January 2011
January 2011 Edition
Jan 1st
Everyday Green – Natural Weight Loss Part 1
Jan 1st
Bombarded with confusing information fueled by the “weight loss industry,” the focus on a “buy a new product for instant results” approach costs Americans $121 billion annually More >
My Own Garden: Wintertime Watering
Jan 1st
Recently during a quiet stroll around the extraordinary hillside of a gardener friend of mine, she commented that our crisp blue skies and sunny, dry New Mexico winter sure make for good living and happy smiles…and isn’t it so true! “But what about our plants?” she asked. Our summer watering routine (mostly with harvested rain) had been once weekly for everything, and more frequently for veggies.
It’s most important to remember in our high desert climate – it’s crucial – perennials, shrubs and trees need to be watered in the winter. Watering in a dry winter IS absolutely essential for More >
What’s Going On, January 2011
Jan 1st
US Green Building Council-NM Luncheon
MCM Elegante Hotel, 2020 Menaul NE.
An update from the Technical Advisory Committee on 2010 LEED projects and a presentation of the UNM student case study of the LEED Gold Certified Barcelona Elementary School. Also, a couple of perspectives on the recent GreenBuild conference in Chicago, and a preview of the 2011 legislative session. Emerging Professionals: $18, Members: $25, Non-Member: $30 Open to the public. Pay in advance with PayPal at
www.usgbcnm.org.
USGBC-NM Membership Directory
As a service to members and the general public, the USGBC-NM has launched a new Membership Directory to help members promote their services and products. More >
Water Newsbites – Study says US Southwest could see 60-year Drought
Jan 1st
A worst-case scenario shows that the American Southwest could experience a 60-year stretch of heat and drought unseen since the 12th century. University researchers studied temperature changes and droughts in the region over the More >
‘Outstanding National Resource Waters’ Approved
Jan 1st
Governor Richardson had been pushing for the “Outstanding National More >
Water Heist in the Plains of San Augustin
Jan 1st
The Plains of San Augustin—a vast graben that spans the Continental Divide, a grassland surrounded by pine-forested mountains, was once a great lake whose waters disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene, the last ice age that ended around 12,000 years ago when mammoths, dire wolves, and even horses that had roamed the Southwest for millennia were slowly chased into extinction by climate change and early human hunters.
Within today’s ephemeral geopolitical context, the Plains of San Augustin are contained within western Socorro and eastern Catron Counties of southwestern New Mexico. Near the south end of this enormous dry lakebed, More >
The Local Voice: Get Up, Stand Up – The Fight for a Local Economy
Jan 1st
Raise your hand if you’ve ever been arrested. No? Me neither. Ok, well almost. I was in eleventh grade, an award winning, budding young writer, inspired by a high school teacher who was pursuing his master’s degree in history and happy to encourage students to speak for ourselves and stand up for our rights. So when our administration decided to cut back our two forty-minute lunch periods, condense our in-between-class breaks, and make 1200 students have one one-hour lunch break, I rallied. Actually someone else rallied first and started a petition to get student support. My small circle of More >
Santa Fe’s Largest Rooftop PV Array Now Online
Jan 1st
The office building was awarded a “Gold” certification in the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) rating system in 2009. A.C.E., headquartered in Massachusetts with an office in Santa Fe, developed, engineered, and managed the project. PPCSolar, of Taos, installed the array.
This installation consists of 840 235-watt Yingli polycrystalline modules and an Advanced Energy Solaron 250 inverter, and is a roof mount bi-polar system. More >
Sustainable Land Tenure in Chimayo
Jan 1st
Cultivation of irrigated land in the beautiful high-desert oasis of Chimayo has been intense for several centuries. By 1625 it was well known in the Spanish Crown for its agricultural bounty and through the present it still enjoys a reputation for its signature crop, the native Chimayo chile strains. The Chimayo valley is a genuine oasis, which was extended from three high mountain streams — the Rio Quemado, Rio En Medio and Rio Frijoles — by an extensive man-made system of 16 autonomous acequias, which now collectively irrigate about 1,100 acres. Among others, the main Hispano families that have continuously owned and More >
W. K. Kellogg Foundation Funds Endowed Chair in Sustainable Environmental Food Systems at UNM
Jan 1st
According Bruce Milne, the new chair-holder and director of the Sustainability Studies Program, this project puts students on career paths to provide the community with organic, local food, green buildings, urban farms, clean energy, better nutrition and better health. Students More >
Solar Newsbites
Jan 1st
Affordable Solar
Affordable Solar Group LLC’s commercial and institutional business is growing fast. The company has completed a 1-megawatt array at The Bell Group in Albuquerque, and has 10-megawatts of projects planned.
Alamogordo Environmental Study for Solar Plant
The city of Alamogordo in southern NM will pay nearly $25,000 for an environmental study on 60 acres it wants to sell to PNM for a proposed solar plant. Since the land is near the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration must approve the deal and the agency requires the environmental assessment. Construction More >
Preview: Issues likely to arise during the 2011 New Mexico Legislative Session
Jan 1st
Introduction
There have been significant gains for protection of communities and the environment in New Mexico during the past eight years. Based on statements made by Governor-elect Susana Martinez during her campaign and statements by industry groups, it is clear that many of those gains will be under attack during the 2011 legislative session that begins on January 18th. The following are some of the most important issues that may be considered during the session.
Climate change
The New Mexico Environmental Law Center, New Energy Economy and other groups have worked for several years to persuade the State Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) More >
Solar Energy Zones Planned for Western States
Jan 1st
On December 16, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced a comprehensive environmental analysis that has identified two dozen potential ‘solar energy zones’ on public lands in six western states most suitable for environmentally sound, utility-scale solar energy production.
The detailed study, known as the Draft Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), was compiled over the past two years as part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to create a framework for developing renewable energy. The public is encouraged to provide comment on the draft plan.
“This proposal lays More >
Green Filmmaking Is A Verb
Jan 1st
GREEN FILMMAKING (verb); the act of reducing carbon usage in production through proven and shared environmental practices
More than anything, green filmmaking is a very practical set of tasks carried out by a production in every department, utilizing the greenest possible options available within the given budget. As a philosophy, green filmmaking is like any other green business model. We think about the origin and the end life of the products and equipment we put into play. We reduce, renew, reuse, recycle and repurpose.
In a larger sense, green filmmaking can also be defined as a movement of shared knowledge in More >
NM’s Goodwill finds success with computer recycling program
Jan 1st
Goodwill Industries of New Mexico’s computer recycling program – in partnership with Dell – has been very successful, keeping 73,684 pounds of “e-waste” out of NM’s landfills in October 2010 alone. Since the program’s inception in June 2009 through November, GINM took in over 638 tons of donated computer equipment.
Goodwill joined forces with the Dell Reconnect Program in this free drop-off program for consumers who want to responsibly recycle unwanted computer equipment. Consumers can drop off any brand of used equipment, in any condition, at the ten Goodwill donation centers statewide and request a donation receipt for tax purposes.
All More >
There can’t be Co-ops without understanding “Cooperación”
Jan 1st
Though winter has barely began, my thoughts are already running rampant as to what needs to be done in preparation for another growing season. As an acequia commissioner for the Acequia Junta y Ciénaga in Embudo, the last major acequia to draw water from the south side of the Río Embudo, I am thinking of the work needed to get the acequia ready to carry the water necessary to irrigate 80 acres.
There are ten acequias that draw water in the Lower Embudo Watershed from the Río Embudo, a tributary of the Río Grande, aka Río Bravo del Norte. More >
New Mexico Board Approves State Program to Reduce Carbon Pollution
Jan 1st
Seth Roffman
On December 6 the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) voted to adopt a petition from the nonprofit New Energy Economy (NEE), creating a new state carbon pollution reduction program. The new state pollution limit, approved by a 4-1 vote, will require the state’s largest polluters to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 3 percent per year from 2010 levels, starting in 2013. The emission cuts would put New Mexico in a league with California among states with the most stringent controls on greenhouse gases. The approval is the culmination of More >
Dreaming New Mexico – Towards a Prosperous Local Economy
Jan 1st
From the Dreaming New Mexico Project
Project Co-Directors: Kenny Ausubel and Peter Warshall
Production, Writing, Research: Peter Warshall and Arty Mangan
Project Coordinator: Nikki Spangenburg
Many more Americans are purchasing local foods. The mushrooming movement of locavores has initiated changes in demand, growing, processing, distributing, financing and selling food. Many consumers are looking not only for the lowest priced food but also for the best value. In many ways, consumers are finding that local food, even if it’s nominally pricier, delivers food with better value.
Among the values of buying local are:
• The food is fresher, healthier and better tasting.
• More >
Moonrise – The Power of Women Leading from the Heart, Book Review by Candy Jones
Jan 1st
Moonrise is as spectacular as a Harvest Moonrise. It soars large into the sky, gathering with it the visions, dreams and actions of a collective of true visionaries; setting the readership into a distinctively uplifting and edifying journey into the solutions being bantered about by some of this earth’s greatest minds and hearts. Moonrise cleverly and systematically creates an arch of comprehension, sensitization, and yes, illumination onto the pressing social and environmental issues of the day and beyond. Nina Simons, cofounder of the legendary Bioneers organization, has amassed a More >
In the Green Fire Times we spotlight initiatives that create positive social impacts on climate change, energy independence, and green job development...
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