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

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

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

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

Print PDF

Mark Chalom

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

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

Each morning began with a plenary session. The speakers included US Energy Secretary Chu, Bruce Oreck, US Ambassador to Finland, Dan Arvizu, director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Ed Mazria of Architecture 2030. All of these talks were positive, pointed out the directions we must go and the challenges we face. By 10:25 am we were broken-up into technical tracks dealing with many issues simultaneously. There were also forums, fast tracks, poster sessions, training workshops and a World Trade Fair showcasing the latest technologies.

My focus was climatically designed buildings. I was presented with a variety of options on that track alone. There are buildings in various parts of the world that have been artfully designed and built to meet or exceed the Architecture 2030 Challenge. These integrated designs are already working as planned. Their inspiring architecture blends with nature. I saw west-side façades covered with shades that moved in the wind and became kinetic pieces of art. Daylighting technology, utilizing the advantages of natural light, has also become an art form proven to benefit occupants’ health and productivity. Landscaping has come a long way in its ability to modify climate around a building, collect and process water, promote wildlife, provide usable outdoor spaces, save water, energy and the client’s money.

It was nice to see a strong presence of New Mexico solar businesses and industry. NM Solar Energy Association members came from Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Gallup, Silver City and Las Cruces and proudly represented our state at caucuses, technical sessions and general discussions. New Mexico companies such as Schott and Affordable Solar were part of the trade fair. Among NM’s VIP diplomats were Ed Mazria, Doug Balcomb and Marlene Brown. At the awards banquet, I was honored with a lifetime achievement award. I shared the Passive Solar Pioneer Award with Edna Shaviv, an architect and professor from the Israeli Institute of Technology. We were fortunate to have time to get to know each other and promised to continue communicating and sharing technical information. I was able to spend time with people from various parts of the world where there are many unbelievable projects.

Several projects particularly impressed me. The largest was the Desertec Industry Initiative, a multinational group working to generate electricity from concentrated solar in the Sahara Desert. The energy is intended not only to take care of northern Africa; it will also provide 15 percent of Europe’s needs via high-efficiency transmission lines under the Mediterranean Sea. This multibillion-dollar project, funded by the World Bank and other conglomerates, includes countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. Thermal energy storage will guarantee power 24 hours a day. When advantageous, wind generators along the western coast of Africa will be integrated into the system. Much of the work and research for this project was done at Sandia Labs in Albuquerque, financed by the US government. Countries such as Germany, Spain and Sweden are also to be part of the project. Desertec now has 56 partners in 15 countries.

The impact of the federal government on RE was clearly stated by Energy Sec. Chu and Undersecretary Dorothy Robyn of the Dept. of Defense. The DOD uses the most money on the largest amount of land, owns the most buildings and uses more energy than any other department in our government. The need for national security and energy independence is a key justification for their pursuit of energy conservation in buildings and utilization of renewable energies. The scale at which the DOD utilizes these two technologies makes a major impact on manufacturing costs and implementation on a national scale. They plan to have 3-gw of RE by 2025 and $1.1 billion in energy retrofits alone in 2013. The US Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in the Mojave Desert region of California has a 270-mw geothermal plant that has been operating since 1987. Careful post-evaluation of the DOD’s RE initiatives has led to better programs and more efficient technologies. The money spent by the DOD alone creates many jobs and third-party businesses, as well as major savings to the government.

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

The National Renewable Energy Labs (NREL), a co-host of the conference, had bragging rights to one of the most impressive buildings built to date. The Research Support Facility, a LEED-Platinum, zero-energy building with carbon neutral operations, is a 360,000-sq. ft. building housing 1,300 employees. It incorporates photo-chromatic and thermal-chromatic windows, east and west. Passive solar and daylighting is very well designed, with highly reflective solar louvers on the south, maximizing daylight while minimizing glare. With open interior workspaces, no one is more than 30 feet from a day-lit window. The building generates 1.6 mw of photovoltaic power through a Power Purchase Agreement; NREL does not own the system and pays a third party for its power. The walls are well insulated and incorporate a sandwich of concrete thermal mass. Aside from looking at every energy and material issue possible, they closely reviewed operations and human interactions. Occupants are notified on their computer when it’s a nice day outside, suggesting that they open up their windows for natural ventilation and comfort. The daylighting works so well, rarely is task lighting turned on. Even the janitors work during the day to minimize use of lights at night.

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

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

The Emerging Architecture Session was also very inspiring. The buildings presented use much less energy (well beyond LEED’s standards), push performance, provide social and community benefits and are catalysts for great change. We are now starting to address campus and citywide scales with regenerative ecology and buildings that learn and change. The Living Building Challenge is being met by many architectural firms. Here are some fine examples:

The Kensington High School for Creative and Performing Arts (Philadelphia, PA) – This net-zero building is so inspiring, the graduation rate went from 30 to 70 percent.

Chandler City Hall (AZ) – This is an infill Brownfield site and the anchor for a downtown revitalization district. It incorporates stainless steel plates hinged so that they become an art piece as well as a western shade screen. This is a building that truly inspires.

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

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

The Empire State Building (NYC) and its energy retrofit, which includes new windows, radiant barriers, controls for air handling and air-conditioning units, saved having to dig up city streets and replace the existing cooling towers. This project earned LEED-Gold certification and an estimated savings of $2.4 million the first year and 4.4 million after tenant renovations. It will pay for itself in less than three years. Even the famous colorful outside lighting display has been changed to LED.

Electric Vehicles

There was also much excitement at the conference about electric transportation. Battery technology has come a long way, making all electric and hybrid vehicles much more affordable, reliable and able to travel greater distances per charge. Electric charging stations’ availability is expanding. There was an area set up outside with EVs, from simple bicycles and motorcycles to family cruisers. To my delight, there was also a wonderful solar carport. Every public parking lot in Santa Fe and other cities should be full of these structures. It makes it possible to double-utilize land resources, bring distributed solar energy much closer to end-users in commercial spaces, minimize snow removal, harvest rainwater and maximize car shade. These structures in public parking lots will surely make community solar programs much more advantageous, financially affordable and able to take advantage of economy-of-scale.

One of the keywords I picked up and really believe in is “Community Solar Programs.” This is where the “utility company” is really a utility company. They or a third-party own and install the equipment and rent your roof or fields. You use the power, pay a fixed rate for 20 years, and have no financial investment. Infill sites, Brownfield sites, dumps and open fields are being taken over by large community-scale solar electric systems. This large system is then broken up amongst many owners buying in to any share they like. This makes solar electricity available to those who do not have good solar access or to families that rent or don’t have the financial ability to make a large investment in their own system. This concept of Community Solar is now being utilized for solar thermal hot water, wind energy systems and other RE sources. It’s a very exciting program, and we need to demand more of this in NM. Colorado is well ahead in its Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RES) requirements. PNM, sadly, is well behind. It’s not because we have less sun. As I drove through Colorado I was amazed at how many large solar PV systems I saw in many communities.

A few months ago I drove through Flagstaff and saw the 500 kw (expandable to 700 kw) Doney Park community solar project. This will also include eight kilowatts of wind. It included many homes wired together for a total of another 1,000 kw and a 500-kw storage system with lithium ion battery storage technology. This project helps Arizona Public Service exceed its RES requirements by removing barriers for customers and by meeting the growing demand for solar energy. In the May issue of Green Fire Times there was a report about a community solar project Kit Carson Electric has built in the Taos area. So these systems are happening in NM. I truly believe we will be seeing a lot more when it becomes advantageous to the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) and PNM to make it happen.

I have attended ASES many times, so I had a good basis to compare this year to others. The general attitude of all attending was much more upbeat than in 2006 and 2010. We were shown where RE is making an impact and is growing exponentially in many parts of the world. There were fewer global warming fear mongers. We were reminded there are many other very positive reasons for RE: stewardship of the Earth, air quality, homeland security, and of course, good, clean jobs. The US, sadly, is well behind many other countries, including Denmark Germany, China and Mexico. It is also very evident that NM has fallen well behind its neighboring states. Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma, California and Nevada are well ahead of our energy policies and ability to integrate RE technologies. Even New Jersey is well ahead of NM. Our state must really make some key decisions; work with the PRC, PNM and other utilities to make this happen. We as the general public must demand this.

I left the World Renewable Energy Forum and the American Solar Energy Society National Conference feeling very good about the world’s energy future and our ability to meet energy demands with a combination of strategies and energy sources. It is now up to the world leaders and leaders in our country to take on this commitment for our future.

Mark Chalom is a Santa Fe-based architect (LEED 2.0) who has specialized in Environmental Climatic Design for the past forty years. He recently received a lifetime achievement award for his Passive Solar Architecture and research from the American Solar Energy Society. Solarch@rt66.com, 505.983.1885, www.markchalom.com

Print PDF

Ben B. Boothe

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

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

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

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

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

A recent meeting of environmental and social experts concluded that Los Angeles has a food stockpile of two days, after which the grocery shelves would be bare. New York City has three days of food stockpiles; Chicago – three days, Dallas – two days, Phoenix – twp days, St. Louis – three days, Indianapolis – three days, and Oklahoma City – two days. The average household would run out of fresh meat, milk, dairy and vegetables in two days. Canned goods might last four days; rice, dry beans, wheat, cornmeal and oats a little longer. Alternative fuels for cooking would become scarce if the electrical system had no fuel to operate. A typical American household would be thrust backwards 130 years and forced to “camp,” forage and improvise in a daily effort for survival.

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

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

Grain Harvest Sets Record, But Supplies Still Tight

“Following several years of declining harvests, the world’s farmers reaped a record 2.316 billion tons of grain. Despite this jump of 95 million tons, or about 4 percent over the previous year, commodity analysts estimate that voracious global demand will consume all of this increase and prevent governments from replenishing cereal stocks that are at their lowest level in 30 years.” (1-10-12, Article # VST101)

Helen Peck, in her 2006 report on business reliance on the food sector, identified a big gap in the preparedness for business continuity management, as very few companies had adopted a proactive or preventative stance to crisis management and operated mostly in the reactive mode. One of her conclusions is that the drive for efficiency and the “just-in-time” philosophy used by the food industry has progressively reduced stock levels throughout the supply chain—with resulting damage to its resilience when an emergency occurs. Unfortunately, this lack of preparation is widespread in States, municipalities and families.

In 2008 the President of the United States ordered:

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

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

“…An agrarian society shows the simplistic form of existence where agriculture forms the core of the society and is the prime means of support and sustenance. That, however, no longer remains the foundation of most of today’s developed economies where food chains are increasingly becoming complex and multi-tiered. The chain starts with agriculture and ends ultimately, with household consumption. However, the numbers of entities between these ends encompass geographical, economic, political and social extremes. This compounded over uncertainty occurring from natural disasters, climate changes, epidemics and terrorist threats place the food supply chain in a particularly vulnerable position.”

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

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

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

Learning from Japan’s Crisis

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

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

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

Solutions

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

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

• Near-urban food production using networks of greenhouses and cold frames (enclosed plant beds). A greenhouse can produce two to three crops per year on one-half to one-third the land area of “traditional” farming. Drip irrigation uses one-tenth of the water.

• Food production not dependent upon public utilities

• Food production not dependent upon mass agribusiness farming production and giant food distribution systems

• Food production that can continue through hot and cold seasons

• Alternative, disbursed, local/urban water production, including the use of desalination, where appropriate, powered by renewable energy

• Alternative and widely disbursed renewable energy, including solar panels, wind turbines and solar water heating to provide energy for food production

The Eden Gardens Project

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

The Eden Gardens campus is designed to produce high-nutrition organic foods and farm products. A typical 50×500-ft. “high tunnel” can produce $175,000-$250,000 of fresh organic food per year. A 100×100-ft. algae pond can produce over $200,000 per year in fish or shrimp products. An algae pond with tanks and proper engineering can produce $189,000 per year in food by-products, oil and organic fertilizer.

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

The cost of a “campus” depends upon its configuration. In a high-wind area there may be more wind turbines and fewer solar panels. If it is situated near a salt or brackish water supply, substantial funds will be spent on a desalination plant. If a professional canning operation is feasible for county growers, that will be added. If a community has substantial garbage to deal with, more will be spent on composting equipment. If the needs for the area are more for food than energy, the matrix will shift to more greenhouses and less renewable energy generation. The smallest (15 acre) campus’ budget, without desalination and composting facilities, is about $2.5 million. The same 15 acres with desalination and composting will run about $3.8 million.

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

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

Agreements to build several Eden Garden Projects in this country and abroad are currently being finalized. For more information, call 800.379.8048, ext. 103, or email sanehboothe@gmail.com.

Ben B. Boothe is an international economic and environmental author, speaker and consultant. He publishes Global Perspectives (www.boothglobalperspectives.com). His company website is www.benboothe.com.

Print PDF

Jack King

Sara Friederich calls herself one of “a huge group” of gardeners and small-animal raisers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe who are doing their part to resist the corporatization of the American food supply and eat fresher, healthier food. “When I think about the genetically modified plants being developed and the cost of transporting vegetables and fruit in our world, it just burns me up,” she says. “And, besides, there’s nothing like going out and picking the chard for your dinner from your own garden.”

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

That’s where the Urban Store comes in. At 3209 Silver Ave. SE, the Urban Store is a mecca of supplies and advice for many area residents who want to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Owners Chuck Alex and Kathy Isaacson sell “urban gardens” ‘self-contained, raised-bed, well-drained soil containers with hinged covers that shield plants from sun and bugs in the summer and snow and ice in the winter. The gardens retain enough heat that, by rotating their crops, customers can grow vegetables year ’round. Plus, they come in sizes that range from two feet by two feet to 16 feet by four feet—giving hope to would-be gardeners living everywhere from Tanoan mansions to rented apartments.

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

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

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

Friederich, who got her worms from the Urban Store, keeps a worm composter in her pantry. She feeds scraps to the worms, which generate rich castings she can then transfer to a compost tumbler outside. “It’s enclosed and no one would ever know it’s there,” she says.

Alex and Isaacson also offer a variety of workshops on sustainable living and, if Sara Friederich’s experience is typical, they provide outstanding service after a sale. The store’s staff is friendly and helpful. By all indications, it’s a wonderful resource for beginners or experts.

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

Print PDF

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

The theme for this year’s competition is the New Mexico Centennial. There are 18 design/build teams. Each team, comprised of several local businesses, will compete in the design and construction of unique creations with cans of food. The public is invited to view the completed structures from 5-7 pm.

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

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

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

Print PDF

The Way We Grow a winner of Santa Fe BizMix Challenge

Vicki Pozzebon

Walking into the warehouse at The Way We Grow, I was struck by the overwhelming tasks at hand for start-up entrepreneurs. Perhaps it was this comment from owner Sattva Ananda that got me: “We could be hiring 30 people in the next two years.” His face lit up and his smile curled into a Proud Papa moment. I guess when your business is about growing things successfully you don’t worry about growing the actual business that fast.

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

Growing A Little Idea

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

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

Growing Local, Growing Regional

The Awesome Pot is cut and sewn to order by the thousands (up to 4,000 a month currently), then shipped out of the Early Street warehouse. As we toured the property, Ananda and Cross led me through their vision for the company. “It’s a place where we can grow our headquarters, grow a nursery that could provide food for the local food nonprofits to feed the community, employ a lot of people, create new spin-off businesses and keep the money right here in Santa Fe,” according to Ananda. That’s a grand vision for a small two-year-old start-up that is experiencing such rapid growth. Flash forward five years, and these guys expect to be in six major markets, producing all their products locally, hosting an online store, owning their own property, and of course, making money. Because there is nothing wrong with being a green business that makes serious green. And these guys are serious.

“We’re saving all our remnants from the bags because they are recyclable into plastic, and it’s possible that we could start our own injection molding plant to produce the cord locks ourselves,” Cross explains. The only material for the Awesome Pot they cannot source in the US is the plastic cord lock that keeps the bag closed tight to produce its own mulch. “If we make it ourselves and create a new business, creating more local jobs is even better for the community, right?” Right.

This model of creating a business to serve your own business’ needs isn’t a new one. It’s becoming the Re-New American way. More and more manufacturing is coming home to towns all over America to bring back lost jobs. The Way We Grow plans to automate their cutting and sewing manufacturing down the road, too. “The jobs wouldn’t go away; they would just change the way they do it,” Cross says, with a look of entrepreneurial relief in his eye.

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

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

Growing Capital, Growing Success

After winning a grand prize of $5,000 last month in the MIX Santa Fe BizMix Challenge, they are now working with a mentor to prepare a detailed business plan and planning to meet with other potential investors. There is a lot to be done when you are an entrepreneur looking to scale-up and attract capital. Writing a business plan wasn’t among the things Ananda originally wanted to do. “I thought I’d just look online for someone to write a plan for us, but it doesn’t work that way. Only you know your business from the inside out and what your vision is for the future, so you are the best person to write it. I just dug in and learned,” he says.

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

Go to www.thewaywegrow.com to learn more.

Vicki Pozzebon practices bold localism in her independent consulting business, Prospera Partners, LLC

Print PDF

Alan Hutner and Seth Roffman

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

Despite considerable criticism of some of the film’s conclusions, including from a number of the notable people interviewed in the film, many “self-creating solution groups” inspired by THRIVE have been forming. About 4,000 screenings at different locations were held during the first five months of this year. The film is available free at the website, and DVDs in many languages can be purchased there as well.

One critic, who attended a screening and appearance by the Gambles in Santa Cruz, CA in April, subsequently had an article published in the Santa Fe Reporter (“The New Age of Paranoia”) just prior to a screening and public appearance by the Gambles in Santa Fe. The article, basically a reprint of a story he wrote for a Santa Cruz publication, alleged that the film has a hidden right-libertarian agenda, and attacked the Gambles for “playing the conspiracy card…where they should go political.” The writer also said that the Gambles have a home in Santa Fe (untrue), that Foster Gamble’s grandfather was a founding partner of Procter & Gamble (It was his great-great-grandfather), that the film says that the conspiracy was a Jewish agenda (it specifically says it wasn’t), and that the conspiracy is New Age paranoia.

“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion,” says Foster Gamble. “But with what’s going on in the world these days, if someone is going to stop their critical thinking…I hope they have the humility to get out of the way of people who are actually taking a stand, telling the truth and doing something to turn around this very dangerous global situation. A lot of people on the left naturally assumed we were making a political film. And if we didn’t seem to be on their side, then they assumed we were on the other side; whereas, we were actually making a film about facts and principles. We didn’t care what political affiliation, if any, the people we interviewed had. We were interested in what they knew about a particular area.” A statement is made in the film that the people interviewed do not necessarily share the film’s conclusions, nor do the filmmakers agree with everything the interviewees stand for.

THRIVE lays out a kind of business plan for a societal transition. The core principle is “non-violation” by mandatory taxes, coercion or violence of any sort. It then seeks to inspire people’s creativity to figure out how to get there. “In the first stage,” says Gamble, “we need to acknowledge that the body of humanity is deeply wounded, and there are so many people who have been so disadvantaged by the current system that they need to be taken care of; the same way, if you were healing your body and had a wound in your knee, for the rest of the body it would be smart to help heal that knee. So in Stage 1 it’s really about bringing integrity, as much as possible, to our current system, but doing this caretaking, not with new taxes, but through cutting the military budget in half, stopping foreign wars of aggression, and then getting rid of the Federal Reserve. That would free up, literally, a couple of trillion dollars a year that would more than take care of the transition in terms of health, hunger, environmental restoration, and so forth, worldwide.” The Gambles worked with a number of economists to come to that conclusion.

“Stage 1 is more commonly associated with the progressive agenda,” says Gamble. “Taking care of people in a very compassionate way with tax money. The progressives who have disassociated from the film don’t seem to understand that we’re suggesting that we optimize their skills in this stage, but not stop with a vast state in place that ultimately always leads to tyranny. They are really more like tracks. Stage 2 starts right away. It is the shrinking of government down to the protection of human rights and the stewarding of the commons. Stage Two really accesses a lot of the core skills of the traditional conservative movement: sound money, no foreign wars of aggression… It’s all leading toward what I think will be an obvious Stage 3, which is an actual society of voluntary association where there is no state that can come with a gun and take your money and then go off and use it to take other people’s oil and kill millions of innocent people, and on and on. In Stage 3 we will have already seen the vast prosperity that has been restored by the integrity; by making free energy devices available, by having an honest money system, so that people will be able to take care of one another with the prosperity that they have, rather than depending on an incompetent and coercive government to do it.”

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

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

One of THRIVE’s major assertions is that “Free Energy” is viable, and that it has been repeatedly suppressed over the past 100 years by the powers that be. The THRIVE organization is bringing together scientists, inventors, business people and funders to help researchers and inventors complete work in this area, have a legal defense fund to fight off frivolous lawsuits, and then come up with multiple strategies to bring these technologies out all over the world in a way that’s not so easy to suppress. “It’s a paradigm shift when you realize that we actually have abundant infinite energy everywhere that could completely transform the geo-political dynamic on the planet right off the bat,” says Kimberly Gamble. “That’s not just access to technology; it’s access to a whole new paradigm that stops scarcity. And so, one of the things when you get into voluntary associations and the ways people will choose to do things— they’ll be doing it from a state of abundance instead of ‘not enough.’ And that’s a big part of the role of the vision that we offer.”

Foster Gamble added, “Part of our dependence on big government is based on the assumption that human beings won’t take care of one another. That’s not my experience of people. If they’ve had the opportunity to thrive, they will naturally turn around, most of them, and give you the shirt off their back. You see these things in Katrina and all these various disasters. I think one of the most dangerous assumptions also is that there is not enough to go around; so a few people end up deciding what’s fair, and go take from this person and give to that person, and once again you’re back in the world of coercion. In my research, there is plenty of food, plenty of energy, plenty of clean water (if we take care of it), to go around, and population naturally levels off based on prosperity and on education. “

The Gambles advocate a “truly” free market system. “Capitalism has been insulted in this country and around the world because it’s state intervention, it’s crony capitalism, it’s subsidies and bailouts and all that kind of thing,” says Foster. “It’s not true voluntary association. If it were voluntary association with rules and regulations based on integrity and the protection of individual rights; that’s, for me, the portal to a really thriving world.”

THRIVING IN THE SOUTHWEST

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

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

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

The Gambles see the current economic system as a world war that is being played out economically. “When you look at the pyramid of control and you see the people at the bottom,” Kimberly says, “one of the insights from that, ultimately, is that it’s the people who have the power. Because with non-violence, non-participation, which Gandhi and Martin Luther King used, we have the power to de-fund, un-fund the problem. We can stop participating. The way these corporations get to do their projects is that they get great loans from the banks. The way the banks have the money to give the corporations those loans is through their customers’ deposits. People have to understand that we have the power to stop funding the problem. We have the power to vote with our actions in ways that are a lot more significant than we may think. As Amy Goodman says in the movie, the one thing more powerful than organized money is organized people. One of our hopes is that the role for ThriveMovement.com is to be this hub where people can share best practices so that the little thing you’re doing in your community turns out to provide the template for what communities all over the world can do.

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

THRIVE’s website is Thrivemovement.com. Foster and Kimberly Gamble will discuss THRIVE at the 2012 ExtraOrdinary Technology Conference at the Albuquerque Pyramid North on July 26. Conference info: 520.463.1994, http://teslatech.info/ttevents/prgframe.htm

Alan Hutner, founder of Transitions Radio Magazine (TRM), co-hosts and co-produces the show with Elizabeth Rose. TRM airs at 98.1 FM, Radio Free Santa Fe (KBAC FM), Sunday mornings 8-11 am, and streams live on the web, with all programs archived at www.transradio.com. The complete audio interview-conversation series with Foster and Kimberly Gamble is archived on-line and starts with TRM show number 1471, May 6, 2012.

Print PDF

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

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

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

For more information visit the Arts Commission’s website at www.SantaFeArtsCommission.org or call 505.955.6707

Print PDF

The Evolution of Consciousness

As we peruse the current world landscape, it is evident that there are several noticeable trends occurring that pose considerable concern in relation to a necessary long-range view of sustainability. Exploding population growth is placing an ever-increasing strain on world resources and regional quality of life. This leads to humankind’s ever-expanding intrusion into nature and the impact placed on the delicate interconnectedness of all the diverse life forms. Coupled with this expansion of humanity’s noticeable presence is the Third World thrust toward market capitalism, fueled by the idealized promise of a better life, to include all the modern conveniences associated with material prosperity and comfort, such as individualized transportation, readily available energy, the constant flow of a commercial food supply and the numerous technological advances that have placed an affordable cell phone in the hands of even those who lack most everything else material. Of course, ultimately this consumer-based model isn’t something to be envied, but the goodies offered motivate the have-nots across the globe.

The good news is that much of humanity, as a result of technological advances, now has the capacity to access information instantly, along with the rather unbelievable ability to connect with other humans around the planet wherever cell towers or Internet service exists. These locations are growing rapidly, with the potential to cover the globe and link all of humanity with the touch of a button. In essence, humankind, having moved out of the phone booth, is now equipped with previously unimagined power to access communication and information from almost anywhere. Though there remain extreme differences among the various cultures, religions and languages, the technological potential for instant translation and bridging cultural gaps through the immediate exchange of information poses a potential for unity consciousness like never before.

The problem with technology as the means of expanding human awareness, however, is that it still can’t install the necessary thought forms that broaden our personal and collective consciousness. This evolves from our capacity to control our thoughts and flow the appropriate vibration into the unified field that is the energetic connector of all life. The inner knowingness of our common source, and how, through our thoughts, we create the reality we live, is a far cry from the currently held concept that life is completely random, some people are lucky and some are not, and that life is essentially happening to us. This perspective leaves most persons with a sense of powerlessness and the subsequent willingness to accept limitation as a fundamental basis of existence. On top of this is the age-old fear factor. Fear continues to sit at the foundation of most people’s mental outlook—the fear of being without or not having enough, fear of disease, fear for one’s personal safety, fear of the IRS, fear of unseen enemies, and many more. Finally, this turbulent journey of perils and predicaments ends with the ultimate fear of the unknown…death.

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

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

So here’s a concept that provides the antidote toward breaking out of the negative spin… something I like to refer to as ”Sustainable Thought.” We’ve seen repeatedly in recent years that the grandest gains in the realms of community, sustainability, environmental justice and human evolution have come from the grassroots. Persons finding their voice, while identifying the issues, focus their attention on the positive, remembering to find the perspective that fosters gratitude, appreciation and cooperation—because you know what? There are so many blessings and marvelous aspects of this life that are often denied by those floating in the pool of what’s wrong. We may not find instant cures for overpopulation and the environmental/human exploitation, but by staying positively proactive, solutions will, ultimately, become known. Many prolific teachers throughout the centuries concur that it is a “thought universe,” meaning that the place where we put our attention determines the ultimate reality we experience.

So, the evolution of consciousness starts with each person becoming aware of where his or her attention is from moment to moment, and making a conscious effort toward staying positive, optimistic and consciously flowing the thought forms toward the future we wish to create, individually and collectively. Breathe in the day, tune in to a child’s laughter, pet your devoted dog, listen to the rustle of the wind in the leaves, and attempt to remember that we are all extensions of a grander oneness and have each been given the godlike ability to create reality in alignment with our heart’s desire.

Faren Dancer is an award-winning designer, builder, educator and activist. His UNICOPIA GREEN RADIO show, each Saturday at 4 pm on KTRC (1260AM), is simulcast at santafe.com. The archived shows are available at www.unicopia.org. Email: Faren@unicopia.org

Print PDF

Erin Sanborn

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

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

Each year, thousands of bloggers, newsmakers, social justice advocates, labor and organizational leaders, grassroots organizers and online activists come together to make new connections, hone their organizing skills, share best practices and build stronger relationships with others working on the issues they care most about. And each year, some of the brightest minds in progressive politics come to Netroots Nation to speak with—and hear from—our community.

• NetrootsNation.org

The lineup at this year’s conference included Rebuild the Dream co-founder Van Jones, NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, Congressman David Cicilline (RI), Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman, Carol Shea-Porter, AFL-CIO’s Rich Trumka, the Agenda Project’s Erica Payne, Ai-jen Poo – National Domestic Workers Alliance director, Rhode Island State Representatives Teresa Tanzi and Chuck Rocha, founder of Democracy for America, Howard Dean and, via video, President Barack Obama. There were many more speakers and panelists. Video highlights are available at http://www.netrootsnation.org/nn12-highlights-archive/.

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

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

Name any issue or cause we face as Americans and you can find a group of people working to solve those issues utilizing the Internet, connected to Netroots Nation. There are groups concerned with people of color, immigration, the impact of super PACs, fairness in elections, education, unions, fracking, the economy and marriage equality. You will find the best minds and practitioners in social media. You can find an individual blogger with 500,000 followers. Bottom line: everyone involved is truly educating the grassroots and is passionate about what makes our country great. People are demonstrating that change can happen instantly.

Our youth, ages 15-25, have a smart phone in their pocket and access to the Internet. Social media is now and the future. Don’t be fooled thinking that our youth can be fooled. I met young people who are writing books, doing in-depth research, inspiring hundreds of thousands of people to action, running organizations, affecting local and federal policy and inspiring hundreds of thousands of people. These people can track their impact on public policy. So let’s get on board. Use that mobile device!

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

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

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

Erin Sanborn provides Executive Coaching and consulting services through Collaborative Green, based in Taos, NM. 575.770.2991, erin@collaborativegreen.com. Drew Tulchin is with Social Enterprise Associates, based in Santa Fe, NM. (www.socialenterprise.net)

Print PDF