November 2010

Nov.3, 11:30 am -1 pm

Monthly Luncheon – U.S. Green Building Council – NM

MCM Elegante, 2020 Menaul NE

Protecting Our Water with Low Impact Development. Counts as LEED CEU credit. Open to the public. Fees: $25 members, $30 non-members, $18 EP members. http://www.usgbcnm.org

Nov. 6, 5-8 pm

Isleta Hard Rock Hotel & Casino,11000 Broadway SE

3rd Annual event. Silent auction: 5 pm; Dinner: 6 pm; Waterlily Fashion Show: 7pm; To RSVP, call 505.362.6463

Nov. 6-7, 8 am-5 pm

PV Design and Installation Class

Yale Blvd., So. of Lead and Coal Aves.

Hands-on rooftop instruction and application. Instructors Marlene Brown of Sandia Solar Programs More >

As part of the package, which includes installation, Schott Solar will provide eight PV panels with four Enphase Microinverters and a UNIRAC roof-mounting system. Consolidated Solar will also provide engineering drawings and necessary permit applications along with assistance in applying for federal and state tax credits. “We are delighted to be able to help our local chapter of USGBC,” said Mike Mattioli of More >

We all know that the infrastructure of local food systems has been decimated over the past few generations. A few thousand of us, coming together under the banner of Slow Money, have begun working together to generate new sources of capital for the repair and restoration of some of what has been lost.

It’s going to take billions of dollars. Venture capital isn’t enough because the vast majority of small food enterprises don’t have the kind of proprietary technologies or scalability that venture capitalists require. Philanthropy isn’t enough because we are talking about farms and processing plants and distribution businesses More >

“Jewelry was once considered a talisman imbued with the energy of the earth, the maker and the divine,” notes the Reflective Images website, where quantum physics research that supports this notion is cited (www.celticjewelry.com). As founder and creative director of the jewelry line, Helen wanted the deep symbolism in her Celtic designs to be More >

• The Idea Bank – “I could make millions on that!”

Have you ever been joking around with friends and come up with what seems like a great moneymaking idea? I have. But I forgot what it was. I even have a friend who tosses them off… “Oh well, there goes another million dollar idea…” He’ll never make the ideas happen and he knows it. He doesn’t want to start any business. He’s happy doing what he’s doing. And who’s to say that the ideas would really make money, but…what if they would? If we could only remember what they More >

On October 2, one of the worst natural disasters in New Mexico history struck Kewa (formerly Santo Domingo) Pueblo. For almost 30 minutes, golf ball size hail pelted the Pueblo, located 20 miles south of Santa Fe. The hail piled up 5 inches deep.

“About 90 percent of the 600 homes on Kewa Pueblo were damaged by hail during the storm,” according to Mike Calabaza, the Pueblo’s incident commander. “The hail punched holes through roofs and flooded 540 houses with several inches of water, causing severe damage.”

172 homes are on the critical list. Over 750 people are in More >

The American environmental movement is grounded in sacred values: forbearance, awe and humility. It is a movement inspired by a profound love of place and the conviction that we are responsible for the future, as well as the present.

Notwithstanding the generosity of its ethics and the passion of its poetry, contemporary American environmentalism has struggled with the place of people in nature. By its roots in transcendentalism, environmentalism has segregated the social from the ecological realm—advancing a cultural preference toward nature as an Eden-like realm separate and apart from human society.

Inspired by Aldo Leopold’s appeal to nurture a More >

This is a time of year for choices. Is it possible to shift to a more meaningful way of celebrating? Will this be a time of personal stress or a time of peace? A season for gratitude and generosity, sustainable choices, and connection to family and friends is possible with your own interpretation of the holidays.

Rethinking the holidays can be a fun challenge for family and friends. Cultural, traditional meanings can still be held, while rethinking the commercialized and time-consuming trends of the past few decades.

In a world rapidly changing, there is a tendency to want more rather than More >

If you are concerned about climate change – and you should be – then these are not the best of times. The decision by the U.S. Senate to postpone climate legislation, perhaps indefinitely, coupled with the failure of the United Nations summit in Copenhagen last winter to produce an international treaty limiting greenhouse gases means Business-as-Usual continues to rule.

Meanwhile, the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere has risen to 391 parts-per-million (ppm) – 40 ppm above what many scientists consider a level necessary to keep the planet from becoming ice-free. And it’s rising at a rate of 2 ppm More >

Several new solar and wind energy projects are planned in eastern New Mexico. According to Frank Barbera of Tres Amigas, LLC, eastern NM has been identified as one of the richest areas for green energy in the U.S. Barbera is the Director of Reliability Assurance for Tres Amigas, a NM-based project that is to tie the nation’s three primary power grids together, increasing the reliability of the nations electricity and, according to the project’s proponents, encourage renewable power development. Barbera is helping develop a building project in Covis, NM.

Clovis has also received two grants, totaling More >