green fire times october 2012 edition

Vol. 4, No. 10October 2012 New Mexico’s FiFth Largest circuLatioN Newspaper

News & Views FroM the sustaiNabLe southwest

oLd ideas aNd ModerN techNoLogy to soLVe the eNergy crisis

the extraordiNary techNoLogy coNFereNce

the story behiNd wiLdFires

iaia: buiLdiNg a coMMuNity Food systeM

Green Fire Times • October 20122 www.GreenFireTimes.com

October 2012 • GreenFireTimes 3www.GreenFireTimes.com

Vol. 4, No. 10 • October 2012Issue No. 42Publisher

Green Fire Publishing, LLCSkip Whitson

MaNaGING EdItOrSeth roffman

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COPy EdItOrStephen Klinger

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dancer, Victoria Gonzales, Jack Loeffler, Maceo Martinet, Sayrah Namasté, Lisa

Mednick Powell, Seth roffman, Elizabeth Sánchez, Patrick W. Staib, Gary Vaughn

CONtrIbutING PHOtOGraPHErS

Charles bensinger, don bustos, Nicholas Chambers, anna C. Hansen, Jack Loeffler, Seth roffman

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Green Fire Times provides useful information for anyone—community members, business people, students, visitors—interested in discov-ering the wealth of opportunities and resources available in our region. Knowledgeable writers provide articles on subjects ranging from green businesses, products, services, entrepreneurship, jobs, design, building, energy and investing—to sustainable agriculture, arts & culture, ecotour-ism, education, regional food, water, the heal-ing arts, local heroes, native perspectives, natural resources, recycling and more. Sun Companies publications seek to provide our readers with in-formative articles that support a more sustainable planet. To our publisher this means maximiz-ing personal as well as environmental health by minimizing consumption of meat and alcohol.

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ContentsBack to the Future: old Ideas and Modern technology to solve the energy crIsIs 5los alaMos sMart grId Powers-uP 8the extraordInary technology conFerence 9solar newsBItes 13carBon econoMy serIes Back In santa Fe 14BenchMarkIng eMPowerMent 15BIoMass energy For a hydrocarBon earth 17BuIldIng a coMMunIty Food systeM: IaIa’s deMonstratIon garden 19a vIsIt to chIna oPens doors to north korea through sustaInaBle agrIculture 20FarMIng For a sustaInaBle south valley coMMunIty 21the story BehInd the wIldFIres 23wIldland FIre scIence at northern new MexIco college 23resPondIng to InstaBIlIty 27Faren dancer’s unIcoPIa green: the ProdIgIous Power oF our BelIeFs 33start today BeFore toMorrow Is gone 35newsBItes 37what’s goIng on 38

COVER: Aspens at Big Tesuque, Santa Fe Photo: © Anna C. Hansen

Green Fire Times is not to be confused with the Green Fire Report, an in-house quarterly publication of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. the NMELC can be accessed online at: www.nmelc.org.

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taos dryland red beans grow at the Institute of american Indian arts campus demonstration garden in Santa Fe. (Story, page 19)


EnErgy

Taking a trip “back to the future” can put us on track to solve the

“energy crisis” in (1) buildings (to energy-efficient construction and systems), (2) transportation (to elec-tric cars and trains), and (3) electric-ity generation (to renewable resources and distributed generation).

Solar power dates back to 212 B.C., when Archimedes advised Greek soldiers to use their curved bronze shields to concentrate beams of sun-light on Roman ships. Over 10,000 years ago, Native Americans used passive solar design in buildings and settled near hot springs that they used for cooking and heating. In the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci de-scribed the concept of a solar concen-trator that could generate heat and replace burning wood to save forests. In the early 1830s, the invention of the steam engine/electric generator turned heat into electricity. The first windmills were developed in Persia about 500-900 A.D. to automate the tasks of grinding grain and pumping water. The first large windmill used to generate electricity was built in 1888.

A Good Place to Start—Buildings Globally, buildings account for nearly 40 percent of all energy use and con-tribute more to world greenhouse gas emissions than all transportation sys-tems combined. Yearly carbon emis-

sions from US buildings are “greater than the total CO2 emissions of any country in the world except China.” 2

We need to design buildings that work with nature, transforming them from structures that consume energy into structures that produce energy; from air polluters into air purifiers; from re-source hogs into resource savers.

The Santa Fe architect, Ed Mazria, recognized the importance of energy-efficient buildings when he issued The 2030 Challenge to the global archi-tecture and building community. The challenge asks that new buildings and renovations of existing buildings in-crease energy efficiency incrementally to become carbon neutral by 2030. According to Mazria, The 2030 Chal-lenge targets can be met by imple-menting innovative, and sometimes quite simple, sustainable design strat-egies, generating on-site renewable power and/or purchasing (20 percent maximum) renewable energy.3

The most direct, immediate way to save energy and reduce greenhouse gases is to retrofit the nation’s 4.9 million older commercial buildings. In 2004, the Green Building Council created a stan-dard to encourage retrofitting. In 2007, Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, the larg-est commercial building in the world, officially became the world’s largest “green building,” using recycling, install-

ing energy-use meters, reusing n o n - p o t a b l e water and fix-ing leaky pipes. These simple, common-sense changes imme-diately dropped utility bills by 10 percent and water use by 35 percent, saving $100,000 an-nually. Chicago now has more than 250 simi-lar projects. In 2009 the Empire State Building also launched a $100-million green retrofit that included 6,500 win-dow replacements and a new air-condi-tioning system, at an estimated energy savings of $5 million annually.

Secondly, we need to build new buildings better. In 2030, according to a Brook-ings Institute report, about one-half of the buildings in the USA will have been built after 2000. In 2005, WalMart, the biggest private consumer of electricity in the US, opened an energy-efficient store in Aurora, Colo. The store’s foun-dation incorporates more than 500 tons of crushed, recycled concrete for mass. The store burns used vegetable oil from its deli and motor oil from its Tire and Lube Express for heat, generates elec-tricity with photovoltaic panels and uses waterless toilets and efficient lighting, re-frigerators and air-conditioning systems.

Another example—the new Bank of America tower in New York City—is the world’s first skyscraper to win the highest platinum rating from the Green Building Council. The building incorporates a wind turbine to gener-ate electricity and unique techniques for cooling, lighting, air handling and water use. For example, a hollow 14-inch chamber beneath the floors freely circulates cool air through floor vents, and “ice batteries” (large, water-filled steel tanks) are frozen at night, when the building’s power demands are low, and slowly melt to cool the building

during the day. Low-E, double pane glass windows, coated with “ceramic dots” to prevent overheating, provide natural light, and sensors track the arc of the sun throughout the day to automatically dim lights and turn off electrical equipment when not need-ed. The ventilation system monitors CO2 and exhausts cleaner air than it draws in. Rooftop cisterns capture rainfall on the 2-acre roof, the water is cleaned and funneled by gravity into bathrooms equipped with low-flow fixtures, and wastewater is recaptured, filtered and reused, saving about 7.7 million gallons of water annually. These examples demonstrate what can be done, but we need to do more.

A Second Huge US Energy Sector—TransportationAmericans consume 1.5 gallons of gasoline per person per day—four times that of the average European. Our national car fleet averages less than 23 MPG, which is about the same as Ford’s Model-T in 1908, and about half the MPG of current cars in Japan and the EU. This was not always the case. In 1889, Thomas Edison engineered an electric car with a rechargeable battery. By 1896, American car deal-ers were selling mostly electric cars. In the early 1900s, the U.S. automo-tive industry was split among three technologies—40% electric powered, 40% steam powered, and 20% gasoline powered. Detroit and the oil industry

BACk To THE FUTUrEOld Ideas and MOdern TechnOlOgy TO sOlve The energy crIsIs1

Peter Borgo

thomas Edison and an electric car in 1913

CONtINuEd ON PaGE 6Merchandise Mart, 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza, Chicago, Illinois uSa

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began to buy and destroy electric cars, close cable-car and bus companies and lobby against train travel. In 1996, General Motors built the EV-1, the first all-electric car produced by a major manufacturer. For the next 3 years, GM leased these cars to satisfied drivers and then recalled and crushed them. 4

We are beginning to take a step “back to the future” in the transportation sector. We are incorporating electric vehicles that use renewable sources of electric-ity as “fuel.” The hybrid Prius went on sale in December 1997. Today in South Korea, Japan and Detroit, the auto industry is designing hy-brid gas-electric and all-electric cars including “plug-in hybrids” to tran-sition from a gasoline to an elec-tric transportation infrastructure. In addition, cars spend more than 90 percent of their time parked—time when they are useless for their primary function. With an electric fleet and “smart grid” technology, the two largest and dirtiest indus-

tries in the nation (power utilities and the automotive sector) will be able to seamlessly and efficiently use the enor-mous battery-power generation capac-ity of the US. The current US national power grid was designed for a “one-way conversation” between power plants and consumers and wastes 5-10 percent of its generated power in transmission. In the same way that computer technology moved from large mainframes to net-work architecture, “smart-grid” technol-ogy can efficiently support a 24-hour-a-day “conference call” among millions of small power generators.

The Big Climate Change “Gorilla in the room”Coal-fired Power PlantsIt is not realistically possible to stop global warming while coal remains in the electric power generation mix. Even if the US eliminates all its coal burning, China and India are building two con-ventional coal power plants every week. In the last five years alone, China has built the equivalent of the entire US coal power plant fleet. By 2030, new coal-fired power plants worldwide will send 30 percent more CO2 into the atmosphere than all the coal that has been burned in human history.

Burning coal is a well-known local concern in New Mexico, given PNM’s Four Corners Power Plant and the neighboring coal-fired San Juan Generating Station. According to the EPA, the 45-year-old Four Cor-ners plant is the largest single-source emitter of nitrous oxide in the United States. Unfortunately, PNM is chal-lenging EPA cleanup directives and state law to include more renewable energy sources in its portfolio. PNM must be more responsive. With one small wind farm, five new solar plants, and the Prosperity Energy Storage Project (battery storage) funded by

the US Department of Energy, PNM is still out of compliance with current state renewable energy requirements.5

Most US power plants are more than 50 years old and have effectively reached the end of their life cycle. By replacing these plants with smaller, decentralized renewable-energy pow-er plants located near demand cen-ters, we have an opportunity both to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to jump-start the sagging Ameri-can economy. For example, the Bank of America tower in New York City uses an on-site natural gas-powered 5.1-megawatt “microplant” that cap-tures and recycles its waste heat. This “combined-cycle” system generates its own power three times more efficient-ly than getting it from the grid.

The road “Back to the Future”America’s lead in wind energy and solar systems forged in the 1980s has disappeared. Today, six of the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturers are located in Denmark, Germany, or Spain. Only one, General Electric Wind Power, is a US company. More than 90 percent of photovoltaic panels are manufactured outside of the US, mostly in China. The picture is not entirely bleak. The long-starved US energy R&D budget received a his-toric windfall in 2009 when Congress, under the Obama administration’s American Recovery and Reinvest-ment Act, committed $70 billion over the next 10 years for R&D on clean-energy technologies, “smart-grid” up-grades, and fuel-efficient vehicles.

Given NM’s huge solar potential, we must convince state and city government, the private sector and many citizens to participate in solar-energy development. Small projects are being implemented. The Kit Carson Electric Co-op in Taos encourages members to buy solar panels

or shares of panels that are added to a grid-connected community solar array. At the Foothills Com-munity Solar Array at Taos Char-ter School, community residents can invest $500-$600 for a share in a community solar project.6 In Albuquerque, the Albuquerque Academy is home to a one-mega-watt PV solar array—most likely the largest secondary school so-lar project to date in the US.

Four Corners Power Plant, Shiprock, New Mexico uSa

Electric vehicle charging station by Linograt, hosted by Positive Energy in Santa Fe


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on Sept. 17, a $53-million, state-of-the-art, international smart

grid project powered up in Los Ala-mos. The New Energy and Industrial Technology and Development Or-ganization (NEDO) of Japan, Los Alamos County and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil a photovoltaic array, a battery storage system, a smart house and an energy management system that will serve Los Alamos residents.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, together with NEDO Chairman Mr. Kazuo Furukawa, Congressman Ben Ray Luján, Los Alamos County Council Chair Sharon Stover, LANL Director Dr. Charles McMillan and Toshiba CEO Mr. Norio Sasaki, along with other key executives from major participating companies were part of the event.

The project will show how to pro-vide a high proportion of renewable energy on the electric grid to meet a community’s residential needs, while making the grid more efficient and stable. Data will be captured that de-scribes the most successful configura-tions and approaches. This will con-tribute to establishing international standards for energy solutions and help minimize environmental impacts worldwide. The demonstration will be

conducted through March 2014, after which there will be opportunities for other companies and institutions to conduct additional academic research and product testing.

The first system includes nearly 5,000 solar panels with 10 types of cells to evaluate efficiency levels. Afford-able Solar of Albuquerque oversaw the array’s design and layout. It is one of the first systems nationwide ever

constructed on a landfill. Other components of the project in-clude batteries that provide 8.3 megawatt hours of energy storage with state-of-the-art controls, a smart house equipped with

its own photovoltaic (PV) and battery system, a smart meter and smart appli-ances. Together they will smooth out the output of the PV, maintain voltage requirements under the feeder, and/or control the power costs faced by Los Alamos County by controlling peak usage. Electricity from the PV will provide power to a Los Alamos neigh-borhood of about 2,000 homes with smart meters.

The Los Alamos Smart Grid and the Mesa del Sol project in Albuquerque are two NEDO-sponsored projects within the NM Green Grid Initia-tive, which is fostering five smart grid projects. Other partners include San-dia National Laboratories, PNM and UNM. NEDO is Japan’s largest pub-lic research and development man-agement organization. i

For more information, visit www.LosAlamosSmartGrid.info

LoS ALAmoS SmArT Grid PowErS-UPLos alamos Smart Grid and Smart House ribbon cutting ceremony on Sept. 17

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1 MW photovoltaic array built by NEdO; a second 1 MW array will be built by Los alamos County


TEchnology

continued on page 10

From July 26-29, the Albuquer-que Marriott Pyramid hosted

the annual Extraordinary Technology Conference. And indeed, extraordi-nary was a good word for the infor-mation sharing that occurred during the data-packed conference. Just what was extraordinary in this context? The physics, the chemistry, the math and the many individuals who partici-pated, when taken together, created an experience beyond what one would normally expect from a traditional technical conference.

The conference was sponsored by TeslaTech Inc., of Queen Valley, Arizona, whose mission is to champion and nurture ad-vanced concepts and products in science and technology. Many of the concepts they promote originated with Nikola Tesla at the turn of the 20th century.

Foster Gamble kicked off the confer-ence with an introduction to his pop-ular and provocative film, THRIVE. The film has played to over six million people and has been translated into 20 different languages. This is an impres-sive feat for a non-Hollywood film—accomplished in just seven months.

“We set out to connect the dots,” said Gamble. “Our intention was to fa-cilitate the discussion of critical infor-mation. And energy is at the core of the problem—the problem being the massive amount of largely unneces-sary human exploitation and suffering in the world. Energy (or the lack of

THE ExTrAordinAry TECHnoLoGy ConFErEnCE a JOurney InTO PrOfOund POssIbIlITIes

Charles Bensinger

it) is used to control people. Nothing faster than giving everyone access to energy could transform the world.”

Responding to some of the criticism of his film originating from both the right and left sides of the political spectrum, Gamble explained, “People are hungry to talk about what’s re-ally happening in the world. This film is not about political ideologies. It’s about finding solutions based on in-tegrity and freedom. We are dedicated to finding ways to decentralize every-thing.” Gamble said, “There’s never been a more dangerous moment in history. And we’ve never had such an opportunity to make change.” To help with the transition to a more peaceful world, Gamble encouraged everyone to log onto the Solutions Hub on the website: www.thrivemovement.com

His last comment, “we never had such an opportunity to make change,” seemed, in retrospect, to nicely de-scribe what I observed to be the over-riding personal motivating force of the conference presenters who followed. Time after time in my individual in-teractions with the attendees or those on the podium, I felt the deep heartfelt expression of a personal commitment to making a better world. For the in-ventors it was about creating break-through technologies by spreading the good news about how affordable, non-fossil-based energy could be generated in homes or vehicles could be operated on easily available gases or liquid fuels, and how debilitating diseases could be cured. The excitement about po-tentially game-changing technologies and new ways of harnessing nature’s miracle elements was ever-present and palpable. And certainly, extraordinary change would result if and when some of the following technologies come into commercial application.

The conference covered a dizzying range of unusual technologies. Some focused on providing health and well-ness optimization, and others concen-trated on so-called free or zero-point energy.

A SAmPLinG oF ConFErEnCE ToPiCS: • Decrypting Rife’s Extraordinary

Technology • Rejuvenation of Telomeres • The GyroKinetic Prime Mover

(noble Gas Engine) • Cavitating Electrolyzers: the Key

to OverUnity • GEET: New Horizons • Tesla Waves, Biofields and

Aetheric Energy • CymaScope and the Science of

Sound • Practical Rodin Coil Generator

Application • Inertial Propulsion Breakthrough • Qualar Physics: Wave of the

Future • Top 5 Exotic Free Energy

Technologies

THE GyrokinETiC PrimE movErRobert Rohner presented his “gyrokeinetic” engine that utilizes a hermetically sealed telescoping gas char-ger filled with a relatively inexpensive, abundant and harmless volume of inert gases. These gases, a com-bination of argon, krypton, rubidium, phosphorus and helium, are subjected to controlled electronic pulse effects from an anode and cathode charged to 1,000 volts. Varying magnetic fields are induced to create a powerful expansion effect, which is used to move two opposing cylinders back and forth. Electrons are released in sufficient quantity to pro-duce significant horsepower.

Often referred to as a Noble Gas Engine, the engine was invented in 1980 by Joe Papp. Rohner worked alongside Papp for many years. Although Papp died without revealing precisely the physics of the engine or the optimum combina-tion of gases, Rohner and his team claim to have reconstructed working engines.

Moreover, they’ve begun to establish a worldwide manufacturing network that could soon begin distribution of the technology. The engine design param-eters are now in the public domain, and Rohner will sell the electronic control systems to licensed dealers.

The engine is very energy efficient, generating 70 percent less heat than a traditional combustion engine, and its weight-to-power ratio is astounding. A 300-pound Papp Engine can generate approximately 270 horsepower. Accord-ing to Rohner, the engine is not a heat engine and is thus not subject to Carnot Law limitations. Nor is it a thermody-namic engine. Rather it runs on a plasma cycle that makes use of the energy den-sity of nuclear sources, which Rohnert states “is at least 10 million times that of chemical processes.”

A non-working model of the en-gine was displayed at the conference. Rohner reps described how they would begin distribution of key electronic parts and engine assembly informa-tion. If they can pull this off, this could

Foster Gamble

Nikola tesla

Noble Gas Engine

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technology conFerence continued from page 9

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be a major game-changer. Noble gas engines could power a new generation of transportation vehicles and provide community-wide central-generation power plants, assuming the technology can successfully be scaled up. The web-site is: www.plasmERG.com

THE PowEr oF wATErClayton Nolte of the Arizona-based company Natural Action Technolo-gies introduced the concept of struc-tured water and described its many benefits. Structured water is really water in its natural state, akin to water moving across and over rocks, twist-ing and turning and becoming infused with oxygen and sunlight. Structurally, it’s different from tap water. Whereas tap water crystals when viewed under a microscope create 90-degree angles, structured water creates 60-degree angles. According to Nolte, structured water, when used in agriculture, can re-duce water use by 40 percent, can re-duce or eliminate water-borne toxins and contains greater life-form energy. In his words, “Structured water is hun-gry water, freed from limitation.” He added that, “Water’s destiny is to pro-tect us from the dangers of our envi-ronment. Water also has memory. Wa-ter remembers what it passed through.” For more information on structured wa-ter, see www.naturalactionwater.com

THE CymASCoPEErik Larson presented a scientific in-strument he designed and refined, which he calls the CymaScope. Cymatics is the science of sound and wave dy-namics. The CymaScope converts indi-vidual sounds or the resonant structures of multiple sounds, particulate matter, water and biological systems into high-resolution two-dimensional images. For example: an individual voice can be sampled, and elaborate and elegant pictures are created. The resulting im-ages are termed CymaGlyphs.

Larson exhibited many very impres-sive visuals via a large-screen video projector. One biological application of the technology is co-inventor John Reid’s recent research using the Cy-maScope to create dolphin “picture words”—imaging what the dolphin sees with its bio-sonar. More info on this research can be found at www.SpeakDolphin.com. Another recent application, accomplished in collabo-ration with the Smithsonian Institu-tion, was imaging the sounds of stars.

The imaging device is designed to sense and record the phenomena of magnetic particles or sand grains reassembling themselves when spread across a taut, stretched membrane of the appropri-ate material and exposed to a particular sound. When the membrane is impact-ed by a sound, the particles create ele-gant and symmetric shapes, depending on the sound source— much like ripples in a pond. It’s also called “resonant ge-ometry”— how the sounds we make resonate with nature and probably vice- versa. I suspect this phenomenon may have something to do with the forma-tion of crop circles in fields.

Larson emphasized how water can serve as a powerful medium for sound expression as well. Quoting famous psychic Edgar Cayce as say-ing, “Sound and water will be our next medicine,” Larson noted that since our bodies contain so much water (60 percent), the best way to utilize sound to create a resonance with our bodies is through water. Thus, great potential exists for using sound and water for healing purposes. Most interestingly, he described how when we speak we create toroidal bubbles. The toroid is a donut-shaped energetic structure. Although we can’t see these bubbles, they can be imaged with the Cyma-Scope. For some reason, dolphins are quite fond of producing toroidal bub-bles, which are easily visible in water.

When asked to contrast analog sound reproduction systems with digital, Larson answered that he considered analog as superior to digital. He be-lieves analog reproduction is able to capture a wider range of multiple resonant frequencies than digital. He described digital as a kind of stripped-down sound. For more info on the CymaScope see www.cymascope.com

THE AmAzinG GEET EnGinEOne other engine technology received lots of attention at the conference— the GEET Fuel Processor. The Global Environmental Engine Technology was invented in 1983 by Paul Pan-tone, who created the GEET Interna-tional Institute. Pantone’s goal was to teach prospective engine builders how to utilize the plasma/vacuum process that underlies the engine technology. Over the years, hundreds of students have attended GEET workshops from the US, Europe and other coun-tries. GEET engines are being used in city vehicles, farm equipment, as gen-erators and in boats and jet airplanes.

The GEET engine combines several scientific principles, most of which fall within the normal rules and laws of thermodynamics. But an operating engine exhibits numerous phenomena or anomalies not yet fully explained by conventional combustion physics. The GEET engine apparently operates on a plasma medium that is created by utilizing the exhaust heat of the en-gine transferred to the incoming fuel vapor, which must be maintained in a vacuum. The liquid is vaporized in such a way that a molecular break-down or reaction occurs, liberating significant amounts of energy. Certi-fied GEET technician and instruc-tor Daniel Gonzales demonstrated a working model at the conference built by one of his students in Cali-fornia. He explained that the GEET

engine is a miniature refinery that has the ability to transmute elements into other forms; that is, liquids into plas-matic gases. He termed it thermoiner-tia. “The engine runs much cooler,” he said “and the process increases energy efficiency by at least 50 percent and reduces emissions by 70 percent.”

But, don’t think you can easily con-vert your current computerized, fuel-injection vehicle to a GEET engine. The GEET requires a carburetor-type fuel introduction system. Conversion would necessitate a bypass of the fuel injection system and computer logic control, standard in most vehicles.

Daniel fired up the demo engine, a small lawnmower unit fitted with a GEET carburetor using a fuel mixture of 20 percent gasoline and 80 percent soda and coffee. Yes, you read that right. After adding a small amount of gasoline, he poured in a can of Dr. Pepper and one large cup of coffee. Much to everyone’s amazement, the

to learn more about how a GEEt engine works, how you can build one yourself or become a dealer, consider attending a GEEt workshop. See www.geetinternational.com. an abridged GEEt workshop may be presented in Santa Fe in 2013. If you are interested, send an email to [email protected]


adding dr. Pepper to power GEEt engine at the teslatech conference

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Back to the Future continued from page 6

A private developer assumed the cost of the $5-million array that will provide the Academy with more than 2 million kilowatt hours annu-ally, approximately one-quarter of the school’s annual electricity use, under a buy-back agreement. In Santa Fe, the Buckman Direct Diversion project water-treatment plant has a 1-mega-watt PV system and is considering expansion. The Santa Fe Community Convention Center is installing PV panels for 10 percent of its electricity, albeit a bit “after the fact.” The Santa Fe Skies RV Park on South 14 runs on 55 percent solar energy, and for 11 of the last 12 months, the owner has gotten a check from PNM instead of paying the utility. More and more people are choosing to generate part of their residential electricity with PV panels. During 2011, Santa Fe Coun-ty and the city of Santa Fe reported 53 and 69 building permit listings for solar installations, and more than 500 systems were installed between Las Cruces and Santa Fe. 7

No area today has the potential to re-flect “American ingenuity” more than “clean technologies”—nonpolluting energy sources and the energy-effi-cient buildings, transportation sys-tems and power plants that will use them. The shift away from fossil fuels and the maximization of energy effi-ciency equipment and techniques in a 21st-century energy sector require support from the US government and the private sector. There is no “silver-bullet” solution to the changes needed to develop an economically and envi-ronmentally sustainable 21st-century energy sector. It will be more of a “silver-buckshot” solution, where a complementary set of existing tech-nologies, and some innovations, will dramatically improve energy effi-ciency in our individual and collective lives and diversify our power sources to provide clean, pollution-free en-ergy. We can successfully move into the future in energy technology while reconnecting with the past! i

Footnotes1 Reference: Power Trip – The Story of America’s Affair with Energy by Amanda Little, published by Harper-Perennial (www.harperperennial.com), 2009. 2 United States Climate Change Science Program Synthesis and Assessment – Product 2.2, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, May 20073 http://architecture2030.org/4 Documented in the film “Who Stole the Electric Car.”5 The Santa Fe Reporter, PNM’s Solar Dilemma, June 6-12, 2012, page 17.6 Green Fire Times, Northern NM’s Solar Energy Future: Community Solar Projects and Scenario Planning, May 2012, page 5.7 Home Magazine, PV Solar More Popular Than Ever, March 2012, page 24.

Peter Borgo i s an e n g i n e e r w h o h a s worked for over 30 years in the US, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Asia, Eastern Europe, North

Africa and the Middle East. Most recently he worked for the United Nations Development Program to identify renewable-energy and energy-efficiency projects in the electricity sector in Iraq and for the US Agency for International Development on a 5-year strategy to support renewable-energy and energy-efficiency project implementation in Jordan. He can be reached at [email protected].


s o l a r N E W S B I T E s GreeN Tech Firm TO Lease schOTT sOLar PLaNTMcCune Works, Inc., an innovative green technology firm, has announced that within six months it will lease Schott Solar’s 200,000-square-foot Mesa del Sol manufacturing plant in Albuquerque for photovoltaic panel production. Because of a competitive domestic and global market, Schott closed the plant, which em-ployed 250 people, in June. Beginning in early 2013, mcCune Solar works LLC will make solar modules under the new logo “Hott Solar Pv.” mcCune works also intends to produce other environmentally conscious products at the plant and expects to employ about 130 people, many of them former Schott employees.

Founded in 2005, McCune is a federal contractor that produces green materi-als, products and building components and specializes in solar-powered, disas-ter-relief shelter and housing. The company sells in domestic and international markets, as well as to developing countries, and offers consulting, research and development services. In addition, McCune is currently developing an affordable electric vehicle.

“We look forward to providing affordable and non-polluting renewable energy throughout new mexico,” said CEo Chuck mcCune. “Furthermore, we intend to provide 100 megawatts of installations in 2013 through our Power New Mexico Program.” www.mccunesolarworks.com

FirsT sOLar TO BuiLd Nm PrOjecTsFirst Solar, Inc. has signed agreements to construct four solar power plants to-taling 20 megawatts of generating capacity for PNM Resources, Inc. The com-pany will provide engineering, procurement and construction services, using its advanced thin-film photovoltaic modules. PNM has the option to expand the agreement to 22 mw. The solar plants will generate enough energy to power about 7,000 homes and displace about 31,000 metric tons of CO2 annually. The plants could be in service by the end of 2013 if approved by the NM Public Regu-lation Commission (PRC) in November.

Because of a worldwide glut of solar panels, the new facility will cost about 40 percent less than a similar facility PNM built in 2011, which cost $90 million. The PRC approved a rate rider in August that will cost the average customer about $16 per year to pay for that project. PNM is likely to request another rate rider in 2013 to cover the cost of more renewable energy facilities. PNM also has about 25 megawatts of solar capacity through customer-owned PV installations, plus 200 mw in wind generation on the grid.

PNm seeks TO reduce reNewaBLe eNerGy crediTsUnder a proposal submitted to the state Public Regulation Commission, NM’s major utility, Public Service Company of New Mexico, would reduce its Renew-able Energy Certificate (REC) Program, which provides credits to customers who install solar photovoltaic systems to power their homes. The REC program has also helped PNM address the renewable energy portfolio standard set by the state, although the utility has failed to meet the standard for the last two years and has asked for a waiver from the regulators.

Credits were already slashed by more than half in the last year after PNM sought to eliminate the program. Under PNM’s current proposal, credit would be further reduced along with the contract period. The utility would pay four cents a kilo-watt-hour for systems of 10-kilowatt capacity or less, and cap contracts at eight years. Systems between 10 kW and 100 kW would decline by half a cent every six months for four years. Systems that generate over 100 kW would make two cents per kilowatt-hour.

For the average home, solar photovoltaic systems currently cost $12,000-$16,000. RECs, as well as state and federal tax credits, have helped offset this significantly. Be-sides saving money on electric bills, however, self-reliance and reducing their carbon footprint by not relying on fossil fuels are other reasons people install PV systems.

PNM has justified its position by citing the declining price of PV systems and the costs the company charges other customers to offset the program. PNM also says it would be more cost-effective to build and own its own large solar power plant and expand its three current PV facilities than to rely on hundreds of thousands of customer-owned rooftop systems.

PNM’s net metering program, which provides about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour for the electricity a building produces, will not be changed by the proposal before the PrC..


carBON ecONOmy series Back iN saNTa Fededicated to teaching sustainable knowledge and practices, the Carbon Economy Series returns to Santa Fe Community College from October 2012 through June 2013. The monthly weekend workshops teach principles and practices for land, soil, water, waste, organic food production, and how to positively affect climate change from a local perspective. There will be oppor-tunities to learn aboriginal living skills, regenerative agriculture, sustainable tourism, Permaculture site design, and creating edible food forests. There will also be a women’s symposium on ranching, gardening and farming.

A partial list of speakers includes: Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm, who, without pesticides, fertiliz-ers, tractors or oil, has produced more pounds of protein per acre then any other farmer; interna-tional Permaculture designer phenomenon Darren Doherty; Gunter Pauli-trained zero-waste guru Gary Liss, and author/ecol-ogist David Jacke.

Organizer Iginia Boccalan-dro says, “The knowledge these workshops offer is vital to sta-bilize climate change, make our land more resilient, increase public health, create jobs, reduce

waste, increase productivity, revitalize property and increase revenue.”

Local businesses, schools, nonprofits and community groups are sponsor-ing the series. They are helping make it possible to provide some discounts to deserving students. Sponsors include: Arete Consulting Group, Camino de Paz School and Farm, Ecological Living Center, Green Fire Times, Inn of the Governors, Joe’s Diner, La Montañita Food Co-op, Los Alamos National Bank, Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute and Soil Symbiotics.

carBON ecONOmy series scheduLe

Each weekend workshop is preceded by a public talk at 7 pm on Friday evening.octoBer 20–21: aBoriginal living skills with Matthew BruMMettnoveMBer 10–11: local Food systeMs with Joel salatin and toM delehantydeceMBer 8–9: regenerative agriculture with darren dohertyJanuary 12–13 tourisM and sustainaBle developMent with daniel MiraBal and Maria BoccalandroFeBruary 23–24: no More garBage: Zero-waste with gary lissMarch 16–17: perMaculture Boot caMp with iginia Boccalandroapril 13–14: woMen’s gardener, FarMer, rancher and land owner trainingMay 25–26: gardening like the Forest with dave Jacke

For details or to register, visit: www.carboneconomyseries.com, call 505.819.3828 or 818.913.2877.

Joel Salatin at Camino de Paz School & Farm in Santa Cruz, NM, Summer 2012


rEnEwablE EnErgy

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“GRID INTEGRATION” is utility-speak for adding photovoltaic (PV) and wind power sources to the tra-ditional fossil-fueled electrical power system. There are very real challenges to adding high levels of PV and wind power to traditional utility grids. These issues are now getting a lot of attention, not only from some of the more progressive utilities themselves, but also from university research-ers, National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) staff and the US military.

Many traditional ultra-risk-adverse utilities still cling to the belief that even a modest percentage of wind and PV power integration is too expensive, intermittent and unreliable to bank on. At the same time, the US military has committed to a major investment in Renewable Energy (RE) precisely because it wants cost-effective, reli-able and completely self-sufficient power sources that are immune to fuel supply disruptions and potential util-ity grid failures. Fascinating, isn’t it?

A state-regulated electrical utility usually fits the definition of “big busi-ness.” It has deep pockets, powerful political clout and access to teams of seasoned lawyers, sympathetic expert witnesses and cooperative financial wizards. The utility’s costs related to rate cases, regulatory hearings and

BEnCHmArkinG EmPowErmEnTGary Vaughn

even pollution lawsuits are normally completely covered by customer rate increases. The issues involved are com-plicated, highly technical and often involve mind-numbing accounting methods using proprietary financial information. And utilities have access to powerful national utility lobbying and advocacy resources. Consumer advocates, nonprofit organizations and even state utility regulators are at a huge disadvantage in these contests.

“Benchmarking” is the process of comparing a business’s policies, prac-tices, performance and even strategy to industry “best practices.” It’s a well-recognized business-school-approved method for encouraging “continuous

improvement.” Turns out that bench-marking is also a potent weapon for energy policy advocacy and citizen empowerment. While it’s difficult to counter an entrenched utility’s PR ma-chine, sophisticated misrepresentation of information and hidden financial flim-flam, it’s relatively easy to point out crystal-clear examples of what other similar utilities are successfully doing in nearby states. Let’s take a look at some of these examples and contrast them with PNM’s current positions.

Adapting to renewable Sources: Wind and PV power sources have very different characteristics than standard fossil-fueled generators. Utilities that expect RE sources to

“conform” to traditional utility rules complain a lot. Utilities that adjust their operating procedures to be more compatible with their RE sources are far more successful at “integrat-ing” RE. Not that many years ago, the Colorado division of Xcel Energy was highly resistant to integrating RE. A combination of political pressure and common sense changed Xcel’s point-of-view. Xcel has now joined a grow-ing number of “progressive” utilities in its attitude toward renewables. PNM still complains a lot.

distributed Generation: Many re-searchers and several utilities have documented significant advantages

Solar array in the parking lot of the albuquerque Veterans affairs Medical Center



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to distributed generation, including a reduction in transmission line loss, reduced maintenance costs for trans-formers and other components and improved power system “robustness.” Traditional utilities like PNM are all about centralized power generation and distribution—a business model that may well be challenged in the not-too-distant future.

Time of Use Rates: Utilities use rela-tively low-cost nuclear and coal-fired “base-load” generation to satisfy aver-age daily power demands and relative-ly high-cost natural gas-fired “peak-ing” generators to meet afternoon peak demands. Many utilities adjust their rates hourly to compensate for this difference. This means that PV and daytime wind power sources should be credited with much higher “earning power.” But not in PNM’s territory.

Energy Storage: The lack of utility-scale energy storage is often cited as a major barrier to the adoption of wind and solar power. Yet there are a growing number of utilities in the US and around the world that are already successfully managing grid integra-tion levels that far exceed what we have here in NM—without utility-scale storage. NREL published a 2010 study, which found that in the west-ern US, a wind/solar penetration of 24 percent was practical without re-quiring storage, assuming that utilities were willing to make certain opera-tional changes. PNM is touting their involvement in the “stimulus”-funded “Prosperity Energy Storage Proj-ect.” Fair enough, but PNM’s recent PR campaign seems to be using the Prosperity Project to bolster its argu-ment that RE isn’t practical without utility-scale storage. That’s clearly not true, and there are plenty of examples to prove it.

rE Penetration: SMUD, the Sac-ramento city-owned electric utility, which is actually larger than PNM, achieved 24 percent RE penetration in 2011, and they are heading for 30 percent. Xcel Energy in Colorado is on track to meet the state’s 30 percent RE mandate. Utah utilities are adding wind power as fast as they can, with-out any state mandate at all. North Dakota, Wyoming and Minnesota al-ready get at least 10 percent of their

power from renewables, mostly wind. Iowa and conservative South Dakota already have the highest wind-power penetration in the country, at 20 per-cent, without either utility-scale stor-age or state mandates. After missing the 2011 target date, PNM has prom-ised to reach 10 percent RE in 2013, but only because the NM Public Reg-ulatory Commission (PRC) is forcing it to.

Peak Shaving: Researchers and a few “engaged” utilities have confirmed that PV systems can do a good job of reducing expensive summertime af-ternoon peak loads, even without util-ity-scale storage. In the summer they orient their PV panels about 45 de-grees west of due south to match the peak PV output to the afternoon peak demand. Utilities on the coast have reported that a 70/30 mix of PV and wind works well for peak shaving. The wind turbines fill the early evening demand by harnessing the dependable late-day sea-to-land breezes. PNM is claiming that it needs sophisticated utility-scale energy storage solutions to “time shift” the output of its fixed, due-south-pointing PV installations.

intermittency: PV systems temporar-ily turn down or even off when cloud shadows roll by. That’s just a fact, and one that certain utilities like PNM love to emphasize. But researchers working with interested utilities have confirmed that PV systems that are more than a few miles apart don’t turn off at exactly the same time. The more PV systems and the more geographi-cal diversity, the smoother the average PV grid-tied result. This is essentially a “free” voltage-smoothing benefit, and it is quite significant. The same is true for wind turbines. PNM’s re-cent public presentations ignore this benefit. In addition, many utilities are starting to pay very close atten-tion to site-specific weather forecasts and weather satellite data. The result is that they can anticipate cloud cover and wind events and thus greatly re-duce their use of expensive and pollut-ing standby generators. Xcel Energy in Colorado used to keep its backup generators operating all the time. It doesn’t do that anymore. PNM still does—which unnecessarily drives up its RE-associated costs.


renewable Energy

Biomass energy is like a solar battery. Through the process of

photosynthesis, the earth’s hydrocar-bon economy is constantly banking the sun’s energy as biomass while fix-ing atmospheric carbon and releasing oxygen. In contrast to other biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, biomass energy technologies are primary en-ergy sources that can utilize the raw, solid and usually by-product forms of organic resources. Two specific tech-nologies that can be extremely com-patible to New Mexico’s abundant daytime sunshine and existing solar/wind technologies are anaerobic di-gestion and wood-chip gasification.

Anaerobic digestion is a wet, bio-chemical process that harnesses a pri-meval consortium of microorganisms to yield a methane-rich biogas. This biogas can be used to generate elec-tricity and heat directly, be scrubbed and compressed for use as bio-meth-ane in automobiles or natural gas grid-injection, or be used for the one remaining gap in the small-scale re-newable energy portfolio: instanta-neous cooking and water heating. The other co-product of anaerobic diges-tion is an NPK-rich organic fertilizer that is actually more valuable than the gas. Therein lies one of the principal

BiomASS EnErGy For a HydroCArBon EArTHNicholas Chambers

tenets of biomass energy: the co-product is usu-ally more valuable than the primary product. With an-aerobic digestion we are investing in our soil-building and food-produc-ing capacity just as much as we are in-vesting in decen-tralized, 24/7, and carbon-neutral en-ergy production.

On the other side of the biomass energy spectrum, wood-chip gasifi-cation is a thermo-chemical process where we use heat to deconstruct solid, biomass hydro-carbon molecules into the constituent gases, primarily hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Hydrogen is widely known as the hallmark of a renewable energy future, and carbon monoxide, along with being an insidious poison, is also a fuel gas. These gases are collectively called producer gas and can be used to run a spark-fired, internal combus-

tion engine to generate elec-tricity. The co-product of an electrical generator set is copi-ous amounts of hot water: 4-5 times the amount of electrical energy will be available as hot water, which can also be more valuable than the electricity. With wood-chip gasification, we are running micro-heating districts as much as we are powering communities with clean electricity, independent from the sun shining or wind blowing.

The other main tenet of bio-mass energy technologies is that they are not static energy devices like solar panels that are made in some factory and when installed produce energy without any further commu-nity involvement or economic

rippling. Biomass energy involves many segments of a functioning econ-omy by providing jobs year after year while contributing to positive stew-ardship of our farmlands, forests and atmosphere. There is always feedstock procurement (civil collection, farmers or forest product workers), transpor-tation from source to bio-refinery, op-erations and maintenance (mechanics, fabricators and bio-refinery techni-cians), and the administrative support staff to keep it all happening.

Biomass energy installations can also have a very favorable EROI (Energy Returned On Energy Invested) of 85 percent and potentially more. In the words of municipal wastewater treat-ment engineers who operate plants of 2-4 megawatts electrical, biogas is like “free energy,” available for the taking in the things we are already doing with organic materials we are already treating.

Similarly, in the series of simultane-ous and instantaneous gasification reactions, the gasifier ends up liber-

Biomass energy provides jobs year after year while contributing to positive stewardship of our

farmlands, forests and atmosphere.ating its own oxygen supply in sub-stoichiometric conditions from the biomass itself, thereby releasing more energy as gas and heat than the en-dothermic reactions require to sustain themselves.

Biomass energy technologies are ready for deployment from the bot-tom up, for communities and by com-munities. In this same movement, we find we will also be keeping organics out of landfills, localizing fertilizer production, tending diseased forests, and displacing fossil fuel expenditures and associated carbon release. i

Nicholas Chambers is a small farmer who operates Living Arts Systems, LLC, a design, build and installation company for food and energy systems operating in southern Colorado

and northern NM. He is also the Biomass Energy instructor for Santa Fe Community College’s Biofuels Center of Excellence. You can reach him at [email protected].

this GEK, or wood gasifier at SFCC, demonstrates how rural communities can use wood-chips to easily make electricity. Lots of third World villages purchase this equipment to power entire villages.

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Cost Caps: Many states, including Colorado and NM, have imposed “cost caps” to limit the amount that utilities must spend to meet state-imposed RE mandates. Colorado’s cost cap is very similar to NM’s. That hasn’t been a problem for Xcel Energy, which continues to add renewables by choice. In NM, the cost cap has been used creatively by PNM to try to avoid adding additional renewables. PNM doesn’t admit to ANY benefit from RE sources other than fossil-fuel cost displacement.

interconnect rate riders: A few years ago, several major SW utilities attempted to impose extra charges on customers who “grid-tied” their PV systems to the utility system, arguing that these PV systems were actually costing the utility money. In the two most prominent cases, independent third-party studies concluded that these grid-tied distributed PV systems were, in fact, saving the utility money, so the rate riders were not approved. PNM has promised it will demand a grid-tie PV rate rider in 2013.

Energy Efficiency: Many utilities talk the talk, but then adopt only modest initiatives such as efficient lighting and appliance rebates. In general, elec-trical cooperatives have been much more supportive of energy-efficiency programs. In ultra-conservative Okla-homa, Oklahoma Gas & Electric is leading the nation in energy-efficien-cy initiatives, having concluded that it can earn serious profits by helping its customers save money. PNM contin-ues to struggle to meet NM’s modest energy-efficiency mandates. PNM’s “energy efficiency committee” has no trouble coming up with good ideas.

PNM executives veto most of them.

Electric vehicles: EV sales this year are lower than some had forecast, but make no mistake, EV is a big deal. And the combination of plug-in hy-brids and full electric vehicles with PV charging stations is starting to take off for sound economic reasons: the payback for EV owners can be im-pressive. GM is partnering with Sun-Logics; Tesla is partnering with Solar City; Nissan and Ford are partnering with SunPower; BMW is partnering with Active-E. NRG, a Texas util-ity, is leasing residential EV charging systems bundled with special time-of-use rates. The buzz is that “forward looking electric utilities are active in promoting electric vehicles.” PNM executives are apparently looking in the opposite direction.

PNM deserves some credit for not be-ing a member of the dwindling “no-way” utility club. At one time it might even have been fairly described as “not opposed” to RE, but these latest utility benchmark “best practices” prove that current PNM management is stuck in “de Nile.” In fact, some of these best- practice examples completely under-cut PNM’s current strategy as well as several of its recent formal proposals to the NM PRC. This just shows how ordinary folks can use a few “best- practice” examples to expose utility-scale “untruthiness.” Are you feeling empowered yet? i

Gary Vaughn is a licensed professional engineer, a renewable energy advocate and vice president of the New Mexico Solar Energy Association. www.nmsea.org

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SuSTainablE agriculTurE

Although the faculty had integrated agricultural curriculum into the In-

digenous Liberal Studies and Museum Studies departments, opportunities for hands-on student agriculture and scien-tific research at the Institute of Ameri-can Indian Arts was lacking until two years ago, when a garden was planted to demonstrate and promote Indig-enous agricultural methods for food and medicinal crop cultivation. The garden includes corn, beans, squash, peaches, lettuce, onions and other fruits and veg-etables, some of which are used in the school’s cafeteria.

The plot is designed and maintained by the school’s Center for Lifelong Educa-tion, local tribal members, students and faculty. The assistant garden manager is Paul Quintana Jr. of Cochiti Pueblo. Teresa Kaulity (Kiowa) and Jacki Smith (Navajo) are the work-study garden and greenhouse staff.

IAIA is now one of several tribal colleges across the nation engaging in programs to revitalize traditional food cultivation, harvesting and cooking. IAIA students are mentored in small-scale traditional food crop production, including soil preparation, irrigation methods in dry climates, and the benefits of organically produced foods. The project is repre-sentative of IAIA’s 1994 Land Grant mission to offer culturally sensitive cur-riculum that incorporates cultural and historical identity. This includes work-study, internship training and commu-nity outreach that promotes tribal sover-eignty and self-determination.

Students also survey family participation in farming, gardening and a healthy eat-ing program, and IAIA’s research team is providing mentoring to Santa Fe Indian School students in agricultural and envi-ronmental science.

A US Department of Agriculture grant has strengthened IAIA’s collaboration with New Mexico State University, a fellow Land Grant institution, through NMSU’s Alcalde Sustainable Agricul-ture Science Center and NMSU’s ex-tension services, which offer beginning farmer and rancher programs. A USDA grant also made it possible to build a

iaia’s 50Th aNNiVersary ceLeBraTiONThe Institute of American Indian Arts is the nation’s only four-year institution dedicated to the study of contemporary Native Arts.

IAIA will host an open house and 50th anniversary celebration from 10 am-5 pm on October 13 at the IAIA campus at 83 Avan Nu Po Road in Santa Fe. Events will include panel sessions on IAIA’s impact on creative writing, Indigenous studies, museum studies, studio and new media arts. There will also be campus tours, storytelling by Stephen Fadden (mohawk), oral history presentations, faculty and student exhibitions and demonstrations, and opportunities to view IAIA’s museum collection, which includes artwork created by students since the school opened in 1962. In addition, there will be a foundry bronze pour at the Sculpture Complex, and experimental video by students and staff in the world’s only fully moveable Digital Dome, as well as food, music and games.

For more information, call 505.424.2351 or email [email protected].

BUiLdinG A CommUniTy Food SySTEmIaIa’s deMOnsTraTIOn gardenStory and Photos by Seth Roffman

top: IaIa’s Center for Lifelong Education; center: Project manager Luke reed in herb garden; bottom: CLE coordinator Jacquelyn Gutierrez (Santa Clara Pueblo) and IaIa food service bon appetit manager Guido Lambelet in greenhouse

greenhouse to start plants and serve as an experiential classroom.

“The overall intent is to teach how to help build a whole community food system,” says Luke Reed, USDA Re-search & Extension Project Manager. “Local year-round food production can improve people’s food habits by infusing greens and healthy foods into communi-ties’ diets.” i

For more information about IAIA’s agriculture and nutrition research programs, contact Luke Reed at [email protected]


in August 2012, I had the oppor-tunity to travel to Dalian, China

as part of a farmer-to-farmer cultural exchange program. The farmers I met there were able to sell what they grow in the open markets, and after they make their state quotas, have brokers sell the larger amounts. Wholesalers drive their trucks to the farms, buy directly from the growers, and then transport the produce to the city to sell to restaurants and stores. On sev-eral occasions, I saw vendors selling directly to the hotel where we were staying. Also, each day, local street markets sold live seafood. What they didn’t sell would be offered for dinner at restaurants.

korean FarMer-to-FarMer exchange with the usWhile in China, as part of our tour, I was able to meet with four farm man-agers from North Korea. China and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK, commonly referred to as North Korea) are both Communist countries but function differently. Un-der the direction of the government, the North Korean farm managers are in charge of cooperative farms, which are given quotas for agriculture pro-duction. Because of the different re-gions where the crops are growing and infrastructure limitations, their farming operations are very diverse. The woman manager I met ran a 1,750-hectare operation with fishing boats, farmland and orchards, along with the mandatory rice and corn pro-duction. Her challenges include steep slopes, erosion of soil, and very limited infrastructure and resources. The four managers were very intelligent, and had keen eyes toward learning new technology for winter production us-ing solar energy, soil management and conservation.

A viSiT To CHinA oPEnS doorS to north korea through sustainaBle agriculture Don Bustos

One of the main points of interest for me was the tour of the University of Shenyang’s Agriculture and Sustain-ability program. We went to three dif-ferent research centers there. The first was focused on winter production. It had walls built from brick and pumice blocks, and there were some freestanding cold frames. The North Korean farmers were given cold-frame kits to extend their growing seasons. They were interested in growing high-value crops for their coop-eratives and communities. They hoped that these crops could generate sales, which could then be reinvested into their com-munities.

Accompanying us was a North Korean transla-tor by the name of Mr. O. Mr. O has apparently been one of the few North Ko-reans who have regularly trav-eled outside of their country. I believe he is one of their more progressive thinkers and has gained respect from some of his countrymen. Our group also in-cluded a chief engineer from one of the North Korean farms. He was very quiet and respectful. His main respon-sibility is to keep all of the equipment running. A soil scientist from the ASE, a branch of the North Korea agriculture services, was especially in-terested in the soil laboratory at the Chinese agriculture station where soil is tested for all the Chinese farms. Ex-tension agents then distribute the rec-ommended kind and amount of fer-tilizers needed. The seventh member of the North Korean delegation was Mr. Ling. He was the only one who actually stated that he works for the DRPK prosecutor’s office. I think he was the assigned government officer.

The whole tour was very well de-signed, and protocol was always fol-lowed. In some instances we were told

in what order to enter rooms, and the seating arrangements were studied be-fore the meetings. When we met with Chinese delegations, we usually had a Chinese Cultural Affairs attaché with us. I had the sense that the Chinese were watching the North Koreans, the North Koreans were watching the Chinese, and both sides were watch-ing me, the American farmer.

The education system in China is very different. Not only do students not get to pick their education levels; they do not get a choice of their career. That is determined by several factors, by oth-ers. Another strange thing is that the professors charge for their services.

First they negotiate a price for a tour and a short introduction to explain what services they offer. If more is wanted, then a contract can be entered into if the government approves. In those cases the government of-ficials are offered a fee for their services. The season extension researcher in Shenyang was a professor at the solar green-house research center. He had several students working with

him on design and placement. When asked by the North Korean farm-ers for very specific details on build-ing, growing times and methods, he said if they wanted more information he could provide construction and materials for a fee. He has his own consultation firm.

The North Korean farmers were very interested in experiencing other methods and then taking those ob-servations and adapting them to their needs for growing food to feed their communities and country. It was clear that both counties were withholding information from each other. And after spending time with the other farmers, I could understand why. The reasons are many, and in some in-stances, historical in nature.

On one of the travel days I asked the farmers what their country looked like. Immediately, all the other folks in the

It was clear that both counties were with-holding information

from each other.On October 10 at 6pm, don bustos will present a pub-lic talk on his trip to China, complete with photos and a short video. the event is be-ing hosted by Willem Malten at the Cloud Cliff building, 1805 2nd Street in Santa Fe.


Organic farm at university re-search center in Shenyang, China

don bustos and Linda Lewis, director of the asian office of the american Friends Service Committee, with a delegation from North Korea

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“we wanted to dispel the myth that you can’t make a liv-

ing farming,” says Don Bustos, direc-tor of the New Mexico program of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). AFSC is an international nonprofit organization and Nobel Peace Prize recipient that has worked in NM since 1976 to create economic viability through training small farm-ers in sustainable agricultural practic-es, thereby protecting land and water rights and traditional cultural practices.

AFSC’s hands-on, farmer-to-farmer training program teaches beginning farmers high-value-crop selection, sequential planting, crop aggregation, year-round production in passive-so-lar cold frames, and managing a farm-er network. Teaching farmers to ag-gregate their produce was Don’s idea to help them access larger markets.

AFSC partnered with South Valley-based community organizations La Plazita Institute and Valle Encanta-do in 2009, with significant funding from the USDA. These organizations recruited community members who wanted to learn to farm and provided training sites that were developed into more than a dozen small farms in Al-buquerque’s South Valley.

The trainees participated in AFSC’s popular year-long program by work-

FArminG For a SUSTAinABLE SoUTH vALLEy CommUniTyPatrick W. Staib and Sayrah Namasté

ing together on their farm tasks, pro-cessing and marketing. The group training provided an ideal opportunity to learn the cooperative approach to aggregated production and marketing. “You’re like my brothers now,” said a farm trainee to the others in his class. “If anything goes wrong at your farm, I’ll come out and help fix it, and I know you’d do the same for me.”

AFSC, La Plazita Institute and Valle Encantado established and operated a farmer-owned network that conducted sales, marketing, processing, permitting and coordination. The trainees named this farmer-owned network The Agri-Cultura Network (ACN). By the end of the first year of the project, ACN was servicing seven restaurants, two grocery outlets, had obtained vendor status and won a bid to supply produce to the lo-cal food program at Albuquerque Public Schools (APS).

The project partners and AFSC staff soon discovered that coordination of a produce-for-market operation over several sites required significant oversight and logistical support. By the second year, ACN was operating seven sites, with six farmers working to aggregate their harvests. ACN was supplying almost 150 pounds of salad mix to APS a week and had devel-oped a system for ordering, process-ing, packaging, labeling, distribution and invoicing. In one year, the trainees more than doubled their food produc-

tion and more than tripled their sales.

AFSC also taught trainees how to construct cold frames for year-round greens pro-duction for wholesale and institutional markets. This kept the farmers busy in the cold months. An important facet of this effort was to emphasize collective plan-ning events. AFSC worked with the Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension of-fice to conduct business planning workshops and held group seed selection workshops that culmi-nated in a collective seed order. The AFSC project team also worked with ACN farmers and incoming trainees to schedule planting dates and vari-eties around seasonal availability and marketability.

One innovation as a result of these events was to coordinate farms to share the expense of early-season plant starts. ACN farmers worked with AFSC staff to select diverse heir-loom tomato varieties and then to get the tomato starts in the cold frames before the last spring freeze. ACN farmers grew a wide array of tomatoes and were able to bring them to market much earlier in the season.

As a result, the farmers learned to target higher price points through maximiz-ing the appropriate technology of cold

frames with drip irrigation to get a head start on tomatoes and then extend their harvest into November. It was the farm-ers themselves who enacted this inno-vation, based on their observations and experience from the previous growing season. AFSC simply provided technical and logistical support.

One wonderful but unexpected impact of the program was the community participation. Much of the land the trainees farm has been lent to them by community members, including a few widows, who saw the farms in their neighborhood that AFSC and the partners developed and wanted their land to produce food again. The inter-generational relationships and com-munity revitalization that resulted ex-ceeded everyone’s expectations.

As this project draws to a close in October 2012, AFSC is proud to be implementing similar training and aggregation models in Anthony and Embudo, NM. While there is no uni-form approach to community devel-opment through sustainable farming, the shared experience of farmers and communities willing to collaborate will help ease new groups’ transitions. There is much work to do, but this in-novative approach is likely to help ac-complish the goals of preserving water rights and reducing food insecurity within New Mexico. i

Patrick W. Staib and Sayrah Namasté work for the American Friends Service Committee and were key to the success of this project. Contact: 505.842.7343

SuSTainablE agriculTurE

Farmers’ market at Nob Hill in albuquerque

agri-Cultura Network members

don bustos harvesting garlic at NNMC’s Sostenga field in Española, NM

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a visit to china continued from page 20

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van were listening. I was given three publications from North Korea to look at from the government official. One of the most eye-opening things I wit-nessed was the first time the other folks from North Korea saw pictures and stories from their country-men and women. My un-derstanding is that living in their country, people are not encouraged or sometimes cannot travel inside their own country. One of the impacts of that is that there is very little farmer-to-farmer exchange, and this hinders the ability of the ASE to spread the information need-ed to change and improve their food system.

recoMMendations For change These are a few of the experiences I had on what I believe was the first farmer-to-farmer exchange program between North Koreans and New Mexico farmers. I witnessed the power of reg-ular people sharing ideas and having

some of the same values of family and community. It was an effort toward building trust and learning what it is really like in each other’s countries. On this tour, I felt that some of the participants saw the North Koreans as inferior on several levels. I think more exchange programs of this sort should be developed. It will take a culturally sensitive approach, one that utilizes respect and equitable treatment. i

Don Bustos is an International Agriculture and Trade Policy fellow working for American Friends Service Committee. [email protected]

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wildfirES

while the mainstream media has grudgingly begun to talk about the con-nection between global warming and destructive wildfires, there is an

important connection not being made. Today’s wildfires, now often called mega-fires, are much worse than those of the past due to human mismanagement of the forests. This mismanagement is based on how humans relate to fire and how we relate to the communities that depend on the forests.

The US Forest Service (USFS), the agency tasked with managing approximately 100 million acres of public forest throughout the West, believed from its inception in 1905 until the 1980s, that fire was the enemy of American forests and must be suppressed. Gifford Pinchot, the USFS’s first chief forester, often proclaimed that fire was the “dragon of destruction.” To drive this message home, the For-est Service issued various posters depicting fire shaped as the devil. The policy of fire suppression effectively removed the ancient role that fire plays in forests. For millennia, Southwestern forests experienced a natural cycle of small, low-intensity fires ignited by lightning every three to 15 years, which removed piles of dead wood and young trees, resulting in a forest with a mosaic of open meadows. As a result of our fire suppression policy, our forests went from having about 25 trees per acre to today’s dense thickets of about 1,000 trees per acre. As reported in a recent Na-tional Public Radio broadcast from the Jémez Mountains of New Mexico, these dense forest thickets create megafires so hot, they literally cook the soil, wiping out the soil’s microorganisms and completely changing the basic nature of the forest.

While 100 years of fire suppression is largely responsible for current forest condi-tions, another contributing factor has been our policies to remove the Indigenous and Hispanic community stewardship of the forest. Communities were restricted from harvesting firewood and other traditional uses that could have helped re-duce the dense forest thickets we see today. This policy of reducing traditional uses of the forests effectively made the population dependent on a labor market that did not respect their labor, their culture, or the forests they depended on. The forest and forest communities were subjected to contracts with large timber

on June 26, 2011, lunchtime pa-trons at Española’s La Cocina

emerged from the restaurant to see a thin plume of smoke rising from the Jémez Mountains into the after-noon sky. Less than 24 hours later, the ragged plume had become a rag-ing wildfire covering 43,000 acres of northern New Mexico. It would con-tinue spreading until Aug. 2, when it was finally contained; by then the Las Conchas Fire had gained the distinc-tion of being the largest wildfire in NM history at 156,000 acres.

Some wildfires begin with a spark from lightning or from a careless smoker’s smoldering match. The Las Conchas Fire started when a falling aspen tree that had been cooked to tinder by the

THE STory BEHind THE wiLdFirESMaceo Martinet

companies, more concerned with extracting profits than with forest and community sustainability.

inSTiTUTinG A JoBS ProGrAmHaving learned from its mis-takes, the USFS now sees fire as an important and natural ingredient for a healthy for-est, and prescribed burning as a cost-effective treatment to restore forest health. To re-duce the threat of megafires, we need to use a combination of both prescribed burns and mechanical thinning. This, of course, is a major task, consid-ering that since the 1990s we have only done mechanical thinning and pre-scribed burns on only 3 percent of all public forested land throughout the West. There is no way that we can treat the remaining 97 percent unless we have a massive jobs program to restore our forests. In a time of budget cutbacks, you might think this would cost the taxpayer too much to implement. However, considering that we already spend about $1.5 billion a year to fight wildfires (not including what we spend on the recovery), then surely we need to spend some money to prevent them.

A jobs program that helps reduce the threat of megafires can simultaneously bring back the health of the forest, along with long-term economic security for communities. To thin and conduct prescribed

wiLdLAnd FirE SCiEnCE AT norTHErn nEw mExiCo CoLLEGELisa Mednick Powell

high desert heat struck a power line. The spring winds, normally fierce enough, were stronger than usual and lasted into early summer, fanning the sparks into a blaze that helped the fire progress at a record pace.

Less than one year later, the Las Conchas fire was outpaced by the lightning-ignited Whitewater-Baldy Complex Fire, which consumed over 200,000 acres. This fire in the Gila Wilderness spread quickly across steep and jagged terrain, where firefighters cannot go. Dr. James Biggs, director of both Environmental Sciences and the Wildland Fire Science Program at Northern New Mexico College explained, “You cannot put personnel directly in front of the fire because it

may be too risky. Therefore, you may need to build a fireline many miles out ahead of the fire and burn the fuel, essentially starving the fire.”

Regional fire history is an important component of Wildland Fire Science, so it is worth looking at a brief chro-nology of fires in northern NM. The perception of what constitutes a large fire has shifted in comparison to what a large fire looked like in the relatively recent past.

In June of 1977, the La Mesa fire burned 18,000 acres. This was fol-lowed by a lull in fire activity. The next 15 or so years constituted a “wet period,” during which, according to

Dr. Biggs, “things started heating up, growing fast and thick—which result-ed in a fuel buildup.”

By the time the Dome Fire occurred in 1996, burning 19,000 acres, the en-vironment had begun to dry up. This dry period continued through 1998, when the Oso Complex Fire burned just under 6,000 acres, until 2000 when the region suffered the Cerro Grande Fire. The Cerro Grande Fire was, at the



dr. biggs’ Natural resource Science and Management students on a field trip

Las Conchas wildfire on the outskirts of Los alamos, June 2011

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THE ToP 5 ExoTiC FrEE EnErGy TECHnoLoGiESSterling Allan, creator of the Pure Energy Systems or the PES Net-work, wrapped up the conference with a presentation of his Top 5 Ex-otic Free Energy Technologies. Allan, more than anyone else, has doggedly tracked the development of clean/free energy technologies over many years. His New Energy Congress, founded in 2005, seeks to bring together cred-ible and knowledgeable scientific tal-ents to evaluate the range of emerging energy technologies with commercial potential. His efforts have been critical in terms of distinguishing the scam-mers and hucksters from what might truly have the potential of shifting the world away from our near-total reli-ance on fossil-fuel energy systems. His goal is to encourage and identify those new energy technologies that are, in his terms, “environmentally friendly, scalable, sustainable, robust, affordable and practical, and have behind them a solid team of technical and customer support.” He assured us that no less than 30 genres of free energy con-cepts/devices exist.

His top choices as detailed in his Pow-erPoint presentation are as follows:

1. Rossi E-Cat: a cold fusion device. Founder Andrew Rossi demonstrat-ed a ½ MW (Megawatt) device in Italy in October 2011. The company claims that a 1 MW unit could sell for $1.2 million. They plan to intro-duce a 10 kW (kilowatt) home unit in the near future.

2. Praxen Defkalion Green Technolo-gies: This Company demonstrated a 5 kW reactor in September 2011 in Greece, which attracted much atten-tion. See www.defkalion-energy.com for more info.

3. Solid State Power Generator: Inven-tors in Salt Lake City demonstrated a solid-state power generator the size of a postage stamp. The process has received third-party confirmation. The device generates very low but continuous power by harnessing the movement of atoms. This technol-

ogy would be ideal for powering cell phones and small electronic devices. Commercial distribution is planned for late 2013.

4. The PlasmERG Noble Gas Engine: PlasmERG. This engine’s outstand-ing features include only five moving parts, negligible fuel cost, high-power plasma effect and very high power-to-weight ratio. See www.plasmERG.com

5. Brillouin Energy Corporation. www.brillouinenergy.com. This technology is based on what’s called LENR or Low Energy Nuclear Reactor. It uti-lizes a boiler that produces 600-degree Celsius heat through a “controlled electron capture reaction.” This device would serve as a convenient and very clean home heating unit, eliminating the need for oil, propane, natural gas or electricity for heating and cooling. Stanford University is currently test-ing the technology.

Allan emphasized that Free Energy could serve as a bulwark against cer-tain major global challenges that our world currently faces. Free Energy Technologies can:

• Counter the rising price of food and buffer economic collapse by reducing transportation and energy costs

• Bring about a more peaceful world by reducing or eliminating destruc-tive global competition for fossil-fuel resources

• Give hope to people that a new, clean-energy revolution is on the way

• Offer perhaps the only practical means to avert additional global warming and eventual catastrophic climate change

• Facilitate building a new economy by

decentralizing and localizing energy production

• Dramatically reduce the deleterious environmental effects of our current extractive energy industry

Allan provides an E-Newsletter that tracks how these technologies are developing. For more info see www.peswiki.com

in SUmmAryIn summary, two key focal points seemed to emerge from the confer-ence— water and the torus. Certain presenters highlighted the generally unacknowledged healing qualities of water and others focused on the enor-mous energy hidden in the molecular nature of water.

Water, of course is ever-present in our reality. It covers two-thirds of the planet’s surface and comprises a major component in our terrestrial biomass, including all our food products and 60 percent of our body weight. “Water is everything,” one presenter noted. “It’s the most powerful energy on earth. It can take the form of a crystal, and it’s piezoelectric and pyroelectric. It has memory and responds to sound and emotion.” The water molecule is com-posed of hydrogen and oxygen atoms, both normally highly explosive gases when separated, but when joined to-gether, they readily extinguish fire. Without water, life would not have been possible on Planet Earth. Hu-mans would not and could not exist. Many of the technologies presented at

the conference rely on water in some form for their effective operation.

The torus or toroid is a fascinating uni-versal structure that describes how en-ergy is processed and recirculated in nature at microscopic and planetary scales. It also figured prominently in the explanation of the workings of the various exotic technologies. When the researchers strove to explain how their devices could generate and recirculate enormous amounts of energy in ways that appear to challenge standard laws of physics and chemistry, the mecha-nism that surfaced time and time again was the toroid. The torus is a central character in the THRIVE film. The film documents how ancient civiliza-tions the world over often cited the to-rus as the source of fabulous power and universal equilibrium. Perhaps now we are rediscovering how the powers of wa-ter and the torus can reshape our global future into one of profound healing and abundance for all. i

Charles Bensinger is Biofuels Program Director at SFCC. He also developed Renewable Energy Partners of New M e x i c o , w h i c h manages the biofuels dispensers inside the Giant Conoco and

Phillips 66 retail stations on Cerrillos Road. Email: [email protected], 505.466.4259

technology conFerence continued from page 10 TEchnology


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PErSPEcTivES

Consider this. We became who we are as a species around 200,000

years ago, responding to some greater urge to evolve that prevails within the biotic community. By the end of the Pleistocene, we practiced a time-hon-ored hunter-gatherer lifestyle, relying on our individual and collective wit to survive by reaping the bounty offered by the flow of Nature. The whole of our planet was a wilderness where some-times we ourselves provided a whole-some meal for other predators, our de-composed remains enriching the soil to provide nutrients.

During the warming trends of the early Holocene, we began to develop agricul-ture, and with that, civilizations began to blossom into being, a condition that thinkers like Paul Shepard and Edward Abbey considered to be the beginning of the nightmare of human history. It certainly heralded the moment when humanity began to lock into becoming the keystone species of this planet. Met-aphorically, we left the “Edenic” phase of existence, and segued into a different level of consciousness.

We are now 11- or 12-thousand years into the Holocene that some people consider to be at an end, having waned into the Anthropocene epoch, so named after ourselves; our species now seems to be the most powerful force on the planet. That is a profound distinction, an ele-ment of which is that we can apparently no longer be self-governed because there are far too many of us, and not everyone is altruistic because the survival instinct is more compelling than mutual coop-eration—as is the urge to power.

Governance has taken many hues over the millennia, as has reli-gion. At times, the two have integrated and empires have arisen, most of them now settling into the dust of an-tiquity. Voltaire pointed out that “Man will never be free until the last king is stran-gled with the entrails of the last priest,” which author Edward Abbey loved to re-attribute to Louisa May Alcott, much to the dismay of the faculty and student

rESPondinG To inSTABiLiTyJack Loeffler

body at the University of New Mexico. But that’s a different story.

Two-and-a-third centuries ago, the newly born nation of the United States of America formed a government “of the people, by the people, and for the peo-ple.” It required a revolutionary war to wrest this land from the British Empire. Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of this new nation, himself a slaveholder, looked to the future through an agrar-ian lens whose clarity was soon obscured by the Industrial Revolution. Thus the new nation of farmers was gradually subsumed by growing technology that was vigorously applied until we became what we are today—something of a technocracy; an empire unto ourselves, having perfected the parlaying of natural resources into a giant system of econom-ics where, until recently, most of us luxu-riated in the highest standard of living while concurrently spewing monstrous amounts of carbon dioxide into the at-mosphere as a by-product of our per-ceived energy needs; a nation where the government serves the will of the people less than the corporate will of those who have specialized in making lots of money with which to buy power—political and

otherwise. Lord John Dalberg-Acton, the so-called magistrate of history of 19th cen-tury Britain, is quoted as having said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power cor-rupts absolutely.”

This, of course, is obvi-ously a simplistic ren-dering of the extraordi-nary course our nation

has taken. We have been a great nation, a compassionate nation. We have defend-ed other nations against that which they and we regard as wrong-minded attacks from without. While being perhaps the greatest military force in world history, we ostensibly seek world peace. We have produced great art, great music, great literature, great institutions of higher learning, while at the same time we have wrought extraordinary havoc within our biotic community, our life support sys-tem. We are a particularly complex study in conflicting absolutes. It would be a grievous shame if we were to collapse be-cause we failed to muster the conscious-ness to thwart the growing probability of disaster of our own making.

We are now launched into a realm of climate instability created by our spe-cies. Much of this instability is the re-sult of the inordinate amount of carbon dioxide that we have emitted into our atmosphere from the smokestacks of power plants, the tailpipes of our cars, our jet engines, the hot air exuded by politicians—our lifestyles. None of us is exempt. Each of us bears some respon-sibility for the dwindling state of our biosphere, thus contributing to a form of jeopardy that is not reliably predictable, but with which we and our descendants must now contend, ready or not.

In the August 4, 2012 issue of New Scientist Magazine, Michael Marshall wrote an intriguing article entitled “Ru-ined,” wherein he pointed out that over the last four millennia, great civiliza-tions including the Akkadian, Hittite, Egyptian, Mayan and several others went belly-up during times of extended drought. Some might chalk this up to coincidence; however, we can imagine how running out of water must be a major contributor to cultural instability, conceivably leading to collapse.

As the climate becomes less stable, ba-sic necessities, including water and food, are likely to become less abundant, more expensive and increasingly difficult to come by. As culture destabilizes, mu-tual cooperation gives way to personal survival mode. Chaos must ensue if the progression ultimately plays out to failed habitat, collapse of biotic community that includes the human community.

Cultural instability and climate instabil-ity inevitably coincide.

Doom mongering is not a classy pastime. And for one like myself who is geneti-cally optimistic, the irrefutable evidence that assails my intellect on a daily basis causes me to cast about, all but announc-ing, “The sky is falling!” Granted, we are vastly more equipped with technology and scientific understanding to deal with problems of this magnitude than were folks of earlier civilizations. But they lived in a time when the human popula-tion was under one billion. We are now at seven billion and rising.

We’re coming up on a major election in this democracy of ours. Thus far, democ-racy has seemed to be, if not proved to be, the best political system yet devised in the civilized world. However, Lord Acton cautions us yet again: “The one prevailing evil in democracy is the tyr-anny…of that party…that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.” Does anything come to mind?

Another evil that has come to this democ-racy of ours is the limita-tion of politi-cal choices that have come to prevail. Not only are we a two-party sys-tem; both par-ties are domi-nated by a form of economics that is based on extracting finite resources to provide jobs and en-ergy to run a civilization that is faltering. Neither has as yet put health of habitat at the top of the agenda. Without long-term healthy habitat, economics in its current form is doomed. Growth for the sake of growth is obviously doomed any-way in a world of finite resources.

Our two-party system reflects vastly different realms of consciousness. One realm asserts that we must charge in and extract what’s left of our waning oil and gas reserves regardless of damage to habitat in order to revive another decade

It would be a grievous shame if we were to collapse because we failed to muster the

consciousness to thwart the growing probability

of a disaster of our own making.

Edward abbey: “Growth for the sake of growth is the ide-ology of the cancer cell.”

Lord acton: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”



or so of false prosperity. That seems to be the realm of consciousness that presently prevails in the office of the Governor of New Mexico, and also the mind of the man who would dislodge our current president from office.

The other realm of consciousness seems far keener, far more encompassing, al-though greatly handicapped by having inherited the shambles left by the previ-ous administration, thereafter continu-ally hampered by a Congress intent on thwarting every attempt to restore order to our dreadfully bifurcated culture. Bet-ter, then, to head Congress off at the

impasse and seek solace in the words of Henry David Thoreau: “Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?—in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then?”

Perhaps human conscience, once thought to be one of the highest attri-butes, has been rendered obsolete by the system of economics in which we have been rapaciously engaged ever since 1845 when John L. Sullivan coined the term “Manifest Destiny,” thus firing westward expansion and empire.

I believe that conscience continues to exist, as does true consciousness. I also believe that liberal application of con-sciousness will provide the clarity to proceed in “good conscience” through the coming decades—part of which will include a careful scrutiny of the very way governance is actually achieved by fed-eral, state and local governments, and initiating a gradual practice of decentral-ized governance from within home hab-itats/watersheds/bioregions. This con-sciousness must also include the relative health of homeland, and indeed include homeland as the “chair” of the homeland

council which is comprised of citizens duly elected to their seats, and who hold their unpaid positions for no longer than two years. The primary concern should be health of habitat. It would wise for habitat residents to make well-informed documentation of species of plants and animals, annual precipitation, nature and capacity of aquifers, average dates of sea-sonal cycles, and far more—in a word, the lore of the land.

We desperately need to devise and per-fect a system of steady-state economics, abandoning the limitless growth system that accompanies unchecked population growth that has brought us to the edge of the precipice. We also need to revise an education system to include “ecosys-temology,” for lack of a better name, so that the young learn their place in Na-ture from an early age.

We live in the land of clear light where the Sun shines far more than it doesn’t. And the wind blows, frequently with an inten-sity that may seem alarming to those unfa-miliar with wind gods who stir dust devils to action, and range freely across the face of the high desert. Sun and wind are the sources of energy that can be tapped and thus allay gouging yet more coal and ura-nium from the soil, and pumping oil and gas from beneath the Earth’s surface. This may cut across the corporate will—but it’s now time to cut across the corporate will and take control of homeland with clear conscience and conscious recognition that much of the law of this land was designed to serve a corporate will to power.

In his brilliant essay, “Resistance to Civil Government,” Henry David Thoreau wrote: “All men recognize the right of revolution: that is, the right to refuse al-legiance to, and to resist the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.” Although he wrote these words in disgust of a gov-ernment that condoned slavery, they certainly apply to the unconscionable conduct of the Congress of the United States over these last four years. Less than two decades after Thoreau wrote his essay, our country was engaged in the Civil War, our culture sundered in a way that took more than a century to heal.

In this time of climate instability, we have to admit to our cultural instability. But rather than engaging in violent rev-olution pitting conscience against greed, we can nurture grassroots activism and

invigorate consciousness as to the needs of homeland. We can think like a water-shed and react accordingly. We can con-tinue to use the democratic process to elect government officials who recognize that the needs of homeland far exceed the needs of coffers to be filled. And we ourselves can become engaged at home. My old friend John Nichols once said to me, “Growing a tomato is a political act.” Indeed it is, and by extension, nurturing the foodshed within the watershed is a vital step in restoring the handcrafted lifestyle that we all may soon be required to adopt in order to survive.

To do these things in the spirit of mutual cooperation is far better than in a state of mutual antagonism. At this point, no one can accurately predict what the next decades will bring, but we are all well ad-vised to proceed in good conscience and clear consciousness. In his compelling essay, “The Land Ethic,” Aldo Leopold wrote the following passage: “Perhaps the most serious obstacle impeding the land ethic is the fact that our educational and economic system is headed away from, rather than toward, an intense consciousness of land. …Quit thinking about decent land use as solely an eco-nomic problem. Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and estheti-cally right, as well as what is economi-cally expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” i

Jack Loeffler is the author of numerous books, including Healing the West: Voices of Culture and Habitat. Jack Loeffler and Celestia Loeffler are contributors and co-editors of Thinking Like a Watershed, an anthology of essays

published by the University of New Mexico. For more info, visit www.loreoftheland.org

ThiNkiNG Like a waTershed By jack LOeFFLer and ceLesTia LOeFFLeriSBn: 978-0-8263-5233-0, 280 pages

Anthology explores past, present and future of water use in the Southwest

In North America’s arid Southwest, water is the rar-est of the four elements. Yet for thousands of years, the landscape has nurtured and influenced many cul-tures, its history recorded in fossils, rock art and tree rings, as well as written accounts such as essays and interviews collected in Thinking Like a Watershed (University of New Mexico Press).

Produced in conjunction with the documentary ra-dio series watersheds as Commons, this anthology offers a variety of voices, including members of Tewa, Tohono O’odham, Hopi, Navajo, Hispano and Anglo cultures, sharing perspectives shaped by the con-sciousness and resilience that comes from successfully enduring the harshness of their environment. Inspired in part by the thinking of the great explorer John wesley Powell, who articulated the notion that the arid American west should be seen as a mosaic of watersheds, and the pioneering ecologist Aldo Leopold, who recognized the need for a land ethic guided largely by conscience, the work’s true inspiration can be attributed to the spirit of the mythic landscape of the Ameri-can Southwest.

Thinking Like a Watershed is available at bookstores or directly from the Univer-sity of New Mexico Press: 505.277.2346, www.unmpress.com

responding to instaBility continued from page 27

Philip Whalen: “Money is the roost of all eagles.”

H.d. thoreau: “Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward attaining it.”

© Ja

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Behind wildFire continued from page 23

burns in an environmentally conscious way requires professional training on a whole range of skills, such as forest and fire ecology and learning about our rich land-use history. Employees would be trained on how to bring back the biodiversity of the forest and make the forest community more resilient to climate change. This ini-tiative could also provide resources to de-velop small entrepreneurial companies and co-ops, which could creatively market the wood extracted from these thinning proj-ects. For example, wood products could be used to restore soil health, make firewood, or pellets for home wood stoves, or be used in alternative-energy technologies such as co-generating heat and electricity. More importantly though, this jobs program could help empower local communities to develop their own sense of community.

This is not a new idea. In 1992 a commu-nity-based timber company in northern New Mexico called La Companía, argued that timber management should be done in an ecologically sustainable way, allow for local traditional uses of the forests such as gathering food and medicine, and support local school infrastructure and curriculum.

The megafires that have been scorching the earth and our homes are a wake-up call for us to rethink how we manage fire, and how healthy forests are directly tied to the health of the local community. If these fires are the new normal, then we need to develop the new forestry jobs of the 21st century—jobs that can pay a living wage while at the same time take better care of the land and community. Too often we get tricked into thinking that we only have a choice between putting food on our plates or keeping our environment healthy. But as the story behind the wildfires shows us, these two issues are one and the same. i

Maceo Carrillo Mar-tinet, Ph.D., is a New Mexico-based ecologist/educator working on ecological restoration and community-based environmental educa-tion. He can be reached at: [email protected]

If megafires are the new normal, then we need to develop the new forestry jobs of the 21st century.


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time, the most destructive and costly fire in the United States, and further damage occurred due to subsequent flooding in the region.

Located on two campuses, one in Española and one 28 miles away in El Rito, where the Wildland Fire Science class-es take place, Northern New Mexico College is an ideal loca-tion for the study of this topic. The Jémez and Sangre de Cris-to Mountains frame the lush El Rito Valley, and the campus is located within Kit Carson National Forest. This program has seen a dramatic increase in enrollment in the past year, per-haps due to the increased fre-quency of large wildland fires.

In addition to fire history, the coursework includes the study of the ecological role of fire, which can include clearing out accumulated fuels, such as underbrush, dried leaves and grasses, replenishing nutrients in the soil and controlling both disease and insect populations.

It is important to note that fire plays a natural and positive role in wildland ecology and forest restoration. Under

the right conditions, fire is of benefit to the environment and should be al-lowed to burn.

“To restore forests we need to restore fire and other natural disturbances,” says Dr. Biggs. He adds, however, that any human-caused fires should be im-mediately extinguished; conditions today are less than ideal due to climate change and other factors affecting fire regimes.

Thanks to a grant recently awarded to Dr. Biggs by the Experimental Pro-gram to Stimulate Competitive Re-search (EPSCoR), NNMC’s El Rito campus will soon house a Fire Ecol-ogy and Simulation Laboratory. The new lab will be part of Northern’s Agroecology and Biological Research Station, which will include a soil laboratory. There, according to Biggs, “students will research the hydrologic characteristics and carbon dioxide emissions of burned versus unburned areas. They will also study simulated fire predictive models in the Carson National Forest.”

wildland Fire science continued from page 23

Dr. Biggs has identified a need to edu-cate people about the relationship be-tween fires and other biological com-ponents of ecosystems, such as soil and water. In that regard, the new lab will also include research opportunities for undergraduate students and the gen-eral public, and will feature outreach to K-12 students and teachers. The lab will also host informative workshops for the public, policy-makers, the me-dia, and of course students—so that all may become better informed about fire’s rela-tionship to the environment. i

Lisa Mednick Powell is a staff writer at N o r t h e r n N e w Mexico [email protected], www.nnmc.edu

aftermath of the Las Conchas Fire in the Jémez Mountains of New Mexico


we don’t necessarily have to roll up our sleeves each day in an effort to clean up the mess. We must recognize that we have the power to grab the reins of our thoughts and accompanying feelings, to project a positive future. In doing our part to transform fear into hope and defeat into triumph, we express our contribution to planetary evolution. i

Faren Dancer is an award-winning designer, builder, educator and activist. His UNICOPIA GREEN RADIO show, each Saturday o n K T R C ( 1 2 6 0 A M ) , i s simulcast at santafe.com. The archived shows are available at www.unicopia.org. Email: [email protected]

PErSPEcTivES

many of us have noticed the rap-id acceleration of change that

is occurring both individually and col-lectively. You don’t have to watch the news to perceive that various aspects of our culture that previously seemed tolerable, or perhaps held in denial, appear to be crumbling as a result of unsustainable foundations. It is a time to become witness to our patterns of behavior, to confront the imprints of our social conditioning and to take re-sponsibility for the outcomes precipi-tated by our actions. This is especially worthwhile, given that these actions are often driven by subconscious mo-tivations spawned from programming derived from the church, the state, our peer groups, our lineage and from the pool of human DNA.

The vast majority of humanity appears to be driven by deeply embedded core beliefs that personify individuals, communities, societies and nations. We define ourselves religiously, po-litically, geographically, by skin color, language and countless other delinea-tions. We believe who we are based on these definitions. But wrapped in this perspective, based on belief, we lose sight of our source, from which all of life springs forth, forgetting the unity and the commonality of the life expe-rience, the very essence of who we are in spirit.

Then there’s the not-so-subtle mixed message of religious fanaticism that has impacted the planet for thousands of years—each time expressed in the name of a belief system determined to be the only correct methodol-ogy sanctioned by the Creator, and then thrust on others or defended to the death. The Crusades during the Middle Ages set the tone for the mass exterminations to follow, designed to eliminate those whose beliefs differed enough from those who yielded the mightier sword and whose delusions propelled their dastardly actions. It somehow hasn’t occurred to many, af-ter a brief glimpse at history, that the very gods and prophets so worthy of defending had no connection to these acts of inhumanity, and apparently

promoted a much different message of peace, tolerance and compassion. After a moment of review, it is evident that intolerance, bigotry, self-righ-teousness and misguided power have propelled the human story of hatred, war and inhumanity throughout his-tory. Might this not be a perfect time to take a breath, go a little deeper and contemplate a different perspective? A walk in nature might be a good place to start.

Given what is occurring with climate disruption and the rate of world pop-ulation growth, with its ever-expand-ing intrusion into what remains of our natural environment, it has become imperative that the human race take a deeper look at the beliefs that foster separation and alienation from nature and from each other. It is the unity perspective, or a form of belief that considers the rippling effects of our actions with consequences for which we must be conscious, that will drive the thrust toward a sustainable future. How can we resist the possibility of becoming more aware, more conscious of our thoughts, even though much of our thought process is spurred by motivations that appear outside of our present awareness? The answer is... we cannot. If we are to prosper through these times of Earth- and societal transition, a simultaneous period of decline and evolution, where old in-stitutions, non-serving thought forms and outdated beliefs are stripped away by the sheer energy of change, we must seize the present opportunity to adopt a new understanding of what is possible and recognize the power of our thoughts.

As a result of breaking out of uncon-scious patterns of belief and the evolv-ing capacity to operate on a less self-centered perspective, which includes the premise that every action has some effect on all of life, we can grow to en-compass an awareness of the common good. This necessary shift of aware-ness is a natural evolution of what has already been occurring throughout the centuries. With this, a responsibil-ity and respect for all of life, the belief

that through action, word and deed, we can create models of cooperation and right livelihood that will propel us (and the planet) in a direction that will be sustainable.

Interestingly, there are thousands of good news stories around the world for every story of strife, war and in-humanity, though these don’t typically make the headlines. Humanity has also evolved a heart and an inherent belief in the triumph of the human spirit as witnessed in grassroots move-ments across the globe where people are uniting in the pursuit of peace, freedom and environmental justice, while realizing the instant rewards of harmony and cooperation. This is the beginning of an expanded experience that promises far greater possibilities for humankind. This evolution begins with each individual who desires to be a proactive part of the solution, and

The Prodigious Power of our Beliefs


PErSPEcTivES

Think of our world. What are its issues? What are its needs? We,

living in a First World country, tend to believe that the world’s needs only re-volve around us. Have you ever imagined homeless children or global warming right outside your front door?

Michael Reynolds did. In the 1970s, he invented what are known as earthships. Earthships are eco-friendly homes con-structed from recycled materials. They can produce much of their own food, heat and water supply. This is made pos-sible through the use of innovative de-sign that includes solar panels, rainwater harvesting and circulating tubing. These homes originated in Taos, New Mexico, and have since spread to different areas of the world. This type of building re-duces pollution and requires less expen-sive house payments. The average cost of an Earthship is $150,000, which is less than the median price of a home in San-ta Fe. If a city building were constructed using an Earthship design, the money saved could be used for community service projects.

Why should these amazing buildings be limited to a single area? Perhaps if this integrated plan were incorporated around the state into individual homes as well as community centers, the entire population would benefit. Take poverty-stricken communities, for example. If a poor community were given the op-portunity to gather together in a large, green-built, local food-producing en-vironment, the cost of living would de-crease. Who knows? Isn’t it possible that these ideas could be used to create envi-ronmentally efficient amusement parks, schools and offices?

Another energy-efficient idea could be centered on excitement. What if there were ways that we could have fun, have more places to go, and at the same time use our personal energy as a way to help the environment and do things in a more convenient way? In New York

there is a dance floor where, by people merely dancing on the surface, energy is generated. This is called the Piezo Effect. The Piezo Effect creates energy waves, which are generated through movement. What if every club, dancehall, roller rink, basketball court or playground were built like this? What if high school stu-dents in their architecture, engineering or technology classes designed and built them? We would have a lot more power, we could reduce carbon, and students could learn how to create green recre-ational places, something that is sorely needed in Santa Fe. This concept could expand to other applications that could be fun and at the same time helpful to our society.

Speaking of creating new recreational places for youth, why not add an eco-friendly, alcohol-free club to Santa Fe? And why not place this sort of club in other cities and states where youth have nothing to do but possibly get in trouble and do illegal things? Perhaps if this concept were applied to schools or other well-populated communities, we might be able to create entrepreneur programs or organizations that would provide for the students as well as surrounding areas from the surplus of energy created.

Endangered polar bears and poverty are inextricably linked these days in the face of global warming and the downfall of our economy. The economy will ben-efit if more “green jobs” are introduced. Green jobs are occupations focused on employment that create a more sustain-able society in a variety of sectors like energy, education, economics and agri-culture. If these occupations are created for our growing number of unemployed citizens, this will help them build up their skills and self-esteem because they are contributing to the greater good. Not only will they benefit from job security; communities and future generations will also benefit. This will push society to be-come more informed about the topic, while diminishing poverty.

We can begin this mission in schools by educating students about transitioning to a green economy and building green communities that we all know will be better for all. Classes involving construc-tion could assist students in learning “green” housing or mechanics. This may

spark fresh ideas for the future of not only the community but also the planet.

And what better day to start with a new, positive change than TODAY? If we begin today instead of waiting, and thus see what can be done, we won’t allow the world to progress in a negative way and possibly go under. We hope this article will inspire you to take action now. If not now, when? i

Victoria Gonzales, a junior, is considering becoming a journalist and wants to travel to Africa. She also is a dancer and plays violin and piano.

Elizabeth Sánchez, a sophomore honor student, has read her poetry at Poets in the Schools fundraisers, the Santa Fe Riverfest and in front of a very large crowd in Florida. She is dedicated to creating positive change in the world.

STArT TodAy BEForE Tomorrow iS GonEVictoria Gonzales and Elizabeth Sánchez, Santa Fe High School Students

an Earthship in taos, New Mexico


JAIN STUDY CIRCULARTHE JAIN STUDY CIRCULAR

HAS BEEN POSTED AT WWW.JAINSTUDY.ORG.

Please go our website and study the articles

presented in the new issue.We welcome your comments

and suggestions.


N E W S B I T E s susTaiNaBLe BuiLdiNG Tax crediT FuNd aLmOsT aT aNNuaL caPDue to the popularity of new energy-efficient homes, the Sustainable Building Tax Credit for residential building in NM is nearing its annual $5 million cap. Once the cap is met, builders or homeowners who expected to claim the credit for green-certified construction on their 2012 taxes will have to wait until next year. This is likely to have the effect of depleting the funds available for issuing credits in 2013, the year the tax credit is due to end. However, a proposal to extend the program is being developed. It will need legislative approval.

Sixty-seven percent of all permits issued for single-family homes in Albuquerque through the end of September were green-certified. Green home construction has al-most doubled its 36.5 percent rate for 2011. Albuquerque’s Green Path Program has two ways to build to green standards that require third-party certification: Build Green new Mexico and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

Last month, in an effort to help more residents install solar panels, add insulation and make other improvements, Santa Fe’s City Council approved a contract with Homewise to keep the Energy Partnership Loan Program going. Energy improve-ments are another way to help keep homeownership affordable.

New mexicO TraNsmissiON PrOjecT requesT rejecTedThe Federal regulatory Commission has denied a request by Pnm and the renew-able Energy Transmission Authority for a waiver to expedite the Power Network Project, a $350-million 200-mile transmission line that proponents say would carry up to 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy from east and central NM to PNM’s Río Puerco switching station near Río Rancho and then on to western markets. 1,500 megawatts is about three-quarters of peak demand from PNM’s 500,000 customers.The nation’s transmission line capacity is nearly at capacity as state mandates call for more renewable energy to be utilized. The waiver was requested because of a backlog of requests. FERC said that granting a waiver would be discriminatory to-ward other energy developers in line for approval. Some have been waiting for ac-cess to transmission service for years.

PNM added five solar arrays to its network last year and plans to expand those plants, but development of utility-scale solar and wind projects has been slowed down by the limited transmission capacity.

saPPhire eNerGy FaciLiTy NOw PrOduciNG “GreeN crude”After 14 months of construction, Sapphire Energy’s algae crude oil production facility near Columbus, NM is now functioning. The commercial demonstration project using an open pond design will utilize 300 acres for algae cultivation when completed. The re-newable oil produced by a proprietary process will be turned into 91-octane gasoline, 89-cetane diesel and jet fuel. From the lab to harvesting to production of oil, the process takes a little more than a month. The facility hopes to produce 100 barrels of green crude per day by 2014 and 5,000 to 10,000 barrels per day by 2018.

Green crude requires two main inputs – sunlight and Co2. it uses non-potable, brackish water pumped from aquifers and, with added nutrients, grows on non-arable land in desert climates. Sapphire is addressing the potential of environmen-tal contamination in the open ponds by breeding high pH level strains of algae to withstand the elements. The company says that when its process is done at a larger plant, it will match fossil fuel-sourced oil at $85 a barrel.

The Sapphire Green Crude Farm was funded, in part, by a $50 million Department of En-ergy grant, a $54 million USDA loan guarantee and $85 million from private investments.

Las VeGas, Nm GrOuP seeks TO PrOhiBiT FrackiNGThe Community for Clean Water, Air and Earth (CCWAE), a San Miguel County-based group, is working to get the city of Las Vegas and the county to ban oil, gas and geothermal drilling. Last month the City Council passed a moratorium on those operations.

CCwAE is also trying to get a “community rights ordinance” instituted that would prohibit hydraulic fracturing – “fracking” – but Las Vegas Mayor Alfonso Ortiz is blocking it. The mayor and city officials say the ordinance would supersede state and federal laws. In July, the mayor did sign an executive order that established a morato-rium on fracking, a process that involves injecting large amounts of water and sand laced with chemicals to crack open fissures in rock to unlock reservoirs of oil and gas.

In some instances, contaminants found in well water have allegedly been linked to the process. The US Environmental Protection Agency has been testing ground-

water samples near fracking sites in Wyoming. The agency theorized a fracking-pollution link in a draft report released in December that drew heavy skepticism from the petroleum industry and state officials.

Fracking in Las Vegas is unlikely, but the ordinance’s sponsors say they intend the measure as a community statement against drilling and in solidarity with oppo-nents of possible oil and gas operations in nearby Mora County.

CCWAE’s proposed ordinance was drafted with the assistance of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit, public interest law firm based in mercerberg, Pa. The ordinance is similar to 140 other ordinances in place through-out the country, including many in Pennsylvania where communities have been fighting fracking for a decade. CCEAE hopes to prove that its ordinance is consti-tutional by taking it to court.

TradiTiONaL aGricuLTure aNd susTaiNaBLe LiViNG cONFereNceOCtObEr 12-13, NOrtHErN NEW MExICO COLLEGE, ESPañOLaThis 7th annual conference features many important present-ers, including keynote speakers Paul Stamets and oscar oli-vera. Stamets, an acclaimed author and mycologist, will talk about how mushrooms can help heal the world. Olivera was one of the main leaders of the “water wars” in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where he lead the impoverished indigenous people in their fight against the privatization of that region’s water. Also presenting will be the renowned economist/activist Winona LaDuke, Mohawk seed-saver Rowen White, and Native actor Gary Farmer, who will introduce his documentary, “The Gift.”

The event’s workshops include Sacred Gardens, with Tesuque Pueblo farm direc-tor, Emigdio Ballón and Four Corners Traveling Permaculture Institute’s Lorraine Gray; Goat Management, with Nancy Coonridge of Coonridge Organic Goat Dairy; and Building a Solar Oven. There will be a variety of hands-on activities, an organic lunch, Pueblo Buffalo Dancers, and live music by Tito Ríos and his band. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own seeds to trade at the Heritage Seed Exchange to be held later in the day on october 13th.

The Pueblo of Tesuque Farming Department, Four Bridges Traveling Permac-ulture Institute and the Sostenga program of Northern New Mexico College or-ganize the conference annually. Participant/supporters include the Institute of natural & Traditional knowledge, the new mexico Acequia Association, and the Traditional Native American Farmers’ Association.

Camilla Bustamante, Ph.D., director of NNMC’s Sostenga Program says, “The Traditional Agriculture and Sustainable Living Conference inspires critical dia-logue towards better understanding of the relationship between tradition and sus-tainability. With a unique and quality level of speakers, relationships are formed, and the issues are not always easy or without controversy. The synergy between val-ues and natural science is palatable and critical as we address issues of climate, food security and culture.” For more information, visit www.4bridges.org

El Rito Studio touR • oct. 13-14Hidden in plain sight is a small community embraced by the foothills of the Sangre de Cristos where residents have lived quietly for generations cultivating lives that foster independence. Autumn – with golden cottonwoods, clear blue skies, warm days and cool nights – is a particularly beautiful time to visit El Rito, 50 miles north of Santa Fe. The village is bursting with creativity. Twenty-one stops, including two on the NM Fiber Arts Trail and one on the NM Potter’s Trail, will display the work of over 50 artisans. Their work includes sculpture, pottery, weaving, welding, tin and ironwork, paintings, drawings, printmaking, photography, jewelry, handmade books and notecards, Spanish Colonial furniture and carving, and musical instru-ments. Local musicians will entertain.

Northern NM College’s El Rito campus will host a unique Mercado, and will open its café and three departments for the tour: Fiber Arts, Spanish Colonial Furniture, and Retablos. The El Rito Library will host its “Death by Chocolate” fundraiser, and the El Rito Quilters Guild will be selling quilts, pillows, art dolls and drawstring bags.

Wear comfortable walking shoes to enjoy a stroll in the crisp fall weather and work up an appetite. Mama Juana’s tamales will be available, and El Farolito will be cooking its popular chile, enchiladas, burritos, tamales, rellenos and frito pies. www.elritostudiotour.org

Winona Laduke


oct. 6-7waTershed resTOraTiON: The cuTTiNG edGeaMpersand sustainaBle learning cntr. cerrillos, nMworkshop on catching, sinking, storing and using water where it falls. Sponsored by the Watershed Forum and the NM Environ-ment Dept. $35. Registration: [email protected] or 505.780.0535

oct. 6-7harVesT FesTiVaLel rancho de las golandrinas334 los pinos rd., la cienegaLiving history museum dedicated to Spanish Colonial nm. Local artisans and musicians. 505.471.2261

oct. 7, 11 amcONVersaTiON wiTh jerry OrTiz y PiNOcollected works BookstoreQ&A with the state senator/community ac-tivist. www.JourneySantaFe.com

oct. 8-13heLP BuiLd a haBiTaT FOr humaNiTy [email protected], 505.982.1774

OcT. 92012 PiñON awards & cOmmuNiTy FOrum9am-12 pm: Forum at the SF Community Foundation office will offer discussion with SF journalists and community leaders on immigration, veterans’ affairs and commu-nity philanthropy. $25. 5:30-8 pm: Awards ceremony & dinner at La Fonda Hotel. $35. Info: 505.988.9715, [email protected], www.santafecf.org

oct. 10, 8:30 am-4 pm2012 sw TraiLs cONFereNcesF convention center “what our trails need beyond dirt: coopera-tion, collaboration and leadership” Hosted by the SF Conservation Trust and the Trails Alliance of SF. Presenters, exhibitors. Free. ($5 suggested donation) 505.989.7019, [email protected], www.sfct.org/registration

oct. 10-13iNTL. mOuNTaiN BikiNG assN. wOrLd summiTsF convention centerEducational forum to share ideas about sus-tainable trail design, conservation, bicycle tourism & economic development, trail advocacy and public lands policy. Opening reception, group rides, co-hosted events. $432/$480. www.imba.com/world-summit

oct. 11-12BuiLdiNG scieNce FuNdameNTaLs wOrkshOPsF coMMunity collegeCrn 21438. Building scientists dr. Joe Ls-tiburek and dr. John Straube teach basic knowledge needed to design and build du-

oct. 14, 11 am-4 pm2012 LOcaL FOOd FesTiVaL & FieLd daygutierreZ-huBBell house and deMo FarM, 6029 isleta swA celebration of history, culture and farming.

OcT. 19caNsTrucTiON© BuiLd & FesTiVaLdesign/build competition to benefit roadrun-ner Food Bank of NM. Theme: NM Centen-nial. Architects, engineers, designers, contrac-tors, students and the community participate. Info: http://www.canstruction.org/

OcT. 19aBq symPOsium ON The creaTiVe ecONOmynatl. hispanic cultural center“Profit: From Striving to Thriving” Inter-nationally known speakers, panel discus-sions and roundtables. Tickets: $67/$87. 505.724.4771, Info: 505.268.1920 or [email protected], www.creativeabq.org

oct. 19-21heaL yOurseLF=heaL The earThtaMaya resort, santa ana pueBloFall clinic with Golden dolphin S.T.A.r. experiential healing retreat. 505.559.4441, www.Goldendolphins.com

OcT. 20, 10 amxeric GardeN cLuB dedicaTiONPlants and other features that attract and support wildlife. Free. Reservations re-quired: [email protected], www.xericgardenclub.org

oct. 22-24 (10/17 regIs deadlIne)raiNwaTer harVesTiNG FOr wiLdLiFe wOrkshOPsandia pueBloGet hands-on experience in building rain-water harvesting catchment systems for wildlife, livestock and farming. Hosted by Sandia Pueblo, US Fish & Wildlife, and Billy Kniffen. Call 505.771.5083

oct. 26, 27Burque BiONeers cONFereNcenatl. hispanic cultural center and open space visitor centerTwo days with innovators, pollinators, con-ductors, connectors, cultivators and others. 505.433.7346, Burquebioneers.org

oct. 27make a diFFereNce dayNational Day of Service. A variety of projects are listed for nonprofit agencies throughout the community. Info: [email protected], www.centerfornonprofitexcellence.org

Nov. 14-1611Th aNNuaL quiVira cOaLiTiON cONFereNceeMBassy suites hotel“How to Feed 9 Billion People from the Ground Up: Soil, Seeds, Water, Plants, Live-stock, Forests and People.” This conference will explore innovative practices that are suc-cessfully intensifying food production while preserving, maintaining and restoring the natural world. Register online at www.quivi-racoalition.org or call 505.820.2544.

daiLydeGrees OF chaNGe: Nm’s cLimaTe FOrecasTNM Museum of Natural History & Science, 1801 mountain rd. nwWith a focus on NM and the SW, this exhibit re-veals current and predicted impacts on humans, landscapes and ecosystems. Tickets: $7, $6, $4. Info: 505.841.2800, www.nmnaturalhistory.org

sOuThwesT BarTer cLuBHealthcare using Barter Bucks instead of cash or insurance. Access to acupuncture, chiropractic, eye care, fitness and more. 505.715.2889, www.southwestbarterclub.com

BeNeFiciaL Farms csa Weekly distribution at La Montañita Co-op warehouse, 3361 Columbia dr. nE. This CSA works with up to 40 regional farms each year, and offers abundant, affordable shares of fresh fruit and vegetables and other local and region-ally produced foods year round. All produce is grown with sustainable chemical-free methods.

SANTA FEThrOuGh OcT. 18susTaiNaBLe LaNd deVeLOP-meNT cOde PuBLic reViewvarious locationsFor info or to obtain a copy of the SLDC, visit www.santafecountynm.gov/sidc or call 505.955.2717.

oct. 3, 4-5:30 pmraLLy aT The rOuNdhOuseJoin Physicians for Social Responsibility-NM, NM Interfaith Power & Light and oth-ers to show support for a transition to clean energy. People from across NM will deliver a petition with thousands of signatures to the governor. Info: 330.304.2074, http://act.350.org/signup/nm_roundhouseAction/?akid=2194.767631.mszvsh&rd=1&t=2

oct. 4-Nov. 8, th. EvENiNgS, 5-7:30 pmmysTery aNd maGic OF sOiL PreParaTiON FOr VeGeTaBLesdandelion ranch, 1212 don gasparwith biodynamic teacher/master gardener Juaquin Lawrence Hershman. $20/class; $90 se-ries. 505.660.3171, [email protected], http://juaquinlawrencehershman.blogspot.com

oct. 5-6, 13-14, 10 am-5 pmmadrid & cerriLLOs sTudiO TOur21 stops feature the work of 29 artists. Painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, jewelry, ceramics, wearable fiber arts, gourd art, encaustic and more. Auction and preview party at the Engine House Theater at the Mineshaft Tavern on Oct. 5. Info: 505.470.1346, www.madridcerrillosstudiotour.com

oct. 6, 2-4 pmiNTrO TO miNdFuLNess exerciseseldorado (sF)increase awareness, flexibility with chang-ing conditions, and boost your immune sys-tem by triggering natural mechanisms in the body through simple posture and breathing exercises. Free. 505.424.9211

oct. 6, 6-10 pmhaVaNa NiGhTs daNce cONTesTinn at loretto, 211 old sF trailCCA’s annual fundraiser. Silent auction, dinner, open dancing. $100/ticket. [email protected], www.ccasantafe.org

What's Going On! Events / Announcements

ALBUQUERQUEThrOuGh OcT. 28TraNsFOrmiNG The humaN sPiriTnatl. MuseuM oF nuclear science & history, 601 euBank, seimagine a world where the interconnect-edness of humans across the globe is para-mount and a peaceful world is possible. Ex-hibit by Soka Gakkai intl., a lay Buddhist movement. Admission: $8/$7. www.nuclearmuseum.org

thRough oct. 31, FRi-SuN.maize mazelos poBlanos Fields, 1701 Montaño nwRío Grande Community Farm’s corn maze, partnered with ABQ BioPark, features am-phibians and farm animals. Family-friendly activities. $7/$5. Info: www.riograndefarm.org/events/maize-maze

thRough FEb. 2013100 years OF sTaTe & FederaL POLicy: Its IMPact on PueBlo natIons

indian pueBlo cultural center 2401 12th st. nwExhibition reflects on the human experience behind enacted policies and laws, adding to a well-documented history of Pueblo resil-ience since the time of Emergence. Indian-pueblo.org/100years

oct. 6, 8 am-5 pmiNTrOducTiON TO wiNd eNerGycnM workForce training center5600 eagle rock ave. neThis free course presented by Mesalands Community College will cover wind energy from the source to conversion to electrical en-ergy. registration: 575.461.4413, ext. 156 or toll-free 800.261.4877. www.mesalands.edu

oct. 7simPLy BOTaNicaLs wOrkshOPalBuquerque MarriottPresented by Unm Health Sciences Center taught by Arti Prasad, md, FACP and mary Hardy, MD. Objectives: Review historic and scientific literature of herbs, supplements and spices; Explore natural and medicinal uses of mushrooms; Expand knowledge of preparation and use of herbs, essential oils and herbal medi-cations. Intended for physicians, nurses, social workers, naturopaths, traditional healthcare professionals. 505.272.3942, http://hsc.unm.edu/som/cme

oct. 12, 1-5 pmGreeN iNFrasTrucTure unM george pearl hallIn-depth discussion for designers, policy-makers, leaders, advocates, citizens. Par-ticipants include Office of Sen. Tom Udall; NM State Engineer Scott Verhines; Jerry Lovato, AMAFCA; Roland Pentilla, City of ABQ; George Radnovich, ASLA-Sites SW; Erin English, Natural Systems Intl; others. Presented by NM Chapter of the Ameri-can Society of Landscape Architects. Free. Info: NMASLA.org.


rable, energy efficient, affordable and healthy buildings. Also, optional casual get-together in the Green Building Lab oct. 11, 5-7:30 pm. $15. Info: 505.428.1270.

OcT. 12, 6 PmNm LaNd cONserVaNcy cONserVaTiON awardsBishop’s lodge resortGala reception, dinner, silent auction, music. Honoring William deBuys. Tickets: $125. 505.988.1234, Lensic box office, ticketssan-tafe.com. Info: 505.986.3801, www.nmland-conservancy.org

oct. 13iNsTiTuTe OF americaN iNdiaN arTs’ 50Th aNNiVersary ceLeBraTiON(See page 19) www.iaia.edu

oct. 14, 10:30 am-3:30 pmcLimaTe acTiON Bike ride & LuNcheONtesuque village MarketSponsored by the Climate Change Leader-ship Institute. Learn about the CCLI’s clean energy and conservation endeavors. Info: http://www.takeresponsibility.us/ride2012/ride2012.html, 505.603.1976

oct. 14 & 28, 8:30 pmFuLL siGNaL screeNiNGsBody oF santa FeAward-winning film on potential cell-phone and cell-tower radiation dangers. Presented by Doctors W.A.R.N. Info: 505.451.4194, whyFry.org

OcT. 15, 6 PmmOTher earTh, FaTher sky serieshotel santa FeLecture by dr. Barbara mills: The Archeol-ogy of Persistent Place: A Social Network Analysis. $12, southwestseminars.org

oct. 16, 6-7 pmBusiNess deVeLOPmeNT assisTaNce FOr arTisTssF coMMunity gallery, convention centerPresented by Bette Bradbury, regional dir. for WESST-Santa Fe. Info/RSVP: [email protected]

oct. 17-21sF iNdePeNdeNT FiLm FesTiVaLthe lensic and warehouse 21Screenings, community events and edu-cational workshops. 505.349.1414, info@ santafeiff.com, www.santafeindependentfilmfestival.com

oct. 17mOVe TO ameNd TOurAbolish corporate personhood. vehicle dis-play, public art, information center. www.MoveToAmend.org/stampstampede

OcT. 18, 10 ameLderGrace PV/eLecTric VehicLe PrOjecT3466 cerrillos rd., #c-2 (Behind holiday inn express)Ribbon cutting for senior housing commu-nity electric car-share project.

oct. 18, 6:30-9:30 pmmayOr’s awards FOr exceLLeNce iN The arTssF convention centerCeremony and dinner. Tickets: $65. Reservations: 505.955.6710, SantaFeArtsCommission.org

oct. 20, 9 am-4 pmcOmmuNiTy desiGN wOrkshOPthe huB, 1636 st. Michael’s dr.UNM School of Architecture & Design stu-dents are working on ideas for revitalization of St. Michael’s Dr.

oct. 20, bEgiNS 5:30 pmmayOr’s BaLLsF convention centerdinner & dancing with the Jimmy Stadler Band. MC Steve Thomas. $150/person ($100 tax-de-ductible) benefits SF Habitat for Humanity. Info/tickets: 505.986.5880, www.santafehabitat.org

oct. 20-21, 9:30 am-4:30 pmLearN aBOriGiNaL LiViNG skiLLssF coMMunity collegeweekend workshop with 7 pm lecture on 10/19. Info: 505.819.3828, www.carbonecon-omyseries.com

oct. 21, 10 am-12 pmharVesT swaP: a ceLeBraTiON OF cOmmuNiTy & LOcaL FOOdrailyard park coMMunity rooMShare the abundance of our gardens, orchards and backyard barnyards. Bring extra harvest you don’t need and barter your way to a dream pantry. $5 entry fee will be donated to local food sustainability organizations. Preregis-tration required: www.santafeharvestswap.eventbrite.com or call 505.474.7998.

OcT. 22, 6 PmmOTher earTh, FaTher sky serieshotel santa FeLecture by Craig Childs: Apocalyptic Planet – Field Guide to the End of the World. $12, southwestseminars.org

oct. 23saNTa Fe sPeakeasy Live storytelling night. True stories, each no longer than 10 minutes. [email protected], http://www.facebook.com/ SantaFeSpeakEasy, kSFr2.org

oct. 23, 11:30 amLuNcheON PreseNTaTiON wiTh michaeL BermaNla Fonda hotelGuggenheim photographer and author of the new book Gila: Radical Visions/The En-during Silence. Benefits the nm wilderness Alliance. Tickets: $50. www.nmwild.org

oct. 23, 7 pmwiLd harmONiesthe lensicA performance by world-renowned pianist Hélène Grimaud to benefit the NM Wilderness Alliance and Wolf Conservation Center. Tickets: $20-$70. 505.988.1234, www.ticketssantafe.org. VIP packages: www.nmwild.org

oct. 26, 5-7 pm opENiNgFiNe FOLk OF New mexicOsF coMMunity gallery, convention centerArt exhibition by many acclaimed artists of people, places and culture of NM. Curated by Arthur Lopez. Through Jan. 26, 2013.

oct. 27la moNtañita co-op’S memBershiP GaTheriNGwarehouse 21, 1614 paseo de peraltaCelebrate cooperation and the Intl. Year of the Cooperative. RSVP: 505.217.2027 or toll-free 877.775.2667.

OcT. 29, 6 PmmOTher earTh, FaTher sky serieshotel santa FeLecture by Dr. Richard I. Ford: Native

Americans and Forests – indigenous man-agement of Trees in Northern NM. $12, southwestseminars.org

saTurdays, aPPrOx. 2 PmmeeT yOur FarmerJoe’s dining, rodeo & ZiaA lunch experience. An opportunity to ask ques-tions about farming, enjoy a local meal and meet farmers who grow NM foods. Vendors from the farmers’ market have an after-market lunch and meet the community. Info: [email protected]

saTurdays, 4 PmuNicOPia GreeN radiOktrc - 1260 aMA weekly show with Faren dancer. our culture is requiring a major shift in how we relate to the Earth. Our fossil fuel-based economy is poised for transition to a renewable future. Each show explores the issues, politics, science, and the evolution of consciousness impacting the bal-ancing of life on our planet.

saNTa Fe creaTiVe TOurism wOrkshOPs, cLasses aNd exPerieNceshttp://santafecreativetourism.org/

dESigNiNg YouR WEll-livEd FuTure wOrkshOPsAre you a single, working parent or retir-ing Boomer looking for community and a simpler, walkable lifestyle? Join a series of planning/design sessions aimed at develop-ing floor plans, shared amenities and cluster possibilities where residents get more from sustainable designs. Tour a cohousing com-munity and develop ideas of alternatives to current suburban choices. For more info, con-tact Brian Skeele: 505.310.1797, [email protected] or visit www.sustainablesantafe.com

HERE & THEREthRough oct. 7TaOs FaLL arTs FesTiVaLconvention center and galleries. taos, nMIncludes Wool Festival (www.taoswoolfesti-val.org), installations, awards and activities.

oct. 5, 8 am-5:30 pmreNewaBLe eNerGy & cLeaN TechNOLOGy cONFereNce 2012convention center, 680 e. university ave.las cruces, nMNM’s Clean Energy Future. Address by Sen. Jeff Bingaman. Green Business Expo free to the public. Registration: $65/$40/$20. Info: 575.323.1575, [email protected], nmgreenchamber.org

oct. 6, 12-6 pmsPaNaPOLOOzaespañola skate parkLive painting, poetry, music, skate and BMX competitions. Food & information booths from local organizations & nonprofits. Info: 505.927.9631 or [email protected]

oct. 9, 5-6:30 pm REcEptioN; 6:30 book SigNiNgamy GOOdmaN aNd deNis mOyNahaNold Martina’s hall ranchos de taos, nMReception, talk and book signing for “The Silenced Majority, Stories of Uprisings, Oc-cupations, resistance & Hope” reception honoring Miguel Santistevan, Margaret Garcia, Luis Pena and Pat Leahan: $80/per-son, $150/couple. Benefits Cultural Energy & KCEI 90.1 FM. Talk: $12/$10/$8. Info: 575.758.9791, http://culturalenergy.org

oct. 10-15FLaGsTaFF mTN. FiLm FesTorpheuM theater, FlagstaFF, aZCelebrate independent filmmaking. Screen-ings, panel discussion and sneak peek of up-coming documentary wrenched: The Legacy of the Monkey Wrench Gang. Tickets and details: www.flagstaffmountainfilms.org

oct. 12-13TradiTiONaL aGricuLTure aNd susTaiNaBLe LiViNG cONFereNcenorthern nM college, española“In the spirit of 2012, Embracing Traditional knowledge in a new Era.” keynote speakers: Paul Stamets and Oscar Olivera. Also Winona Laduke and many other respected presenters. details and registration: www.4bridges.org

oct. 12-13Nm hisTOry cONFereNceno. nM college, el rito caMpusHistorias de Nuevo Mexico. Academic and com-munity scholars, artists and activists. Sponsored by the nnmC northern Pueblos institute, the nnmC Chicana/o and Latina Studies re-search Center and Espejo. 505.747.5488, https://sites.google.com/a/nnmc.edu/historias/

oct. 13-14eL riTO sTudiO TOurel rito, on nM 554 oFF hwy. 84/285 nw oF españolaCommunity of artists offer hand-carved furniture, paintings, pottery, artist’s books, textiles, santos, local cuisine. 575.581.0155, elritostudiotour.org

OcT. 15 deadLiNevaluE-addEd agRi-pRoducER GraNTsMaximum feasibility study grant: $100,000. Maximum working capital grant: $300,000. Matching funds required. Info: [email protected] or www.rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_vAPG.html

oct. 18, 6:30-8:30 pmaLdO & esTeLLa LeOPOLd resideNcy LecTureFechin MuseuM studio, taosQuivira Coalition Exec. Dir. Courtney White will present: The Land Ethic in the 21st Cen-tury: A View from Aldo Leopold’s Mi Casita in Tres Piedras. www.aldoleopold.org

oct. 20, 10 am-3 pmFiesTa OF cuLTurescoronado state MonuMent, Bernalillo, nMCelebration of local Pueblo, Hispanic and Anglo traditions. Crafts, folk art, self-reli-ance demonstrations. Free. 505.867.5351

oct. 26-28, 10 am-4 pmruG raG FesTiVaL & GiFT shOwFarMington, nMPresented by the NM Women’s Foundation. www.nmwf.org

Nov. 9-11mOVe TO ameNd sOuThwesTdenver, coloradoEnd corporate rule. Legalize democracy. Re-gional gathering of activists and supporters. 707.269.0984, [email protected], https://movetoamend.org/events/denver-co-move-amend-southwest-regional-convergence

WEdNESdaYS, 10 am-5 pmred wiLLOw Farmers’ markeTtaos pueBlo, nMGreenhouse and field-grown produce and more. [email protected]

green fire times october 2012 edition

Documents

sustainable planet

sustainable santa fe

modern technology

sustainable southwestold

john black

biomass energy

publisher green

community food systemgreen