Ten enviros making a difference on Earth Day-and all year round.
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Despite the snow still visible in the foothills, the sun falls bright and warm into the yard behind Nuclear Watch New Mexico's office. On spring days such as this one, New Mexico's perfection feels effortless; crystalline skies and rapidly greening buds are to be expected. But protecting the state's landscapes, clear skies and wildlife takes work. And oftentimes that work doesn't involve hanging out in the sun; it means lobbying lawmakers, spending long hours locked in meetings and filing legal briefs.
"It was a hearing that got me into this work to begin with," Jay Coghlan, Nuclear Watch's director, says. It was while attending a hearing about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in 1988 that he and his then-wife learned about open burning at Los Alamos National Laboratory. "She turned to me and said, 'Do something about it,'" Coghlan says. "I've been doing something ever since."
The hearing galvanized Coghlan into becoming a full-time activist. Recently, Nuclear Watch representatives attended all the National Nuclear Security Administration hearings about plans to make Los Alamos the nation's permanent site for plutonium pit manufacturing: "If we can reach one person out of a thousand," he says, "it matters."
But with the push to build a permanent pit production facility at Los Alamos, ***image3***the lab has recently hired one of the nation's top public relations firms, Burson-Marsteller.
Nuke Watch's Operations and Research Director Scott Kovac chuckles. "I feel kind of flattered they had to hire a PR company," he says. Coghlan takes a drag off a cigarette and nods in agreement. "There is that," he says.
Across the state, there are hundreds of people just like Coghlan and Kovac who take a stand each day for the environment and New Mexico's communities, despite the odds often stacked against them.
Here-just in time for Earth Day on April 22-are the stories of 10 folks making a difference in New Mexico.
GET GREEN***image14***
Earth Day events for all
APRIL 18-20
Global Green Indigenous Film Festival
For film locations, schedules and ticket information, visit
APRIL 19
Great American Cleanup
Registration is 7-9 am at 1142 Siler Road
Clean up is 7 am-noon
Picnic for all GAC volunteers is at Frenchy's Field from noon-2 pm.
Amnesty Day
Santa Fe residents can take up to four appliances and eight tires to the Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station for free.
APRIL 20
Household Hazardous Waste Drop Off Day
Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station from
9 am-4 pm
APRIL 22
Santa Fe Lush Green Drinks Night
6 pm, Second Street Brewery, 1814 Second St.
Environmental social club for networking and conversation
MAY 16
Bike to Work Day
7-10 am
Main event on the Plaza Satellite event at Cloud Cliff Bakery, Café and Artspace on Second Street
Free T-shirts, food, raffles, bike maps, giveaways and more
Nicole Rosmarino
***image4***Enviro Cred:
Wildlife program director at WildEarth Guardians; has spent the last 12 years working on prairie dog protection; is currently petitioning the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect 681 rare plants and animals under the Endangered Species Act.
Tree Hugger:
When she was 12, Rosmarino chewed out a woman whose dog, let off its leash, mauled some ducks. (The woman sent her a box of chocolates afterward.) The same ethic still guides her today: taking action in the face of human carelessness or maliciousness. "Usually the people I sue are federal agencies, and their 'carelessness' can cause long-term impacts, including permanently impoverishing our rich natural heritage," she says. "That's the risk we're facing right now: Protection may come too late for the species on whose behalf I work."
What's Next:
She's concerned about how construction of the border wall will affect a herd of bison that range between Janos, Chihuahua, and Hidalgo County, NM. "The feds are waiving environmental laws for the border barrier," which will damage wildlife and ecosystems, she says. "The border-wall issue creates a place for those concerned about humans suffering from the impacts of global capitalism and consumerism to link arms with other groups concerned about collapsing ecosystems," she adds. "I think the partnership is a natural one."
Join Up:
Defend the Endangered Species Act by becoming an "ESA Guardian" at
. Locally, residents can encourage the City Council to protect prairie dogs or develop a preserve network where they can be safely relocated. Any landowners willing to take prairie dogs onto their land should contact the group.
Steve Warshawer
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Enviro Cred:
Owner of Beneficial Farm, which does not use pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizers; since 1994, has managed the farm as a community-supported-agriculture program; works with La Montañita Co-op to expand its services to other local farmers and ranchers.
Tree Hugger:
So how did Warshawer come to create the state's longest-surviving CSA? "I think underneath it all, I really enjoy good food," he says.
What's next:
Warshawer is hoping this will be a transition year for the farm. "It's like any kind of cooperative: There's a certain scale that [allows it to] hold itself together, but it isn't very resilient, very adaptable," he says. Beneficial has had between 50 and 75 members since the mid-'90s and now needs to expand. "We need to push through and see what we can learn from being on the other side," he says.
To support sustainable agriculture, Warshawer recommends becoming a member of Beneficial Farm and La Montañita Co-op, as well as supporting public policies that nurture sustainable agriculture. Policies the public can champion include: land use plans protecting the right to farm; the purchase or transfer of rights that allow farmers to gain capital while placing their land into conservation; and addressing succession issues so aging farmers don't have to liquidate in order to retire or support their families. "If there's a challenge that people could be watching for, it would be how to bring more pressure to bear in the public domain to really support
sustainable
sustainable agriculture," he says. "Not just farm by farm, purchase by purchase, year by year, event by event, but to actually form trends or patterns in the public policy arena that begin to build momentum for sustainable agriculture."
Join Up:
Johnny Micou
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Enviro Cred:
Formed the group Drilling Santa Fe to oppose oil and gas drilling in the Galisteo Basin; that group then influenced Santa Fe County to enact a moratorium on drilling to study how drilling might affect natural and cultural resources.
Tree Hugger:
Micou first tried to pique the interest of existing environmental organizations. But they weren't interested, he says, "and on top of that, those that were interested really couldn't do anything at the local level." So Micou took the lead, setting up a blog, mobilizing the community and reaching out to lawmakers. It's one thing, he says, to watch what's happening on the national scene-the 2005 White House mandate to increase domestic drilling, the invasion of Iraq, climate change, the rising price of oil-but it's quite another when energy policy starts playing out at home. "When it hit the basin, people started really waking up [and saying], 'We really have got to do something here,'" he says. "While at the same time, the national administration is going down the opposite path, we know we can't keep going down that path. We must change."
What's next:
Micou's group is building a coalition of nonprofits, business and individuals. Their hope is to protect Santa Fe County, provide a model for other communities in New Mexico and start building a local, green economy. The phrase "think globally, act locally" doesn't belong stuck on a bumper, Micou says; people need to find their passion, work on a local level for positive change and participate in local government.
Join Up:
.
Melissa McDonald
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Enviro Cred:
Landscape architect, master gardener and permaculture designer with Santa Fe Permaculture; board member of Santa Fe Alliance, which promotes independent businesses; and vice chairwoman to the city's Water Conservation Committee; worked toward passage, in 2003, of New Mexico's new gray-water law (under the old law, it was illegal for residents to water their landscapes using untreated household water from bathtubs, bathroom sinks, showers and washing machines).
Tree Hugger:
McDonald suspected something was wrong with spraying chemicals across the yard when she was a kid. Her parents didn't go along with the rest of the folks in their suburban neighborhood, which had perfect green lawns and ChemLawn trucks parked in the driveway. "Our lawn looked very different from anyone else's-but our yard was the only one that got fireflies," she says. Then, in college, she discovered permaculture, which blended a number of her interests, including gardening, water harvesting and gray-water recycling. "You could develop a landscape that was productive, but not a farm," she says.
What's next:
As chairwoman of the Santa Fe Alliance, McDonald is working on green-business projects and green-job development. The big question she's considering is how to turn Santa Fe into one of the top 50 green cities in the nation.
Join Up:
and
; she also recommends taking a local permaculture class or volunteering with Earth Care International (
) or ¡YouthWorks! Santa Fe Youth Conservation Corps.
Gabriel Nims
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Enviro Cred:
Executive director of 1000 Friends of New Mexico.
Tree Hugger:
Nims isn't so much a tree hugger as a "don't you think we could create more sustainable communities?" kind of guy. In addition to working on water, development and transportation issues, this past legislative session Nims worked with a coalition calling for reform of Tax Increment Development Districts. TIDDS-originally designed to encourage development in declining urban areas-generate cash for developers to use toward infrastructure costs. The state Board of Finance has approved $629 million for a 4,000-acre "greenfield" (that means "sprawling" to the rest of us) development by SunCal outside Albuquerque. The Legislature didn't approve the measure last session, but developers will return next year. "With TIDDS in greenfields, as currently allowed, the state is left open for taxpayer ripoffs of a scale we've never seen before," Nims says. "That is, by all accounts, unprecedented anywhere in the entire nation." Lest anyone thinks this is just an Albuquerque issue, consider how else that $629 million might be spent.
What's next:
While the news on climate change is scary, Nims sees opportunity to affect change, "especially in the realm of how we envision our communities and how we interact with one another," he says. At no other time in history, he says, have we had the opportunity and motivation to say, "This is how we can do it better."
Join Up:
Rachel Conn
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Enviro Cred:
Clean water circuit rider and policy analyst for Amigos Bravos; responsibilities include educating communities about the Clean Water Act and watershed protection; analyzing how federal, state and local policies affect water quality; working on river otter restoration in the Rio Grande and Gila River and studying contamination from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Molycorp's Questa Mine.
Tree Hugger:
Conn attributes her environmental consciousness to her parents. "In my family, there was always this social consciousness, and this awareness of working for a greater cause," she says. "They instilled in me that work can be more-if you're lucky-than just bringing home a paycheck."
What's next:
She's gearing up to work on the state's triannual review of water-quality standards. Currently, Conn says, the state lacks water-quality standards for perchlorate, as well as for pharmaceuticals and personal-care products that contaminate drinking water. The review "is an opportunity to let the decision makers in the state know what we, as the public, want in our water-quality standards, so that our drinking water can be protected, our irrigation water can be protected and our rivers will be protected." Amigos Bravos will soon implement a "groundtruthing" program. Volunteers will document on-the-ground examples of how Bush administration policies have failed to protect the environment; then organizers will bring the evidence to Congress.
Join Up:
Bianca Encinas
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Enviro Cred:
Lead campaign organizer for the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice.
Tree Hugger:
Having grown up in the Mountain View community in Albuquerque's South Valley, Encinas recalls being evacuated from her elementary school because of a fire at a nearby industrial facility. "Those are the kinds of things little kids shouldn't have to be worried about-whether or not the environment is safe at school," she says. "That was my first inkling of something going on." Noting that she doesn't always agree with mainstream environmental groups on many issues, including population control and solutions to climate change, she says: "I see myself as an environmental justice activist, not an environmentalist necessarily." She adds that "it's not me" making a difference-"it's a whole collective of people working together."
What's next:
Encinas is particularly interested in how toxins affect public health. Since so many polluting facilities-landfills, incinerators, factories, power plants-are located in communities with people of color and low-incomes, she would like to see more research on how those communities are disproportionately burdened by exposures to toxins. She's also passionate about intergenerational activism: At SNEEJ, she encourages youth activism while honoring older activists, particularly women who have traditionally cared for their families and communities. "We are intentionally a people-of-color organization, but we are not saying we don't work with white people," she says. "At this point, this work should be led by people within their own communities, but we need to build unity among all of us."
Join Up:
Tom Ribe
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Enviro Cred:
President of Caldera Action, a nonprofit dedicated to increased access, restoration and protection of the Valles Caldera National Preserve; has been involved with conservation issues in the Jemez Mountains since his teen years; board of directors member of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology.
Tree Hugger:
Raised in Los Alamos, Ribe says he had a "natural affinity" for the forest outside the town, and escaped there as often as he could. His mother, herself an activist on water and land-use planning issues, nurtured his desire to protect the natural environment. He says "she also set an example of how to do that, in being active with other people to form advocacy groups and to work with the government."
What's next:
Caldera Action's main goals right now involve expanding "appropriate public access," such as hiking, skiing, horseback riding and mountain biking, he says. The group also is watching the Caldera's new cattle-grazing program to ensure it doesn't interfere with fishing programs or the water quality of streams in the preserve. Beyond that, Ribe says, the group is interested in the long-term sustainability of the preserve. "Overall, our purpose is to create a community of people who are interested and active around this place; we're trying to create a community over this place for the long-term," he says. "We are community organizers more than we're environmental activists, and the community is organized around a love of that place and a protection for that place."
Join Up:
Visit
and the preserve's Web site at
.
Douglas Meiklejohn
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Enviro Cred:
Founder and executive director of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, which has taken on cases involving everything from uranium mining to landfill permits.
Tree Hugger:
Meiklejohn was working in the Attorney General's Office in 1986 when Gov. Gary Carruthers and Attorney General Hal Stratton were elected. Two things became clear to him: The state would no longer be in the business of working to protect the environment, and if he wanted to continue that work, he had to do it somewhere else. That's when he started the Law Center with the support of his wife, Harriet. He adds that the Law Center has only been able to accomplish what it has through the talent and dedication of its staff and board of directors. Not only that, but he continues to be inspired by the Center's clients: "They are people who see something happening that is going to adversely affect their community, their families, neighbors and their friends, and they do something about it-at the cost of taking away whatever personal life they have, and at the cost of their time with their families."
What's next:
Whereas the Law Center's early work focused on protecting federal lands, its work today is focused on communities. "And they're almost all communities of color and low-income communities," Meiklejohn says. "Communities that are being impacted by existing facilities or threatened by proposed facilities, such as landfills, mines, roads, airports, chemical plants, oil and gas development-you name it."
He dispenses two bits of advice: People can protect their communities, despite the common perception that the problems are too big or are beyond one person's control. Secondly, people shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket, but rather challenge projects from different angles.
Join Up:
.
Consuelo Bokum
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Enviro Cred:
Chairwoman of the Jemez y Sangre Regional Water Planning Council; president of the board of directors of New Mexico Water Dialogue; member of Gov. Bill Richardson's Blue Ribbon Water Task Force; member of the Buckman Direct Diversion Project Board.
Tree Hugger:
Bokum has worked on water issues in New Mexico since the early 1990s, when the focus was on water quality rather than water quantity (aka before people faced the reality of climate change). In 1991, Bokum co-authored the seminal paper, "Living Within Our Means: A Water Management Policy for New Mexico in the 21st Century" and, in 2002, she wrote, along with lawyer Alletta Belin and hydrogeologist Frank Titus, "Taking Charge of Our Water Destiny," a booklet encouraging state water managers to step up planning efforts in the face of water scarcity and population growth.
What's next:
She, along with others, are updating the regional water plan. "I spend a lot of time and energy promoting and working on water planning," she says. Managers can't make good decisions-particularly in an emergency, she says-if they don't have all the information. She suggests people learn about their regional water plan, which in Santa Fe is the Jemez y Sangre plan; its council meets monthly. Other local water-planning projects include the Buckman Diversion Project and Santa Fe's long-range water-supply plan.
Join Up:
or learn more at
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POP QUIZ
Check your Eco IQ
by Laura Paskus
1. Match the New Mexico environmental event with the date it occurred.
1. The US Atomic Energy Commission, the US Department of the Interior and El Paso Natural Gas Company detonate a 29-kiloton nuclear explosive underground in Rio Arriba County
2. Gila National Forest becomes home to the nation's first wilderness area
3. First shipment of radioactive waste arrives at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad.
4. Law is passed regulating hardrock mining on public lands
5. Congress authorizes San Juan-Chama Project, which will pipe water from the San Juan River into the Rio Grande
a. December 10, 1967
b. March 26, 1999
c. May 9, 1872
d. June 3, 1924
e. September 13, 1962
2. Which Democratic Santa Fe state lawmaker received a 100 percent rating for his or her voting record from Conservation Voters New Mexico?
a. Sen. John Grubesic
b. Sen. Nancy Rodriguez
c. Rep. Ben Lujan
d. Rep. Jim Trujillo
e. Rep. Luciano "Lucky" Varela
f. Rep. Peter Wirth
3. Can you identify these New Mexico environmentalists?
a. Earth First! co-founder who more recently founded the Wildlands Project.
b. Penned A Sand County Almanac; New Mexico wilderness area bears this person's name.
c. Solar energy activist who, in the summer of 2007, charged that corporate influence over the state Legislature and governor's office had thwarted progress on clean energy.
d. Former US Department of the Interior Secretary who sued the United States government on behalf of Navajo uranium workers.
e. Former state land commissioner and New Mexico mayor who served as head of the US Bureau of Land Management under President Bill Clinton.
4. How many gallons per day do Santa Fe water users consume?
a. 25
b. 57
c. 89
d. 104
5. How many tons of material did the City of Santa Fe's recycling program divert from landfills in 2007?
a. 230
b. 2,300
c. 23,000
d. 32,000
6. Name at least one of Santa Fe's most congested roadways between 4 and 6 pm.
7. Since 1990, the city has established how many miles of designated bike routes?
a. 12
b. 24
c. 36
d. 48
Answers
1.) 1.a., 2.d., 3.b., 4.c., 5.e.
2.) f. State Rep. Peter Wirth received a 100 percent rating, followed closely by Rep. Lucky Varela with 92 percent. Sen. John Grubesic and Rep. Ben Lujan each received 85 percent and Rep. Jim Trujillo received an 82. Sen. Nancy Rodriguez received the lowest rating at 44.
3.) a. Dave Foreman
b. Aldo Leopold
c. Ben Luce
d. Stewart Udall
e. Jim Baca
4.) d. 104
5.) b. 2,300
6.) Agua Fria Street, near Osage Avenue; Cerrillos Road, near Second Street; Old Pecos Trail near Cordova Road.
7.) a. 12