage to its resilience when an emergency occurs.

Unfortunately, this lack of preparation is widespread in States, municipalities and families.

In 2008 the President of the United States ordered: “The Secretary of Homeland Security will report and enhance detection and characterization of an attack.

The Secretary of Homeland Security in coordination with other government agencies shall develop a coordinated agriculture and food specific response plan that will be integrated into the National Response Plan to insure roles of Federal, State, local and private sector partners, to stabilize food production and the food supply.”

– Directive of President George W. Bush to Homeland Security (9-9-08)

“…An agrarian society shows the simplistic form of existence where agriculture forms the core of the society and is the prime means of support and sustenance. That, however, no longer remains the foundation of most of today’s developed economies where food chains are increasingly becoming complex and multi-tiered.

The chain starts with agriculture and ends ultimately, with household consumption. However, the numbers of entities between these ends encompass geographical, economic, political and social extremes. This compounded over uncertainty occurring from natural disasters, climate changes, epidemics and terrorist threats place the food supply chain in a particularly vulnerable position.”

– A. Deep, Business School, Loughborough University, UK (5-4-09)

A disruption in the food chain does not have to be some natural disaster such as a tsunami or earthquake. It can be something as simple as a price increase at the fuel pump. Ralph Vigil, chairman of the New Mexico Acequia Commission, said: “If truckers face a diesel price increase to $5.85 per gallon, this could effectively create a scenario where food cannot be shipped by truck because of cost.”

Water is also becoming one of the

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Green Fire Times • July 2012

most urgent issues for this nation and around the world. Water depletion, pollution and mineralization, like deforestation, leads to desertification. A number of towns and cities, such as Las Vegas, NM are in the midst of a climate change-induced crisis. Ninetyeight percent of the water in the USA is non-potable and largely brackish. In Texas and New Mexico, only 2 percent of the total available water is potable; the rest is mineralized.

Learning from Japan’s Crisis

Consider the disaster that occurred in Japan after last year’s ocean floor earthquake. Power was lost. Food quickly disappeared. Water supplies either were polluted or had major line ruptures. Transportation of food and supplies literally stopped overnight, and the people there were thrust into primitive survival mode—in Japan, arguably the world’s most organized and systematic cultural system.

A disruption in the food chain can be something as simple as a price increase at the fuel pump.

With the hundreds of billions of dollars Japan has spent trying to deal with this tragic disaster, or the billions it spent to develop central nuclear utility systems, Japan could have put solar panels, neighborhood wind turbines and solar water heating systems on every home, every commercial building, every hospital, every prison and every retail building in the country. A distributed, disbursed power system would have “saved” Japan the losses of this disaster. In addition, thousands of food production campuses near urban centers would have provided food locally without the need for “food chain transportation systems—and, of course, without the nuclear radiation pollution which occurred. continued on page

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Local Business

The Urban Store in Albuquerque

Jack King

S

Friederich calls herself one of “a huge group” of gardeners and smallanimal raisers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe who are doing their part to resist the corporatization of the American food supply and eat fresher, healthier food.

“When I think about the genetically modified plants being developed and the cost of transporting vegetables and fruit in our world, it just burns me up,” she says.

“And, besides, there’s nothing like going out and picking the chard for your dinner from your own garden.” ara

The problem, she admits, is that she and her husband, Ron, live in a nice threebedroom home “right smack in the heart” of Albuquerque’s Nob Hill neighborhood, with a spacious front yard, but a not-so-big backyard. There’s just no space for the kind of permaculture operation she wishes she could have.

That’s where the Urban Store comes in. At 3209 Silver Ave. SE, the Urban Store is a mecca of supplies and advice for many area residents who want to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Owners Chuck Alex and Kathy Isaacson sell “urban gardens” ‘selfcontained, raised-bed, well-drained soil containers with hinged covers that shield plants from sun and bugs in the summer and snow and ice in the winter. The gardens retain enough heat that, by rotating their crops, cus-

An urban garden with a warm weather cover in place her pantry. She feeds scraps to the worms, which generate rich castings she can then transfer to a compost tumbler outside. “It’s enclosed and no one would ever know it’s there,” she says.

Alex and Isaacson also offer a variety of workshops on sustainable living and, if Sara Friederich’s experience is typical, they provide outstanding service after a sale. The store’s staff is friendly and helpful. By all indications, it’s a wonderful resource for beginners or experts. i Chuck Alex working with children to set up a garden at a Mescalero Apache school

tomers can grow vegetables year ’round.

Plus, they come in sizes that range from two feet by two feet to 16 feet by four feet—giving hope to would-be gardeners living everywhere from Tanoan mansions to rented apartments.

Alex and his staff have put their gardens in backyards, on patios and even on flat roofs. One local apartment complex maintains an urban garden for each of its units. Twenty schools have them to teach students where food actually comes from.

Seed sprouter with seeds and instruc- Using three of the Urban Store’s raised gardens placed between the back of her tional book from the Urban Store garage and her property line, Friederich who also mixes food plants in with her xeriscaping—is able to grow peas, tomatoes, herbs, eggplants, peppers, lettuce, arugula and edible flowers, as well as beets, radishes and all kinds of greens seasonally.

But urban gardens aren’t the store’s only products. Alex and Isaacson also offer seed, organic fertilizer, enclosed compost tumblers, rain barrels, beekeeping equipment, coops for chickens and rabbits, all manner of gardening supplies and even hydroponic units. The rain barrels and resin bases for the gardens are locally manufactured by Desert Plastics, and much, if not all of the plastic equipment is biodegradable.

Friederich, who got her worms from the Urban Store, keeps a worm composter in

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The Urban Store is located at 3209 Silver Ave. SE. 505.508.2674, www.urbanstoreonline.com

Sponsors Sought for 2012 Albuquerque Canstruction® Build Competition This year marks the fourth anniversary of the Albuquerque Canstruction® competition, to be held October 19 at Sandia Resort and Casino. There are over 200 cities participating worldwide in Canstruction events. CH2M HILL is the organizer of the one in Albuquerque. Partners and sponsors include Construction Reporter, Girl Scouts of NM Trails, US Forest Service, PRNewswire, Bohannan Huston Inc., AMEC, HDR, CobbFendley, the ASK Academy, AUI Inc. and the cities of Albuquerque and Río Rancho.

The theme for this year’s competition is the New Mexico Centennial. There are 18 design/build teams. Each team, comprised of several local businesses, will compete in the design and construction of unique creations with cans of food.

The public is invited to view the completed structures from 5-7 pm.

Roadrunner Food Bank of NM will receive all food and funds donated, and the event will mark the kickoff of their fall food drive. Available sponsorships range from $200 to $2,500, which includes a mention in all event advertising. The deadline for sponsorship is August 3. Canstruction offers Albuquerque businesses an opportunity to give back to the community, while promoting the fields of science, technology, math, architecture and engineering, and increasing public awareness of local issues of hunger and food insecurity.

As a competition, the Canstruction exhibits show imagination, humor, engineering and creativity at work while demonstrating concern for less fortunate members of the community.

For questions and information about sponsorship opportunities, contact Jennifer House of CH2M HILL at jennifer.house@ch2m.com or 505.855.5257.

July 2012 • GreenFireTimes

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Eden Project continued from page 10

Solutions

WANT ENERGY SECURITY?

Experts from around the world have made suggestions, most of which have been ignored. I am among those who advocate the creation of local food and energy production systems. This approach is the best and most effective homeland security system for defense and survival that has been proposed.

We need these food production units near every urban center in the USA.

YOU NEED A MOBILE SOLAR POWER STATION

Some of the most relevant solutions involve a broad, national effort to expand and implement the following:

HAVE LAND WITH NO POWER?

Panels & frame are stored in the trailer and this plug-in ready, 840 watt mobile power station can be towed anywhere off-grid. Less than one hour of set-up and you can power the tools to build a house, then power the completed house or simply own a unit in case of emergency. Ideal for renters who want to take it with them.

Ideal for outdoor events (wedding receptions, etc.) where a gasoline generator is too noisy or smelly. Ideal for back country living. Can be customized to suit your needs.

1-800-347-1794, ext. 1235 for free, 24-hour recorded information brigid88@gmail.com

• Near-urban food production using networks of greenhouses and cold frames (enclosed plant beds).

A greenhouse can produce two to three crops per year on one-half to one-third the land area of “traditional” farming. Drip irrigation uses one-tenth of the water.

• Food production not dependent upon public utilities • Food production not dependent upon mass agribusiness farming production and giant food distribution systems • Food production that can continue through hot and cold seasons • Alternative, disbursed, local/urban water production, including the use of desalination, where appropriate, powered by renewable energy • Alternative and widely disbursed renewable energy, including solar panels, wind turbines and solar water heating to provide energy for food production

The Eden Gardens Project

These and other features have been incorporated into the “Eden Gardens Project,” an integrated system designed for generating sustainable food, water and energy supplies that can be adapted to meet the needs of many locales. The overall concept was developed by Saneh Boothe, owner of the Cornucopia Project, which wholly owns the Eden Gardens Project. Alfonz Viszolay, a Santa Fe-based engineer from Hungary, generously shared his expertise and enthusiasm for his Eco-Farm, a similar concept that

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Green Fire Times • July 2012

stresses algae and recycling.

The Eden Gardens campus is designed to produce high-nutrition organic foods and farm products. A typical 50x500-ft. “high tunnel” can produce $175,000-$250,000 of fresh organic food per year. A 100x100-ft. algae pond can produce over $200,000 per year in fish or shrimp products.

An algae pond with tanks and proper engineering can produce $189,000 per year in food by-products, oil and organic fertilizer.

© Seth Roffman

The questions posed above illuminate the fact that our modern society has separated the vast majority of people, especially city dwellers, from the production of their potable water, energy and food.

Garden project at Monte del Sol School, Santa Fe

Distributed power generation at the 15-50 acre campuses will utilize wind turbines and photovoltaic (PV) solar systems. There is solar water heating for subsoil heating and underground waterlines. Desalination is viable because the average city in the US spends about $4.70 per 1,000 gallons to pump, filter, treat and sell water from lakes or wells. Existing desalination plants are now producing fresh water from brackish wells for $2.50 per 1,000 gallons.

The cost of a “campus” depends upon its configuration. In a high-wind area there may be more wind turbines and fewer solar panels. If it is situated near a salt or brackish water supply, substantial funds will be spent on a desalination plant. If a professional canning operation is feasible for county growers, that will be added. If a community has substantial garbage to deal with, more will be spent on composting equipment. If the needs continued on page

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The Local Voice

Local Business

Growing Green, Growing Local

The Way We Grow a winner of Santa Fe BizMix Challenge alking into the warehouse at The Way We Grow, I was struck by the overwhelming tasks at hand for start-up entrepreneurs.

Perhaps it was this comment from owner Sattva Ananda that got me: “We could be hiring 30 people in the next two years.” His face lit up and his smile curled into a Proud Papa moment. I guess when your business is about growing things successfully you don’t worry about growing the actual business that fast.

The Way We Grow is owned by partners Sattva Ananda, John Cross.

Ananda and Cross are a couple of former construction guys who are doers. That much is clear when you walk into the showroom and tour the warehouse. Plants are thriving, sewing tables are clean and ready for orders, pallets are stacked with material to be cut and product ready to ship. The phone was ringing off the hook. These guys are busy doing—everything. Cross is the back-end guy—sewing, doing the books, shipping orders. Ananda is the out-front guy – prepping to pitch potential investors, tweaking the business plan, taking phone orders.

Growing A Little Idea

When things slowed down in construction for both Ananda and Cross a few years ago, Cross was growing garden starts on a small plot of urban land, and came up with a design for small fabric bags to grow the starts that would retain more moisture and avoid root balls that shock plants and stunt growth when transplanted. That idea turned into The Awesome Pot (patent pending), and a growing green business that’s committed to sourcing its materials as American-made as possible, hiring local employees to manufacture and ship product, and achieving a goal to be 99 percent waste-free. The Awesome Pot itself uses 80 percent less plastic than conventional pots.

With the “back-to-the-land” movement for urban gardening, the local food movement and indoor growing industries booming and growing big-

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ger every day, these guys are positioned to explode with a product that could put Santa Fe on the map in a new way. Markets for their products include home garden centers, nurseries, tree farms, indoor and outdoor growing, urban gardening, parking lots and anywhere else you might want to put an herb garden or grow your own tomatoes. The Awesome Pot is designed with an adjustable drawstring top and keeps things insulated. Its selfmulching feature enables root growth to the top of the bag, maximizing root volume by 20%. The breathability of the Awesome Pot self-prunes roots and prevents shock. The roots reach the edge of the bag; self prune and then send out new roots, growing to maximum potential, and then can be successfully transplanted. You can even hang the bags inside in a sunny window.

Growing Local, Growing Regional

The Awesome Pot is cut and sewn to order by the thousands (up to 4,000 a month currently), then shipped out of the Early Street warehouse. As we toured the property, Ananda and Cross led me through their vision for the company. “It’s a place where we can grow our headquarters, grow a nursery that could provide food for the local food nonprofits to feed the community, employ a lot of people, create new spin-off businesses and keep the money right here in Santa Fe,” according to Ananda. That’s a grand Top: Awesome Pots with plants; The Way We Grow production vision for a small two-year-old startwarehouse; Awesome Pots in the up that is experiencing such rapid showroom growth. Flash forward five years, and these guys expect to be in six major This model of creating a busimarkets, producing all their products locally, hosting an online store, own- Ananda and Cross in the Early Street showroom ness to serve your own business’ needs isn’t a new one. It’s becoming their own property, and of course, plant to produce the cord locks ouring the Re-New American way. More making money. Because there is nothselves,” Cross explains. The only mate- and more manufacturing is coming wrong with being a green business rial for the Awesome Pot they cannot ing home to towns all over America that makes serious green. And these source in the US is the plastic cord to bring back lost jobs. The Way We guys are serious. lock that keeps the bag closed tight to Grow plans to automate their cutting “We’re saving all our remnants from produce its own mulch. “If we make and sewing manufacturing down the the bags because they are recyclable it ourselves and create a new business, road, too. “The jobs wouldn’t go away; into plastic, and it’s possible that we creating more local jobs is even better they would just change the way they could start our own injection molding for the community, right?” Right. continued on page 14

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© Anna C. Hansen (4)

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Vicki Pozzebon

The Local Voice continued from page 13 do it,” Cross says, with a look of entrepreneurial relief in his eye.

Ananda rattles off more business ideas.

“We also save all our cardboard rolls from the material. We could get into worm farms too, since the cardboard could be used as compost. It’s sort of endless. And as more orders become regionalized in other states where the markets are growing, like California and Colorado, we could open manufacturing plants in those areas to reduce shipping costs and our carbon footprint. We could be creating jobs for other communities by serving those communities and growing food in those communities.” This appeals to me. It’s local growing regional.

The idea behind it all, says Ananda, is to support the community through entrepreneurial ideas. As the market grows, their business grows, and other businesses become necessary to serve its growing needs. With negotiations already happening at over 100 stores all over the country, they are well on their way.

Growing Capital, Growing Success

After winning a grand prize of $5,000 last month in the MIX Santa Fe BizMix Challenge, they are now working

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with a mentor to prepare a detailed business plan and planning to meet with other potential investors. There is a lot to be done when you are an entrepreneur looking to scale-up and attract capital. Writing a business plan wasn’t among the things Ananda originally wanted to do. “I thought I’d just look online for someone to write a plan for us, but it doesn’t work that way. Only you know your business from the inside out and what your vision is for the future, so you are the best person to write it. I just dug in and learned,” he says.

“It’s a miracle we’ve made it this far on the funds we have, but we know it will work. Failure is not an option,” Ananda and Cross both say, nearly in unison. They both talk about the business and the future of owning a local green enterprise in Santa Fe with such conviction, I believe them. i Go to www.thewaywegrow.com to learn more.

V icki Pozzebon practices bold loc alism in he r independent consulting business, Prospera Partners, LLC

Congratulations to The Way We Grow Santa Fe BizMIX’s grand prizewinner

Over seventy applicants submitted their innovative business ideas, from which BizMIX selected eleven finalists to receive business-consulting services. Four of these – The Way We Grow, Soapbox Kids, Pants Off and Betamapper—were selected as grand finalists and cash prizewinners. To determine the winner, BizMIX looked for a business plan that was original, market viable and would diversify the economy. If you have a great idea for how to help create a sustainable economy in Santa Fe, check out the BizMIX competition next year.

For Schedules and Connection Info

Visit www.RidetheBlueBus.com or call 1–866–206–0754 DUMP THE PUMP! SAVE MONEY! 14

Green Fire Times • July 2012

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Societal Change

THRIVE: What On Earth Will It Take?

An Interview with Foster and Kimberly Gamble Alan Hutner and Seth Roffman

Despite considerable criticism of some of the film’s conclusions, including from a number of the notable people interviewed in the film, many “self-creating solution groups” inspired by THRIVE have been forming. About 4,000 screenings at different locations were held during Follow the Money Pyramid the first five months of this year. The film is available I hope they have the humility to get out of the way of people who are actually free at the website, and DVDs in many languages can be purchased there as well. taking a stand, telling the truth and doing something to turn around this very dangerous global situation. A lot of people on the left naturally assumed we were making a political film. And if we didn’t seem to be on their side, then they assumed we were on the other side; whereas, we were actually making a film about facts and principles. We didn’t care what political affiliation, if any, the people we interviewed had. We were interested in what they knew about a particular area.”

A statement is made in the film that the people interviewed do not necessarily One critic, who attended a screening and appearance by the Gambles in Santa share the film’s conclusions, nor do the filmmakers agree with everything the inCruz, CA in April, subsequently had an article published in the Santa Fe Reporter terviewees stand for. (“The New Age of Paranoia”) just prior to a screening and public appearance THRIVE lays out a kind of business plan for a societal transition. The core prinby the Gambles in Santa Fe. The article, basically a reprint of a story he wrote ciple is “non-violation” by mandatory taxes, coercion or violence of any sort. It for a Santa Cruz publication, alleged that the film has a hidden right-libertarian then seeks to inspire people’s creativity to figure out how to get there. “In the agenda, and attacked the Gambles for “playing the conspiracy card…where they first stage,” says Gamble, “we need to acknowledge that the body of humanity is deeply wounded, and there are so many people who have been so disadvantaged by the current system that they need to be taken care of; the same way, if you were healing your body and had a wound in your knee, for the rest of the body it would be smart to help heal that knee.

So in Stage 1 it’s really about bringing integrity, as much as possible, to our current system, but doing this caretaking, not Foster and Kimberly Carter Gamble with new taxes, but through cutting the military budget in half, stopping foreign wars of aggression, and then getting rid should go political.” The writer also said that the Gambles have a home in Santa of the Federal Reserve. That would free up, literally, a couple of trillion dollars a Fe (untrue), that Foster Gamble’s grandfather was a founding partner of Procter year that would more than take care of the transition in terms of health, hunger, & Gamble (It was his great-great-grandfather), that the film says that the conenvironmental restoration, and so forth, worldwide.” The Gambles worked with a spiracy it mentions was a Jewish agenda (it specifically says it wasn’t), and that the number of economists to come to that conclusion. conspiracy is New Age paranoia.

Thought-Provoking Film Stirs Up Consciousness and Controversy while Generating “Solution Groups”

“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion,” says Foster Gamble. “But with what’s going on in the world these days, if someone is going to stop their critical thinking…

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“Stage 1 is more commonly associated with the progressive agenda,” says Gamble.

“Taking care of people in a very compassionate way with tax money. The progrescontinued on page 16

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HRIVE was released in November 2011. Over 3 million people around the world had seen the film as of May 2012, according to the filmmakers. It is an unconventional, controversial documentary produced by Foster and Kimberly Gamble after nearly a decade of following the money upstream. THRIVE uncovers the global consolidation of power in nearly every aspect of our lives, and provides a perspective on what is keeping humanity from “thriving” and what can be done about it. The film weaves together breakthroughs in science, consciousness and activism. THRIVE and its website (Thrivemovement.com) propose potential solutions and a framework for individuals and communities to develop their own strategies for positively impacting the future.

City of Santa Fe Art Exhibit and Prize

The Santa Fe Arts Commission has announced an exhibit and art competition that will showcase the talents of local artists at the Community Gallery. Participation is open to professional and amateur artists, ages 18 years or older, who reside in Santa Fe County.

Framed two-dimensional works and three-dimensional sculptures are eligible for entry. All entries will be judged by a committee of Arts Commissioners, artists and arts professionals. The top three entries will receive cash prizes, with the Best of Show receiving a $1,000, and 1st and 2nd place receiving $500 and $250 respectively. The Best of Show will also be reproduced on a note card and the artist will be given the opportunity to show his/her original entry in City Hall for a year.

Common Ground: City of Santa Fe Art Exhibit and Prize will open at the Arts Commission Community Gallery inside the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, 201 W. Marcy Street, on August 24, and run through September 27. Interested artists are required to submit one entry form by August 13th and deliver the work of art on August 20th. Complete information and entry forms are available on at www.SantaFeArtsCommission.org, under the City of Santa Fe Art Exhibit and Prize.

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sives who have disassociated from the film don’t seem to understand that we’re suggesting that we optimize their skills in this stage, but not stop with a vast state in place that ultimately always leads to tyranny. They are really more like tracks.

Stage 2 starts right away. It is the shrinking of government down to the protection of human rights and the stewarding of the commons. Stage Two really accesses a lot of the core skills of the traditional conservative movement: sound money, no foreign wars of aggression... It’s all leading toward what I think will be an obvious Stage 3, which is an actual society of voluntary association where there is no state that can come with a gun and take your money and then go off and use it to take other people’s oil and kill millions of innocent people, and on and on. In Stage 3 we will have already seen the vast prosperity that has been restored by the integrity; by making free energy devices available, by having an honest money system, so that people will be able to take care of one another with the prosperity that they have, rather than depending on an incompetent and coercive government to do it.”

www.thrivemovement.com

For more information visit the Arts Commission’s website at www.

SantaFeArtsCommission.org or call 505.955.6707.s

Earth’s Electromagnetic Field

THRIVE’s co-creator, Foster’s wife, Kimberly, a former Newsweek International journalist, has been a lifelong activist for social justice. “One of the things we found in making THRIVE,” she said, “is that people are actually more expert at naming the problem than they are at fully articulating the vision of what could be. We spent a whole lot of time in THRIVE helping create and articulate the vision that’s out there of what’s possible because we have to know where we want to go if we’re going to get there.” For Kimberly Gamble that means, among other things, understanding the value of campaign finance reform, undoing corporate personhood, and getting ballots that actually count votes. “Those three things become essential in Stage 1,” she says. “If you’re going to get rid of the Federal Reserve and reduce the Pentagon budget, then you’re going to have to have people who are actually accountable. That requires campaign reform.

“Generally our compassion is measured by our willingness to pay taxes,” Gamble said. “Support the schools, support people in need. That’s how I always related to them. And so, one of our challenges is in being wealthy Gambles and talking about the limits of coercive taxation, getting an honest economic system, and stopping all these wars of aggression so that people actually have the prosperity to take care of themselves and each other, and there’s a chance for everybody to actually participate and thrive.”

One of THRIVE’s major assertions is that “Free Energy” is viable, and that it has been repeatedly suppressed over the past 100 years by the powers that be. The THRIVE organization is bringing together scientists, inventors, business people and funders to help researchers and inventors complete work in this area, have a legal defense fund to fight off frivolous lawsuits, and then come up with multiple continued on page 18

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perspectives An Elixir for Our Changing Times…

The Evolution of Consciousness

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s we peruse the current world landscape, it is evident that there are several noticeable trends occurring that pose considerable concern in relation to a necessary long-range view of sustainability. Exploding population growth is placing an ever-increasing strain on world resources and regional quality of life. This leads to humankind’s ever-expanding intrusion into nature and the impact placed on the delicate interconnectedness of all the diverse life forms. Coupled with this expansion of humanity’s noticeable presence is the Third World thrust toward market capitalism, fueled by the idealized promise of a better life, to include all the modern conveniences associated with material prosperity and comfort, such as individualized transportation, readily available energy, the constant flow of a com-

In recent years the grandest gains in human evolution have come from the grassroots. mercial food supply and the numerous technological advances that have placed an affordable cell phone in the hands of even those who lack most everything else material. Of course, ultimately this consumer-based model isn’t something to be envied, but the goodies offered motivate the have-nots across the globe.

The good news is that much of humanity, as a result of technological advances, now has the capacity to access information instantly, along with the rather unbelievable ability to connect with other humans around the planet wherever cell towers or Internet service exists. These locations are growing rapidly, with the potential to cover the globe and link all of humanity with the touch of a button. In essence, humankind, having moved out of the phone booth, is now equipped with previously unimagined power to access communication and information from almost anywhere.

Though there remain extreme differences among the various cultures, religions and languages, the technological potential for instant translation and

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bridging cultural gaps through the immediate exchange of information poses a potential for unity consciousness like never before.

The problem with technology as the means of expanding human awareness, however, is that it still can’t install the necessary thought forms that broaden our personal and collective consciousness. This evolves from our capacity to control our thoughts and flow the appropriate vibration into the unified field that is the energetic connector of all life.

The inner knowingness of our common source, and how, through our thoughts, we create the reality we live, is a far cry from the currently held concept that life is completely random, some people are lucky and some are not, and that life is essentially happening to us. This perspective leaves most persons with a sense of powerlessness and the subsequent willingness to accept limitation as a fundamental basis of existence. On top of this is the age-old fear factor. Fear continues to sit at the foundation of most people’s mental outlook—the fear of being without or not having enough, fear of disease, fear for one’s personal safety, fear of the IRS, fear of unseen enemies, and many more. Finally, this turbulent journey of perils and predicaments ends with the ultimate fear of the unknown…death.

Fear exists as a basic motivating factor in our human genetics. The classic fightor-flight mechanism built into our chemical makeup expresses constantly even when there isn’t a real threat. And, to this end, the powers that be utilize this knowledge to activate an inherent sense of discomfort, lack of trust and a fundamental acceptance of danger as the underlying premise of what physical life entails. We are constantly bombarded with images and thought forms that reinforce this ongoing sense of discomfort. It’s largely accepted that secret enemies are perpetually plotting to destroy us; whether they be terrorists or aliens, it hardly matters. Humans who lack faith in positive outcomes are easily manipulated and kept powerless by their constant focus on what could go wrong.

The elitist group that oversees the world’s financial systems holds the reins toward their own mission of accumulating more of the planet’s wealth and resources, and it serves them to supply fear as humanity’s main course. Through state-controlled media, most of the world’s population is spoon-fed news of doom and gloom, inherent danger and a never-ending download of human suffering. Why is good news not sexy enough for prime time? It’s well known that there are countless good deeds for every disaster or injustice. The answer they’ll often tell you is that “feel good” doesn’t sell. There may be a little truth to this, as persons who’ve become addicted to fear and negativity aren’t typically interested in much more than quenching an insatiable thirst for more negativity. This, interestingly, becomes physiological as our neural networks become hooked on these base emotions, and the result is the craving for more fear-based, depressing reality. Thus, we see evergrowing numbers of news junkies who luxuriate in a constant feast of humanity’s peril, inadequacy and suffering.

So here’s a concept that provides the antidote toward breaking out of the negative spin… something I like to refer to as “Sustainable Thought.” We’ve seen repeatedly in recent years that the grandest gains in the realms of community, sustainability, environmental justice and human evolution have come from the grassroots. Persons finding their voice, while identifying the issues, focus their attention on the positive,

remembering to find the perspective that fosters gratitude, appreciation and cooperation—because you know what?

There are so many blessings and marvelous aspects of this life that are often denied by those floating in the pool of what’s wrong. We may not find instant cures for overpopulation and the environmental/human exploitation, but by staying positively proactive, solutions will, ultimately, become known. Many prolific teachers throughout the centuries concur that it is a “thought universe,” meaning that the place where we put our attention determines the ultimate reality we experience.

So, the evolution of consciousness starts with each person becoming aware of where his or her attention is from moment to moment, and making a conscious effort toward staying positive, optimistic and consciously flowing the thought forms toward the future we wish to create, individually and collectively. Breathe in the day, tune in to a child’s laughter, pet your devoted dog, listen to the rustle of the wind in the leaves, and attempt to remember that we are all extensions of a grander oneness and have each been given the godlike ability to create reality in alignment with our heart’s desire. i Faren Dancer is an award-winning designer, builder, educator and activist. His UNICOPIA GREEN RADIO show, each Saturday at 4 pm on KTRC (1260AM), is simulcast at santafe.com. The archived shows are available at www.unicopia.org. Email: Faren@unicopia.org

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Thrive

continued from page 16

strategies to bring these technologies out all over the world in a way that’s not so easy to suppress. “It’s a paradigm shift when you realize that we actually have abundant infinite energy everywhere that could completely transform the geo-political dynamic on the planet right off the bat,” says Kimberly Gamble. “That’s not just access to technology; it’s access to a whole new paradigm that stops scarcity. And so, one of the things when you get into voluntary associations and the ways people will choose to do things— they’ll be doing it from a state of abundance instead of ‘not enough.’ And that’s a big part of the role of the vision that we offer.”

www.thrivemovement.com

Foster Gamble added, “Part of our dependence on big government is based on the assumption that human beings won’t take care of one another. That’s not my

THRIVE Solutions Model

experience of people. If they’ve had the opportunity to thrive, they will naturally turn around, most of them, and give you the shirt off their back. You see these things in Katrina and all these various disasters. I think one of the most dangerous assumptions also is that there is not enough to go around; so a few people end up deciding what’s fair, and go take from this person and give to that person, and once again you’re back in the world of coercion. In my research, there is plenty of food, plenty of energy, plenty of clean water (if we take care of it), to go around, and population naturally levels off based on prosperity and on education. “ The Gambles advocate a “truly” free market system. “Capitalism has been insulted in this country and around the world because it’s state intervention, it’s crony capitalism, it’s subsidies and bailouts and all that kind of thing,” says Foster.

“It’s not true voluntary association. If it were voluntary association with rules and regulations based on integrity and the protection of individual rights; that’s, for me, the portal to a really thriving world.”

THRIVING IN THE SOUTHWEST

In May the Gambles spent several days visiting northern New Mexico. “Its possible to access the indigenous wisdom of the area that goes back for thousands of years of sustainability,” Foster Gamble says. “We spent some time with Michael Reynolds at the Earthship sites in Taos. It’s tremendously inspiring to see the knowledge and wisdom that has been built into those self-sufficient houses, where they maintain temperature, use very little water and so forth, without depending on the grid at all. It’s a good example of how people have looked to the resources and the climate in this area, and learned from the indigenous peoples, the Pueblo architecture and so forth. One of the impressions I will leave from this trip with is remarkable self-sufficiency; people are really oriented toward figcontinued on page 22

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Sustainable Enterprises

Netroots Nation: Our Roots for a Better America Go Deep

Erin Sanborn

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Courtesy Netroots Nation.org

he seventh annual Netroots Nation conference was held last month in Providence, RI. If you do not know what Netroots Nation is, you are not alone. As a term, Netroots (from Internet + grassroots) refers to populist campaigns and movements ignited, promoted and conducted over the Internet. Most people in America who desire a better world, a better future for all, and who enjoy their computer and smart phone, can relate to this term. It is used every day by a community of people who work to find the facts, tell the truth and weave the common threads that connect us all. This very diverse group does not necessarily agree on the same public policy, but they do agree on the basics—for example, that every person deserves a good job with fair wages and equal opportunity: “liberty and justice for all.”

Netroots Nation (www.netrootsnation.org) is the annual conference of these political bloggers, activist organizations, politicians and individuals, including many influential progressive leaders, elected representatives and citizen journalists. The focus is to raise their collective voice, proactively influence their government, advocate for progressive change and influence public debate.

Each year, thousands of bloggers, newsmakers, social justice advocates, labor and organizational leaders, grassroots organizers and online activists come together to make new connections, hone their organizing skills, share best practices and build stronger relationships with others working on the issues they care most about. And each year, some of the brightest minds in progressive politics come to Netroots Nation to speak with—and hear from—our community. – NetrootsNation.org The lineup at this year’s conference included Rebuild the Dream co-founder Van Jones, NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, Congressman David Cicilline (RI), Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman, Carol Shea-Porter, AFL-CIO’s Rich Trumka, the Agenda Project’s Erica Payne, Ai-jen Poo­—National Domestic Workers Alliance director, Rhode Island State Representatives Teresa Tanzi and Chuck Rocha, founder of Democracy for America, Howard Dean and, via video, President Barack Obama. There were many more speakers and panelists. Video highlights are available at http://www.netrootsnation.org/nn12-highlights-archive/.

I found the closing keynote by Van Jones to be incredibly inspiring. I would also suggest you see Austerity No More: An Economy for the 99%, and Criminal Justice in America. Together these three presentations will give you the flavor of those working hard to bring progressive voices into the conversation in America.

I write “progressive” because it is the best word to describe those who want to solve the problems we face as a collective group of citizens, and one usually thinks of those who participate in Netroots Nation as politically progressive. Attending for the first time, I found people to all be incredibly smart, thoughtful, well educated (they research what they are interested in, find the facts, and discuss every topic with clarity and care; some have advanced degrees), caring and passionate.

To me, this is progressive.

Name any issue or cause we face as Americans and you can find a group of people working to solve those issues utilizing the Internet, connected to Netroots Nation. There are groups concerned with people of color, immigration, the impact of super PACs, fairness in elections, education, unions, fracking, the economy and marriage equality. You will find the best minds and practitioners in social media.

You can find an individual blogger with 500,000 followers. Bottom line: everyone involved is truly educating the grassroots and is passionate about what makes our country great. People are demonstrating that change can happen instantly.

Our youth, ages 15-25, have a smart phone in their pocket and access to the

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Top (l-r) US Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), Rashas Robinson, executive director of Color of Change.org, Van Jones, executive director of Rebuild the Dream

Internet. Social media is now and the future. Don’t be fooled thinking that our youth can be fooled. I met young people who are writing books, doing in-depth research, inspiring hundreds of thousands of people to action, running organizations, affecting local and federal policy and inspiring hundreds of thousands of people. These people can track their impact on public policy. So let’s get on board. Use that mobile device!

While in RI, I participated in Netroots for the Troops, an organization that sends care packages to our troops around the world. A couple hundred people stood in line to pack a box. Many present had heartwarming and tear-filled stories about our men and women in uniform.

Here in NM, sister websites to check out are: Democracy for NM http://www.democracyfornewmexico.com/, Progressive New Mexico Radio http://www.progressivenewmexico.com/ ProgressNow NM http://www.progressnownm.org/ New Mexico Progressive http://newmexicoprogressive.blogspot.com/ Conservation Voters New Mexico http://cvnm.org/ Nationally, also check out TalkingPoints Memo, The Raw Story and Truthout.

Finally the best part of attending the Netroots Nation conference with its 3,300 registered participants and hundreds more who just showed up is that it is a reflection of the America I believe in. It is an America that is a mix of ages, colors, political points of view, experiences and knowledge, honoring each other, challenging each other and finding solutions to the collective problems we face. Yes, the roots of America’s ability to care about our country, to care about each other and to actively demonstrate how hard it is to truly work together, is what Netroot Nation is all about. Explore for yourself. These roots go deep. i Erin Sanborn provides Executive Coaching and consulting services through Collaborative Green, based in Taos, NM. 575.770.2991, erin@collaborativegreen.com.

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¡Sostenga! It’s in the Water: Camilla Bustamante

Risk in Perspective

“A fundamental promise we must make to our people is that the food they eat and the water they drink are safe.”

– President Bill Clinton, Safe Drinking Water Act Reauthorization, August 6, 1996

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he identification of disease as a result of poor water quality is conducted through the science and tool of epidemiology. Epidemiology is the study of the incidence and prevalence of disease with some indication of potential causal factors. Epidemiology seeks to identify potential causal relationships for disease onset based on time and exposure to risk factors. The effects of poor water quality adversely impact quality of life. Dysentery from microbials and impaired cognition from elemental contaminants can affect a child’s ability to learn.

In 1855, John Snow conducted what is considered to be the first recognized epidemiologic study. His work identified cases of cholera and their association to the Broad Street Pump, (London, England) where other local pumps did not comparitively reveal associated disease. In this case the risk factors were cholera and the contaminated pump at Broad Street. Subsequently the pump was locked off, eliminating the ability for the contaminated water to be used for human consumption, and the cholera was controlled.

Water, air, soil and plant biota are common pathways for exposure to water quality risk factors. Risk factors associated with drinking water quality are usually related to the microbiology and chemistry of water that is consumed, and the effect of the exposure to either.

As an example, for many people the basic understanding of microbiology and water quality is the onset of diarrhea after drinking water on a camping trip, or from a contaminated well, or a trip to a foreign country. While heavy metal elements such as arsenic, cadmuim, chromium and others are necessary at certain levels for good health, large amounts and/or chronic exposures may result in toxicity, which can be associated with reduced mental and central nervous system function, and blood and vital organ damage. Dose (amount or quantity) and time are crucial in understanding potential health effects from expsoure to man-made or naturally occuring water-quality risk factors. Also, exposure requires that there is contact between the body and the harmful agent.

Nearly 50,000 Pounds of Toxic Chemicals Dumped into New Mexico’s Waterways

Industrial facilities dumped 49,786 pounds of toxic chemicals into NM’s lakes, rivers and streams in 2010, according to a recent report from Environment New Mexico: Wasting Our Waterways: Industrial Toxic Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act. “New Mexico’s waterways are a polluter’s paradise right now,” said Maxine Paul, preservation associate with Environment New Mexico. “We must turn the tide of toxic pollution by restoring Clean Water Act protections.”

Joe Moody, who runs Squash Blossom Farm at the end of the Santa Fe River, said of the farming business, “Weak regulations and enforcement have already done harm. Farming in an arid region is difficult enough without the worry of toxins in our water supply.”

Francois-Marie Patorni of the Santa Fe Watershed Association said, “To speak the obvious, not one drop of water can be taken for granted. Ever. The Watershed Association supports a living Santa Fe River and a green watershed through various programs. A lot has been accomplished here, including the passing of an ordinance guaranteeing water in the river each year. But the Santa Fe River is just one river. All stewards of the environment should work together in securing clean water for all rivers in NM.” Environment New Mexico’s report documents and analyzes the levels of pollutants discharged by compiling toxic chemical releases reported to the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory for 2010, the most recent data available. The report’s major findings include: • The biggest polluter in the state was the Department of Defense, releasing over 46,000 lbs. of toxics at the Holloman Air Force base near Alamogordo within one year.

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Surveillance for waterborne disease is the responsibility of states, territories and local public health agencies, which voluntarily report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The New Mexico Tumor Registry serves as a population-based cancer registry for the State of New Mexico and provides cancer surveillance data that is used in epidemiologic research as well as cancer control activities. Protection of drinking water quality has been a priority in NM as recently as the 2002 State of Health in New Mexico report, which lists access to good quality drinking water and includes the issues of affordability and access.

In a 1996 article, Gerba et al, substantiates that all water contains impurities that occur naturally and as a result of human activity. Gerba provides that populations at greatest risk for morbidity or mortality due to waterborne disease are children, the elderly, pregnant women and the immuno-compromised, and that they are at the greatest risk for serious illness and mortality from waterborne disease.

Issues such as climate change, infrastructure, land use, waterborne disease and surface water management are the leading strains on drinking water quality and

availability in the United States in the 21st century. In 2002, Levin et al, identified that approximately $36 billion are spent annually for public drinking water.

Levin cites that the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) require the US Environmental Protection Agency to routinely examine the infrastructure needs for public drinking water systems. Infrastructure includes water treatment capabilities, distributions systems and protection of watersheds and storage reservoirs. The SDWA defines a public water system as one that regularly services 25 people or has 15 service connections, which establishes the requirements for regular monitoring, specifically for maximum contamination of biologicals for total fecal coliform.

In New Mexico there is not one single factor alone that influences water quality. Sound community practices and industrial monitoring provides comprehensive safeguards to our most valuable resource for our most vulnerable populations. Protection of water quality is protection of a child’s right to learn and mature healthily to old age. i Camilla Bustamante, Ph.D., MPH, is Dean of Community Workforce and Career Technical Education at Northern New Mexico College. She has extensively researched water quality and health surveillance.

• O ver 1,000 lbs. of toxics were discharged into a creek in the Apache National Forest and Morgan Lake, near Farmington • Industrial facilities discharged approximately 181 lbs. of chemicals linked to cancer, and 140 lbs. of chemicals linked to developmental and reproductive harm into NM waterways.

The report summarizes discharges of chemicals that persist in the environment, and those with the potential to cause reproductive problems ranging from birth defects to reduced fertility. Toxic chemicals discharged by facilities include arsenic, mercury and benzene. Exposure to these chemicals has been linked to cancer, developmental and reproductive disorders.

Paul says that there are commonsense steps that can be taken to turn the tide against this pollution, which is threatening 88 percent of the state’s waterways. Environment New Mexico recommends the following:  Pollution Prevention: Industrial facilities should reduce their toxic discharges by switching from hazardous chemicals to safer alternatives.  Protect All Waters: The Obama administration should finalize guidelines and conduct a rulemaking to clarify that the Clean Water Act applies to all waterways—the 95,611 miles of streams in NM, as well as the state’s drinking water, for which jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act has been called into question as a result of two Supreme Court decisions in the last decade.  Tough Permitting and Enforcement: The EPA and state agencies should issue permits with tough, numeric limits for each type of toxic pollution discharged, ratchet down those limits over time, and enforce those limits with credible penalties, not just warning letters.

Maxine Paul’s conclusion: “We need clean water now, and are counting on the federal government to act to protect our health and our environment.”

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First Year Commemoration of Historic Clean Water Act Settlement with LANL

By: Communities for Clean Water, a network of community groups addressing water issues at Los Alamos National Laboratory since 2006

© Anna C. Hansen (2)

buquerque’s South Valley), Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, and Amigos Bravos.

The Río Grande looking south from the White Rock Overlook Park

T

here have been many positive steps taken in the year since the settlement of a historic Clean Water Act citizens’ lawsuit over storm water violations at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). LANL has held two public meetings, established a dedicated website about storm water and organized several productive technical meetings between the plaintiff representatives, the plaintiffs’ experts and the LANL storm water managers and staff.

The complaint was filed in 2008 in US District Court in New Mexico alleging violations of the storm water requirements to keep pollutants from migrating to the Río Grande.

The parties settled on April 27, 2011.

Before the settlement, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wrote a draft “individual” storm water permit specifically for LANL, the first draft of which was appealed by many of the plaintiff groups, along with Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE). After extensive negotiations between LANL, EPA and the nongovernmental groups, a final permit was agreed upon and issued in November 2010. Pete Maggiore, former Secretary of the NM Environment Department and now a Department of Energy official, called it “the most

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aggressive permit” he has seen in his years of environmental and engineering work. The watersheds covered by the Individual Permit are: Ancho/ Chaquehui, Water/Cañon de Valle, Pajarito, Sandia/Mortandad and Los Alamos/Pueblo.

Storm water runoff is created when rain falls or snow melts, and the water does not percolate into the ground.

At LANL, storm water flows from the mesas into the canyons and into the Río Grande, a major source of drinking water for Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The Río Grande is also used for irrigation, livestock watering and recreation, and it creates habitat for wildlife.

The community groups were represented by the Western Environmental Law Center, based in Taos. The plaintiffs in the case were Gilbert and Kathy Sanchez and nine non-governmental organizations located from the South Valley of Albuquerque to Taos. The groups are: Tewa Women United, Southwest Organizing Project, Río Grande Restoration, Partnership for Earth Spirituality, NM Acequia Association, Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group, Don Gabino Andrade Community Acequia Association (located in Al-

The groups successfully negotiated to add public participation components to the settlement and the EPA storm water permit. LANL is required to hold two public meetings a year to describe their compliance with the permit. Two meetings have been held to date: in May 2011 and in January 2012 at the Cities of Gold Hotel in Pojoaque.

The next public meeting will be held on Thursday, July 12th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at the Cities of Gold Hotel in Pojoaque.

Marian Naranjo of HOPE said, “The additional public participation opportunities are very important, as they provide a forum where we can express our concerns. We know we will be acknowledged.”

You can receive electronic notices of the meetings by signing up at the dedicated storm water website: www. lanl.gov/environment/h2o/ip.shtml?3 under “Updates.” The website contains the permit, maps and required quarterly reports. Annual documents include the Site Discharge Pollution Prevention Plans for the watersheds.

Erin English, PE LEED AP, one of the plaintiffs’ technical experts from the Santa Fe-based Biohabitats/Natural Systems, International, presented at the January 2012 public meeting. She spoke about diversifying storm water management techniques from the top of the watershed to the Río Grande.

During the technical meetings, Biohabitats recommended green infrastructure and low-impact development.

Key components of green infrastructure storm water control include structures for infiltrating and slowing down

runoff that would collect additional pollutants. For example, bio-retention gardens throughout the LANL permitted area would capture and treat storm water close to the source of pollution and would help reduce and slow down runoff further downstream.

Rachel Conn, projects director from Amigos Bravos and one of the plaintiff representatives in the technical meetings, said, “LANL’s storm water permit is an incredible opportunity to push for green infrastructure solutions to some of the region’s most serious storm water issues.

We are hopeful and encouraged by LANL’s receptiveness to our input.

The permit requires LANL to address pollution from 450 contaminated sites, 63 of which have been labeled high priority because they contain polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. The use of green infrastructure and low impact development would assist in keeping PCBs and other pollutants out of the Río Grande.

The LANL budget this year for permit compliance activities is around $10 million. At the January 26 public meeting, LANL presented sampling results that indicated that many of the sites are not meeting the target action levels. While this does not constitute a permit violation, as the permit allows LANL three years to meet these limits for the high priority sites and five years for the rest of the sites, these results indicate that the LANL storm water team has a serious challenge if they are to meet permit deadlines.

Plaintiff representative at the technical meetings, Joni Arends from CCNS, said, “The successful litigation and aggressive permit results in increased protection of the Río Grande and the communities that are drawing Joni Arends drinking water from it.” i For more information, contact Amigos Bravos at rconn@amigosbravos.org and CCNS at ccns@nuclearactive.org

July 2012 • GreenFireTimes

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Thrive

continued from page 18

uring out how that works, and in these times that’s really wise—and at the same time, really collaborative localization.

Courtesy Earthship Biotecture – Taos, NM

“That inquiry becomes the portal for effective activism because this model is set up where you actually do what you love,” Kimberly Gamble adds. “Everything needed to solve the problems with people just doing what they want based on who they are and their unique contribution—it’s all there. My experience is that when you get aligned, when you know your purpose and you get aligned with it, things flow.”

The Gambles see the current economic system as a world war that is being played out economically. “When you look at the pyramid of control and you see the people at the bottom,” Kimberly says, “one of the insights from that, ultimately, is that it’s the people who have the power. Because with non-violence, non-participation, which Gandhi and Martin Luther King used, we have the power to de-fund, un-fund the problem. We can A passive solar Earthship’s dense inner walls, stop participating. The way made from natural and recycled materials, pro- these corporations get to do vide thermal mass that naturally regulates the in- their projects is that they get terior temperature. great loans from the banks.

Kimberly Carter Gamble and Foster Gamble were interviewed in Santa Fe, May 2012

The way the banks have the money to give the corporations those loans is through their customers’ deposits. People have to understand that we have the power to stop funding the problem. We have the power to vote with our actions in ways that are a lot more significant than we may think. As Amy Goodman says in the movie, the one thing more powerful than organized money is organized people.

One of our hopes is that the role for ThriveMovement.com is to be this hub where people can share best practices so that the little thing you’re doing in your community turns out to provide the template for what communities all over the world can do.

“People are waking up to their power, and that’s part of why everyone’s supposed to believe that they’re not capable and it’s really kind of hopeless and all of that, because if you think that way then you’re less inclined to do your little part. But in fact, when you realize that people are absolutely waking up all over this planet, you see that your part actually fits into something that is huge.”

THRIVE’s website is Thrivemovement.com. Foster and Kimberly Gamble will discuss THRIVE at the 2012 ExtraOrdinary Technology Conference at the Albuquerque Pyramid North on July 26. Conference info: 520.463.1994, http:// teslatech.info/ttevents/prgframe.htm i Alan Hutner, founder of Transitions Radio Magazine (TRM), co-hosts and co-produces the show with Elizabeth Rose. TRM airs at 98.1 FM, Radio Free Santa Fe (KBAC FM), Sunday mornings 8-11 am, and streams live on the web, with all programs archived at www.transradio.com. The complete audio interview series with Foster and Kimberly Gamble is archived on-line and starts with TRM show number 1471, May 6, 2012.

Seth Roffman, Editor of Green Fire Times, is a writer and photojournalist. His work has appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Native Peoples, Native Americas Magazine, Weekly Reader, New Mexico Magazine and many other publications.

© Seth Roffman (2)

“What we’re doing with the Thrive solutions is teaching that model to communities that are self-creating these solutions groups all over the world. Then they meet as a community with an intention to have their community optimally thrive. They break up into sector groups where each person identifies which sector each person is most skilled in or passionate about; things like media, education, environment, governance, health, spirituality, arts, etc. And then you ask yourself which is the level of engagement for your own activism that most draws you. Is it immediate needs? Feeding the hungry or caring for the sick? Or is it systemic change? Working on the political system, the money system, the media system and so forth? Or is it the consciousness shift? Or are you someone who is drawn to working with the philosophy, the worldview, which is at the root of the nature of the systems? Once you know your niche you can relax into being effective in that specific area, while in communication with all of the other sectors and the critical issues that they identify. It’s a democratic communication process that helps resolve conflict and keep all of the issues on the table until they’re resolved.”

Alan Hutner

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Green Fire Times • July 2012

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Cultural Entrepreneurship

Santa Fe Walkabouts

© Seth Roffman

Alice Loy

Abiquiú Lake, one of Santa Fe Walkabout’s destinations

I

n 2006 Georges Mally was bicycling across the country, following historic Route 66 and his dream of seeing the great American Southwest—until he got a broken spoke in Santa Fe. Delayed by mechanical issues, Georges spent a day exploring Santa Fe by foot, ending up at the Plaza, where he sat down next to a lovely woman named Sue. Two years later, Sue and Georges were married and had moved to Santa Fe. Today Georges and Sue Mally are the owners of Santa Fe Walkabouts, widely regarded one of the finest tour operators in northern New Mexico.

Consistently ranked TripAdvisor’s #1

Sue and Georges Mally

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Traveler Recommended Tour Company in Santa Fe, Sue and Georges offer custom tours for individuals and small groups. Intrigued by their website’s hilarious video http://www.santafewalkabouts.com/4x4-adventures/ of their off-road vehicle, the Pinzgauer, I called and asked to book a tour.

Over the phone Sue explained the various options suitable for the three generations of our family who would be on the tour. We decided on an adventure in “The Pinz” up to Aspen Vista. The next week we packed our picnic lunch, met Georges downtown, and piled into the loudest, most brawny looking vehicle I’ve ever traveled in. Georges affectionately stroked The Pinz as he told the story of acquiring the rare Swiss Army vehicle several years before.

As we left town by way of Bishop’s Lodge Road we could feel the air begin to cool as the smell of pines began to fill the air. Climbing above Tesuque, Georges pulled off at a turnout, high above the city, and began to name and describe the far-off peaks as landmarks along El Camino Real. The Spanish,

and later the Mexicans, used the Camino Real for hundreds of years before the Santa Fe Trail became the preferred route for transporting goods. Pointing out green patches where Pueblos reside, and urban centers resting on hillsides, Georges talked enthusiastically about the cultures that have passed through the Río Grande Valley, and the ones that make up who we are today. I thought about the dynamic mix of cultures we have in our region—and wondered what brought Sue and Georges to Santa Fe. Georges explained it simply: “The deep blue sky, the outdoors; that’s the thing for me—for everybody.” Their passion for sharing our state’s unique cultural and natural wonders led them to start Santa Fe Walkabouts. Connecting visitors to places like Puye Cliffs, Ghost Ranch and Abiquiú Lake is what inspires Sue and Georges. Their love for New Mexico is contagious.

Georges and Sue Mally are worldly people, having grown up in Europe and Asia. However, their love of culture, history and place may stem from being displaced from their original homelands as children. Georges grew up in communist Bulgaria; his parents fled when he was three years old, leaving him with grandparents for his safety. After eight years, Georges was reunited with his parents in France, where he spent the rest of his childhood.

Sue’s family escaped Burma (Myanmar) with their two children, when Sue was seven. She spent her childhood growing up in Kuala Lumpur and moved to the US at age 17, where she earned her college and later graduate degrees.

Since they founded the business in 2008, Sue and Georges have steadily built their roster of clients. Speaking six languages between them, they host visitors from all over the world, most of whom request adventures to places like Pedernal, Tent Rocks or Kitchen Mesa. In the beginning, local hotel concierges would refer people to Walkabouts. Today, however, Sue says most of their business comes through the Internet. “We are really active on Facebook, and our website gets a lot of hits. And, the TripAdvisor recommendations have really boosted our business, too.

This trend mirrors what travel industry experts all agree on: peer-to-peer travel recommendations dominate the way today’s travelers make tourism decisions. With “social travel guides” being the new way of connecting customers to experiences, Santa Fe Walkabouts is well-positioned to continue to grow their cultural enterprise and succeed as cultural entrepreneurs.

After reaching our destination of Aspen Vista and finding a small meadow to set our picnic out on, we walked into the forest to search for signs of continued on page 29

The invincible “Pinz,” a Swiss Army vehicle

July 2012 • GreenFireTimes

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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.

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505.820.2617 Sustainable Business Summit Conference and Awards July 26 in albuquerque

A new event, presented by New Mexico Business Weekly and the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce, will take place on July 26 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Albuquerque. A variety of enterprises that help preserve land, air, water and ways of life that make New Mexico a desirable place to live and work will be honored at the Sustainable Business Summit Awards luncheon.

Award categories recognize sustainable buildings, businesses, leaders, products/services and workplaces.

Nominations were solicited from the public. Over 100 nominations were received. Nominees were asked to fill out an application and submit a letter of reference for the judging process. The nominees were evaluated by a panel of experts in the field on their commitment to sustainability and the impact of their efforts. Judges included Carrie Christopher of Concept Green, Mary Clark of the University of New Mexico Office of Sustainability, Dale R. Deckker of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, Clifford Ho, Ph.D., of Sandia National Laboratories, Kim Hooker of Studio Southwest Architects, Inc., and David Hughes of Affordable Solar Group.

The award-winners include Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm; Hotel Andaluz, a highly-lauded historic green hotel; Mark Choyt of Reflective Images, Inc., who has worked to make the jewelry industry’s sourcing of metals more responsible; Social Enterprise Associates, a certified B Corporation, which is a rigorous corporate standard for social responsibility.

Other honorees – Sustainable Building: The Hartman + Majewski Design Group; New Mexico Highlands University; REDW LLC; WESST Enterprise Center; Sustainable Business: Adelante Development Center; Dapwood Furniture Company; Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico; Unirac, Inc., a Hilti Group Company; Sustainable Leadership: John Brown, Browncastle Ranch Inc./Bradbury Stamm Construction; William M. Brown, Sage West Consultants; Jack McGowan, Energy Control, Inc.; Sustainable Product/Service: Environmental Dynamics, Inc.; Get A Grip Resurfacing, Inc.; Roofcare; Skarsgard Farms; Sustainable Workplace: ARCA For more information, visit: www.nmgreenchamber. com

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Green Fire Times • July 2012

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Sustainable Tourism

EVERYDA Y GREEN

The Green Connection in Travel

Susan Guyette

A

long with Jeremy Sampson of the Oregon-based Sustainable Travel International (STI) and Beth Beloff of the Santa Fe-based Bridges to Sustainability Institute, I was part of a team presentation on sustainable tourism at last month’s Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Taos. My aim in this article is to offer some observations on the benefits of green tourism.

• Cultural diversity and biodiversity • Maintenance of traditional lifeways • Small-scale development • Preservation intertwined with traditions • Cultural arts tied to the land • Ways of preserving authenticity

Culture is the cornerstone of sustainability, since all actions are motivated by worldview. For this reason, preserving values, traditions, the arts, cultural landscapes and ecosystems is central to sustainability and resilience for the future of our state.

© Anna C. Hansen (2)

A united effort is needed in New Mexico to:

• Identify and gain input from organizations, entrepreneurs and local governments

• Link them together for regional referral systems

• Assist them to grow, through resources, marketing and technical assistance

• Recognize the contributions of rural communities and Tribes

• Create an itinerary builder at the state level, with easily accessible community input

• Look at successes in other states, learn and exchange ideas Beth Beloff speaking at the Governor’s Tourism Conference in Taos, May 2012.

Inset: Jeremy Samson of Sustainable Travel International (STI)

Sustainable Tourism Locally

How does sustainable tourism apply to New Mexico? The three sustainability variables—ecological, financial and socio-cultural—relate very closely to the support of traditional lifestyles.

Besides being the second-largest industry in the state, tourism has the potential, if small-scale inclusive, to support the entrepreneurs that sustain agrarian lifestyles and traditional cultures. Recognition that entrepreneurs supply 80 percent of tourism services (nationally) tells us that a shift in financial support and marketing efforts is needed to support the providers of the leading interests of visitors. continued on page 29

Beth Beloff emphasized the importance of developing a strategic vision that connects the distinct activities taking place and engages local groups in the process.

Members of cultural communities should have a chance to share their ideas about tourism and to benefit directly from the market expenditures there, she said. Further, Beloff discussed the importance of balancing growth with protection of our local quality of life. She said that this will become ever more important as natural resources become more stressed and concerns over carbon imprints grow.

Another opportunity for NM explored was that of utilizing statewide resources to benefit communities in building international markets and coordinating cultural exchanges with other countries.

Creating regional referral systems from urban to rural communities strengthens the tourism network and benefits both.

New Mexico’s potential contributions nationally and internationally are huge.

Sharing the successes and struggles of these models globally through tourism will become more and more important to worldwide sustainability. My involvement on the panel emphasized strengths northern NM brings to the international community as a model for sustainability through:

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July 2012 • GreenFireTimes

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Everyday Green continued from page 27

SF Walkabouts continued from page 25

Sustainable Travel International

bears (my kids were hopeful) and wildflowers (my mother was hopeful—and fulfilled). We were at 11,000 feet and the gathering clouds were hanging just above our heads. Wary of mountain thunderstorms we quickly ate our sandwiches and then climbed back into The Pinz, putting the canvas top up, closing off the skyview and shutting out the impending shower.

Entrepreneurs supply 80% of tourism services, indicating a need for support in training, capital, and promotion.

A global non-profit organization and a leader in sustainable tourism since 2002, Sustainable Travel International’s mission is to assist businesses and destinations in developing and implementing innovative solutions that protect the environment, support adaptation to climate change and preserve cultural heritage while generating economic benefits. This mission is carried out through providing technical services that include sustainability diagnostics, standards and initiatives such as cultural tourism development, traveler’s philanthropy and carbon management.

Through its Green Communities model, STI works with destinations to customize standards to local needs. Sustainable destination management is a shared responsibility. It requires participatory planning across sectors, stakeholder collaboration and ongoing monitoring. Long-term stakeholder engagement helps catalyze the change necessary to keep tourism destinations healthy.

STI helps destination managers identify priority issues and develop practical solutions that address capacity and resource needs, while fostering a collective vision for the future. STI’s STEP (Sustainable Tourism Education Program), a set of globally recognized management tools, including a third-party certification recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, helps tourism businesses manage their impacts and lower costs through resource productivity and waste reduction, while contributing to environmental conservation and the well being of local people. More specifically, STI offers support to small and medium-sized businesses through self-assessment sustainability tools, a carbon calculator and educational programs, including webinars. STI manages the Responsible Travel Report website (www.responsibletravelreport.com), which also serves as a blog and online newsletter.

As we wound our way back down the mountain along the rough, boulderridden dirt road, Georges asked if we wanted to see how the Pinzgauer’s fully independent suspension worked. My father, a mechanical engineer, was delighted as we slowed to intentionally climb over an enormous gash in the road. Amazingly, at one point, one front and one back tire were simultaneously off the ground and still the enormous vehicle glided smoothly over the gash, shifting its weight gracefully until its whole had crossed the divide.

We had traversed the southwestern edge of the Sangre de Cristos and emerged above Canyon Road, dropping back into civilization. Brown adobe walls enveloped us, and the Pinzgauer was once again loud and out of place. I glanced back at the bright green aspens high above and felt lucky to live here, where culture and nature intersect, and where cultural entrepreneurship is thriving. And, I felt glad that Georges had gotten that broken spoke. i To c o n t a c t S F Wa l k a b o u t s , c a l l 505.216.9161 or visit www. santafewalkabouts.com Alice Loy is cofounder and director of programs at the Santa Fe-based Global Center for Cultural Ent repreneurship.

505.263.5180, alice@ culturalentrepreneur. org, www.culturalentrepreneur.org

STI also manages traveler’s philanthropy and carbon offset funds, attracting financial and in-kind support for sustainable development-oriented projects that help conserve the environment, support biodiversity and promote community self-reliance.

STI advocates engaging the entire industry (not just a company and its supply chain partners) and broad representation across all sectors including government, academia, non-governmental organizations and the private sector travel trade, in order to aggressively tackle sustainability challenges and benefit from opportunities.

Current STI services include:

Free monthly educational webinars covering sustainability topics (schedule posted on Facebook or sign up for email notification on STI’s website) STEP (Sustainable Tourism Education Program), including a self-assessment and third-party eco-certification that can be licensed and customized Travelers’ Philanthropy and Climate Management Programs Cooperative marketing benefits, including promotion on Responsible Travel Report website, e-newsletter and social media outlets More information is on the website: www.sustainabletravelinternational.org.

If you are interested in participating now or in a future training in New Mexico, email Jeremy Sampson: jeremys@sustainabletravel.com 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 (to be released August 2012), Planning for Balanced Development (www.santafeplanning.com) and co-author of Zen Birding: Connect in Nature.

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World Renewable Energy Forum continued from page 6

© Mark Chalom (2)

delight, there was also a wonderful solar carport. Every public parking lot in Santa Fe and other cities should be full of these structures. It makes it possible to double-utilize land resources, bring distributed solar energy much closer to end-users in commercial spaces, minimize snow removal, harvest rainwater and maximize car shade. These structures in public parking lots will surely make community solar programs much more advantageous, financially affordable and able to take advantage of economy-of-scale.

Community Solar

This solar carport, designed by Clean Energy Solutions of Boulder, CO, comes complete with rainwater collection. Semi-transparent panels allow light to pass through.

tioning units, saved having to dig up city streets and replace the existing cooling towers. This project earned LEED-Gold certification and an estimated savings of $2.4 million the first year and $4.4 million after tenant renovations. It will pay for itself in less than three years. Even the famous colorful outside lighting display has been changed to Light Emitting Diodes.

Electric Vehicles

There was also much excitement at the conference about electric transportation. Battery technology has come a long way, making all electric and hybrid vehicles much more affordable, reliable and able to travel greater distances per charge. Electric charging stations’ availability is expanding. There was an area set up outside with EVs, from simple bicycles and motorcycles to family cruisers. To my

One of the keywords I picked up and really believe in is “Community Solar Programs.” This is where the “utility company” is really a utility company.

They, or a third-party, own and install the equipment and rent your roof or fields. You use the power, pay a fixed rate for 20 years, and have no financial investment. Infill sites, Brownfield sites, dumps and open fields are being taken over by large community-scale solar electric systems. This large system is then broken up amongst many owners buying in to any share they like. This makes solar electricity available to those who do not have good solar access or to families that rent or don’t have the financial ability to make a large investment in their own system. This concept of Community Solar is now being utilized for solar thermal hot water, wind energy systems and other RE sources.

It’s a very exciting program, and we need to demand more of this in NM. Colorado is well ahead in its Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RES) requirements. PNM, sadly, is well behind. It’s not because we have less sun.

As I drove through Colorado I was

amazed at how many large solar PV systems I saw in many communities.

A few months ago I drove through Flagstaff and saw the 500 kw (expandable to 700 kw) Doney Park community solar project. This will also include eight kilowatts of wind. It included New Mexico Solar Energy Association vice president many homes wired together Gary Vaughn tries out a new electric motorcycle. for a total of another 1,000 NM has fallen well behind its neighkw and a 500-kw storage system with boring states. Colorado, Arizona, Oklalithium ion battery storage technolhoma, California and Nevada are well ogy. This project helps Arizona Public ahead of our energy policies and abilService exceed its RES requirements by ity to integrate RE technologies. Even removing barriers for customers and by New Jersey is well ahead of NM. Our meeting the growing demand for solar state must really make some key decienergy. In the May issue of Green Fire sions; work with the PRC, PNM and Times there was a report about a comother utilities to make this happen. We munity solar project Kit Carson Elecas the general public must demand this. tric has built in the Taos area. So these systems are happening in NM. I truly I left the World Renewable Energy Forum believe we will be seeing a lot more and the American Solar Energy Society when it becomes advantageous to the National Conference feeling very good Public Regulation Commission (PRC) about the world’s energy future and our and PNM to make it happen. ability to meet energy demands with a combination of strategies and energy sources. It I have attended ASES many times, so is now up to the world leaders and leaders I had a good basis to compare this year in our country to take on this commitment to others. The general attitude of all atfor our future. i tending was much more upbeat than in 2006 and 2010. We were shown where Mark Chalom is RE is making an impact and is growa Santa Fe-based ing exponentially in many parts of the architect (LEED 2.0) who has world. There were fewer global warmspecialized in ing fear mongers. We were reminded Environmental there are many other very positive reaClimatic Design sons for RE: stewardship of the Earth, for the past forty air quality, homeland security, and of years. He recently course, good, clean jobs. The US, sadly, received a lifetime achievement award for his Passive Solar is well behind many other countries, Architecture and research from the American including Denmark, Germany, China Solar Energy Society. Solarch@rt66.com, and Mexico. It is also very evident that www.markchalom.com

For Sale Overlooking the Pecos Valley

Logs, Rocks, Glass, Sun Room, Portal, Patio, Greenhouse, Garden, Trees, Privacy

2,700 sq. ft. house on 5 Acres $395,000. John 505-470-2168 30

Green Fire Times • July 2012

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www.GreenFireTimes.com

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giggle. wiggle. groove.

An eclectic mix of informative and entertaining programs await you on KUNM – your passport to the worlds of news, music, community and culture. Publicly supported. Publicly responsive. KUNM is an essential part of New Mexico’s day.

KUNM 89.9FM | STREAMING LIVE 24/7 AT KUNM.ORG

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Green Fire Times • July 2012

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transitions

After Working, What?

Bruce Poster

I

n my previous three columns, I described what I mean by the “New Retirement,” how to plan for your retirement, and travel opportunities afforded by voluntourism. While the Old Retirement was viewed as being put out to pasture in a sort of endless vacation, the “New Retirement” is seen as a new beginning—an opportunity to renew oneself by taking on activities from which one can derive meaning and satisfaction.

Work provides us with many benefits, which together provide us with an overall sense of satisfaction. Because we have become so used to these benefits, they have risen to the level of needs, which we cannot ignore without suffering the consequences. The five benefits of work are: 1. Financial Remuneration. All of us enjoy the benefit of a salary or other form of income related to our efforts at work. Many people believe that this is the only or primary benefit of work. While the financial rewards of work are certainly important, there are four other benefits of work that, like financial remuneration, must be satisfied during retirement.

2.

Time Management. The second benefit of work is time management. Our work gives structure to our life and helps us organize and manage our time. While work may at times place excessive demands on our time, it also lets us know what we’ll be doing from, say 9 to 5 Monday through Friday. This time management function of work keeps our life orderly and in sync with those around us.

3. Purpose. Another benefit of work is that it gives us a sense of utility or purpose. Having purpose injects a feeling of meaning into our life.

We help others by somehow serving their needs. This gives us a type of cause from which we derive a measure of satisfaction.

4. Status. The fourth benefit of work is status. Our work gives us a role in

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society from which we derive status. Status is that combined sense of personal worth and identity we derive from knowing who and what we are.

5.

Socialization. Finally, our work brings us into contact with many other people, providing socialization. We interact with colleagues and customers and become connected to some of them. We form relationships and may develop deep friendships. Think about how many of your closest friends are people you worked with at one time.

These five benefits of work do not go away simply because we retire. They have become such an integral part of us that we cannot discard them without some emotional, psychological and even spiritual consequences.

In order to achieve a successful transition, you must shift your view of yourself and redefine who you are.

Some retirees become depressed a few years into retirement. This is usually not due to lack of money or some type of catastrophe. More often, it is due to the slow wearing away of an individual—gradual losses in self-esteem that can escalate into despair if left unaddressed. A failure to address one or more of these five benefits of work may be at the heart of the problem.

In order to achieve a successful transition from work to a New Retirement lifestyle, you must shift your view of yourself and redefine who you are, i.e., you must undergo a career/life reorientation.

Throughout your work career, it is likely that you have been acknowledged for actively taking on life to the fullest. Retirement is no different. Yet this isn’t easy for those who have invested heavily in their work. In fact, some of you who have invested most heavily in your work have come to see

yourselves primarily as a worker/professional/manager/performer. Over time, you become what you think about all day. When you are asked at a party “What do you do?” do you answer by describing your work?

Such a self-definition, centered on your work identity, can hinder your growth into a New Retirement lifestyle. To make a healthy shift from your work identity into a New Retirement lifestyle, you will need to drop your old concept of your identity and take on an expanded view of yourself.

This requires a significant reorientation of self.

Such a reorientation is not a rejection of yourself or your career. Rather, it is testimony of a positive change unfolding within you. In earlier stages of your life, you have had to let go of your identity as a child or as a college student or perhaps as a partner in a relationship. At retirement, you once again have a need to create a new identity.

significant self-introspection before you can develop and become comfortable with your new self-definition.

Our dominant culture has bombarded us with the notion that we are what we do. This new self definition, while honoring that the doing part of you is still important, focuses more on the being part of you, bringing you into touch with not only the physical dimensions of self, but also the social, psychological and spiritual components of who you are. I hope you enjoy the journey! i Bruce Poster is a Certified Retirement Coach who has lived in Santa Fe for 34 years and previously owned Southwest Planning & Marketing.

He can be reached at 505.690.8921 or bruce@ retireyourway.biz; or you can visit his website: www.RetireYourWay. biz

Retirement may be seen as your personal story of how you were able to give up the old notion of who you are and create a new self-definition. What you must give up is the internal image of yourself that has carried you for so long. This personal reorientation requires you to look deeply into yourself and change the question that has dominated you in your career.

You must change the question from “What am I?” to “Who am I?” The “what” referred to your role in the labor force and the economy. The “who” addresses a deeper understanding of yourself beyond work and is more centered on your intrinsic value and values. This involves creating a new, more personal, genuine and intimate definition of self. It requires appreciating your inherent worth as a unique person on this planet. You come to realize in a profound way that your personal worth extends far beyond the work you perform.

Such an internal journey is not easy for many people. It takes time and

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NEWSBITEs Net Metering Solar Credit System Under Debate in California

In a number of states, to varying degrees, the local utility is required to buy excess power generated by solar panels on homes and businesses. The system, known as net metering, is a good deal for those with renewable energy systems, but it costs utilities customers, and, the utilities say, to help support the costs of maintaining the power grid; as solar customers pay the utilities less, the utilities need to increase rates for those left on the traditional system.

Net metering is available to customers with RE systems in more than 40 states. It is so popular that several states are approaching regulatory limits on how many systems are eligible. The growing solar industry, of course, wants to raise those limits; the utilities are often opposed.

Utilities and RE advocates and developers across the country are also debating how much financial incentive to provide to solar, and to a lesser extent, other technologies. Regulators in California recently decided to double the amount of solar power capacity eligible for net metering. Massachusetts has created separate caps for the public and private sectors. Other states are currently reviewing their programs, and some have begun to impose fees as customers generate and sell more power.

Colorado Tightens Rooftop Solar Incentives

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has approved a new program for Xcel Energy that eliminates upfront cash incentives for solar panels that provide thousands of dollars to homeowners. The commissioners also capped the number of solar installations that would be eligible for subsidies. The action was taken, in part, to address a $32 million deficit in the fund that finances the solar rewards program.

The plan will provide total financial subsidies for up to 36 megawatts a year for commercial and residential installations for 2012 and 2013. Six of the megawatts will be dedicated to “solar gardens,” community-based installations that serve multiple homes.

In the present plan, the upfront subsidy is $1 a watt and payment of 9 cents for each kilowatt that a solar installation generates. In 2011, 38 megawatts were added. For a Colorado home, about 5.5 kilowatts is the average solar installation and about $5,500 is the average upfront incentive.

The new plan, which went into effect last month, provides a subsidy on a sliding scale for kilowatts generated, without the upfront payment. The first residential units approved this year will receive a 15-cent per kilowatt payment. The payment for new systems will decline to 11 cents by the end of 2013. It remains to be seen if the new plan will dissuade customers from buying solar systems without upfront subsidies.

Solar Power and Energy Efficiency Options for Santa Fe County Businesses, Homeowners

The Santa Fe County Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency has announced a speakers bureau with staff who will come to businesses, homeowner association meetings or other gatherings to present options on cost-effective solar and energy efficiency. The free service is available to businesses or residents within city limits or people who live in Santa Fe County.

Topics include available tax credits, rebates, incentives and financing. Many people are unaware that solar electric systems are half the cost they were just four to five years ago, and available financing can make the reduction to one’s monthly electric bill greater than the loan payment. Simple energy-efficiency measures can also dramatically reduce the electric and natural gas bill.

One-on-one clean energy advice and technical assistance is also available directly from the County. For more information, call Craig O’Hare, Energy Programs Specialist at 505.992.3044; email cohare@santafecounty.org; or visit the Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency website: www.santafecountynm.gov/ public_works/energy

Solar pump critical in Ruidoso firefighting effort

A solar photovoltaic system kept water pumping for volunteer firefighters in Ruidoso as they attacked the Little Bear Fire last month, after all other electrical power in the area was lost, state officials report.

“This is a great demonstration of how solar energy can benefit rural communities in an emergency,” said Louise Martinez, division director for the state’s Energy Conservation and Management Division. “Solar energy also provides great energy electric utility savings,” she said.

www.GreenFireTimes.com

In the spring, the Sun Valley Water and Sanitation District in Alto, NM, installed an 11-kilowatt grid-interconnected single-axis pole-mounted solar system with $75,000 in state funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The PV system, the first installed by a rural water cooperative in New Mexico (if not the nation), was designed to power the community water system in hilly territory in the Lincoln National Forest, five miles north of Ruidoso.

Five NM Projects Funded to Boost Renewable Energy Production, Reduce Energy Consumption

The USDA has selected five New Mexico projects for funding through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which is authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill.

The funding is intended to help agricultural producers and rural small businesses reduce energy consumption and costs; use renewable energy (RE) technologies in their operation; and/or conduct feasibility studies for RE projects.

“Stable energy costs create an environment for sustainable job growth in rural America,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Rural Development State Director Terry Brunner said, “These REAP grants are vital to help these businesses improve their bottom line by saving money by using less energy.”

The five projects selected for funding are: • Cornucopia Enterprises, LLC of Fort Worth, TX will receive $10,000 to assess the feasibility of using solar photovoltaic and wind turbines in conjunction with passive solar, algae, etc. for greenhouses and a fish pond at its manufacturing facility in Rociada, NM. • Custom Steelworks, LLC, of Silver City, NM. $9,633 will fund the purchase and installation of an 8.82 kilowatt grid-tied photovoltaic system to defray electricity use from the grid for a metalwork facility.

• Ritter Investments, LLC in Roswell, NM is receiving $20,000 to provide new and more efficient HVAC units for an office building.

• Sitterly, Inc. of Clovis, NM is receiving $20,000 to provide more efficient heating, cooling and lighting systems and insulation for an office building.

• TRU, LLC of Belen, NM is receiving $4,055 to replace lighting and make improvements to refrigeration units for a restaurant/gas station/convenience store.

California Voters to Decide on GMO Labeling polls show overwhelming support for historic labeling initiative

The Right to Know initiative to label genetically engineered foods will be on California’s November ballot. The initiative would be the first law in the United States requiring labeling of a wide range of genetically engineered foods. “This initiative is pretty simple,” said Stacy Malkan, a spokesperson for the California campaign. “It’s about our fundamental right to make informed choices about the food we eat and feed our families.”

The initiative requires labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) – plants or meats that have had their DNA artificially altered by genes from other plants, animals, viruses or bacteria. This type of genetic alteration occurs in a laboratory and is not found in nature.

Polls have shown nearly unanimous support across the political spectrum in the US for labeling of genetically engineered foods. The California Right to Know initiative is backed by a broad array of consumer, health and environmental groups, businesses and farmers.

Grant Lundberg, CEO of Lundberg Family Farms in the Sacramento Valley, noted that the US is one of the few developed nations that does not provide consumers with simple labels to inform them if their food has been genetically engineered.

“More than 40 other countries – including all of Europe, Japan and even China – already label genetically engineered food,” Lundberg said.

The California initiative is widely regarded as the best chance to achieve GMO labeling in the US. The campaign has generated significant national interest in the growing movement for transparency in our food system, as reported in a recent front-page New York Times story.

In March, more than one million people submitted comments to the US Food and Drug Administration on a petition for mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods, more than any other petition in FDA history. Twenty states have tried to legislate GMO labeling, but none have succeeded due to intense opposition from corporate special interests.

For more information on California’s Right to Know campaign, visit www.

CARighttoKnow.org.

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JAIN STUDY CIRCULAR THE JAIN STUDY CIRCULAR HAS BEEN POSTED AT WWW.JAINSTUDY.ORG.

Please go our website and study the articles presented in the new issue.

We welcome your comments and suggestions.

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Eden Project continued from page 12 for the area are more for food than energy, the matrix will shift to more greenhouses and less renewable energy generation. The smallest (15-acre) campus’ budget, without desalination and composting facilities, is about $2.5 million. The same 15 acres with desalination and composting will run about $3.8 million.

county or prison, those entities, their taxpayers and communities will reap the financial benefits, and Eden Gardens will receive a fee for contracting and using their expertise to make the facility work. In those cases it will be a non-profit public enterprise. There are also investors who want to do this as a for-profit private enterprise.

Eden Gardens is able to provide the labor, contracting and equipment.

In association with www.wind-inc. com, www.environment-solutions. com and www.cornucopia-enterprise. com, Eden Gardens has franchise or distribution agreements in place with experienced suppliers of each component. Last month Eden Gardens built an aquaponics facility in Texas, complete with a solar- and wind-powered greenhouse, fish tanks, and hydroponic, drip-irrigated growing beds.

Agreements to build several Eden Garden Projects in this country and abroad are currently being finalized.

For more information, call 800.379.8048, ext. 103, or email sanehboothe@gmail.com. i

If an Eden Gardens Project facility is to be owned by a city, municipality,

www.GreenFireTimes.com

Ben B. Boothe, Sr. is an international economic and environmental author, speaker and consultant.

He publishes Global Perspectives (http:// bootheglobalperspectives. com/). His company website is www.benboothe.com.

Appeals Court Backs EPA on Emissions Rules

Last month a federal appeals court for the District of Columbia dismissed arguments from industry that the science of global warming was not well supported, and upheld an Environmental Protection Agency finding that greenhouse gasses from industry and vehicles endanger public health.

The judicial panel declared that the agency was “unambiguously correct” that the Clean Air Act requires the federal government to impose limits once it has determined that emissions are causing harm. The court also upheld related rules setting limits on emissions from cars and from stationary sources.

Fourteen states, including Texas and Virginia, joined with the coal, gas and oil industries to try to block the rules and deny the EPA’s authority to limit carbon pollution. Fifteen states, including California and New York, have supported the EPA in related court cases. One of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s goals, according to his website, is to amend the Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide from the EPA’s purview.

Schott Solar to Close Albuquerque Plant

Schott Solar will cease manufacturing operations in Albuquerque by the end of the summer. More than 200 jobs were terminated at the end of June. The company will continue operating in the US, but not in New Mexico.

The State of New Mexico invested millions of dollars of Local Economic Development Act funds in Schott as an incentive for the company to locate in New Mexico. The State will not be able to recoup any of those funds, but the city of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County will get money back.

Schott poured $125 million of its own money into Albuquerque facilities and equipment.

Last month, the company proudly announced its involvement of the successful installation of 1,750 of its solar panels at the Albuquerque International Sunport. The project is projected to save the city of Albuquerque about $30,000 in energy costs annually.

The company opened its 200,000-square-foot factory in 2009 at the Mesa del Sol planned community, where it made photovoltaic and concentrating solar power modules. Schott shut down one of its two concentrating solar production lines two years ago because of depressed demand on the US market, plummeting prices and intense competition from Chinese manufacturers.

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What's Going On! Events / Announcements

Aug. 1, 11:30 am-1 pm USGBC-NM Luncheon Indian Pueblo Cultural Center 2401 12th St. NW

$25 members, $30 non-members, $18 emerging green builders. Open to the public.

ALBUQUERQUE July 5, 5:30-7:30 pm NM Green Drinks Hotel Andaluz, 125 2nd St. NW

Network and mingle with people interested in local business, clean energy and other green issues. Presenters: Kristin Gangwer and Tiffany Terry of MRCOG LandLink Program.

Open to the public. www,greendrinks.org

July 7, 10 am-5 pm Beekeeping Seminar First Presbyterian Church 215 Locust St., NE

Regionally Adapted Bees and Genetics, Mite Prevention, A Natural Approach to Small Cell Beekeeping, presented by Michael Bush, author of Practical Beekeeping Naturally. $15. infonmbka@gmail.com, www.nmbeekeepers.org

July 14-15, 9 am-2 pm Gaia Guild Food Garden Tour

See food gardens at homes and small farms.

Listings and a map at www.gaiaguild.webs. com the week of the tour. Garden Contest: most food productive, best habitat for birds, butterflies and bees, most water-wise, best use of recycled materials, best gardening in containers. gaiaguildinfo@gmail.com

July 20-22 Wildlife West Nature Park Music Festival Edgewood, NM (20 min. from Albq.)

Native wildlife refuge for non-releasable animals on 122 acres. Mexican wolves, mountain lions, elk, black bear, and 20 other rescued species. Habitats are on natural substrates and use up to 60 percent recycled materials. Volunteer staff. Three-day acoustic music fest on 3 stages with covered seating supports the wildlife. Wildlifewest.org

July 26, 8 am-4:30 pm Sustainable Business Summit Hyatt Regency Albuquerque

Conference and award luncheon honoring organizations and leaders for whom green is not a buzzword, but is integral to the way they operate. Sustainable businesses, building, product/service, workplace. Afternoon workshops. Presented by the NM Green Chamber of Commerce in association with the NM Business Weekly. Cost: Beginning at $20. 505.916.1247, Celerah@nmgreenchamber.com, http://nmgreenchamber.com

July 26-29 2012 ExtraOrdinary Technology Conference Albq. Marriott Pyramid North 5151 San Francisco Rd. NE

Speakers, working devices demonstrated, Tesla technology, Magnetic motors, Zero-point energy, Energy saving devices, etc. Hosted by TeslaTech. Registration $350/$250: 520.463.1994, http://teslatech. info/ttevents/prgframe.htm

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Aug. 3, 7- 8:30 pm Joanne Shenandoah - Live Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th St. NW

The Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter in an intimate live performance. $15.

1.866.877.7902, http://indianpueblo.org/

Aug. 9-11 Advanced PV System Design and Installation CNM Workforce Training Center

This course will provide 21 CEU credits for electrical journeymen, and is eligible for NABCEP education credit for PV installers.

The course is free to those who qualify for the Solar Center of Excellence grant. Info: 505.224.5271, sbritton@cnm.edu

Daily Degrees of Change: NM’s Climate Forecast NM Museum of Natural History & Science, 1801 Mountain Rd. NW

With a focus on NM and the SW, this exhibit reveals current and predicted impacts on humans, landscapes and ecosystems. Tickets: $7, $6, $4.

Info: 505.841.2800, www.nmnaturalhistory.org

Xeriscape Guide Available

A comprehensive list of plants and trees best suited to the climate and soil of the Middle Río Grande region including the East Mountains. Revised by landscape designer Judith Phillips. How-to info on garden planting, plant selection efficient irrigation, rainwater harvesting, xeriscape basics, etc.

Available at local libraries, nurseries, home garden centers and community centers or by calling 505.245.3133. More info: 505.768.3655.

Rain Barrels Available Bernalillo County

Barrels are offered to property owners in unincorporated areas who are not customers of the ABQ Bernalillo Water Authority. To qualify, residents must sign up for a home water conservation survey. $40 for a 100-gallon barrel.

505.848.1500, www.bernco.gov/water

Beneficial Farms CSA

Weekly distribution at La Montañita Co-op Warehouse, 3361 Columbia Dr. NE. This CSA works with up to 40 regional farms each year, and offers abundant, affordable shares of fresh fruit and vegetables and other local and regionally produced foods year round. All produce is grown with sustainable chemical-free methods.

SANTA FE

July 6-8, 9 am-4 pm Biomass Energy Course SF Community College greentraining@sfcc.edu

July 6, 7:30 pm Shimshai World Fusion & Sacred Song Concert Railyard Performance Center 1611 Paseo de Peralta

Master musician/singer from Santa Cruz, CA with local musicians. $20, children free.

Green Fire Times • July 2012

No one turned away for lack of funds. “True Heart” CD release. Dance celebration, healthy food & beverages. 505.982.9950

July 11, 6 pm SFPS Board of Education Citizen’s Review Committee Educational Services Center,610 AltaVista

July 13, 12-8 pm; July 14, 11-7 pm; July 15, 11 am-6 pm John Lennon Artwork Exhibit La Fonda Hotel, 100 E. San Francisco

505.467.3400, bmontoya@sfps.info

A look into John Lennon’s mind through his drawings, sketches and written words. A benefit for The Food Depot, food bank for nine northern NM counties and 12 nonprofit agencies. Presented by Yoko Ono.

July 7, 10 am- 2 pm Healing the Earth/Healing Ourselves 208 ½ Polaco Street

July 13-15 Santa Fe International Folk Art Market Milner Plaza

July 10 Starting a Small Business SF Community College

July 14, 9 am-4 pm Writing Your Life Through the Lens of Food Performance Space at La Tienda, 7 Caliente Rd., Eldorado

A workshop guided by Robert Francis “Mudman” Johnson using cob (wet adobe) to explore connecting to the earth and remembering the natural way we belong to all of creation. $33 or by donation. 505.954.4495, earthprayers@hotmail.com, http://earthprayers2.blogspot.com

NM Small Business Development Center workshop. 505.428.1343, www.nmsbdc.org

July 10, 6-9 pm Introduction to Green Building SF Community College

9th annual. More than 170 master artists from every corner of the globe. Free admission for youth 16 & under Saturday and Sunday.

Info: 505.992.7600, www.folkartmarket.org.

Tickets: 505.886.1251, http://holdmyticket. com/buy/folk%20art%20market

Workshop with Deborah Madison on the details of food and recipe writing for family & friends. $150. Discounts for Eldorado residents.

505.795.1590, http://www.wordharvest.com

Class taught by Daniel Clavio, recently awarded “Green Advantage” environmental certification for commercial and residential building practices. 505.428.1676, 474.8388, www.sfcc.edu or www.sfcc.adcnetwork.org

July 17, 6-9 pm Alternative Building Methods SF Community College

July 10, 6-9 pm Leading by Being Intro Evening Academy for the Love of Learning, Seton Village

July 20, 6 pm NM Centennial Songs NM History Museum Auditorium

An intro to The Academy’s Foundation Course in transformational learning with faculty and graduates. Free. RSVP required.

505.995.1860, programs@aloveoflearning. org, www.aloveoflearning.org

July 11, 17, 11:30 am-1 pm Insights into Rating System Updates Palo Santo Designs,2356 Fox Rd.,Ste.200

USGBC monthly webinar. Regionalization.

Earn 1.5 CEU. Member: $10, non-member: $15. 505.277.0474

July 11, 6 pm SFPS Board of Education Citizen’s Review Committee Educational Services Center, 610 Alta Vista 505.467.3400, bmontoya@sfps.info

July 12, 6 pm Listening Session with SF County Comm. Miguel Chavez Nancy Rodriguez Community Center 1 Prairie Dog Loop

United Communities of SF County hosts the incoming Dist. 2 County Commissioner.

Come with questions. 505.690.8843, www. meetup.com/UnitedCommunities/

July 12-15 Art Santa Fe Intl. Art Fair SF Convention Center, 201 W. Marcy

A mix of art from contemporary galleries all over the world. $10 admission. Gala opening 7/12,5-8 pm

Class taught by Daniel Clavio. 505.428.1676, 474.8388,www.sfcc.edu or www.sfcc.adcnetwork.org

Music historians Mark Gardner and Rex Rideout with “Music of the NM Frontier: From the Santa Fe Trail to Statehood.” Free.

505.476.5200

July 20, 7:30 pm “Where There’s Fire” Java Joe’s Coffee Shop, Rodeo Plaza

Two women! Original Music! Laurianne Fiorentino and Karen Marrolli. $10 at the door. www.lauriannefiorentino.com, www. karenmarrolli.bandcamp.com

July 21, 1-6 pm Santa Fe Trail Jam Tierra Trails (behind Unity Church)

8th annual dirt bike jumping jam. Daniel.

Coriz@state.nm.us

July 21, 5 pm Ground Up: Culture and Landscape NM History Museum, 113 Lincoln Ave.

Presentation by Walter Hood, renowned designer & UC Berkeley professor will discuss the public spaces and cultural landscapes of Santa Fe and other cities, and the best practices for community involvement in urban design. Reception afterward. Presented by Creative Santa Fe. Tickets: $10 at www.ticketssantafe.org or by calling 505.988.1234.

Info: 505.989.9934, www.creativesantafe.org

July 24, 6-9 pm Guide to Successful Building SFCC Continuing Ed. Dept.

Class taught by Daniel Clavio. 505.428.1676, 474.8388,www.sfcc.edu or www.sfcc.adcnetwork.org

www.GreenFireTimes.com

July 24, 6:30-9 pm Drawing From Experience Academy for the Love of Learning, Seton Village Free evening of exploration. Accessing our creative impulses for change. Chrissie Orr and Jessica Lawless. Interactive art making.

RSVP to programs@aloveoflearning.org or 505.955.1860, www.aloveoflearning.org

July 26th 8 am to 1 pm Community Water Forum: the Buckman Projects & LANL” Santa Fe Community Convention Center, 201 Marcy Street

The forum will address public concerns about the Buckman wells and Direct Diversion Project.

International and local experts will make presentations and answer questions. Contact: CCNS at 505.986.1973 or ccns@nuclearactive.org

July 31, Entry Deadline Design Santa Fe

Juried Exhibition to inspire new forms and design concepts today for the domestic environments of tomorrow. Move outside the ordinary to create innovative and sustainable designs for our future. Exhibition Opening and Awards Gala Oct. 5. Zane Bennett Contemporary Art. Entry fee: $50/$25 Info: designlab@designlabsantafe.org, Entry form: http://santafeinteriordesignerspresents.com/DesignLab2012EntryForm.pdf

Aug. 4, 25, 9 am-noon Permaculture site tour Pojoaque (20 miles n. of SF)

Tour Permaculture Institute site. Sustainable house, food forests, animal forage plantings, pollinator hedges, restored wetlands and wildlife habitat. $10/person. Child-friendly setting. RSVP required. 505.455.0514, http:// lotsoflifeinoneplace.blogspot.com

Aug. 10, 6-9 pm opening; Aug. 11-13, 17-19, 11 am - 5 pm The Santa Fe Show El Museo de Cultural 555 Cam. de la Familia

Objects of Art – contemporary to historic, antique to modern. Paintings, sculpture, furniture, books, fashion, jewelry, textiles, tribal, folk, American Indian, African and Asian art. Benefits the Delancey St. Foundation. Opening Preview party 8/10: $50 at the door. Daily tickets: $12-$16. 505.660.4701, www.TheSantaFeShow.com

Aug. 11, 10 am-2 pm Ernest Thompson Seton Annual Celebration Academy for the Love of Learning, Seton Village Free. RSVP requested. 505.995.1860, learn@ aloveoflearning.org

Aug. 24-26 Navigating Your Future 2012 Conference & Expo Scottish Rite Temple 463 Paseo de Peralta

Conference featuring world-class line-up of leading authors and experts on health & wellness, finance, careers, personal development, civic engagement, etc. Jean Houston, Ram Das (from Maui), Julia Cameron, Michael Meade, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Michael Gelb, Kelly Howell, Dr. Hyla Cass, Angeles Arrien, Randal Hayes, Camille Adair, many others. Musical performers, film & video excerpts, book signings. Refreshments, prizes. Benefits Empower NM and Kitchen Angels. Lifestyle expo open to the public. Tickets: ticketssantafe.org or 505.988.1234. Details: www.agenation.com, www.navigatingyourfutureconferences.com

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Tuesday & Saturday, 7 am-12 pm Santa Fe Farmers’ Market 1607 Paseo de Peralta (& Guadalupe)

Northern NM farmers & ranchers bring you fresh greenhouse tomatoes, greens, root veggies, cheese, teas, herbs, spices, honey, baked goods, Southwestern body care and much more.

Saturdays, Approx. 2 pm Meet Your Farmer Joe’s Dining, Rodeo & Zia

A lunch experience. An opportunity to ask questions about farming, enjoy a local meal and meet farmers who grow NM foods. Vendors from the farmers’ market have an aftermarket lunch and meet the community. Info: Sheila@joesdining.com

Designing Your Well-Lived Future Workshops The Commons, 2300 W. Alameda

Are you a single, working parents or retiring Boomers looking for community and a simpler, walkable lifestyle? Join a series of planning/design sessions aimed at developing floor plans, shared amenities and cluster possibilities where residents get more from sustainable designs. Several architects and designers have been invited. Tour the Commons cohousing community and develop ideas of alternatives to current suburban choices. Bring your ideas and something for lunch to share. For more info, contact Brian Skeele: 505.310.1797, brianvida@nm.net or visit www.sustainablesantafe.com

Santa Fe Creative Tourism Workshops, Classes and Experiences http://santafecreativetourism.org/

Biodynamic Compost

Made from manure from alfalfa-fed cows, available for pick-up or delivery. 505.982.6879.

For info, see Susan Waterman’s My Own Garden article in March 2011 GFT.

HERE & THERE

Wednesdays, 10 am - 5 pm Red Willow Farmers’ Market Taos Pueblo, NM

Greenhouse and field-grown produce and more. redwillowfarmers@gmail.com

July 13-15 Taos Pueblo Pow Wow Taos, NM

Dance and drum performances and competitions, ceremonial activities, arts, crafts, food booths. www.taospueblopowwow.com

July 13-24, 10 am-5 pm Wood Show “Turning Out” Tome Art Gallery, 2930 Hwy.47, Los Lunas, NM (btwn. Los Lunas and Belen)

Open House & Demo, show and sale. Wood from the Río Grande Bosque to the far reaches of Africa used in making furniture, retablos, carvings, turnings, boxes, bowls, carvings, etc. 505.565.0556.

July 14-15, 9am-July 15, 1 pm Intro to Queen Honeybee Rearing Zia Queenbee Co. Farm, Truchas, NM

Workshop for experienced beekeepers by Melanie Kirby and Mark Spitzig. $200.

505.929.8080, http:queenbees.com/zia/2012

July 20-22 Fiestas de Taos Taos Plaza

Time-honored festival preserving four centuries of cultural diversity and tradition unique to Taos. Enjoy NM cuisine, indigenous dances, arts & crafts, food, Spanish folk music, and the hospitality of local Taoseños. Visit fiestasdetaos.com

July 21 Mesteño Draw Volunteer Workshop Mesteño Draw Ranch, north Mountainair (1 hr. s. of Albq.)

of

Aaron Kauffman of SW Urban Hydrology will lead participants in building rock baffles and weirs on a creek walk and see how previously installed treatments are functioning. Email Joan Bybee at joan.bybee@gmail.com for info. Free.

July 24 Application Deadline Socially Disadvantaged Agricultural Producer Grants

Grants to provide technical assistance to small agricultural producers in rural areas.

Maximum award: $175,000. Matching funds not required. Eligibility: Communities of less than 50,000 population, cooperatives, group of cooperatives, cooperative development centers. Applications scored on expected outcomes of assistance, experience of staff, commitment, local support. Info/ applications: 505.761.4953, www.rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_SSDPG.html

July 24, 6 pm At The Artist’s Table Museum Hill Café, 710 Cam. Lejo

Celebrate Spanish traditions with santero artist Arthur Lopez and a specially designed meal by James Campbell Caruso, chef/owner of La Boca restaurant. Benefits Partners in Education Foundation.Tickets: $250/person 505.474.0240, http:// attheartiststable.eventbrite.com

Aug. 17-19 Tribal Vision Festival CSA Organic Farm, Taos, NM

Workshops on sustainable living, art, music, theater, dance, ceremony. Paul Stamets, Kenneth Johnson, Rev. Yamoto, Flordemayo, many other speakers and performers. Camping, food.

Tickets: $110-$150. info@tribalvisionfestival. com, www.tribalvisionfestival.com

Aug. 22-27 Homesteading Workshop Lama Foundation, Lama, NM

Workshop featuring our food cycle: mulch to meals. Techniques and recipes for kitchen and garden; rural or urban. gracybelle@wordpress. com, http://liveherenow.wordpress.com/

Aug. 31-Sept. 2 Natural Building Workshop Ocaté, NM

Learn to build light clay structures. Fundamentals of design, local material collection, construction and tours of completed homes. Meals & camping at a beautiful retreat center. $100.

575.668.2005, wyldonions@yahoo.com

Sept. 1 Slow Money Rocky Mtn. Regional Gathering Carbondale, Colorado

A day of regional organizing and a harvest dinner, music and festivities. Co-hosted by Slow Money and Sustainable Settings. 10 am-4 pm gathering; 4-9 pm harvest festival. Presentations by Gary Nabhan, Michael Brownlee, Kris Holstrom, Joel Benson, Woody Tasch and regional food entrepreneurs and farmers. www.slowmoney.org/

July 26-27 Runoff, Risk & Community Empowerment – Your Role in Cleanup at LANL Conference Salazar Center for Fine Arts Northern NM College, Española

Presentations and discussions about Los Alamos Natl. Lab’s pollutants. Keynote speakers: Dr. Michael Barcelona (7/26 on groundwater), Dr. Camilla Bustamante (7/27). Other speakers: Dr. Maureen Merritt on worker and community health, representatives from Communities for Clean Water, Las Mujeres Hablan, the Pueblos, UNM, the NM Environment Dept. and LANL. Presentation on new federal storm water permit for 405 sites on the Parjarito Plateau, 10-year NM hazardous waste permit for Area G. Contact HOPE: 505.747.4652, mariann2@windstream.net or visit www. amigosbravos.org/lanl.php

Aug. 6 Deadline Rural Cooperative Development Grants

USDA Rural Development grants up to $175,000 available to nonprofit corporations and institution of higher education. May be used to conduct feasibility studies, create and implement business plans, and help businesses develop new markets for their products and services. 505.761.4953, http://www. rurdev.usda.gov/bcp_rcdg.html

Aug. 10-12 EcoRangers SW EcoFest Ruidoso, NM

Learn skills related to sustainable living, building and growing. Workshops, booths, live music. Optional dinner hosted by Sanctuary on the River. Tickets start at $40, kids under 12 free. ecoservants@gmail.com, www.ecoservants.org

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Green Fire Times • July 2012

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