June 2010
Skilled NM Graduates Sought for Green Jobs – Online Service For Job Seekers and Employers
Jun 26th
NM CareerMatch is available for job-seeking graduates of the University of New Mexico (UNM), UNM-Valencia, Central Community College of New Mexico (CNM), Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) and New Mexico Tech who register on the nmcareermatch.com web site. More schools will be added in the More >
2010 June Edition
Jun 1st
“Kidnapped by the House” – Affordable Housing, Land, and the Green Imperative – Part 3
Jun 1st
The Indispensable Community Land Trust
“Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come in yours and my discharge,” the celebrated words of William Shakespeare summarize all too precisely our present predicament. We are circumstantial inheritors of land tenure patterns spanning centuries that typify gross disparities in land distribution and the accompanying maldistribution of social and economic benefits, along with a limitless expansion of destructive “externalities” (a term used by economists to describe the largely unaccounted-for fallout of economic progress) such as ecological collapse, resource depletion, and massive social dysfunction. That the majority of people lack access to affordable housing More >
Resolana for Children and Families
Jun 1st
The three dialogues will include jurisdictions, agencies and community organizations, which have been invited to design and create a partnership model. Participants will include leadership from the City, County, State and Santa Fe Public Schools, as well as business and faith-based communities, youth groups, foundations and service organizations.
What: La Resolana is a Northern New Mexico tradition for community problem solving. It literally More >
2nd Annual ¡Sostenga! Garlic Harvest Festival
Jun 1st
2nd Annual ¡Sostenga! Garlic Harvest Festival
Camilla Bustamante
The Second Annual Garlic Harvest Festival will be held on Saturday, July 3rd at the Sostenga Farm on Rail Road Avenue at Northern New Mexico College in Espanola. The annual harvest usually falls on the 4th of July but this year the holiday fell on a Sunday, which presented a double conflict for many community members. “Most years it will not coincide with the Santa Fe Farmers Market, but since it does, this year we invite all the farmers to get an early morning breakfast burrito on their way to Santa Fe,” said Jan More >
Immigrant Farmers of NM Unite: National Initiative Holds Meetings Across NM
Jun 1st
In Los Lunas, NM, Carlos Munoz supplements his work in the yard of a construction company with family farm work. He rises early to milk goats and care for his rabbits, ducks, geese, doves and chickens. He hopes to turn the milk into added-value products, and to be able to grow all of his own alfalfa to feed his animals. Don Carlos has a ranching degree from the University of Chihuahua, the state from which he hails. His dream is to sell his products beyond his family network, acquire his own land, and make farming and ranching his More >
Permaculture Credit Union Celebrates 10th Anniversary
Jun 1st
A credit union is a cooperative of individuals with a common bond who save their money and make loans. Credit Unions are member-owned, not-for-profit institutions. They are regulated by the chartering state and the federal government, and as with banks, all deposits are federally insured for up to $100,000, in this case by the National Credit Union Administration. The first credit union in the US was organized in 1909.
In a financial economy where most consumers are simply worried about their money’s security, member-owners of the Permaculture Credit Union also invest in sustainability
for their communities. More >
The Blue Economy – Gunter Pauli
Jun 1st
Seth Roffman
On May 6, the Santa Fe-based Permaculture Credit Union celebrated their 10th anniversary at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. Global eco-entrepreneur Gunter Pauli, founder of the Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives (ZERI) Network, was the special guest speaker.
Pauli introduced his new book, The Blue Economy: 10 Years, 100 Innovations, 100 Million Jobs,” which has just been published by Taos-based Paradigm Publications. The book explains how a new generation of entrepreneurs can bring innovations to the marketplace and make sustainable businesses competitive. Over one hundred such innovations, including many that have been brought More >
Community Learning and Social Development (Part l)
Jun 1st
Colegio sin Fronteras, a new charter school, provides skills building, social support and workforce development training for at-risk students.
For the past several years, I have been part of a network of community educators across three continents who have been deeply engaged in a “Community Learning” praxis that has had a profound impact on our understanding of this sort of work and its essentialness to all social development. Economic Development, Community Development, School Reform, Healthy Families, Healthy Communities, Workforce Development, Quality Universal Early Childhood Programs, Green Economies; you name it. None can exist and succeed in a socially sustainable More >
High-Tech View of a Meaningful Past in the Tularosa Basin
Jun 1st
A diverse crew of archeologists and interns is about to finish excavation of an impressively large pre-Columbian site in a narrow strip of land on US Highway 54 just south of Carrizozo. In a grid barely 100 feet wide and 200 feet long, three Navajos, a Pueblo-Comanche, two women of German and Jewish heritage, and two Mexican Americans have worked side by side since last October, squeezed in between roaring semi trucks, cars and recreational vehicles on the two-lane highway, and the Bonito water pipeline supplying Alamogordo and Holloman Air Force Base, running beside the barbed wire fence More >
Army National Guard Enlists Permaculture Institute for Crash Course Before Afghanistan Deployment
Jun 1st
Fourteen soldiers from Oklahoma’s 2-45th Agribusiness Development Team under the direction of Chief Warrant Officer Higginbotham arrived on May 14th to begin an intensive, 15-day Permaculture/Sustainable Living Practices course in Northern New Mexico prior to a yearlong deployment.
Specially crafted by Scott Pittman, one of the foremost teachers of Permaculture in the US, and Arina Pittman, director of the Pojoaque-based Permaculture Institute, along with several guest lecturers, the course covers design More >
My Own Garden: Starting from Scratch, A First-Time Garden
Jun 1st
Starting first-time vegetable gardens for a couple of my clients this spring has been a great refresher course for me. The process has been fun, and already anticipation of the rewards is exciting. I’d like to share the process for anyone who is also starting a garden for the first time in a site that has never been planted. We all have busy days, so of course time can be an intimidating factor, but don’t be discouraged. A garden can be launched step-by step over a number of days, including planting just one or two plants at a time, More >
Every Day Green – Walk the Talk
Jun 1st
Matching our values with everyday choices can be a challenge. Add in confusing information, the pull of time constraints, and finding the resources to live a safer, more conscious lifestyle, and the result can result in, well – overwhelm. Yet, conscious daily choices for food and our personal environments contribute to better health, sleep, normal weight, and increased energy. You and your family are worth the investment; think of green choices as the 401(k) for your health. Value-based decisions lend an immeasurable quality to life.
Much confusion exists about the term “green” on products. With no legal definition in existence, More >
Sustainability at HOME is Sustainability for the Planet
Jun 1st
This spring we’re witnessing the worst oil spill ever off the coast of Louisiana. There is talk of better regulations to prevent accidents. There are renewed calls for a “clean energy policy,” and perhaps, just perhaps, the tragic event in Louisiana will have some effect in creating better regulations and policy.
But even if we make policy changes, the efficacy of those measures to prevent environmental degradation and ameliorate climate change will be questionable because some aspects of the problem are being ignored. The partial way the problems are defined means that our solutions fall short. There’s little mention, for More >
Wind Energy Center to be Built in Cibola County
Jun 1st
The commission is scheduled to vote on a $215 million industrial revenue bond issue on June 15. There will be no county financial obligation or taxpayer money used, according to commission chair Eddie Michael. The project is More >
Albuquerque Sunport Solar System Installed
Jun 1st
The city of Albuquerque recently contracted Consolidated Solar Technologies, LLC and Mosher Enterprises, Inc. to design, engineer and integrate a large solar photovoltaic (PV) array for the Albuquerque International Sunport. It was the city’s intent to utilize an existing structure that would be the most efficient and cost effective site to produce renewable energy.
The new solar system incorporates 480 SunPower 305w mono-crystalline PV modules attached to the existing carport shade structures atop the sunport’s parking facility. The system will produce an estimated 235,170 kWh of energy annually. This is projected More >
Coal Mining Giant Peabody Invests in Carbon Capture
Jun 1st
Calera’s technology can capture carbon dioxide gas released from all kind of industrial facilities — from coal-fired power plants to cement manufacturers — and, using simple seawater, solidify it into hard carbonates that can be used in bricks or eco-friendly cement. The company says every ton of its building materials can sequester up to half a ton of carbon More >
New Mexico’s Weather: A Quick Portrait
Jun 1st
NM Greenbuilt Tour Presented by the US Green Building Council – NM Chapter
Jun 1st
In support of these efforts, USGBC has launched several new More >
The Low Hanging Fruit – A Place To Start When Remodeling Green
Jun 1st
In our Santa Fe climate a great place to More >
In the Green Fire Times we spotlight initiatives that create positive social impacts on climate change, energy independence, and green job development...
Feedback