September 2013 Green Fire Times

News & Views

from the

Sustainable Southwest

Adobe: Building an Industry Earth USA 2013 The Earthbuilders’ Guild

2013 Extraordinary

Technology Conference Integrating Science and Arts with Outdoor Education September 2013

New Mexico’s Fourth Largest Circulation Newspaper

Vol. 5 No. 9

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Vol. 5, No. 9 • September 2013 Issue No. 53 Publisher Green Fire Publishing, LLC

Skip Whitson

Associate Publisher

Barbara E. Brown

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

Michael Aune, Charles Bensinger, Janet Bridgers, Mostafa Aref Haghi, Pat Bellestri-Martinez, Japa K. Khalsa, Alejandro López, Roger Montoya, Seth Roffman, Gary Vaughn, Timothy J. Vaughn, Tobin Williams, Quentin Wilson

Contributing Photographers

Charles Bensinger, Anna C. Hansen, Bill Faulkner, Japa K. Khalsa, Alejandro López, Marie Markesteyn Roger Montoya, Bianca Negreiros, Seth Roffman, Sarah Rowe, Sal Ruiz, David Shaw

PUBLISHER’S ASSISTANTs Lisa Allocco, Cisco Whitson-Brown

Editor’s Assistant Tobin Williams

Office Assistants

Camille Franchette, Claire Ayraud

Advertising Sales

Skip Whitson 505.471.5177 Anna C. Hansen 505.982.0155 Earl James 505.603.1668 Cynthia Canyon 505.470.6442 Tim Vaughn (Albq.) 505.236.6090 Monica Maes (Española) 505.603.6899 Joe Fatton (Taos) 575.758.3202

New Mexico’s Fourth Largest Circulation Newspaper

Winner of the Sustainable Santa Fe Award for Outstanding Educational Project

Contents

Building in Adobe: A Powerful Catalyst for Real Life Learning . . .. . .. . .. 7 Green Builders. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 9, 10 The Earthbuilders’ Guild: Preserving and Promoting Age-Old Building Methods . . 10 Adobe: Building an Industry . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 11 Earthbuilding Rammed Earth Style in Southern New Mexico . . .. . .. . .. . 12 Book Profile: Sun Sticks & Mud . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 14 Earth USA 2013: The Seventh International Earthen Architecture and Construction Conference. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 15 Conferences: Traditional Agriculture & Sustainable Living, Western Apicultural Society of North America, Empowering the Land . . 17 La Tierra Montessori Integrates Science and Arts with Outdoor Education. 20 The Bounty of Earth’s Harvest. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 23 OP-ED: Junk Food—Junk Energy . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 25 The 2013 Extraordinary Technology Conference. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 27 The Photon-Powered Car . . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 30 OP-ED: PNM Again Threatens Survival of New Mexico Solar Industries . . . 31 Wildfires and Watersheds: Proactive Best Management Practices (Part II) . . 33 Newsbites . . .. . .. . .. . .. . ... . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 36 What’s Going On. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 38

Distribution

Lisa Allocco, Barbara Brown, Susan Clair, Co-op Dist. Services, Joe Fatton, Nick García, Andy Otterstrom (Creative Couriers), Tony Rapatz, Wuilmer Rivera, Skip Whitson, John Woodie

Circulation 24,000 copies

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

Green Fire Times

Green Fire Times provides useful information for anyone—community members, business people, students, visitors—interested in discovering the wealth of opportunities and resources available in our region. Knowledgeable writers provide articles on subjects ranging from green businesses, products, services, entrepreneurship, jobs, design, building, energy and investing—to sustainable agriculture, arts & culture, ecotourism, education, regional food, water, the healing arts, local heroes, native perspectives, natural resources, recycling and more.

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

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

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© Anna C. Hansen

c/o The Sun Companies PO Box 5588 Santa Fe, NM 87502-5588 505.471.5177 • info@sunbooks.com © 2013 Green Fire Publishing, LLC

The Cleveland Roller Mill Museum in Mora County, New Mexico, a historic adobe flour mill built in the late 19th century, will host the Cleveland Millfest, featuring 45 artists, baked goods, tours, music and dance: Aug. 31-Sept. 1. Info: 575.387.2645

COVER: h andcrafted monolithic adobe wall with

stylized mesoamerican face representing the sun

sculpture and photo by alejandro lopez, santa cruz, 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

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Green Building

Building in Adobe: A Powerful Catalyst for Real Life Learning

Story and Photos by Alejandro López

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any exquisite soils abound throughout northern New Mexico, from which, as recently as 70 years ago, the majority of people constructed their homes, ovens and religious buildings. In the village of Las Trampas near Peñasco, the exposed adobe homes and the church of San José de García radiate a certain pleasing light-salmon pinkish tone not to be found anywhere else. In Las Truchas, just a few miles to the south, an occasional building or ruin still reveals the use of a clayish earth full of pebbles of a dark sienna cast. In Ribera along the Pecos River, old evocative buildings turn a persimmon color with the fading light of sunset. If the color and texture of standing adobe structures bring us great visual delight, one must imagine, then, how deeply satisfying are the processes by which soil is gathered, mixed with water and straw, made into adobes and ultimately fashioned into a structure, even if the work is at times daunting.

In the last 70 years, though, the pressures of modern life greatly reduced the size of the family and redirected the labor, so essential to building in adobe, outward into the national arena of commerce and industry. Simultaneously, the state adopted stiff building codes that severely restrict and regulate what had heretofore been an organic vernacular architecture that sprang intuitively from the soil and from traditional sources of building, going back thousands of years on several continents.

The final blow to this sustainable approach to building, however, was the appearance in northern New Mexico of the “instant house” in the form of mobile homes. It’s lure of low monthly payments for “ready-made” basic plumbing, electricity, four walls and a roof proved too great for anyone to resist, particularly those with the fewest economic opportunities and those caught between two competing cultural worldviews. Even though today nearly half of the world’s population, particularly in developing nations, still resides in earthen homes of many types, in New Mexico, adobe, ironically, has by-and-large, become the province of the ultra-wealthy who can afford the intensive labor required.

In spite of its shrunken domain, adobe remains the building material for pueblo earth ovens (hornos), an occasional home, earthships, small domed buildings, walls or pieces of sculpture, without which northern New Mexico would drift unmoored from its spiritual and cultural past of great integrity. As long as New Mexicans practice the adobe tradition to any degree and decide to collectively build together as they did in the past, they will succeed in keeping alive a measure of self-sufficiency, deep cooperation, and a knowledge of sustainable practices, not to mention a sensitivity to and knowledge of our precious earth itself.

Top (l-r): Young woman visiting an adobe shrine; An horno (adobe oven) with relief sculpture, pottery and stones, Santa Cruz, NM (the work of the author); Native students building adobe amphitheater near Laguna Pueblo; Lower left: Adobe relief thunderbird image on adobe wall at the Sacred Mountain Camp near Laguna Pueblo. Two junior high school students created the image during the annual National Indian Youth Leadership Project.

It is precisely this knowledge and these values that our youth, frequently adrift in a thoroughly cacophonous and bewildering technological maze, are most in need of. When offered the possibility of working directly with adobe to fashion a given structure, youth overwhelmingly say “yes” and throw themselves wholeheartedly

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Teenager keen on making adobe bricks and mastering adobe construction techniques, Santa Cruz, New Mexico; Latticed adobe wall

by Anselmo Jaramillo, Chimayó, New Mexico

into any of the tasks demanded by the material. They are as willing to formulate an architectural plan for a structure as they are to make adobe brick, dig a foundation, mix mud mortar, lay adobe or plaster finished walls. continued on page 8

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Building

continued from page 7

As a relatively soft and benign substance, adobe is one of the few building materials that enable youth to contribute to the process of building a home or other structure without getting hurt. In fact, the opposite is true.

In contributing to the creation of an adobe structure, youth thrive on the opportunity to socially interact with others on a project whose value is real and uncontested, to channel their physical energy in constructive ways and to reconnect with the cultural and technological traditions of the past and of other cultures. To not involve them in such projects is to deprive them of their cultural hertiage and the knowledge of how human beings throughout the centuries have availed themselves of the resources at hand in specific natural environments to address the challenges of survival and provide for the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter.

Without adobe, northern New Mexico would drift unmoored from its spiritual and cultural past.

Because the American school system has been so successful in insulating youth from real-life experiences and has instead inundated them with endless paperwork and now, with a stream of virtual reality, youth whose instincts are still intact tend to welcome the experience of adobe as a means for solving problems that require an entirely different set of skills from those promoted in traditional schooling. Among the skills youth can hone in a creative adobe-building project are design, measurement and estimation, the reading of weather conditions, and the development of a feel for mass and space, for aesthetics and for the strength and solidity of a building. It is interesting to ponder that arithmetic, one of the three pillars of modern education, itself arose from the adobe-brickbuilding revolution of the ancient Middle East approximately 6,000 years ago.

A few of the local entities that have made use of adobe construction in the service of positive youth development are Tewa Women United in the Española Valley, the National Indian Youth Leadership Project of Gallup NM, and individuals such as Dexter Trujillo of Abiquiú and José and Claire Villa of Alcalde. i Alejandro López is a professional photographer, writer, Spanish language instructor, translator and interpreter, as well as a builder in adobe and keeper of traditional ways.

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Green Builders

Build Green NM Gold-Rated Solar Adobe

A traditional-style adobe home surrounding a center courtyard has just been completed north of Santa Fe. Owners John and Linda Dressman did the wooden bond beam, the carved portal rafters and posts, the ceiling beams, painted decking, interior finish woodwork and laid the brick floors. They hired Daniel Buck C onstruction , I nc . (www. danielbuckconstruction.com) to fill in the rest of the work and coordinate the project.

The home, which a c h i e ve d a g o l d rating with Build Green New Mexico, has radiant floors with a highefficiency boiler. It has one-quarter the air leakage of an average home, thanks to an Energy Recover Ventilation system, R-12 floors, R-26 walls and an R-85 roof.

Outside there is a 4.7 kW photovoltaic system and an array of 192 square feet of hydronic solar collectors for hot water and space heat, strategically controlled by a state-of-the-art Solar Logic control board, monitored and tweaked from the home computer. The parapets, canales, windowsills and portal roofs are Corten steel, providing long-term, maintenance-free protection for those key areas of the home’s shell. The interior is complete with diamond plaster walls and handcrafted doors and cabinets.

An Adobe Straw-Bale Home

Bob and Julie Dunsmore, co-founders of the San Luís Valley Solar Energy Association of Colorado, with help from friends, built a home in Vallecitos, New Mexico, incorporating the finest features of two natural building materials. An adobe floor in the house holds and radiates solar heat in the winter, releasing it under the owners’ feet. Strawbale walls keep the sun’s heat out in the summer and the heat in during the winter.

Thirty-six feet of glass on the south side provide a glorious view of the Vallecitos River Valley. The glass lets in solar energy, which heats the adobe floor. There is insulation under the floor so the stored heat will not be lost to the ground.

The straw-bale wall provides an insulative R-value of over 40. The stucco on the inside is a radiant adobe; it radiates heat because it is covered with a micaceous slip that glows when light strikes its sculptured surface. The house’s metal roof also plays an important role in heating as well as cooling the house.

Bob and Julie Dunsmore may be contacted at dunsmorebobjulie@yahoo.com

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The Earthbuilders’ Guild Preserving and Promoting Age-Old Building Methods Seth Roffman

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The TEG, a “Businesspersons’ League,” has stimulated communication and unity among contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, installers, architects, draftsfolk, etc., and has made earthbuilding a visible trade to bureaucrats and politicians who would otherwise ignore or eliminate it when considering legislation or code changes. TEG’s Best Practices Manual sets the highest standards for earthbuilding, beyond current codes, which are based on minimal requirements. TEG works as a qualified interface with officials when building codes that may affect its members are written, adopted or modified. The New Mexico Rammed Earth Code took 10 years to write. The New Mexico Compressed Earth Block Code, the first “on the books” in the US, took three years. TEG has also worked to keep and expand energy codes that recognize and allow passive solar design and mass wall construction.

Another major thrust of TEG’s work is to educate designers, builders and the public. At present the guild is working with Northern New Mexico College, Santa Fe Community College, Cornerstones Community Partnerships and Adobe in Action to increase access to education programs, both hands-on and through the Internet. The guild is also working to institute and oversee a program for

© David Shaw, Estudio Azul

he Earthbuilders’ Guild (TEG) is a New Mexico-based organization dedicated to the betterment and advancement of earthen construction of homes and commercial buildings. Motivated by family traditions, meaningful work, environmental concerns and the joy of working with the earth, as well as great respect for the benefits of the structures, the guild researches, preserves and promotes age-old building methods of adobe, rammed-earth and compressed-earth block construction.

Members of the Earthbuilders’ Guild

certification of earthbuilders. Once in place, the certification will ensure that builders, manufacturers and educators are familiar and experienced with the construction processes and code requirements.

Funds from TEG membership dues and from grants are intended to be used to fund research and development of various aspects of earthen building, much of it directed toward increasing understanding of how earth can be integrated into design to maximize sustainability, energy efficiency, comfort and beauty. This includes proposals to test the applicability of various unique materials associated with earthbuilding and their structural, thermal, seismic and other properties.

TEG is developing a membership directory of people and businesses that use earthen construction products and techniques. The directory is available to the professional community as well as the public. More information on the guild is available on the organization’s website: www.theearthbuildersguild.com i

New Mexico Earthworks

Sean Kaltenbach, a second-generation New Mexico builder with a deep dedication to sustainable homes, has led or participated in the building of numerous custom earthen homes. Kaltenbach, chairman of the Earthbuilders’ Guild board of directors, is often called on for advice or instruction in the specialized techniques and skills of earthen construction. His company, New Mexico Earthworks, specializes in adobe and compressed-earth block construction, as well as artistic fireplaces, bancos, architecturally interesting exposed adobe walls, and the use of custom finishes such as earth-and-lime plastering.

“The many reasons to build an earthen home span romance, history and quality of life,” says Kaltenbach.

“A d o b e h o m e s have a sculpted look. The colors blend into the natural setting, and the rough textures are beautiful and interesting.

There’s a distinct charm that can’t be duplicated with boards and blocks. Earthen homes can be very modern, but they still retain that touch of antiquity that you feel at the Taos Pueblo, the Inn at Loretto in Santa Fe or the Basilica of San Albino in Mesilla. The amenities, such as heat absorption in the winter, natural coolness in the summer and low impact on the environment, bring most people great personal satisfaction.”

New Mexico Earthworks will have a booth at the Earth USA Conference in Santa Fe, Oct. 4-5. For more information on the company, call 505.490.0238 or visit www. newmexicoearthworks.com

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Adobe: Building an Industry

Economic Development

Sarah Rowe

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reen building. Renewable materials. Ancient tradition.

Adobe blocks have been a New Mexico tradition for hundreds of years, but it is in recent decades that they have found a home with commercial manufacturers.

These manufacturers have turned adobe from a poor man’s alternative and a rich man’s luxury into an accessible building material for anyone wanting a home.

Adobe’s journey is far from over. While the blocks have long been an important part of New Mexico’s culture, modern manufacturers are helping to make adobe mainstream by promoting a characteristic especially suited to building today: sustainability.

The Rise and Fall of Adobe

The 1970s and 1980s saw a boom in New Mexico’s commercial adobe manufacture.

Yards large and small started up, making adobes from backyards and ditch banks and multi-acre factories. According to the study Adobe, Pressed-Earth, and RammedEarth Industries of New Mexico by Smith and Austin of the NM Bureau of Mines (1996), in 1982 there were over 40 yards in the state, producing among them some four million adobe blocks. Fuel and labor were cheap, contractors wanted adobe, and buildings were shooting up.

By 1995, the number of manufacturers in the state had dropped to 13. The burdens put on businesses had risen, f rom labor costs to government regulations. The manufacture of adobe blocks has always been hard work.

“Once people realize how much work is involved and what it entails, there’s very few people that continue on that path,” said Mel Medina, owner of The Adobe Factory in Alcalde.

Importantly, in the 1990s many of the contractors with adobe experience

Adobes at New Mexico Earth Industries

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closed shop. According to Richard Levine, founder of New Mexico Earth Industries (NMEI) in Albuquerque, the drivers of the industry were people like architect-contractor Nat Kaplan: “As the years went by you’d find contractors at other jobs who got their start from Nat Kaplan. It was like half a dozen others, possibly even more were contractors who had gotten their start in construction with Nat Kaplan and others who, if they weren’t contractors, had learned to build with Nat Kaplan. So there was no need to educate anyone. They were all already educated! Now, I’m not sure if there are many people out there who feel that at home building with adobe.” The lack of builders familiar with adobe curtailed much of the demand for blocks.

Surprisingly, in this trend toward ‘green building,’ adobe has escaped notice.

In 2008, the recession brought adobe sales to an all-time low. Mule Creek Adobe, near Silver City, shut down its yard for four years. Many other manufacturers closed permanently.

NME and the Adobe Factory scaled back and struggled through.

Mudslingers: Adobe Manufacturers Keep on Fighting

In 2012 the recession waned and new-home construction increased. With Mule Creek Adobe having restarted production, there are now four large-scale manufacturers in New Mexico. The industry is starting to pick up again, and manufacturers are hopeful. Helen Levine, VP and co-owner of NME, says, “I definitely see an upward trend. Inquiries are up, sales are up, new-

home construction is up, production is up. I anticipate that we will have made as many adobes by the end of August as we made in the entire year of 2012.”

Mel Medina, owner Top: Adobe project in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque; Mel Medina of The Adobe Factory, of The Adobe Factory with Hans Sumpf laydown machine has also seen sales increase. “I think there’s no end to it [the Mexico. Ms. Levine says: “Surprisingly, adobe industry]. I think it’s just gonna in this trend toward ‘green building,’ have to deal with the roller-coaster that adobe has escaped notice. It seems so we’re on. We’ve never been faced with logical to me, because adobe is very the dilemma that we’ve been facing the sustainable; it ties in so well with energy last four years, meaning that there’s no conservation and sustainability and money available. We’ve never had that renewable resources. But contractors before, but I think it’s coming back, and I and designers and architects tend to think it’ll always be there. I think it’s just look outside at what’s up and coming, a matter of running the roller-coaster up instead of at what’s been around for and down, and eventually it’ll level off centuries and is still relevant today.” and we’ll continue back to where we were Adobe takes little energy to make: it is four years ago.” a house built of earth, with mud dried by direct solar power. The raw materials Building the Future are renewable and reusable. Once in Adobe manufacture is still hard work, a home, adobe used for passive solar a labor-intensive and time-consuming reduces energy costs. process. “You have to have a passion for mud and for sustainable building and Meanwhile, mud is mixing, molds are artisan construction; otherwise, why in being filled, and adobes are being shipped the world would you do it, it’s crazy,” throughout the state. Commercial says Susan Jerome, owner of Mule manufacturers are forging ahead.

Creek Adobe. But manufacturers “The reason I’m doing this is that I are confident that it can become do not want to see the tradition die,” mainstream. The Adobe Factory, says Jerome. “It’s an avocation; it’s Mule Creek Adobe and NMEI are something that I want to see succeed, working with members of The Earth and I definitely don’t want to lose the Builders’ Guild to educate builders adobe tradition in New Mexico.” i and homeowners, and to provide adobe certification for contractors.

Sarah Rowe is the granddaughter of New Mexico Earth founder Richard Levine. She They are spreading the word that a writes about environment and culture in traditional technology is one of the New Mexico. best hopes for a sustainable New

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Earthbuilding: Rammed Earth Style in Southern New Mexico Pat Bellestri-Martínez

Knowing that we would be building our home in New Mexico within a few months—initially an adobe home—we became intrigued with building an earth home with a monolithic wall of rammed earth instead of individual adobe blocks. We discovered the history

of rammed earth went back thousands of years. This technique has been used in every civilization throughout history.

Discoveries of these structures have been made in every major continent.

After a lot of planning, we began our 14-sided, 24-inch-thick rammedearth home a few months later. Thirty years later, as a custom homebuilder, Soledad Canyon Earth Builders, we are currently finishing our 75th rammedearth home in southern New Mexico.

Each is unique—no two are alike. With the exception of five of these homes, all are located in Doña Ana County, some in the city of Las Cruces, most in the county. Three of the homes have 24-inch walls; all of the others have 18-inch walls.

© David Shaw, Estudio Azul (2)

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ack in 1983, the University of Arizona held the 2nd Regional Conference on Earthen Building Materials. All methods of earthen construction were discussed, demonstrated and experimented with (including adobe mud blown through tubes to create a wall) by many early pioneers in the field, such as David and Lydia Miller of Ft. Collins, Colo.

This was our introduction to building rammed earth walls.

Forms being removed from rammed earth walls as they are being constructed; Ramming the earth into the forms.

© Bill Faulkner

The stability, permanence and quietness of these thick walls are unlike the standard frame-construction home built for the last 50 years in the United States.

An earthen home provides for comfort that can only be experienced by living in one. Words do not usually do the feeling justice!

Interior shot of a Soledad Canyon Earth Builders rammed earth home, Las Cruces, NM

Free Solar Power!

Just add: one very affordable solar system • Santa Fe County offers free solar and energy efficiency advice for homes and businesses.

• “Zero cost” solar possible – loan payments that equal the reduction to your electric bill.

• Tax Credits, Incentives, Rebates, and Financing FoR MoRe InFo:

992-3044

cohare@santafecountynm.gov www.santafecountynm.gov

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We are fortunate to have in our possession a book published in 1947, The Rammed Earth House by Anthony F. Merrill, with an introduction by the Hon.

Clinton P. Anderson, then—secretary of agriculture. From the introduction: “Before anyone asks what the Secretary of Agriculture is doing at the launching of this book on rammed-earth, let me defend my right to be here. I am even willing to make the defense on either public or private grounds, for I have long been an interested admirer of earth construction.

That admiration has me now ensnared in the building of an earth home of my own in the Río Grande Valley. And though the earth is the native adobe of New Mexico rather than the rammed-earth discussed here, my personal interest in any use of soils as building materials has long since included rammed-earth.”

I wonder where that home built in 1946 is located.

Our contribution to southern New Mexico’s history of earthen buildings continues through the construction of very up-todate, beautiful homes, built to last. We will continue to recommend the choice of an earthen home as a smart move with clients, knowing that it does make a difference in their own well being as well as making a contribution to the health of the planet via “permanent” housing. i

Pat Bellestri-Martínez is president & general contractor of Soledad Canyon Earth Builders, based in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

575.527.9897, www.adobe-home.com/

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Sun Sticks & Mud: 1,000 Years of Building in the Desert Southwest

By Bart Kaltenbach and Barbara Anschel with photographs by Steve Fitch La Sombra Books, 192 pages

Knowledgeably written, with an abundant passion for earthbuilding in all its forms, Sun Sticks & Mud is part history, part picture book and part diar y. Kaltenbach and Anschel present two narratives side-by-side: The core of the book, fittingly, is in the center of the pages, while the outer regions of each page feature a travel journal that describes their adventures researching earth buildings across the Southwest.

The many stunning photographs alone make this book a delight to flip through.

The book is primarily geared toward people interested in sustainably building a home, although it is structured more to inspire than instruct. The text begins with a history of earthbuilding in the Southwest, from prehistory to the modern day.

To follow this, Kaltenbach and Anschel provide some advice on supplemental materials and offer their experience building with earth, along with an addendum of tips for the would-be builder.

The photography, flavored with an anthropological bent, provides a diverse exposition of the ancient and modern, the suburban and rustic, and even elegant and sometimes awkward presence of earth architecture and its imitators. Both text and photography convey an appreciation for a pure, sometimes rustic aesthetic.

The book focuses mostly on small towns and rural areas. The authors take a critical attitude towards Santa Fe and its faux-adobe, stressing the value of genuine earthbuilding compared to its look-alikes.

Sun Sticks & Mud is a quality coffee-table book. It accommodates both focused reading and casual flipping-through. The book recently won the Foreword Reviews and Independent Publishers (IPPY) Book of the Year Gold Prize for Architecture.

Adobe Construction Program at Santa Fe Community College

Adobe Concentration within the Building Science and Construction Technologies Degree Associate in Applied Science (AAS) Adobe—The Original Green Building Material. This program at SFCC’s School of Trades, Technology, Sustainability and Professional Studies is built around passive solar adobe design and construction principles. It provides the knowledge and skills you’ll need to gain employment in the adobe construction and earthbuilding fields. The program is also geared towards non-professional, owner-builders who wish to obtain the skills needed to design and build their own adobe home, from foundation to roof, using traditional New Mexican construction skills combined with modern green practices and sustainable building materials. In the spring of 2014 it will be possible to receive an Adobe Certificate (CERT). Info: 505.428.1388, Amanda.evans@sfcc.edu, www.sfcc.edu/programs/ adobe_construction

Adobe in Action

Adobe in Action is a Santa Fe-based nonprofit that promotes adobe as the answer to sustainable, affordable housing for low-income families. The organization also provides adobe construction education in support of community development, cultural enrichment and preservation.

Adobe in Action’s classes facilitate the continued qualification of adobe craftsmen through theoretical and practical instruction. To reach a broad range of students, courses are offered as a blend of online and live instruction and synchronize with ongoing building projects. A certificate of completion is offered for each course. The educational component aligns Adobe in Action’s courses with existing academic and professional earthbuilding institutions to contribute to a nationally recognized certification in adobe construction. For more information, call 505.310.3259, email mike@adobeinaction.org or visit www.adobeinaction.org

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Earth USA 2013:

The Seventh International Earthen Architecture and Construction Conference October 4-6 • St. Francis Auditorium, New Mexico Museum of Art • Santa Fe, New Mexico Quentin Wilson

“A

dobe belongs here.” That simple statement can include all of New Mexico, where it is ingrained in the history, architecture and culture.

We often think of New Mexico as the world hub of adobe and earthbuilding activity. However, in 2000 at a conference in Berlin, Dr. Klaus Dierks rose from the audience to correct a speaker, saying: “There are two million earthen homes in central Germany alone!”

Earth USA 2013, the Seventh International Earthen Architecture and Construction Conference, is coming to Santa Fe from Oct. 4-6. The first five conferences, presented by what was then the Adobe Association of the Southwest, took place at the Northern New Mexico College in El Rito, beginning in 2003. The sixth took place in 2011 at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, under the new title Earth USA to reflect the wider scope of interest. Earth USA has a board of advisers from across the United States. The 2013 conference’s organizing sponsor is Adobe in Action, a Santa Fe-based nonprofit. The Earthbuilders Guild, which represents professionals in the field, is another major sponsor, along with the University of Oklahoma and Santa Fe’s Cornerstones Community Partnerships.

the Ziggurat (an ancient Mesopotamian temple tower).

Presentations will vary from nearly poetic narrative accounts It is built on winter nights in a narrow pond behind the to formal reports on highly technical investigations. Dr. Horst building that is sheltered from the daytime sun by the Schroder, representing DVL, and recently retired from the deteriorating curved adobe wall that would originally Bauhaus University in Germany, will describe the process of have been 10 to 15 feet high. Ice will form when air temperatures are as high as 45 degrees, due to the fact getting earthen materials into DIN, the European equivalent that a horizontal surface, which will be 15 degrees lower than the air temperature, faces the cold nighttime of the American Society of Testing and Materials. Lucía sky. L-R: An Iranian windmill. Adobe walls hold up the top beam for the vertical rotor and also channel and increase the speed of the wind on the blades; Ornate domed ceiling in an Abyssinian home Garzón of Colombia will report on the results of an energyindependent home she designed and built. Five Iranians have submitted papers on the rich heritage and tradition of adobe construction and use in buildings and cooling systems in their country.

A paper by Dr. Mohamed Shariful Islam of Bangladesh looks at ways to increase the disaster-resistance of adobe, primarily to their annual floods. Presentations from four authors at the University of Oklahoma will showcase their work with compressed- earth blocks and the exciting work they have done to introduce CEB houses into their local Habitat for Humanity projects. Presenters from the University of South Carolina will address the performance of CEB structures in high wind conditions. Mark Nair of the Texas Panhandle will talk about community building at Mariposa Village near Amarillo. Marcy L-R: A traditional home in João Camara, Brazil. Wood panels set on a concrete floor/foundation ready for infill with clay or adobe. This is a modernized adaptation of the traditional wattle and daub technique.

Frantom will discuss the surprising historical French architecture Similar to “jacal” construction in New Mexico, it has vertical and horizontal elements woven almost like found in Louisiana, and French researcher Elsa Ricaud will discuss the warp and weft in weaving. Clay or adobe mud is then filled into the spaces. New Mexico jacal uses continued on page 16

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vertical posts with almost no spaces and is plastered on both sides.

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© Bianca Negreiros (2)

The conference’s range of topics this year is quite wide. In addition to adobe, the event will focus on other materials that rely on clay for its adhesive power: rammed earth, compressed-earth blocks, sod/terron, burnt adobe/quemados, wattle, daub/jacal and cob, which can be described as puddled or monolithic adobe.

Top: Ice is stored in this conical building that looks like

© Mostafa Aref Haghi, Iran (3)

The Adobe USA/Earth USA series of conferences is indebted to the example of Dachverband Lehm (DVL) of Germany, a group of professionals who have shown the world that earthen materials are a legitimate material that can be quantified and qualified in laboratories so that the information can be used in the standardized formulas recognized and used by building officials. DVL has led the way with international conferences and educational materials on this subject to ensure quality construction methods.

Earth USA

continued from page 15

heritage of earthbuilding in the United States. The 43 full papers will be assembled into the Proceedings of Earth USA 2013 and will be included in the $250 conference registration fee for attendees and available to the public for $60.

A free public Earthbuilding Trade Fair will take place Oct. 4-5 on the Santa Fe Plaza and in several parking spaces around the New Mexico Museum of Art. The trade fair will feature simple mud-plaster demonstrations, machines that make compressed earth blocks, and information displays from earthbuilding companies, related businesses and organizations. On Oct. 7 there will be tours to local sites in and around Santa Fe. Pre-conference and post-conference earthbuilding workshops will take place throughout September and October. For more information, call 505.310.3259 or visit www.earthusa.org i Quentin Wilson was the instructor of the Adobe Construction Program for 15 years at Northern New Mexico College in El Rito. Prior to that, for 25 years he built solar adobe homes. qwilson@nnmc.edu

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8th Annual Traditional Agriculture & Sustainable Living Conference

Looking Back to Our Ancestors to Step into the Future

Oct. 25-26, 2013 • Nick L. Salazar Performing Arts Building, Northern New Mexico College, Española

An important symposium next month will feature international and regional experts in the areas of food security and sustainable ecology, along with panel discussions and workshops on food and nutrition, contemporary youth issues, heritage seed saving, traditional farming, land restoration, traditional medicine and medicinal herbs. There will also be a heritage seed exchange and a vendors’ market featuring earth-friendly products, information and services.

The keynote speakers are world-renowned author, physicist and biodiversity proponent Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., from India (www.navdanya.org); and author Gregory Cajete, Ph.D., of Santa Clara Pueblo. Cajete, director of the Native American Studies Department at UNM, is an international lecturer on the use of indigenous knowledge in education.

Other presenters will include at least seven of the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, and a cultural performance by Roberto Sahonero Gutiérrez & Los Masis, a group from Bolivia, that performed at the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

The conference is being presented by a partnership of New Mexico organizations, including the Pueblo of Tesuque, Four Bridges Traveling Permaculture Institute, Sostenga at Northern New Mexico College, Institute of Natural & Traditional Knowledge, New Mexico Acequia Association and Traditional Native American Farmers’ Association.

From Oct. 17-19 there will be a free benefit art exhibit entitled, “Tiny Heroes: Celebrating the Beauty of our Pollinators.” Twenty percent of proceeds from sales will benefit local pollinator programs. The exhibit’s opening reception, which includes several free presentations, is from 5:30-7:30 pm. There will be an admission-free kids’ corner on Oct. 18 from 3-6pm. Children can learn about diverse pollinators, taste honey, see honeybees in an observation hive, and make a pressed-beeswax candle.

Full registration is $125; Day registration $60; half-day Saturday $35 and Enchanted Bee Farm tour Saturday afternoon is $35. For more information and to register, visit http://ucanr.edu/sites/was2 For those interested in participating in the art exhibit, email kathrynalexanderfineart@ gmail.com. For those interested in participating as an exhibitor or vendor, call 505.901.2102 or email ziaqueenbees@hotmail.com

Empowering the Land Conference

Empowering Our Local Business, Farming and Ranching Community

Sept. 27-28 • Tucumcari Convention Center, New Mexico

This conference, hosted by the Greater Tucumcari Economic Development Corporation, is for producers—people who want to stay on the land or enter agriculture, people who care about community, good food, opportunities for youth, and the local economy.

The Four Bridges Traveling Permaculture Institute promotes sustainable agriculture and seeks to raise awareness about consumerism and the dangers of genetically modified seeds and foods (GMOs). Four Bridges works in cooperation with Native American communities of northern New Mexico that value traditions of agriculture and self-sufficiency.

Organizers expect this event to sell out, so early registration is recommended. For more information and to register, visit: www.4bridges.org/annual-conference/2013conference

Colony Consciousness:

Working Together to Preserve, Protect and Promote Our Pollinators

Oct. 16-19, 2013 • La Fonda Hotel, Santa Fe

Are you a concerned citizen interested in being informed and inspired on how to best interact with the little beings responsible for creating our sustenance? It does indeed take a community to raise pollinators. Most people don’t know much about pollinator needs or how to preserve and protect them. Our symbiotic relationship with pollinators can help sustain our existence, while supporting biodiversity and mindful practices.

This year’s Western Apicultural Society of North America (WAS) conference is an opportunity to learn and share with many experienced, dedicated presenters. This conference is unlike any other to come to New Mexico. WAS travels around the western region of North America and may not return to NM for 5-10 years.

The keynote speaker, coming from France, is Dr. John Kefuss, who will discuss sur vivor-stock queenbreeding philosophies and practices. The agenda includes local beekeepers, including Les Crowder of For the Love of Bees; Mark Spitzig of Zia Queenbee Co.; Joran Viers, with Bernalillo

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County Extension and the ABQ Open Space Bee Program; Dr. Julie McIntyre, Southwest regional pollinator specialist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service; Dr. Stephen Rankin of Farmington, with UNM Pediatrics research on New Mexico honey vs. MRSA (a difficult-to-treat bacterial infection); and Dr. Voyce DurlingJones with HoShinDo Japanese Meridian Apitherapy. Many other presenters from western states are expected.

The event will highlight the new regenerative (sustainable) era we’re entering. There will be three learning tracks: LAND—The Ecological Umbilical; PEOPLE— Networking/Building Relationships; and ECONOMY—Local/Imbedded. The conference is designed to provide an environment for creative ideas, positive interactions, and to empower the local business, farming and ranching community.

Speakers will be from a variety of diverse sources and perspectives.

Keynote Speakers

Mary Emeny’s talk is entitled: The Story of Place and How That Affects Land Use. Emeny has been involved in ranch management and in the development of the Nature Center and community gardens in Amarillo, Texas for many years.

She is a proponent of permaculture and Holistic Resource Management, and is currently working on developing a sustainable community, or as she calls it, “a school for regenerative development.”

Tawnya Laveta’s talk is entitled: People and Place: Creating Meaningful Livelihood While Seeding a Prosperous Future. Laveta works for Farm to Table, developing marketing resources for agricultural producers in the Four Corner states. She works directly with farmers, connecting them with special events, and assists tribal and rural communities with food systems planning and mapping, farmers’ markets, and food-hub development that equitably fulfills community needs.

Laveta also facilitates “train-the-trainer” workshops on Gardening & Farming with Pollinators as Your Allies through FTT’s Pollinator Partners Program.

Pati Martinson’s talk is on the Taos County Economic Development Corporation, which she co-directs. Since TCEDC was founded in 1987, the challenge has been that of a semi-isolated, rural area transitioning from a historic centuries-old, selfsufficient agrarian base to a commercially focused economy. TCEDC’s community development efforts build upon the strengths and wisdom of land-based cultures that have demonstrated the ability to survive and overcome adversity by retaining beliefs and values. TCEDC’s vision is focused on community, unity, equity and opportunity.

For more information and to register, call 575.461.4079 or visit www.empoweringtheland.com

Green Fire Times • September 2013

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La Tierra Montessori Inte

Roger Montoya

L

a Tierra Montessori School of the Arts and Sciences is a free public state charter school that is serving as a demonstration model.

Located in the heart of northern New Mexico at the former Oñate Monument and Visitor’s Center in Alcalde, LTMAS is the first public Montessori school in Río Arriba County.

In its second year of operation the school is serving 85 kindergarten-through-seventh-grade students from the Española Valley and surrounding communities.

Employing the Montessori “whole child” approach, which considers the social, emotional, physical and academic health of children, the school’s core academic plan integrates science and arts with outdoor classroom learning, including land-based projects that reflect the rich farming traditions and acequia cultura unique to the region. In multi-aged classrooms, academic achievement programs, guided by the New Mexico Common Core Standards and Benchmarks, and driven by the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) model of educational innovation, address the particular learning needs of each child.

A central goal for students is the need to form a personal identity and to know how one fits into the world. In addition to providing opportunities for peer interaction and acceptance, the program helps fulfill the need for mentor relationships with adults outside of the family. As students progress to upper elementary and middle school, LTMAS assists them in developing real-world skills such as the ability to abstract, conjecture, predict and create. LTMAS engages students in agricultural

Solar/Yurt project

Prompted by a lack of space at the current campus, La Tierra students, staff and families prepared for their second year working with solar engineer/community activist Bob Dunsmore of Vallecitos to erect a 30-foot diameter Mongolian yurt.

This project was approved by the New Mexico Public Education Department, a first for a New Mexico Public Charter School.

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Stud (Wat © Marie Markesteyn/Sun Dancer Studio

Last month school communit y members learned about affordable renewable energy solutions as they installed a solar-collector radiant heat i n g sy stem. T he project was made possible through a contribution

by Conoco Phillips and in-kind support by Mateo Peixinho of the Avanyu Construction, LLC of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo.

© Seth Roffman (4)

Children’s cognitive development is improved through the use of materials designed specifically for kinesthetic and sensory-based learning. La Tierra is an environment that fosters the development of emotional intelligence and wellness through a student’s mind, body and spirit. The goal is to foster competent, responsible, healthy and independent citizens who love learning and respect themselves, other people and their environment.

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egrates Science

and Arts with

Outdoor Education

business endeavors and other activities that encourage them to initiate entrepreneurial projects.

The school actively encourages the involvement of families and the community, and invites a diverse array of partner institutions, organizations and individuals to contribute to the curriculum. Through a partnership with the Española Community Market and the Río Arriba County Department of Health, LTMAS received a grant to initiate an ongoing vegetarian culinary arts program and monthly community meals utilizing seasonal produce from local farms and the school’s own hoop-house. The school-based Health Center provides convenient standard primary care, manages behavioral health practitioners and encourages healthy diet and nutrition programs for families.

Through a creative partnership with the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, each week LTMAS’s students and staff work and learn at the nearby Los Luceros Historic Ranch. This outdoor classroom is a bioregional treasure, replete with 140 acres of pristine resources. Learning takes place along the banks of the Río Grande and the acequia madre, as well as farmlands, orchards, historic structures and in the bosque. Katherine Eagelson, director of the Española Wildlife Center, has led weekly studies on ecology and animal habitat. As part of a generous collaboration, the Wildlife Center has brought its staff and resources to the school for an in-depth semester-long unit centered on composting and soil composition.

© Roger Montoya and Sal Ruiz

Another collaborative project was initiated last winter with the New Mexico Acequia Association’s Sembrando Semillas Proyecto (Planting Seeds Project). The project leaders were the NMAA’s Juliet García-Gonzales; Eduardo Gonzales, field coordinator for the National Immigrant Farmers Initiative; FarmCorps intern Adam Casados; and Eric Casados, who served as a youth mentor. The dents perform El Agua es La Vida enthusiasm of visiting farmers was matched through a ter = Life), May 2013 service learning initiative that began in April 2013 with Limpia de la Acequia. Seventy-five student volunteers and their families cleaned 600 feet of acequia, adopted and pruned 65 apple trees and planted two traditional garden plots of maíz, frijoles, papas, chile y calabasas (corn, beans, potatoes, chile and squash). During June and July La Tierra Summer Leadership Camp employed 25 youth to maintain a large garden plot. The youth also participated in a culinary arts program and were introduced to the Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project, a local award-winning nonprofit that has designed an earth sciences/New Mexico history curriculum that is being integrated into this year’s studies. i Roger Montoya is a community arts-and-education activist and co-founder/director of the Arts and Cultural Programs at La Tierra Montessori Charter School. 505.852.0200, www.montessorilatierra.org

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The Bounty of Earth’s Harvest

Dr. Japa K. Khalsa

P

roduce yields from New Mexico’s long growing season can make for some amazing healing foods. In Eastern medicine, September is part of “late summer” and is linked to the Element of Earth. We can see this connection through the bounty of fruits and vegetables that the Earth is yielding in colorful abundance.

The foods that are seasonal to this time are particularly beneficial to the cycle of the body as it begins to slow down for winter. Foods like squash, pumpkin, chile, apples and all the colorful crops have minerals and vitamins that are especially nourishing for the pancreas, digestive organs and muscles.

This time of early fall is a time to settle down from the busy summer and nurture, rebuild and connect with hearth and home. From the Five Element Cycle of Chinese medicine, connection to the Earth Element through this seasonal approach links us to the natural and gentle healing cycles of the seasons. This is a time for nurturing, rebuilding and connecting with hearth and home in preparation for winter. When this Earth Element is in balance we feel grounded, stable and on top of our game.

If aggravated or out of balance, one can feel anxious, nervous and find it hard to relax. As the cool air of fall starts to move in, some anxious types can be aggravated or feel worse, so be aware of this tendency in oneself and others. The healing recipes below and most of the actual crops of fall are often sweet and warming in flavor, and this is a remedy to that tendency towards anxiety and stress. Orange, yellow and the burnished warm reds of apple are the colors connected with late summer and early fall. Eat plenty of these foods, and try to keep it simple so that your body can soak in the complexity of what the Earth has produced through these powerful food remedies.

Chopping and prepping take a few minutes, but these recipes are fast and easy.

Try to use fresh ingredients from the garden or from the local farmers’ market.

Tortilla soup For the base:

• 4 cups of fresh chopped tomatoes • 3 cloves of garlic • ½-to-1 hot chile pepper, peeled and seeded • Cilantro, ½ of a bunch, chopped leaves and discarded stems • Salt and pepper to taste • 2 cups of veggie stock, add at the end of broth preparation until desired thinness In a pan with olive oil, sauté the above ingredients for 10 minutes until almost completely cooked, spicy and delicious. Let cool and blend in a blender, adding veggie stock slowly until the soup base is smooth and creamy. Flavor with salt and pepper.

Tortilla strips

• Corn, cut off a cob • 2 avocados, cut into bite-sized pieces • Optional: sour cream, chopped cilantro (garnish) After blending the soup base, bring it to a very slow boil and add the zucchini and corn and let it cook in the soup for 10-to-12 minutes until veggies are soft and flavors are blended. Add avocado pieces at the end and garnish with tortilla strips, sour cream and chopped cilantro.

Summer Squash Bake

While squash is considered a starchy vegetable, it contains an unusual amount of pectin, which has been linked in studies as a preventative for diabetes. The bright colored skin of squash is rich in antioxidants, and 1-2 per day will help you meet your daily requirements of potassium, which helps in maintaining electrolyte balance.

• 4-to-5 zucchini or patty pan squash • 1 cup of milk • 3 cups shredded mozzarella or cheddar • Herbes de Provence, salt and pepper This easy casserole takes minutes to whip up and satisfies the whole family.

Preheat the oven to 400. Slice the zucchini into rounds or thin slices and start with one layer in the casserole dish. Splash in a few tablespoons of milk to “wet” the vegetables, then sprinkle salt and pepper and Herbes de Provence on the zucchini. Cover with a layer of cheese and repeat this step two-to-three times until your casserole dish is filled with layers of veggies and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and broil the top for a few minutes until the cheese is brown and bubbly.

Apple Bake Recipe

This is a very light and nourishing dessert or breakfast.

• 4-to-5 apples, cored and chopped • 3 Tbsp butter • 1 tsp cinnamon • 1 pinch of salt • 1 splash of vanilla Cut up 4-to-5 apples and place in a shallow baking dish. Cut up the butter and mix in with the apples, sprinkle remaining ingredients on top and cover with foil, bake for 30 minutes at 325 degrees. Serve warm with ice cream or cold for breakfast with vanilla yogurt. i Dr. Japa K. Khalsa received a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University and completed her Master of Oriental Medicine at Midwest College of Medicine. She is a board-certified and licensed Doctor of Oriental Medicine, and practices in Española, NM. 505.747.3368, drjapa@gmail.com, http://www.drjapa.com

While the base is cooking, get some slightly stale tortillas and cut them into thin strips.

If using fresh tortillas, simply lay them on a cookie sheet and bake them at 200 for 20 minutes to dry them out. Then cut into thin strips and fry in a pan with olive oil until crispy. Set the strips aside on a paper towel.

Veggies

• 1 to 2 zucchini squash, chopped into bitesized pieces

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Energy

OP-ED: Junk Food — Junk Energy

Gary Vaughn

T

here’s just no substitute for energy.

Nothing happens without it. That applies to our bodies as well as to the world around us. Our own personal energy comes from the food we eat.

Food is our fuel—and with a full tummy we can accomplish amazing things. But when we leverage our own personal energy with energy from external sources, then we are truly formidable.

We measure the energy content of our food in calories. We measure the energy content of our modern lifestyles in kilowatt-hours (kWh), British Thermal Units (BTU), Therms and various other units of energy. But energy is energy, so at a fundamental level, these labels are really just different names for the same thing.

We all understand the difference between “good” food and “bad” food, nutritious food and poisonous food.

Even infants are instinctively picky about what they eat. Junk food, however, is something else entirely— it’s very cheap, it’s very convenient and it tastes great—because it’s designed that way. But it can have serious, even life-threatening, long-term side effects.

Did I mention that making and selling junk food is very profitable?

How about a BTU or a kilowatt-hour?

Is there such a thing as “junk” heat, or “junk” electricity? That would be energy that’s relatively cheap, that’s very convenient and that works great— because it’s designed that way. But it has serious, even life-threatening, long-term side effects. Did I mention that generating and selling junk energy is very profitable?

Sugar, salt and fat are the basic ingredients of junk food. Beneficial in moderate quantities, they become dangerous in excess. And junk food is all about excess—and money.

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Coal, natural gas, and oil are the basic ingredients of junk energy. Beneficial in moderate quantities, they become dangerous in excess. And junk energy is all about excess—and money.

Our federal, state and local governments take some care to assure that we’re protected from many of the near-term risks involving our food supply. There are rules and regulations about food safety, labeling, chemical additives and storage. Your favorite restaurant is inspected regularly. But with very rare exceptions, governments don’t ban or restrict the type of food we eat.

And in particular, governments pay very little attention to the long-term consequences of our food choices.

Likewise, our governments have various ways of controlling and regulating our energy supplies, but they don’t try to directly control the kinds of energy we use. And for the most part they pay very little attention to the long-term consequences of our energy choices.

Some of the largest and most profitable companies in the country are involved in designing, manufacturing, marketing and distributing junk food. And some of the largest and most profitable companies in the country are involved in “mining,” processing, marketing and distributing junk energy. In both cases, billions of dollars are involved—every day. And where there’s that kind of money, there’s power. And where there’s power, there’s influence. And where there’s that kind of influence—well, you know who will reap the short-term benefits, and who will pay the longterm price.

It’s obvious that Americans in general and New Mexicans in particular are becoming increasingly obese and are suffering serious long-term health consequences that are directly related to our diets. And it’s also obvious that our energy choices are directly related to long-term air, water and land pollution levels that threaten our ecosystems—not to mention global warming, which may well be the biggest challenge that we humans have ever faced. The scientific debate about global warming is over—it’s happening and we’re causing it. And the scientific

consensus about the consequences of our food choices is clearer than it’s ever been. How have the big junk-food and junk-energy companies reacted?

“Junk” electricity is cheap, convenient and profitable but has long-term side effects.

The city council of tiny Richmond, Calif. put a referendum on the ballot last November to impose a one-centper-ounce tax on high-sugar beverages.

The big soda companies spent $2.5 million to defeat it. Big-oil and bigcoal companies have been waging a war against renewable energy and have been attempting to discredit the science and the scientists warning us about global warming. In 2006, Indra Nooyi, the new chief of PepsiCo, set bold targets to reduce salt, fat and sugar in the company’s products.

Shareholders revolted. They wanted PepsiCo to support moneymaking products, healthy or not. Ms. Nooyi had to back down.

“Coal is the World’s Fastest Growing Major Fuel,” while “environmental groups and their funders would have people simply pay more or do without”

off against an army of highly paid fossil-fuel and utility vice-presidents and lawyers, as well as slick public relations and lobbying experts. Seems like a fair fight to me. Let’s ignore the pictures of dying wildlife, asthmatic kids, and melting icecaps. Cheap and dirty junk energy is as all-American as—chicharrónes! But as least now we know the real cost of our addiction to junk energy.

The bottom line is that we can continue to believe the junk-food and junkenergy companies’ fairy tales that tell us we should consume as much coal and cola as we want—that more is better.

Or we can trust our own best instincts, along with the judgments of our most distinguished scientists, clean-energy experts and health professionals, and start to reclaim control of both our food and our energy. JUST SAY NO TO JUNK FOOD AND JUNK ENERGY i Gary Vaughn is a licensed professional engineer, a rene wable-energ y advocate, and president of the New Mexico Solar Energ y Association. www.NMSEA.org

- A full page ad in the March 10, 2013 New York Times paid for by Peabody Energy.

Advertise in GREEN FIRE TIMES

Children (of all ages) are more likely to gorge on sugary foods than on wholesome ones. Ditto for tasty fat and savory salt. That leads us directly to the specter of our children facing off against an army of highly paid Ph.D. food scientists and psychologists, as well as packaging, marketing and sales experts. Seems like a fair fight to me.

Let’s all ignore the pictures of obese children suffering from diabetes and the earliest signs of hypertension and heart disease. It’s their choice, after all.

But at least now we know the real cost of our addiction to junk food.

Support our work for a more sustainable world.

All of us are more likely to gorge on cheap junk energy if the dark consequences are intentionally hidden from view. That leads us directly to the specter of our children facing

Call Skip Whitson at 505.471.5177 or Anna Hansen at 505.982.0155

Green Fire Times • September 2013

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

Call Skip Whitson at 505.471.5177 or Anna Hansen at 505.982.0155

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Green Fire Times • September 2013

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Innovation

The 2013 Extraordinary Technology Conference

Charles Bensinger

I

n a world beset by increasingly dire news, I found the presentations and demonstrations featured at the 2013 Extraordinary Technology Conference stunningly refreshing and hopeful. The presenters were fully aware of the extraordinary challenges we all face as we make our way deeper into the 21st century. Indeed, nearly every speaker recounted how either a personal health crisis or a deeply felt sense of overwhelming planetary urgency led them to search for alternatives to the inadequacies of the mainstream health care system and the crippling myopia of the traditional scientific paradigm.

The Marriott Pyramid North in Albuquerque, NM served as the conference venue. From July 24 to July 28 a steady stream of speakers covered three basic topic areas: water, plasma physics and magnetic energies. The primary areas of application for the described new technologies were personal healing and energy generation. The following are brief summaries of selected conference presentations.

Tracy Tucker started off the presentations devoted to personal healing with a persuasive talk regarding the importance of lifesaving antioxidant enzymes that assist our body with the elimination of heavy metals, chemicals and radiation. Due to our polluted air, water and soil, she argued, regular detox should be a lifelong commitment. She stressed that “the beginning, middle and end of healing is detoxification.” Detoxification reduces free-radical damage, which she claims is the core of all disease. She cited raw broccoli as one commonly available detoxifier. Major antioxidant enzymes include glutathione, reductase, superoxide dismutase and methionine reductase. These are critical to our body’s protective mechanisms.

Robin Benson, DOM, owner and founder of Santa Fe Soul (www. santafesoul.com), promoted what she termed The Self-Care Revolution. Key to this was her suggestion that we all ask ourselves the fundamental life questions that Mark Twain posed: “Why were you born, and what did you come here to do?” Benson stressed that once we get clear on our answers we can move vigorously to realize our destiny. And in order to live most productively, we need to achieve maximum health. Key to optimum health, she said, is minimizing our exposure to electromagnetic radiation (from cell towers and cell phones) and poor air and water quality, while ensuring that our bodies receive essential minerals. In addition, we need to reconnect with the healthy natural energies of the Earth. She recommended going barefoot, jumping on the ground to stimulate our immune system and making sure we’re ingesting lots of good oxygen and clean water. She also noted that Santa Fe Soul offers several advanced oxidative therapies that can rejuvenate worn discs and arthritic joints, and in many cases enable the patient to avoid surgery. “Oxygen is the key,” she said. “Get it into your cells on a regular basis.” And she reminded us that “good thoughts are medicine; find and live your passion and pass it on.”

Dr. Charles Crosby underscored Benson’s discussion regarding the importance of natural energy fields and body health. He said that the Earth’s resonant frequency, often termed the Schumann Resonance, is what keeps us healthy and disease-free.

It was originally calculated at 7.8 Hz to 8 Hz but is now somewhat higher due to the prevalence of our artificially charged electromagnetic environment. According to Crosby, we need to bring our body back to 8 Hz so it can do its job correctly. To help accomplish this, he’s invented the TensCam technology that combines Tesla or scalar waves with quartz crystals vibrating at 8 Hz. Some describe Scalar waves which can move through solid objects and are immune to distance as the underlying and unifying force of the universe. Scalar waves are longitudinal waves as opposed to the common electromagnetic, transverse or fluctuating waveforms we commonly see described in scientific texts. When combined with intention to heal, scalar waves can apparently reset the proper functions of the body. Dr. Crosby’s website is www.tenscam.com

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Responses to the crippling myopia of the traditional scientific paradigm

Lucien Ionescu further explained that scalar or Tesla waves do not disperse like Herzian or transverse electromagnetic waves. “Distance is not a problem,” he said. Scalar waves can alternately be described as what some call chi or the magnetic field of beneficial energy that links all life forms together through their five senses. Maintaining high levels of chi is the key to staying healthy. It’s as if “humans are connected wirelessly through an etheric linking system of bioloops and biolinks.” And there’s enormous amounts of energy stored in matter as expressed by the formula E=mc2.This dynamically fluctuating network of energy Ionescu termed plasma, which new energy researchers believe will serve as the foundation for the next generation of energy technologies.

Dr. John Milewski warned that our whole civilization is dangerously dependent on electricity or the flow of electrons to function. If this system would fail, our civilization would be completely crippled. Dr. Milewski proposed that we develop a backup system to replace the electricity-based system. This power force he called magnetricity. Magnetricity, he explained, is what Nikola Tesla described as a radiant energy field in which we are all living. An example of radiant energy on a galactic scale can be seen in recent photos of black holes in space that display huge jets of light energy emanating from Nikola Tesla holding their cores. Milewski describes these energy jets as Superlight, a gas-filled phosphorvast amounts of energy traveling at the speed of light. He c o a t e d l i g h t b u l b spoke about how the world around us is based on magnetic which was illuminated polarities. For example: trees are basically power plants. Tree without wires by an leaves serve as north poles, roots as south poles. The core of a electromagnetic field tree is a waveguide. Chlorophyll (in plants) and hemoglobin from the “Tesla Coil” (in human blood) are key energy storage molecules and serve as the source of our vital food and life energy. He proposed that we build this alternative power system based on magnetic energy principles. He noted that diagrams and designs for a universal magnetic energy technology are available on the website www.magneticenergy.org.uk

Three basic topic areas: water, plasma physics and magnetic energies

Taking us further into the concept of vast pools of unacknowledged energy was physicist and electrical systems engineer, Dr. Moray King, one of the most respected new energy researchers. King is the author of several books on Zero Point Energy. He began his lecture by happily pointing out that the extraordinarily intense lightning storm the previous night that knocked out electricity for some 10,000 people in Albuquerque served as an exceptionally appropriate backdrop for a Tesla conference. He then proceeded to describe his work on Zero Point Energy —that point which science describes as a complete absence of energy—absolute zero, or zero degrees Kelvin. This is supposed to be a point of completely empty space. The trouble is: energy seems to pulse in and out of this space. Where does it come from? It’s sometimes described as “a turbulent plasma or a higher dimensional flux,”according to King. He, like many others studying Plasma demonstration this phenomenon, believes that ZPE can be harvested to produce heat, electricity and force or torque. ZPE may in fact, offer humanity the alternative it needs to completely replace fossil fuels with an unlimited, pollution-free source of energy. continued on page 29

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Extraordinary Tech

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As a follow-up to Dr. King, Mike Hingle described his work with Plasmatic Magnetic Energy, which he thinks could replace most of our conventional energy systems. He noted that China is already marketing plasma induction lighting devices. Hingle feels the urgency of the times requires that those working on these new forms of energy need to “make everything open-source” so civilization can move forward quickly to utilize plasma energy for widespread energy production.

Jeffery Hays of the Tesla Engine Builders Association remarked that, “a whole field of physics is being kept from us.” In addition, he claimed to have had discussions with engineers privy to secret military technology— that “Star Trek is totally real. The stuff is at Area 51” (a secret US military base in the Nevada desert).

Magnetic motors

Clayton Nolte presented his work on Structured Water. Structuring water “energetically erases the toxic memory that accumulates from everything that water passed by or through. Water remembers everything. Even though water is processed to remove contaminants, the negative vibrational imprint is still in the water’s memory.” According to Nolte, the benefits of structured water include increasing its tension and viscosity, making it denser and enabling it to more quickly enter our cells and hydrate our body.

Nolte also claimed that food grown in structured water requires 30 percent less water for proper hydration and exhibits increased Brix (sugar content) values—from four to 16 times greater than non-structured water. How does water become structured? The devices that Nolte’s company manufactures mimic the way water flows in its natural state by recreating water’s natural vortex flow. His website is www. naturalactiontechnologies.com Daniel Gonzales explained and demonstrated GEET, Global Environmental Engine Technology.

Invented by Paul Pantone 30 years ago, GEET involves a relatively simple modification to an internal combustion or diesel engine that GEET engines accomplishes a molecular breakdown of the heavier liquid elements normally used as fuel in an engine. An amount of hydrocarbon fuel, i.e., gasoline, diesel or crude oil, can be blended with virtually any other liquid such as water, tea, coffee, soda, etc. The modifications to the engine include a vaporizer and a reactor that transfers the exhaust heat of the engine to the incoming fuel vapor, which must be maintained in a vacuum.The resulting vortex creates a plasma that is then introduced to the engine and combusted. An operating GEET-modified engine exhibits a number of anomalies such as cooler running and the generation of magnetic fields around the reactor. In the demonstration, a two-horsepower engine was run successfully on a blend of gasoline and tea. See www.geetinternational.com Most impressive was a demonstration of a recent Marco Rodin Coil design by Rolan Gregg. Gregg spoke about how “technologies that work really well mimic nature.” More specifically, the vortex design offers the least amount of resistance to energy flow. Thus the Rodin Coil attempts to imitate toroidal geometry, which is found throughout nature as expressed by the Earth’s magnetosphere vortex, tornadoes, waterspouts and other natural movements and flows. The human body also creates a toroidial Preparing for Rodin Coil demonstration

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field. “It’s all about the geometry that unites all things,” said Gregg.

It seems the Rodin Coil, a device about the size of a toaster that looks like a very large donut wound carefully and artfully with radial copper wire, is able to tap into the Earth’s plasmatic radiant energy.

To demonstrate this phenomenon, a frequency generator fed a signal into an audio amplifier, which then charged the Rodin Coil Rodin Coil. Two volt/amp meters were placed on the input side and two on the output side of the coil. When energized the input meters read 5.2 amps and 25 volts in, and when measured on the output side the meters registered 5.2 amps and 416 volts out. This would suggest an overunity effect. Also, when large ball-bearings were placed in the donut hole of the coil they moved about extremely rapidly, suggesting that a powerful magnetic field had been created. More strangely, no north pole could be found anywhere about the coil, only a south pole. A video was also shown that depicted three Rodin coils lighting 576 LED lights using only one watt of current, instead of the normal 28 watts. More info can be found and Rodin Coils purchased on the website: www.1stopenergies.com or www. nativecleanenergy.com

Non-fossil energy systems—powered by the stuff that powers the universe A notable side workshop was held by Stephen Venczel, who presented his initiative called the Technology Senate. Venczel is a charismatic individual who expressed a deep personal determination “to bring together business and technical professionals who represent intellectual properties and technology, products and inventions that can have an immediate impact on a global scale for positive change.” The Technology Senate would serve as a launch pad for an effective deployment of new technologies and human creativity directed towards solving the world’s most urgent problems, i.e., ocean cleanup, production of cleaner energy and more efficient use of food and water resources. He criticized the US Patent Office for sequestering over 5,000 patents, many of which could address the planet’s urgent needs. Such sequestration not only prevents our collective creativity from finding expression, but it also stifles the cross-pollination of technologies. One of Venczel’s goals is to facilitate large-scale global remediation projects. He stressed that he has access to major international funding sources that have been earmarked for the development and deployment of the new technologies that could address the planet’s most pressing needs. The WTS is soliciting appropriate project submissions by email at invest@telus.net Susan Price, entitled her presentation “Science and Spirituality.” She explained how what she termed Qualar Physics was at work in the movement of energy through the body’s meridians. She proposed that spiritual forms of light and sound emanated from a primordial source that she termed the Zero Point Energy. According to Price, ZPE can be described as prana, chi, dark light, subtle energy, photos, quantum foam, vacuum, ether or plasma. “The secret of life lies in creative wave motion; matter is concentrated light; consciousness is the fundamental reality,” she said. “We are reflections of refracted light.” Price concluded her masterful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation with the admonition that we need to return to the ancient models of sacred geometry and natural harmonics.“These will comprise the technologies of the future,”she informed us.

Walking the halls of the conference, listening in on conversations and attending the presentations, my take-away, aside from the technical information, was that this was an unusual gathering of people with a passionate desire to create a better world—people who want to make a difference, people who want to know what’s possible and want to take action—now—not in 10 or 20 years.

At the conclusion of the conference I interviewed the moderator, John Fiala. He said the conference’s uniqueness lies in its ability to serve as one of the only places in the continued on page 31

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The Photon-Powered Car Timothy J. Vaughn

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hoton-powered devices were once the imagination of sci-fi writers for stories about futuristic places and civilizations. Television shows and movies like Star Trek and Star Wars had photon-based devices. Today these ideas are a reality.

With the advancement in power generation from photovoltaic cells and modules, commonly referred to as solar modules or panels, we are now generating power for our homes, businesses, stores, schools and more. The conversion of photons (light particles) into electricity has been possible for several decades, and the applications are spreading rapidly. Globally, photovoltaic power generation is the fastest-growing sector of the power-generation industry. The technology has evolved and improved to the point where it requires little or no financial incentive to be competitive with other means for generating electricity. In some developing locations, it is actually the lowest-cost electrical power.

More recently, the development of high-capacity, lightweight, Lithium-based batteries has driven a revolution in portable electrical technologies. They are what make the cell phone a small portable device, portable media players (MP3), digital readers like the “Kindle” and a multitude of other devices possible; as well as the new wave of tablet computers and laptops we have grown accustomed to using daily. These electrical devices all run on lithium-based batteries.

This advancement in batteries has also created the possibility of commercially available electric cars. Most major manufacturers of automobiles have been selling hybrid cars and trucks for several years, and some are now offering all-electric vehicles. Prior to this advancement in lithium-based batteries, lead, a heavy metal, was the primary material used in rechargeable batteries. The power density of lead-based batteries is much lower. With a lower density and heavier weight, it was not feasible to create a personal vehicle that had enough range to meet the demands of the average American driver. With this new wave of high-density and lower-weight batteries, everything has changed—from our cell phones to all types of personal devices, and now even our cars.

With the advancement in both of these technologies and the lower cost for the technologies due to larger production globally, we can now make the next logical step and combine the two technologies to create a true photon-powered vehicle.

The way that it becomes photon-powered is not by embedding the photovoltaic cells on the car. This would add weight, and the photovoltaic-cell efficiency is not adequate to produce enough power to charge them while we drive. The solution is to install a photon system to power our electrical loads at home or work. This is now possible with the low-cost photovoltaic cells and lightweight, high-density lithium batteries.

This is truly the age of the photon-powered car.

Tim Vaughn is a solar energy industry expert with over 24 years experience in renewable energy. He is also proud owner of a 2013 Chevy Volt that he charges at home with photon energy. tvaughn@leanenergyconsulting.com

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Energy

OP-ED: PNM AGAIN THREATENS SURVIVAL of NEW MEXICO SOLAR INDUSTRIES

Janet Bridgers

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here are times when it’s necessary to give a shout to solar energy supporters in New Mexico. This is one of them. The great progress we’ve made toward cleaner energy is again threatened.

On Tuesday, Sept. 10, 8:30 am in Santa Fe, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) will hold a public comment hearing on PNM’s petition to amend the renewable portfolio standards here in New Mexico. Established during Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration, these standards call for regulated electric utilities to meet 15 percent of their electricity needs with renewable energy sources by 2015 and 20 percent by 2020.

Under this law, the renewable energy can come from new hydropower facilities, from fuel cells that are not fossil-fueled, and from biomass, solar, wind and geothermal sources.

PNM is petitioning for changes to the “Reasonable Cost Threshold”rule included in the renewables portfolio, which states that utilities don’t have to comply with the state law if adding renewables costs more than the “Reasonable Cost Threshold” set

by the PRC. Last fall the PRC required PNM to include some financial benefits from renewable energy that had not been included in the past. PNM and its allies prefer to minimize or ignore any savings resulting from adding more wind and solar energy.

Sept. 10 public comment hearing on PNM’s petition to amend NM’s Renewable Standards In addition, the PRC may entirely remove requirements for a certain percentage of solar, geothermal, wind and rooftop solar.

Since those rules were implemented in 2007, New Mexico has seen dramatic growth in rooftop solar, from almost zero solar to nearly 200 megawatts. Losing these requirements means utilities could fulfill their renewable requirements exclusively through wind energy, which is less expensive than solar. They could even meet the requirements through purchase of paper certificates from out-of-state wind farms, significantly impacting future

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world where such cutting-edge technology can be openly showcased and the research expressed to the public. Many first-time rollouts have occurred at the annual conference.

Here were described powerful healing technologies that could dramatically benefit the human body and rehabilitate our waters and air. Moreover, the new physics and technology demonstrations appeared to be moving us closer to clean, unlimited and natural non-fossil energy systems—powered by the stuff that powers the universe.

TeslaTech founder and publisher Steve Elswick has worked tirelessly over the years to provide a physical venue and media outlets for scientists and inventors to present their groundbreaking work to the world. He believes it’s very important to encourage young people to study science. To help make this possible, teens are admitted without charge to the conferences. The 2014 Extraordinary Technology Conference will be held in Albuquerque at the Embassy Suites, July 30 through Aug. 3. DVDs from 2013 and prior conferences can be ordered from www.teslatech.info Coming up next is the three-day Breakthrough Energy Movement Conference, scheduled for Oct. 10-12 in Boulder, Colo. It will feature 30 speakers discussing the range of new energy technologies. More info can be found at www.globalbem. com i Charles Bensinger is the former director of the Santa Fe Community College Alternative Fuels Program and the Biofuels Center of Excellence.

He is now working to commercialize the next generation of new energy technologies.

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solar-related investment and jobs here in New Mexico.

As if those potentially devastating effects were not enough, PNM is also asking for a $0.08/kilowatt “interconnection surcharge” from net-tied PV-system owners. In other words, if PV-system owners want to connect to PNM’s grid, rather than receiving a check from the utility for their help in offsetting the cost of building new power plants (referred to as “avoided capacity”), they will receive a bill to help pay for PNM’s “fixed cost recovery.” The utility asserts that all customers should share in the cost of the federally mandated renovations to the San Juan Generating System, as well as to the maintenance of the hardware such as transmission lines and substations that carry electricity throughout the state.

As the statutes currently exist, other than “avoided capacity” and “avoided fossil fuel,”there is no regulatory mechanism for calculating solar energy’s environmental and economic benefits to our state. Under the Martinez administration, there is no chance that such changes to the utility regulations would be made.

Even more alarming, the vigorous opposition to the avoided-capacity-cost rule is coming from the New Mexico Industrial Energy Consumers (NMIEC), a trade association that opposes any increase in energy costs. It is backed by the attorney general, some PRC staffers and the Republican PRC commissioners.

The Democratic PRC commissioners who could conceivably vote against PNM’s requests hear constantly from PNM and the NMIEC lobbyists. If they do not hear from supporters of solar energy, they have little input on which to base a decision in solar’s favor.

The hearings will be held in the fourthfloor hearing room of the old PERA Building, located at 1120 Paseo de Peralta in Santa Fe. This is the only opportunity remaining for public comment, as acceptance of written comments closed in late July i.

Janet Bridgers is vicepresident of the New Mexico Solar Energy Association.

Arizona Solar Under Attack

A legislative battle is brewing in Arizona over whether or not it is necessary, or just, to reduce the financial incentive to homeowners for installing solar panels.

Residential and commercial net-metered solar systems receive credit from utility companies for the energy they generate. Arizona Public Service, the largest utility in Arizona and a publicly traded corporation, is pressing to either increase the rates of electricity usage for solar customers regardless of the amount they generate, or to quarter the credit they receive from generating electricity. APS, which is granted monopoly status in certain areas, claims that net-metered solar systems are sufficiently damaging to their profit earnings to endanger regular maintenance of a public grid.

Nobody denies the necessity of a public grid, but, given that as a corporation APS has a responsibility to its shareholders to maximize profits, this legislative motion is widely accused of serving the utility rather than the citizens. Such a change would certainly work against the rapidly growing solar industry in the sunniest state of the US, and would put the environmentally destructive fossil fuel industry at a significant advantage.

Critics say that APS is not taking into account the benefits it receives from net-metered solar systems—mainly a reduction of the need to build new power plants and accompanying transmission infrastructure. They also charge that, by attempting to limit the solar industry in Arizona, APS is refusing to adapt to a changing energy market and will be placing restrictions on the growth of the Arizona economy.

Similar proposals have already been considered and rejected this year by regulators in Idaho and Louisiana.

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Wildfires and Watersheds Proactive Best Management Practices (Part II)

© Anna C. Hansen (2)

Michael Aune

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hen the New Mexico Senate and House of Representatives voted to approve HJM24 without any dissenting votes this past legislative session, each member made a commitment to “develop and implement proactive best management practices to eliminate risks prior to forest fire, flooding or other disruptions in the watersheds.”

The subsequent letter that the NM Legislature sent to the five members of NM’s Congressional delegation further stated: “It is imperative that such damage be prevented in advance due to the even higher cost of major repair…to watersheds as a result of wildfires on the National Forests.”

Sangre de Cristo Mountains, looking east towards Mora, New Mexico

Best Management Practices

What are “proactive best management practices,” and how do they relate to watersheds and National Forests? Two things to remember: wildfires tend to race uphill, and flash floods after wildfires tend to race downhill. If you tried to park a VW Beetle on the train tracks at the bottom of a hill to stop a runaway train, that would probably be a “failed best management practice.”This analogy was illustrated by Los Alamos National Laboratory on January 26, 2012 during its Stormwater Permit Public Meeting.

A PowerPoint presentation, along with mounted photos, showed examples of failed best management practices where

Opening day of the New Mexico state legislative session, January 2013

HJM24 began as an effort to address potential damage from wildfires to all watersheds within NM, as well as the to the San Juan-Chama Project infrastructure in southern Colorado.

Though HJM24 was amended to focus only on the San Juan-Chama Project, HM65 restored all of the watersheds originating on National Forests within NM. This also passed the NM House without a dissenting vote.

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former rock-check dams had been washed out by the flash flooding after the Las Conchas wildfire in 2011. These structures were the metaphorical Beetle trying to stop the runaway train. What happened at Santa Clara Canyon and to the Dixon Orchard after the Las Conchas Fire are the vivid results. The Pecos Canyon flooding after the Tres Lagunas Fire has further demonstrated this.

Conversely, a “best management practice” would be to install hundreds, perhaps

thousands, of smaller rainwater (flooding) retention basins toward the top of the mountains to slow the speed of the flow before it picks up steam and becomes a destructive flash flood. As you move downhill, the basins become larger in size, but it is important not to depend on just a few retention basins at the bottom of a hill. The benefits of more retention basins toward the top include holding water, including snowmelt, for longer periods of time to allow it to soak into the ground at the higher elevations. This minimizes the stress on trees, though doesn’t eliminate it, due to the prolonged drought. This approach also allows water to migrate gradually below ground to feed shallow wells and ultimately, over many years, recharges aquifers on which many communities depend for their domestic water supply. Beginning at the top of the mountains, these retention basins would be built with available soil and rocks in already-existing drainages, perhaps with structures such as a “rock check dam” only a foot or two high. The key is that such structures would not look like structures.

There would be parabolic waterways established with very broad retention structures to hold much of the water where it falls.

Another proactive best management practice deals with hazardous fuels reduction before they can generate a wildfire racing uphill. This means restoring forests to a more natural setting with a diverse age of trees and vegetation.

With a prolonged drought, the carrying capacity of the land is reduced. Trees die.

Even with the monsoon rains that seem to shift our attention away from drought, there is no one who can raise his or her arms and bring all the dead trees back to life. Perhaps some of the trees not yet dead may recover if there is less competition

for rain and snowmelt. In either case, it appears inevitable that there will be more wildfires because of the large numbers of standing “kiln-dried lumber.”

National Forests managers in NM might want to look at the Medicine Bow National Forest in southern Wyoming. The goals there are for long-term stewardship and “sustainable forest products” (e.g., biomass for energy, paper and pellets).

Their methods include removing dead and dying trees and reducing hazardous fuels. However, hundreds of slash piles containing such biomass will be burned, and that adds to climate change. Forests here would be better served by finding constructive uses for biomass.

Establish a Civilian Conservation Corps to conduct preventative work.

Though the NM Legislature acted with unanimous approval of HJM24 and HM65, lawmakers were not as enthusiastic in supporting an actual “boots-on-the-ground” solution. One proposal called for the establishment of the NM Civilian Conservation Corps to undertake work as described above.

This would have put 1,100 people to work to “create jobs and job training for preservation and protection of all headwaters and watersheds, all acequias and diversions and other related natural and manmade water infrastructure.”There would be 100 teams with 10 workers and one leader per team distributed across NM to conduct preventive work in areas threatened by potential wildfires, and they would conduct rehabilitation work continued on page 34

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in watersheds where wildfires caused major damage. The cost, projected at $43 million, seems high, compared to the millions spent fighting fires within NM in just the past three years, but thankfully, NM has not suffered the loss of life such as in Arizona with the death of 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots fighting the Yarnell wildfire. Forty-three million dollars is a small price considering these potential costs; yet no member of the NM Legislature has backed this expenditure.

The NM Public Regulation Commission has taken positive steps with its Wildfire Task Force. Commissioners Valerie Espinoza and Patrick Lyons have called together an important group of representatives from groups such as PNM, local electric co-ops, the NM State Forester, the State Land Office, the State Fire Marshall, and the US Forest Service.

This task force is addressing the wildfire issue because both the Tres Lagunas and Thompson Ridge fires started when downed trees fell across electric lines. It should be pointed out these were on private lands, though the fires quickly spread to the National Forests.

During the July 10, meeting, Gilbert Zepeda, acting regional forester for the Southwestern Region of the US Forest Service, talked about guidelines regarding utility easements that were implemented within Arizona in 2006.

These included ways to address overgrowth in easements that are challenging to mitigate due to provisions for endangered species as well as cultural considerations. Zepeda stated that, due to the potential for more catastrophic wildfires, it is time for the guidelines to include the two-state area of Arizona and New Mexico.

Commissioner Lyons expressed concerns that rather than try to come up with new solutions that may not work, NM should look into what has worked in other states.An example cited was the manual created for California that applies to all utilities regarding easements in wildfire-prone areas.It is my view that NM’s PRC Task Force is wise in taking a collaborative approach that brings many players to the table with the intention of reducing or eliminating wildfires caused by downed power lines. Still, there is much more to do. i Part I of this article appeared in the July 2013 edition of Green Fire Times.

Michael Aune studied headwaters of major watersheds for over 40 years and began studying wildfires and their impact on watersheds after experiencing the School House Park Fire while living in Wyoming in 1988. He serves on the PRC Wildfire Task Force.

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NEWSBITEs Albuquerque Builders Go Green

Albuquerque is gaining national recognition for being on the frontline of the green building movement. The Albuquerque metropolitan area now has more greencertified homes than any other in the country, and new submissions for green-certified permits keep pouring in at rates far above the national average. The question is, why Albuquerque? The answer lies in the numerous economic incentives set forth by the New Mexico Legislature and Mayor Richard Berry. These incentives, cumulatively as high as $25,000, combined with consumer demand, have caused the rate of these buildingpermit submissions to skyrocket since they were put in place between 2007 and 2009.

Mayor Berry, drawing on his experience as a contractor, believes that economic incentive is vital to environmental stewardship. The recent explosion in green building seems to support his conviction. According to Rex Paul Wilson, owner of Paul Allan Homes, in 2009 only 6 percent of permits submitted for homes in Albuquerque were green-certified; now 73 percent have some level of green certification. According to Jim Folkman, executive vice president of the Homeowners Association of Central New Mexico, overseer of the Foundation for Building, and an influential figure in the establishment of the incentives, the Albuquerque area’s performance in this area towers over the national average of a mere 5 percent.

The incentives include a Sustainable Building Tax Credit, instituted in 2007 and extended, thanks to the bipartisan effort of state legislators Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Dist. 19 and Peter Wirth, D-Dist. 25. Additionally, in 2009, provisions were made to provide waivers to the steep impact fee, originally designed to combat urban sprawl, for permits issued with green certification. Such permits are also expedited, providing a significant incentive for builders and developers.

people over corporations will not be easy, but we know correcting the Supreme Court is imperative to the progress of our nation.”

Over 300,000 people have signed an online petition supporting a constitutional amendment at www.MoveToAmend.org.

17th Gathering for Mother Earth • Sept. 21–22

Tewa Women United and other community organizations are hosting the Gathering for Mother Earth at Pojoaque Ben’s Gathering Grounds on Highway 502, 1.8 miles west of the 285/84 interchange near the Cities of Gold Casino in Pojoaque, New Mexico.

The intergenerational gathering is organized to celebrate cultural ways of expressing gratitude for Mother Earth, to “nurture all relations with water and sky” and support eco-systemic survival. A TWU press release says the organizers emphasize “healing Mother Earth to bring sacredness back into our homes of earth-based living… and the need to protect the rights of Natural Laws of relationships.”

Activities will include youth programs, public talks, raffles, healing arts practitioners, renewable-energy demonstrations, arts & crafts booths, food, and information tables. Afternoon circles will allow participants to spend time with wisdom keepers, midwifes, grandmothers, and singers/drummers from New Zealand, Canada, Ecuador and Perú. Local Native dance groups will also perform.

The gathering will commence with a sunrise ceremony on Sept. 21 at 6:30 am, followed by the Tsankawi Sacred Relay Run at 7:30. The closing ceremony will be at 1 pm on Sept. 22. For more information, call 505.747.3259 or visit www.tewawomenunited.org

Mayor Berry and Paul Allan Homes have been given the 2013 Partners of Excellence Award for embracing National Green Building Standards. The CEO and top staff of Home Innovation, a subsidiary of the National Association of Home Builders and a major green certifier, visited Albuquerque on July 23 to offer their congratulations for the success of the green building industry. Not only does Albuquerque have the most green-certified homes in any metropolitan area; it also has the most NGBS Gold-level certifications, which require a much higher performance than minimum code standards.

NEW MEXICO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES 2013 LUMINARIA AWARDS

Folkman believes that Albuquerque is taking part in an inevitable change in building methods, and that the incentives he helped to put in place were a necessary step in the development of the industry. He is retiring from his position at the HACNM, but stated in Albuquerque Business First last month that he plans to continue on at the Foundation for Building and wants to give lectures at UNM on the efficacy and sustainability of green building.

This year’s Luminarias include Jill Cooper Udall of Santa Fe, Hayes Lewis of Zuni, Fran Levine of Santa Fe, Don Usner of Chimayó and Estévan Arellano of Embudo. Past awardees include Owen López (McCune Charitable Foundation), Ali McGraw, Amigos Bravos (river advocacy group), Mamie C. Yazzie (Navajo elder) and Diane Denish.

National Democracy Activist to Visit New Mexico • Sept. 12-18

Community forums on “Creating Democracy and Challenging Corporate Rule” with Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, national director of the Move to Amend campaign, are being held this month. Part history lesson and part heartfelt call to action, the forums are intended to help residents understand the history behind the recent US Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC and how they can work to abolish “Corporate Personhood.” The ruling opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate spending on elections.

“Corporate Personhood” commonly refers to the court-created precedent that gives corporations constitutional rights intended solely for human beings. “Corporate Personhood is not an inconsequential legal technicality,” states David Cobb, an attorney and spokesman for Move to Amend. “The Supreme Court ruled that a corporation was a ‘legal person’ with 14th Amendment protections before they granted full personhood to African-Americans, immigrants, natives or women.”

“We are inspired by historic social movements that recognized the necessity of altering fundamental power relationships,” said Sopoci-Belknap, who is also executive director of Democracy Unlimited. “America has progressed through ordinary people joining together—from the Revolutionaries to Abolitionists, Suffragists, Trade Unionists and Civil Rights activists through to today. Move to Amend is a long-term effort to make the US Constitution more democratic and establish a government of, by, and for the people.”

The event in Albuquerque will be on Sept. 12, 7 pm at the First Unitarian Church, 3701 Carlisle Blvd. NE. In Las Cruces it will be on Sept. 13, 6:30 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 2000 S. Solano Dr. On Sept. 16 at 6 pm it will be in Taos at the Kit Carson Electric Co-op, and on Sept. 18 at 6 pm it will be at Warehouse 21, 1614 Paseo de Peralta in Santa Fe. “We are a diverse coalition with deep roots in communities nationwide,” stated SopociBelknap. “We recognize that amending the Constitution to restore the power of the

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New Mexico Community Foundation (NMCF) has announced its 2013 Luminaria Awards, paying tribute to outstanding individuals from throughout the state who make a profound difference in their communities. Luminarias are selected because they motivate, inspire and support the dreams of others, promote diversity and equity, and build community strength through their leadership and vision while embodying the values of NMCF.

Ten awards will be presented at the NMCF 30th Anniversary and 2013 Luminaria Gala on December 6, 2013 at the Scottish Rite Center in Santa Fe. This community event will be a gathering of donors, grantees, past and present board members, community leaders and friends of NMCF to “Celebrate the Best of New Mexico.”

NMCF works in association with its honorees with a shared commitment to improving New Mexico through a statewide mission to help build community, grow charitable assets and help those most in need. The foundation is guided by the values of equity and fairness, inclusivity and local leadership, collaborative partnerships, sustainability and transparency. www.nmcf.org

Green Fire Times August Cover Artist

Lavelle Mahle Due to space limitations, information in last month’s edition of GFT about the cover artist was omitted, and so we wish to include it here: Lavelle Frayne Mahle is from the Hopi village of Sichomovi on First Mesa. He resides with his family on Third Mesa in the village of Bacavi. Mahle is a self-employed artist who does intricate pen and pencil drawings. He also enjoys carving Katsina dolls and other artistic projects. For more information or to view his work, email LavelleMahle@gmail.com

Corrections: In the August GFT, in the article Energy Development in Indian Country, the first name of the former Hopi Tribal Chairman and founder of Black Mesa Trust, was incorrect. It should have read: Vernon Masayesva. Also, in the article Climate Change Impacts to Tribes in the Southwestern United States, the author’s name should have been spelled: Cristina María González-Maddux.

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What's Going On! Events / Announcements

Sept. 20-21 Globalquerque Natl. Hispanic Cultural Center

ALBUQUERQUE Sept. 4, 5:30-7:30 pm Green Drinks Hotel Andaluz, 125 2nd St. NW

Network with people interested in local business, clean energy and other green issues.

Presentation by Relph Wrons, Environmental Technical Professional with Sandia National Labs, on “SNL/NM on the Path to Zero Waste to Landfill.” Hosted by the Albuquerque & Río Rancho Green Chamber of Commerce. Info: 505.244.3700, lindsay@nmgreenchamber.com

Sept. 7 TedXABQ Popejoy Hall

Locally organized event designed to unlock creative & economic potential through drawing out inspiring ideas and generating meaningful connections among attendees, speakers, partners and volunteers. $70/$50/$25. tedxabq.com

Sept. 7, 6 pm-midnight Una Noche en España Hotel Albuquerque

Annual gala for the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation. Reception, dinner, dance, entertainment, silent and live auction.

505.766.9858, www.nhccfoundation.org

Sept. 14, 9-11:30 am Through Nov. 2014 Help Children Learn to Grow Healthy Food South Valley

Volunteer independent educators/gardeners/farmers are creating this pilot program to teach children to grow, prepare and appreciate healthy food. Spanish translators and donations of tools and supplies needed.

505.261.3214, melrubin2@gmail.com

Sept. 14, 6 pm Upcycle Fashion Show Gala Sunrise Bank of Albuquerque 219 Central NW

ABQ/Río Rancho NMGCC Chapter fundraiser extravaganza. Gala dinner, fashion show and silent auction. Artist/environmental educator Nancy Judd. $100. Presented by the NM Green Chamber of Commerce.

505.244.3700, Lindsay@nmgreenchamber. com, http://nmgreenchamber.com/events

Sept. 15, 10 am-4 pm Urban Farm & Harvest Festival Open Space Visitor Center 6500 Coors Blvd. NW

6th annual celebration of the rich agricultural history of ABQ-area Open Space lands. Local farmers, businesses and conservation organizations. Beekeeping, seed-saving, goat-raising, wool-spinning, tin punch workshop, juggling, games, music and more. Free. kselvig@cabq.gov

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9th annual celebration of World Music & Culture. Leon Russell, Poncho Sanchez, Kinky, plus performers from Taiwan, Ukraine, Finland, Ethiopia, India, Sierra Leone, Mauratania, Ireland, New Mexico and more. NHCC box office tickets: 505.724.4771, http://global querque.org

Oct. 4-6, 11-13 Río Grande Arts & Crafts Festival Corner of Paseo del Norte and I-25

280 juried artists and craftsmen, national and local. $8/kids free. www.riograndefestivals.com

Oct. 5-14 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Balloon Fiesta Park

More than 550 hot-air balloons will take flight. Morning mass ascensions, races, evening balloon glows and fireworks shows, and Special Shapes Rodeos. 888.422.7277, balloonfiesta.com

Oct 13, 11-4 pm 2013 Local Food Festival and Field Day Gutierrez -Hubbell House,6029 Isleta SW (See ad, page 4) www.localfoodnm.org

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

Scientists, ranchers, farmers, conservationists, urban planners and others who have bright ideas and important tools to share from their adaptation toolbox. 505.820.2544, Register online: quiviracoalition.org

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

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

505.820.2544

Daily Degrees of Change: New Mexico’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.nmnatu ralhistory.org

Through October, 9:30 am-2:30 pm Xeriscape Garden Club ABQ Garden Center, 10120 Lomas NE

Families are invited to visit the Wildlife Habitat Garden. Hands-on activities for children to learn about wildlife habitats and the importance of pollinators. Free. www. xericgardenclub.org

SANTA FE

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

Eldorado area recycling advocacy group monthly meeting. All welcome.

505.570.0583, joseigner@gmail.com

Green Fire Times • September 2013

Sept. 4, 6 pm A Place at the Table Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 107 W. Barcelona Rd.

Award-winning film about hunger in America and its impact on families. Brief discussion following screening. kc-sherlock43@yahoo.com

Sept. 6-7 Modernist Encounters and Contemporary Inquiry: Art, Appropriation and Cultural Rights Hotel Santa Fe

Symposium with keynote address “Global Indigenous Modernisms” by Professor Ruth Philips. Panel discussions examine encounters among Native and non-Native scholars, curators and artists about the interpretation of Native art and cultural objects in collections and exhibitions, representation of indigenous cultures by artists and institutions, and the place of Native American art in the global art market. Presented by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and the School for Advanced Research. www.okeeffemuseum. org/2013-symposium.html

Sept. 6-8 Santa Fe Fiesta

Said to be the longest, continually held community celebration in the US, the SF Fiesta includes a street festival, religious services, historical processions, a Children’s Pet Parade and the Historical/Hysterical Parade (9/8, 12:30 pm).

505.204.1598, santafefiesta.org, zozobra.com

Sept. 7, 3-5 pm A Conversation with Deborah Madison Whole Foods Community Room, Cerrillos Road

Conversation and tastings with Deborah Madison, who will talk about her new book, Vegetable Literacy. $12. Reservations: http:// deborahmadison.eventbrite.com/, Info: 505.474.3896. Sponsored by Whole Foods SF.

Sept. 8, 10:30 am; Sept. 11, 11 am Vitality Farm to Table Tour

Experience the decadence of healthy eating.

An educational farm tour, 30-minute health & nutrition presentation, cooking demo, tasting and recipes, vitality produce bag of local, organic produce, 45-minute health consultation (private session). 9/8: Romero Farm, Española; 9/11: Green Tractor Farm, La Cienega. $100 for each tour. Registration: www.ValHolisticHealthCoach.com

Sept. 8, 10 pm Stanley “Rosebud” Rosen KSFR 101.1 FM

The Steve Terrell Show. Union songs, poetry, history!

Sept. 9, 4:30-6:30 pm Opening In/Visible Borders: New Mexico Photographers SFUAD’s Marion Center for Photographic Arts

Exhibition of 19 photographers examines the contemporary NM landscape in terms of the cultural, political and economic realities of the 21st century. Joint exhibit of the SF University of Art and Design and the Santa Fe Arts Commission Community Gallery.

Through Dec. 13. Free public lectures. www. santafeuniversity.edu

Sept. 10, 10 am Cooking Demonstration SF Farmers’ Market

The SF Culinary Academy will demonstrate the use of fresh, local, seasonal ingredients.

505.455.9177, ceci@santafefarmersmarket.com

Sept. 10, 10 am; Sept. 18, 4:30 pm Vitality Restaurant Tour

Experience the decadence of healthy eating.

An introduction of the selected restaurant, a 30-minute health & nutrition presentation, food tasting, 45-minute health consultation (private session). 9/10: Revolution Café; 9/18: Momo’s (Santa Fe). $50. Registration: www.ValHolisticHealthCoach.com

Sept. 10, 5:30-6:30 pm Capitalist Forum Rio Chama Restaurant President’s Room, 414 Old SF Trail

Presentation by Jan-Willem Jansens on How to Preserve Our Water and Wetland Resources in SF County. www.capitalistforum.net

Sept. 14, 9-11 am Harvest for Hope Kids Day of Service SF Community Farm, 1829 San Ysidro Crossing, Agua Fría Village

Kids & families can volunteer for 2 hours to harvest vegetables that will feed the less fortunate. The Whole Foods Foundation will provide a salad lunch for volunteers. Dr. Halina Krupa Krupa, holistic healthcare specialist will give a short talk about food combining and optimizing children’s learning. http://wfmharvesthope.eventbrite.com/

Sept. 15, 12-5 pm SF Children’s Museum Fall Festival and Ice Cream Social 1050 Old Pecos Trail

Celebrate local abundance and see 3 new exhibits, including a traditional adobe oven built by Cornerstones Community Partnership. Sample foods harvested from the Earthworks Garden. Hands-on programs such as papermaking, recycled art, goat milking and more. Local farmers and artisans will educate visitors. $5. 505.989.8359, www.santafechildrensmuseum.org

Sept. 15, 4:30-8 pm 12th Annual Stewart Udall Legacy Dinner

SF Conservation Trust 2013 Honoree: N. Scott Momaday. Presentation by the Wildlife Center of Española. Tickets: 505.989.7019, Info: 505.501.5826, www.sfct.org

Sept. 16 Entry Form Deadline Common Ground Exhibition/Prizes

SF County artists 18 years or older may submit two- and three-dimensional works.

Top 3 will receive cash prizes and inclusion in Community Gallery exhibition opening Oct.25. Details: 505.955.6707, www.SantaFe ArtsCommission.org

Sept. 18 5:30-7 pm Local Organic Meals on a Budget Santa Fe School of Cooking 125 N. Guadalupe

Chef Erin Wade of Vinaigrette re-imagines vegetable dishes. Complimentary appetizers & tastings. $22. Free for WIC and EBT re-

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cipients. Registration: 505.471.7780, http:// localorganicmeals.com/santa-fe-cookingclasses.html. A variety of monthly classes are presented through mid-December by Kitchen Angels, Home Grown NM, SF Farmers’ Market Institute and the SF School of Cooking.

Sept. 18, 6-8 pm Move to Amend Community Forum Warehouse 21, 1614 Paseo de Peralta

National spokeswoman Kaitlin SopociBelnap will discuss the history behind the recent decision and how to work to abolish “Corporate Personhood.” Free/donations accepted. Info: 505.501.5826, https://www. facebook.com/events/1407302892819239/, www.MoveToAmend.org

Sept. 20-22 Pojoaque River Art Tour Pojoaque River Valley

20th anniversary tour of artists’ homes, studios and galleries “celebrates the New Mexican tricultural art experience.” Kick-off reception 9/20, 5-8 pm at the Than Povi Gallery next to Gabriel’s Restaurant in Cuyamungué. 19 studios featuring 33 artists in Pojoaque, Jacona, Jaconita, El Rancho and Nambé. Contemporary and traditional paintings, photography, jewelry, sculpture, ironwork, textiles, woodturning, glass, weaving, ceramics. B&W banners and yellow highway signs along route. Tour maps available: www.pojoaqueriv erarttour.com. Free. Info: 505.455.3496, mhornbuck@gmail.com

Sept. 21-22 Gathering for Mother Earth Pojoaque Ben’s Gathering Grounds, Hwy. 502 (1.8 mi. w. of 285/84 interchange), Pojoaque, NM

“A Gathering for All Cultures of All Ages” A call for community unity in support of earthwater wellness. 505.747.3259, www.tewa womenunited.org (See story, page 17)

Sept. 25, 10-11:30 am; Oct. 16, 1-2:30 pm Nature Hike SF Canyon Preserve (near Upper Canyon & Cerro Gordo Road)

Robert Martin, the Nature Conservancy’s stewardship ecologist, will lead a hike to this preserve, an oasis of flowers, willows, deer and beaver. Hikers will get an overview and historical perspective. Reservations required.

505.946.2029, Robert_martin@tnc.org

Sept. 27, 6:30-9:30 pm WildEarth Guardians’ Gala Celebrate Biodiversity SF Farmers’ Market Pavillion

Annual benefit dinner, a celebration of all things wild in the American West. Featured speaker Derrick Jensen on biocentrism and the role humans play. Gourmet dinner, silent auction. $100. Tickets: wildearthguard ians.org. Info: 505.440.7158, cnorton@ wildearthguardians.org 505.988.9126, ext. 0.

Oct. 4-6 Earth USA 2013 NM Museum of Art

International Earthbuilding Conference. Podium presentations, poster session and workshops. Trade fair on the SF Plaza. 10/7: Tours to local sites. 505.310.3259, mike@adobeinaction. org, www.earthusa.org (See story, page 15)

Oct. 8, 7 pm Paul Hawkin The Lensic, 211 W. San Francisco St.

Commerce, Climate and Community: An Interactive Evening. Visionary, environmentalist, entrepreneur Paul Hawkin, presented by the SF Chapter of the NMGCC. Tickets: $30/$15.

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($20/$10 SFGCC members) 505.988.1234, www. lensic.org, Info: www.santafegreenchamber.org

Oct. 12, 9:30 am-5 pm Aboriginal Living Skills SF Community College Carbon Economy Series workshop on Fire Crafting with Matthew Brummett. Info: 505.819.3828, http:// mattbrummett.com, http://carboneconomy series.com

Oct. 12 Traditional Native Farmers’ Association Benefit Location TBA

“Reflections from Our Past/Envisioning Our Future” - Evening event with silent auction highlighting the work of TNAFA. Hosted by the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples. Uplifting Indigenous art, Sustainable healthy agricultural products. Tickets: $50. Info: 707.825.7640, contact@7genfund.org, www.7genfund.org

Oct 16-19 Tiny Heroes: Celebrating the Beauty of Our Pollinators La Fonda Hotel

Art exhibit by Katheryn Alexander and friends. Runs concurrently with the WAS Conference (see page 17). Opening reception with educational presentations 10/17, 5:30-7:30 pm. kathrynalexander@gmail.com

Oct. 19, 11am-4 pm IAIA Open House Indigenous Food Celebration Institute of American Indian Arts Campus, 83 Avan Nu Po Road

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

Sept. 27 Opening Taos Fall Arts Festival

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

Awards ceremony and reception. Two major exhibits showcasing Taos Masters and new art talent are on display through Oct. 6.

575.758.4648, www.taosfallarts.com

9 am-4 pm daily except Weds.

Community Farm Project 1820 San Ysidro, Village of Agua Fría

Sept. 27-28 Empowering the Land Conference Tucumcari Convention Center, NM

Wednesdays, 11 am-5 pm Farmers and Crafts Market Poeh Tower, Pojoaque Pueblo 78 Cities of Gold Rd.

Oct. 5-6 Taos Wool Festival Kit Carson Park

Volunteers of any age needed. Eighty percent of the produce is given to the Food Depot and distributed to 120 organizations. sfcommunityfarm@gmail.com, www.santa facommunityfarm.org

EBT and WIC accepted. 505.455.9086

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

7th Edition of “Day Hikes in the Santa Fe Area”

Features 56 destinations, new reconfigured hikes with maps and photos, safety tips, resource guide. Available in local bookstores.

HERE & THERE Aug. 31-Sept. 1 Cleveland Millfest Cleveland, NM

More than 45 artists show their creations.

Baked goods, dance exhibitions, music and tours of the Cleveland Roller Mill Museum, a historic flour mill. 575.387.2645

Sept. 6-8 Víva NM Chile Festival Wagner’s chile farm, Los Lunas

Staff, students and faculty will prepare cultural favorites. Art demonstrations, Indigenous games and music. Showcase of student, staff and faculty work and programs. Free and open to the public. Info: 505.424.2310, www.iaia.edu

Family activities. Corn maze, u-pick gardens, petting zoo, pony rides, hayride tours to the fields, agricultural exhibits, food, music. Friday: 4-11 pm, Sat: 10 am-11 pm, Sun: 10 am-7 pm; $8/5/ages 4 & under free. 505.459.0719, Roxanne@wagnerfarmscorrales.com, http:// www.vivachilefestival.com/

Nov. 2 New Mexico Coalition for Community Rights Symposium Location TBA

Sept. 19-22 9th Annual Gila River Festival Silver City, New Mexico

This symposium will gather organizers from across NM to look at issues facing communities such as water withdrawals, uranium and gold mining, drilling and fracking, factory farming, high tension transmission lines, banking threats to local economies, etc. With Thomas Linzey, CELDF senior legal council, and John Olivas, Mora County commissioner. Catered lunch. RSVP to 575.666.2529 or KathleenDudley@nmccr. org. Info: info@nmccr.org, www.celdf

Registration Now Open Milagro School of Herbal Medicine

2014 program. Bioregional and hands-on intensive 250-hour program. 8 months of study. 505.820.6321, info@milagroherbs. com

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

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

One of the Southwest’s premier nature festivals. Learn about and experience the Gila’s wonders. Expert-guided field trips in the National Forest and along the river. Keynote talk by author Kenneth Brower. Panel discussions, workshops, archeology, kayaking, films, silent auction, live music, downtown art walk, more. 575.538.8078, info@gilacon servation.org, www.gilaconservation.org

Sept. 21, 10 am-12 pm Fundraising Workshop Somos el Maíz, 590 El Llano Rd., Santa Cruz (near Española, NM)

Workshop presented by action planning consultant Lydia López Maestas on the fundamentals of fundraising, effective representation and presentation, securing donors, etc. Registration: $25. 505.410.0959

Sept. 21, 3-7 pm Contemplating the Road to Santiago de Compostela Old Abiquiú Bed & Breakfast, Abuquiu, NM

Brings together pilgrims who have walked or may be contemplating the camino to Santiago, Spain. Free. Dinner: 5:30 pm.

505.685.4784, Wanda@oldabiquiu.com, www.OldAbiquiu.com

Conference to empower local business, farming and ranching communities.

575.461.4079, empoweringtheland.com (See story, page 17)

An opportunity to learn about fiber art, meet fiber artists, and purchase handmade items.

Demonstrations of spinning, dyeing, shearing and weaving along with workshops are scheduled. 817.992.8220, www. taoswoolfestival.org

Oct. 9, 7 pm Las Conchas and Thompson Ridge Fires: Effects on Water Quality Pajarito Environmental Education Center, 3540 Orange Street, Los Alamos, New Mexico

Dr. Clifford Dahm will discuss stream water chemistry and aquatic biology. $6/$5.

505.662.0460, Programs@PajaritoEEC.org

Oct. 15 Application Deadline 2013 Business Recycling Recognition

Does your business recycle? Want to be recognized for your recycling and waste reduction efforts? Email application to NMBiz Recycle@NMGreenChamber.com. Hosted by the NMGCC in partnership with the NM Recycling Coalition and the Partnership for Responsible Business. Recognition event on Nov. 15. Business nominees accepted from ABQ, Las Cruces, Silver City, Taos, Santa Fe (Current NMGCC chapters).

Oct. 25-26 8th Annual Traditional Agriculture & Sustainable Living Conference Salazar Center for the Performing Arts, NNMC, Española, NM

Keynote speakers: Dr. Vandana Shiva, Ph.D, Dr. Greg Cajete, Ph.D. Panel discussions, workshops, demonstrations, entertainment and more. Presented by the Pueblo of Tesuque, Four Bridges Traveling Permaculture Institute and the Sostenga program of NNMC. www.4bridges.org/conference-information (See story, page 17)

State Forestry Seedling Distribution

80,000 seedlings representing 50 species are available for purchase. Available to landowners with at least one acre of land to use the trees for conservation purposes, including erosion control, wildlife habitat, reforestation, riparian restoration, windbreak establishment, etc. Order online: www. nmforestry.com or contact NM Forestry Division: 505.476.3353, www.nmforestry.com

The Home Farming Revolution for Drylands

New book by Zoe Wilcox and Melanie Rubin.

A step-by-step guide to help you convert any plot of land into a micro-farm. Email info@ homefarmingrevolution.com or visit www. homefarmingrevolution.com to download the book’s introduction for free. Available at Bookworks in Albq. and online.

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Green Fire Times • August 2013

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