Archive for November, 2011
Policy Blueprint Unveiled at Renewable Energy and Clean Technology Conference
Nov 4th
On September 30th, the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce and clean-energy business leaders from across the state unveiled a policy platform to help New Mexico grow its green economy at the first-ever statewide Renewable Energy and Clean Technology Conference. Held at the Rio Grande Theater in Las Cruces, the conference drew more than 200 participants from industry, government, higher education, and research laboratories; as well as federal, state, and local policy-makers.
New Mexico’s clean economy already makes up 5.9% of the state’s private-sector employment and supports more than 35,800 jobs. More >
A NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR BUSINESS PLATFORM
Nov 4th
New Mexico has emerging technology from our national labs More >
Developing Resilience in NM Communities and Businesses
Nov 4th
Eleven years into the Millennium, we’ve already seen the worst global recession in nearly a century; a growing gulf between America’s richest and the rest of us; and the greatest concentration of extreme fires, floods, droughts, tornadoes and hurricanes to hit New Mexico, New Delhi and everywhere in-between.
What’s worse: In the next few decades, virtually every business and community will be bounced around like a small plane in a large thunderstorm. We can put our head between our knees. Even better: We can develop resilience in the face of the coming political, economic and meteorological More >
Green Business Cluster of Northern New Mexico
Nov 4th
The Northern New Mexico Green Business Cluster is a new program of the Regional Economic Development Initiative (REDI), a long-term economic development strategy for north-central New Mexico implemented by the Regional Development Corporation in Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and Taos counties. REDI’s goals are to diversify the economy, develop a high-quality workforce, increase the number of higher paying jobs, retain and attract youth and families, and help make rural communities vibrant. Partners include tribal governments and private sector entities. Currently, REDI is implementing several aspects of the plan, including More >
Rebekah Azen
Nov 4th
Rebekah Azen passed away on October 20. Her multi-part Green Fire Times series, “Kidnapped by the House,” was extensively researched and produced as a well-written solutions-based approach to current housing challenges (which presaged some of the content we’re seeing in the democratically-based “Occupy” movement).
Rebekah was born in Madison, Wisconsin. She began her career working in tribal libraries. Her love of the Southwest and Native American cultures brought her to New Mexico 27 years ago. She had many friends at San Felipe Pueblo. Most recently, she was an employee of the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper, working as both a consultant More >
$2 Million in Green Job Training Grants Awarded
Nov 4th
The grant is from the U.S. Department of Labor through the New Mexico Dept. of Workforce Solutions. It will support Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari, Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque, and Santa Fe Community College’s efforts to develop green training programs for their local communities and other communities through a “train-the-trainer” approach. Those colleges have been designated “centers of excellence” by Workforce Solutions.
“The colleges will More >
Solar Energy in New Mexico
Nov 4th
A few months after the enormous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, the head of the solar energy industry had his own announcement to make: “There was a major spill of solar energy yesterday,” he solemnly told attendees at an energy conference, before concluding, “Everyone agreed it was a beautiful day.” This bon mot plays on the widespread (and accurate) perception that solar energy is a safe and clean source of power. But is solar energy a serious source of power that can displace fossil fuels on a large scale and at More >
SOLAR NEWSBITES
Nov 4th
The Solar Foundation, a trade group representing solar power companies, reports that New Mexico has 2,099 people working in the industry, which puts the state No. 13 in the nation. The top 10 states in order were: California, Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Texas, Oregon, New Jersey and Massachusetts. The foundation and Green LMI Consulting conducted the survey with help from Cornell University. The report may be viewed at www.thesolarfoundation.org.
Schott Solar Facility Achieves LEED Certification
Schott Solar, Inc. has achieved certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) More >
Santa Fe Architect Ed Mazria Awarded $100,000 Purpose Prize
Nov 4th
The Purpose Prize is a program of Civic Ventures’ Encore Careers campaign (www.encore.org), which aims to engage millions of boomers in encore careers combining personal meaning, continued income and social impact in the second half of life. Other 2011 winners are working to create jobs, help immigrants in the U.S. and improve the More >
Op-Ed: Out with the Good, In with the Bad? Don’t Scrap Albuquerque’s Energy-saving Building Code
Nov 4th
Rational and sane policymaking is like an endangered species in today’s hostile, polarized political climate, at the national level as well as in New Mexico under Governor Susana Martinez. Sadly, this means that commonsense rules, like energy-saving building codes for new construction, are under attack after years of hard work to develop the best safeguards for New Mexico.
Energy-saving building codes can help New Mexico save consumers money on their electric and gas bills, improve public health by cleaning up the air we breathe and meet the challenges of climate change. But earlier this year, the More >
Cities Water Needs Could Deplete Rural Areas
Nov 3rd
Communities in rural New Mexico are watching apprehensively as the Rio Grande Valley’s growing water needs threaten to deplete their water resources, two state legislators said recently. Attorneys for members of several of the communities have challenged applications to the Office of the State Engineer (OSE) by the developers of two large projects to transfer water from other parts of the state into the Valley.
One project, Berrendo LLC, would transfer more than 2 billion gallons of water a year from a site near Ft. Sumner to somewhere near Santa Fe. The second project is asking the OSE for More >
New Mexico Water Summit Planned
Nov 3rd
As the struggle between water as commodity and water as public asset and public right is played out, the ability of the counties to formulate and enact legislation will be key in protecting New Mexico’s water future. To bring county and state officials together with water activists to identify both problems and solutions, and to encourage a statewide dialogue, local water advocates are organizing a Water Summit in Santa Fe early next year. (Stay tuned to this paper for details.) The summit will provide an overview of national water ordinances and then go into More >
Book Profile:
Reining in the Rio Grande
by G. Emlen Hall, Fred M. Phillips and Mary E. Black
Nov 3rd
Hall’s co-authors are Fred M. Phillips, director of the hydrology program in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, and Mary E. Black, an anthropological linguist, writer and More >
An Interview with G. Emlen Hall, Fred M. Phillips and Mary E. Black
Nov 3rd
Fred Phillips: It’s really apparent that there are critical water issues affecting the general public, and this seemed like a good avenue to help the public understand those issues.
Q: Why write a book that includes the whole history of the river from the Proterozoic Eon to the present?
Phillips: To the future actually.
Mary Black: I think it’s mainly because of the expertise we had. Fred definitely knows his geologic history.
Phillips: The current political, economic, legal controversies that surround the Rio Grande are in very large part a result of the physical constraints of More >
Water Heist in the Plains of San Augustín—Part II
Nov 3rd
In America, we are conditioned by the often-erroneous notion that if something is legal, it is okay to proceed. This practice erodes our perception of ethics as we weave complex legal structures to justify engaging in what we know intuitively to be wrong. Such is the case with the proposed water heist in the Plains of San Augustín. In the January 2011 edition of Green Fire Times, I wrote an article entitled “Water Heist in the Plains of San Augustín” that tells the grim continuing story about a family of New Yorkers who bought a ranch, the Augustín More >
An Open Letter to My Guy Grant, Loss Mitigation Manager at CitiMortgage
Nov 3rd
I hope this letter finds you well. I appreciate you calling me September 4 to tell me that you had not received the final paperwork on the Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure on my house. I even appreciate the urgency in your voice when you so sweetly said to me “Hello, it’s Grant from CitiMortgage. Vicki, you must get this signed immediately and scan and email it to me because the foreclosure is scheduled for September 15.” You had me at hello.
I even answered your call when I was on vacation in August. You were so happy to More >
Faren Dancer’s Green Talk
Nov 3rd
The 1960s brought the emergence of a new culture desiring to align with the natural world: a disenfranchised generation repulsed by mindless materialism, seeking alternatives in most all aspects of life. The quest was for peace, not war; love, not hate, and a communion with the Mother Earth that spawned a movement back to the land and toward most things natural—from clothing, to diet, to medicine, to childbirth, to active participation in and attunement to the body, mind and spirit. Of course there was a noticeable level of dysfunction; after all, it was also the drug More >
EVERYDAY GREEN: ON NOT WASTING FOOD
Nov 3rd
The most critical and easiest action one can take to help ensure an adequate food supply, both for oneself and globally, is to not waste food. Taking care to think through food purchases, storage, preparation and eating mindfully in a nutritious, non-excessive caloric way makes room in the budget for high quality food. Optimal nutrition is needed to build a strong body and support the daily healing process within. Conscious behavior around food considers the needs of community. These are spiritual aspects of relating to Mother Earth.
Food waste isn’t a topic popular with Americans; however, assessments presented at the More >
LEED Gold Award for SFCC’s Health and Sciences Center
Nov 3rd
NEWSBITES
Nov 3rd
The Santa Fe Conservation Trust is building three miles of new recreational public trails that will make it possible for people to be able to get on trails near downtown and hike or bike all the way up through the Santa Fe National Forest to the ski basin. The 3-mile La Piedra Trail will connect Dale Ball Trail North with the Little Tesuque Creek Trail and others. It will be the first recreational trail established in Santa Fe for 13 years. Public and private partnerships between More >
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