Green Fire Times

15/08/2023

We are so lucky to have such a beautiful wildlife refuge in our community!
--
¡Somos muy afortunados de tener un refugio de vida silvestre tan hermoso en nuestra comunidad!

12/07/2023

On June 15, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). Tewa Women United celebrates this decision, along with many other Native-led organizations.

14/05/2023

ACTION ALERT
Tuesday, May 9, 9 am
NM State Capitol (Roundhouse) Room 322

Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) meeting to review challenge to groundwater discharge permit filed by Honor Our Pueblo Existence and Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety

Elder Kathy Sanchez of TWU says, “Very important to have large support in room!”

Our colleagues at Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE) and Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) have challenged the groundwater discharge permit (DP-1132) for Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility that handles, treats and stores hazardous waste.

We need YOU in the room to show that the public supports HOPE and CCNS on this issue.

What’s at stake in this challenge?
• The health of the Rio Grande watershed in the area of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
• The protection of the 3,000 square mile sole source drinking water aquifer, which LANL has contaminated with hexavalent chromium. The plume is migrating towards the Pueblo de San Ildefonso, the Rio Grande, and the Buckman wells and diversion facility.

If you can’t make it Tuesday morning, you can still help by filing a public comment. Learn more at: http://nuclearactive.org/whats-at-stake-at-tuesdays-wqcc-hearing-on-hope-and-ccns-standing/

Kuunda wo’ha / thank you for your action -- Every drop of water is precious and must be free from contamination.

30/12/2022

Allan Affeldt recently had an article published in the Green Fire Times. You can access it with this link: https://bit.ly/3Fka5BD.

It's about the role of historic buildings in community development and identity: 'Projects of Resilience in the Southwest'. Please feel free to hit the share button. Time is running out to save so much of our history. It's sad when it's lost forever. I live in Tucson and our community is starting to realize how much of our very rich cultural history was lost under the guise of Urban Renewal. There's no way to get it back again.

30/12/2022

23/09/2022

Tribal Vision Festival is a diverse community focused on prayer, dance, ceremony, workshops, skill-shares and music located on the Tewa, Tiwa and Ute territories in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Tribal Vision Festival has brought many different people from all walks of life together to....

23/09/2022

Tribal, Environmental Justice, Health, and Climate Coalition Calls on U.S. Interior Secretary to Protect Greater Chaco Region from Fracking Despite promise to Honor Chaco, Bureau

23/09/2022

Join us to celebrate Indigenous arts, culture, music, and food. Family-friendly, free, and open to the public. ASL interpreters on site.

23/09/2022

Happy ! Do your part and double-check your registration NOW at NMVote.org, or get registered for the first time at the same link! If you’ve got an extra moment to spare, make sure your friends and family are good to go as well!

It’s easier than you think, we promise.

09/03/2022

Check out the Mar/Apr 2022 issue of Green Fire Times magazine. News & Views from the Sustainable Southwest.
Strengthen the Things that Remain.
Northern Rio Grande Oral Histories.
Use this link:https://greenfiretimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GFT_marapril_web_v1.pdf

11/01/2022

Jan/Feb 2022 Green Fire Times; News & Views from the Sustainable Southwest. People Power; New Mexico Traditions and Innovations in Collectivism

Use this link to read the Jan/Feb 2022 issue:
https://greenfiretimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GFT_Jan-Feb2022_web5.pdf

08/11/2021

GREEN FIRE TIMES News & Views from the Sustainable Southwest NOV/DEC 2021
CREATING A RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

Use this link:https://greenfiretimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/GFT_Nov-Dec2021_web.pdf

28/08/2021

Please Give

27/08/2021

Green Fire Times JUL/AUG 2021 Indigenous Solutions pg 30, column 1
News & Views from the Sustainable Southwest
GreenFireTimes.com
N.M. COMMUNITY CAPITAL FARMER IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM

New Mexico Community Capital (NMCC) has introduced a new way to connect Native American farmers to Native consumers and non-Native markets. The organization’s Native Farmer in Residence program is a peer-to-peer-based farmer training and support program designed to deliver tools and knowledge farmers need for success. The program is an outgrowth of NMCC’s Native agriculture research, funded by USDA and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, among others.

Based on NMCC’s successful Native Entrepreneur in Residence program, goals for Farmer in Residence include:
• Increased food sovereignty for Native individuals and tribes
• Enhanced community health via improved food choices
• Improved economic growth via better farm- ing business practices
• Finding secure and diversified markets for sales of Native grown produce
With funding from the Native American Agricultural Fund (NAAF), the program launched in the first quarter of 2021 with a cohort of 20 individuals engaged in farming—from a micro-farm of 1-to-9 acres, to 40-to-60-acre farms. Training is taking place over a one-year period at the farms, in NMCC class- rooms and online.
The training is intended to preserve and protect Native traditions and values while incorporating digital learning techniques.

Experienced farmers are on NMCC’s staff, and the program also brings Native farmers in for peer-to-peer training, and to build a Native Farmer in Residence network. Each partici- pant receives a Chromebook loaded with a suite of Google business tools tailored to farming. They also receive a stipend to be invested in the needs of their farm.

Curriculum includes enterprise resource analysis, developing a whole-farm plan, budgeting, record keeping, accounting/bookkeeping, finding new markets and building a business plan. Listening sessions ensure responsiveness to farmers’ needs. Basic discussion points include: What is the desired future for your farm? What are your values that are important to the growth of your farm? What resources currently exist in terms of land, people, equipment, etc.?

For more information on the program, contact
Liz Gamboa at 505-924-2820, [email protected]
or visit HTTPS://NMCCAP.ORG/

27/08/2021

Green Fire Times JUL/AUG 2021 Indigenous Solutions pgs 14-15
News & Views from the Sustainable Southwest
GreenFireTimes.com
The Chamiza Foundation: 32 Years of Philanthropy in Support of New Mexico Pueblos
BY DR. AMANDA J. MONTOYA

The Chamiza Foundation, for 32 years, has been dedicated to helping ensure the continuity and preservation of Pueblo Indian culture and traditions by supporting leadership in Pueblo communities and efforts to effect positive and innovative change.

Currently, there are eight Pueblo citizens on the foundation’s 11-member board, which guides decisions to channel funding to where it is most needed.

The board, members of the Phillips family and staff carry out the foundation’s work.

In round one of the 2021 granting cycle, we received several applications requesting emergency relief support. In round
two, we only received one application. We are taking this as a sign that our pueblos are moving into recovery.

On March 13, 2020, at the board’s first meeting of the year, many board members could not attend because of tribal travel restrictions. Some attended virtually. During the meeting, 10 grants were awarded to pueblos or entities working with Pueblo communities. However, due to pueblo closures, five of the projects were put on hold or the funding was declined because of the programs’ inability to carry out in-person activities.
The foundation was thrilled that five projects were able to be carried out despite the pandemic. The programs demonstrated sheer resiliency.

Five projects were able to be carried out despite the pandemic.
The people in this program worked hard to complete their activities despite having to put some things on hold. While following COVID-19 safety precautions, the shorthanded staff planted fields, a hoop house and tended the pueblo’s vineyard. They grew corn, melons, chiles and other produce that was distributed to the community. Dried corn chicos were provided for Nambé Feast Day in early October.

Santa Ana Pueblo SAY H2O Program

Santa Ana Pueblo’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has an important role in protecting and man- aging the pueblo’s land, wildlife and water resources. The goal for the SAY H2O Program is—through lessons and fieldtrips—to teach about conservation and restoration, and how these efforts intertwine with traditional knowledge and cultural practices. This includes introducing participants to the newly reclaimed aboriginal homelands the pueblo has purchased. The tribal council has directed the DNR to oversee restoration of these lands.
DNR staff, with COVID-19 protocols in place, held a fall event for the community at a pumpkin patch they prepared. They erected a shade structure and outhouses and have continued to develop the program, but the summer camp was postponed until 2022.
Santo Domingo Pueblo
– Kewa Childcare and Development Traditional Farming and Agricultural Experiences for Kewa Children
This program’s goal is to expose children to cultural life experiences that may not be taught in a classroom. Sixteen families participated. Using the Keres language, they engaged children in gardening. The families were provided with garden project kits. During such an unfamiliar time, they were grateful to have activities that could be done safely at home. As another way they could interact with the children, and to commemorate their experiences, the adults were given scrapbooks and Polaroid instant film cameras.

Zuni Pueblo – A:shiwi College and Career Readiness Center

The Chamiza Foundation awarded Zuni Pueblo’s A:shiwi College and Career Readiness Center a grant to host Ancestral Knowledge Workshops and a Language and Culture Conference. But due to COVID-19, they asked if they could use the funding for curriculum development. They also created culturally appropriate audio recordings to be shared with community members. Although they were not able to host workshops or conferences, they still met their project’s goals. They were able to address language, ancestral and cultural knowledge gaps among inter- generational groups.

Zuni Pueblo – Zuni Youth Enrichment Project

2020 marked the 12th annual Zuni Youth Enrichment Project (ZYEP) Summer Camp, though, because of COVID-19, it took a new form. The camp was founded on the belief that the youth deserve fun, engaging and healthy activities over the summer break. The camp has grown from serving 20 youth to nearly 200 by providing a four-week structured camp focused on physical activity, nutrition, agriculture, traditional art, Zuni culture and resiliency.

ZYEP launched a history-making “At Home” camp that still encompassed the core values and components of traditional summer camp, but initiated through weekly kits that were delivered to campers. The kits had themes and included instructions and all materials needed. “Virtual” camp counselors were hired. They received training in technology use, communication skills, mental health and su***de prevention, reporting procedures, and how to conduct weekly check-in and reflection calls with their campers. Although the participants missed in-person experiences, they were happy to have summer engagement during such a challenging time.

Dr. Amanda J. Montoya has been executive director of the Chamiza Foundation since 2018. She is from the pueblos of Taos, Ohkay Owingeh and Isleta.

THE SANTA FE INDIGENOUS CENTER

Santa Fe Indigenous Center’s (SFIC) programs include family and cultural events, food and clothing distribution, youth programs, emergency financial assistance, lectures and film screenings. SFIC’s signature event is the American Indian Community Day at Ragle Park. This year it will take place on Sept. 18 ,from 12 to 4 p.m., with traditional and contemporary Native dance and music, food, nonprofit booths, arts & crafts and more.

When COVID-19 struck, SFIC stepped up for Native communities in and around Santa Fe County. Throughout the scariest of times, volunteers helped with bi-monthly distributions. By the end of 2020, the center had served more than 3,800 family members with food and care bundles and—thanks to donations—provided more than $85,000 in emergency assistance to help with rent and utilities. Artists Glenn Gomez of Pojoaque Pueblo, Legun Coriz of Kewa and Carol Gala of Laguna Pueblo served fellow community members in need. David Gomez, a lawyer from Taos Pueblo, and Sheila DeChilly (Navajo) handed out food, cleaning supplies and personal care items. Dedicated volunteers formed a “family” that has remained loyal to SFIC.

SFIC presented Zoom workshops, including the “7 Circles of Health” with Thosh Collins, a Native health practitioner who spoke about food, movement, community and connection to the Earth. Anthony Dorame, Jr., Ph.D., from Tesuque Pueblo, presented the “Tewa Perception of Sustainability.” A Native Earth Day event included seed giveaways donated by the Traditional Native American Farmers Association, plus seedlings and starter kits.

PHOTOVOICE

Over a two-month period, in collaboration with the New Mexico Health Equity Partnership (HEP), SFIC held Photovoice sessions. Photovoice is a participatory research action methodology that uses photography to identify and represent participants’ communities. Given the unique time of facing a major pandemic, topics included mental well-being, cultural teachings, food sovereignty, farming, family, murdered and missing Indigenous women, loss of community members and health and wellness. Participants were asked, “What Does Health Mean to You?” Each per- son submitted one photo and presented a narrative to the group. Some of the narratives will be featured in an upcoming SFIC newsletter.

The SFIC is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is located at 1420 Cerrillos Road, across from the Indian School. The organization has an eight-member board and three part-time staff members: director Caren Gala (Laguna/Taos/Nambe Pueblo), administrative assistant Ticoh Japp (Anishinaabe/Cree) and office assistant RoseAnn Aguilar
(Yaqui). For more information, visit WWW.SANTAFEINDIGENOUSCENTER. ORG

27/08/2021

Green Fire Times JUL/AUG 2021 Indigenous Solutions, pg 11
News & Views from the Sustainable Southwest
GreenFireTimes.com
Film: A New Pathway for Indigenous Education
BY TERRY A. SLOAN

Indigenous education is a lifelong process of learning. From birth to death, it never stops. It is a community-developed and administered education, as opposed to one based on “Western science” or “modern” knowledge. In Indigenous-focused education systems, Indigenous knowledge is the basis for community-level decision-making and leadership. Indigenous education incorporates many levels of life and existence, including identity, culture, language, literature, history, politics, social and economic issues, and more. In the grand scope of things, many levels of life and existence can be considered Indigenous to the land, such as vegetation, trees, vegetables, fruits, animals, insects, birds, fish, water life, and of course, Indigenous people. Knowledge of the land is paramount to a balanced coexistence with Mother Earth and what she provides. How to care for and live off the land and sustain the life of the community is primary for Indigenous peoples and their education.

A prime example of Indigenous education is teaching seed use and sustainability. Seeds are archived to keep Indigenous agriculture sustainable for generations to come. Indigenous communities were the first sustainable economies on Mother Earth. The Hopi understanding of Masaw (a deity), the caretaker, guardian and protector of the land, gave the Hopi guidance and a way of life he wanted them to follow. If they followed his teachings, they would live long, prosperous and productive lives. He taught them to be humble and live life with a planting stick and seeds. Along the Río Grande, you can see evidence of Indigenous knowledge in the farms nurtured by New Mexico’s Pueblos and Tribes.

More people have come to respect the complexity and value of Indigenous cultures and languages. The world is beginning to pay attention to Indigenous knowledge, science and understanding, which are grounded in a spiritual connection to Mother Earth, Father Sun, the moon and the heavens. The spiritual connection to our fellow brothers and sisters, family and community, and how we coexist, defines who we are.
One way that Indigenous education can be enhanced and pass on knowledge for posterity is through film. There are not many educational film production companies that operate from an Indigenous perspective to provide a firsthand interpretation of Indigenous culture and experiences. A film company that aspires to do this must find a balance of providing skills while being the conduit for authentic voices, and at the same time, removing intrusion into educational sovereignty.

Lights, Camera, Learning Workshops

Silver Bullet Productions (SBP) is a non-profit educational film company in New Mexico. In addition to producing award-winning films, SBP’s mission, since 2004, has been to create educational relevance for tribal students and communities through filmmaking work- shops. SBP’s objective is to help the participants gain technical skills—and then “get out of the way.” SBP leaves film equipment with the communities, allowing them to continue to protect cultural privacy.

The students learn about and document those many levels of life and existence, and how to use film to help sustain land and culture through an Indigenous worldview. SBP’s curriculum encourages filmmakers to incorporate oral and visual concepts that Indigenous peoples have used for thousands of years. Students also study films to consider areas of ignorance or inaccuracy an educational documentary might address to correct misperceptions. The workshops empower Indigenous youth to tell their own stories. The students’ films have focused on land, language, leadership, policy and social concerns, as well as dramatic narratives.

SBP has produced more than 50 film projects. The films are intended to educate Native and non-Natives about cultural topics and to dispel stereo- types about Native Americans. Guided by tribal leaders, educators, historians and scientists, the films provide accurate and respectful information. The documentaries have been broadcast on PBS, and have been screened at film festivals, colleges, universities and shown to tribal communities. They have helped government officials better understand important concepts such as sovereignty.

A way to pass on a firsthand interpretation of Indigenous culture and knowledge

SBP’s Emmy-winning “Canes of Power” is about President Lincoln’s gift of engraved canes to each of New Mexico’s 19 Pueblo nations, and the formal recognition of tribal sovereignty by the United States. “A Thousand Voices” is an inspiring story about the inherent power of Native American women in New Mexico. “Defending The Fire” is a journey through time with Native warriors and the warrior spirit in men and women who have fought for land, people and their way of life. “However Wide the Sky: Places of Power,” to be released in July, tells the story of the land, living places of cultural strength and sustained connections to places of power.

SBP’s workshops, films and accompanying curriculum highlight the benefits of Indigenous education. All of the projects are guided by SBP’s board of directors, Native and non-native filmmakers and educators, tribal advisors and a culturally diverse production team. For more information, call 505-820-0552 or visit HTTP://SILVERBULLETPRODUCTIONS.COM

Terry A. Sloan (Dine’/Navajo/Hopi), born for the Kinyaa’áanii – Towering House Clan and the Tó’aheedlíinii – Water-Flows-Together Clan, is director of Southwest Native Cultures, a NGO member of the United Nations since 2011. He works on Indigenous people’s rights, climate change and environmental justice issues. He is also the City of Albuquerque Intergovernmental Tribal Liaison.

GREENFIRETIMES.COM

27/08/2021

Green Fire Times JUL/AUG 2021 Indigenous Solutions, pages 6-7
News & Views from the Sustainable Southwest
GreenFireTimes.com
DEB HAALAND TAKES CHARGE OF THE U.S. DEPT. OF THE INTERIOR ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY SETH ROFFMAN

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) controls 500 million acres of public land, one-fifth of the United States. Much of that was once tribal land, and continues to be subject to disputes over treaty rights, land acquisition and natural resources exploitation. The DOI is also entrusted with ensuring Native Americans’ welfare through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Indian Education. The agency mistreated Natives over many decades. Through the policy of removal, the DOI was responsible for eradicating homes, culture, and often, lives. Frustrated by tribal resistance to forced resettlement, in 1851, Interior Secretary Alexander H.H. Stuart declared that “the only alternatives left are to civilize or exterminate them.”
In December 2020, in accepting President Biden’s nomination as Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, a Laguna Pueblo citizen, said, “I’m a living testament to the failure of that horrific ideology.” After it was reported in June that the remains
of 215 Indigenous students were found in a mass grave at
a former boarding school in Canada (751 graves were
also discovered at another school), the Washington Post published an opinion piece from Sec. Haaland: “My grandparents were stolen from their families as children. We must learn about this history.” Weeks later, she announced that there will be a comprehensive review of the troubled legacy of federal boarding school policies.

Haaland is fluent in Native issues. Native leaders are looking to her to provide fresh thinking on conservation and development. Some of the issues they hope she will address:
• Greater protection of sacred and culturally significant lands
• Repairing the consultation process between the DOI and sovereign tribal governments
• Climate change
• Regulation of mining and oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters
• Water, drought and irrigation issues in much of the West • Preservation of national parks and protection of wildlife
Some of the new Interior Secretary’s initial actions:
• Sec. Haaland has reportedly recommended that President Biden fully protect Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Bears Ears was reduced in size by 85 percent by the Trump administration. The Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition, which has been advocating to restore the monument, includes the Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Hopi Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe and Pueblo of Zuni.
• The Interior secretary is supportive of the Biden administration's ambitious conservation goal to conserve 30 percent of all U.S. lands and waters by the year 2030. As a member of Congress, she was a lead sponsor of the “30x30” plan, which has been rebranded as the “America the Beautiful” initiative.
• She streamlined Fee-to-Trust, the process for the nation’s 574 recognized tribes to reacquire public lands from the federal government. Haaland’s order reversed a Trump-era policy that slowed tribal acquisitions of these lands.
Top: Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, when the All Pueblo Council of Governors welcomed her and discussed issues of concern. Center: Gov. Brian Vallo of Acoma Pueblo addresses the new Interior secretary. Bottom: U.S. Senators Ben Ray Lujan, Martin Heinrich, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham spoke at the May 2021 gathering.

• In June, Sec. Haaland told a House Natural Resources Commit- tee in regard to new drilling on public lands: “I don’t think the plan right now is for a permanent ban.”
• Sec. Haaland agreed to be responsive to Natural Resources Committee requests for information relevant to its authority to conduct oversight of the Interior Department.
• One of Sec. Haaland’s first actions was to establish a Missing and Murdered Unit to pursue justice for Indigenous people, especially women.
• She approved a new Constitution for the Cherokee Nation that grants full rights of citizenship to Cherokee Freedmen, who had been enslaved by Cherokee tribal citizens.

RESTORING TRIBES' AUTHORITY TO PROTECT WATER
Trump administration policy stripped thousands of waters of Clean Water Act protection, particularly for “ephemeral” or intermittently flowing streams, some of which help purify water on its way to lakes and rivers, and feed acequias. According to the New Mexico Environment Department, under the 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule, at least 89 percent of the state’s rivers and streams and nearly 40 percent of wet- lands may have lost federal regulation. That could include polluted runoff from Los Alamos County that reaches the Río Grande, and it might disqualify the Gila River because it runs dry before reaching the Colorado River.

Twenty states including New Mexico, the Navajo Nation, the Southern Ute and the pueblos of Laguna and Jemez have filed a lawsuit against the policy. Students from the University of New Mexico’s Southwest Indian Law Clinic and the Natural Re- sources and Environmental Law Clinic assisted the pueblos’ attorneys in drafting a 62-page complaint.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulators intend to repeal the “dirty water rule.” But establishing a new rule will take time, and already-approved projects may move forward in the meantime. The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers are drafting a new set of protections for waterways to ensure safe drinking water, support wildlife habitats and consider the impacts of climate change.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan, who took over the agency in March, said he will reimplement Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, which for half a century granted states and tribes authority to block pipelines and energy projects that could pollute waterways and wetlands within their borders. Regan pledged to protect water quality while not overly burdening small farmers, and to work with state, tribal and local officials to encourage sustainable economic development. Congressional action would be needed to permanently update the Clean Water Act to prevent core water policies from being subject to the current president.

The Gila River in southern New Mexico

SUPREME COURT STRENGTHENS
TRIBAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY
In an opinion that moves the United States a step closer to recognizing a tribe’s inherent authority and sovereignty, on June 1, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a tribal police officer can temporarily detain and search non-Natives on public rights of way that go through tribal land. The U.S. v. Cooley decision is expect- ed to assist efforts to decrease violence against American Indian and Native Alaskan women under the Tribal Law and Order Act, as well as efforts to curb drug-related criminal activity impacting Indian Country.

Justice Stephen Breyer authored a nine-page opinion along with a concurring one-paragraph opinion by Justice Samuel Alito. Breyer cited a past case, Montana v. United States, in that a “tribe may also retain inherent power to exercise civil authority over the conduct of non-Indians on lands within its reservation when that conduct threatens or has some direct effect on the political integrity, the economic security, or the health or welfare of the tribe.” Breyer wrote, “To deny a tribal police officer authority to search or detain for a reasonable time any person he or she believes may commit or has committed a crime would make it difficult for tribes to protect themselves against ongoing threats.”

BUREAU TO LEASE WATER
FROM OHKAY OWINGEH
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BoR) and Ohkay Owingeh tribal representatives have negotiated a contract for the agency to buy up to 2,000 acre-feet of water annually to increase flows in the Río Grande for endangered species such as the silvery minnow. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons. The agency would pay a yearly increase and also a fee so that the pueblo would not lease water to anyone else. Ohkay Owingeh’s tribal council will decide whether to approve the proposed 15-year lease, which would begin in 2022.

The region’s watersheds are seeing major reductions in surface and groundwater recharge, and there are fewer diversion options. Water from the pueblo’s allotment of the San Juan-Chama Project would help the BoR comply with the federal Endangered Species Act. The agency has already leased water for endangered species from the Jicarilla Apache Nation and Taos Pueblo, and has signed leases with Albuquerque, Bernalillo, Belen and Los Lunas.

GREENFIRETIMES.COM
7Green Fire Times
JUL/AUG 2021 INDIGENOUS SOLUTIONS
News & Views from the Sustainable Southwest
Use this link:
https://greenfiretimes.com/.../2021/07/GFT_JulyAug2021.pdf

27/08/2021

Green Fire Times JUL/AUG 2021 Indigenous Solutions, pgs 34-35
News & Views from the Sustainable Southwest
GreenFireTimes.com
CHASING THE ELUSIVE
EXPLORATIONS IN ACHIEVING SUSTAINABILITY
ADVANCING THE UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN NEW MEXICO
BY KATHERINE MORTIMER Source: United Nations

This is the second in a series of articles that look at the 17 goals identified at the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Develop- ment in Rio de Janeiro. The 2019 Global Sustainable Develop- ment report identified six entry points that have the greatest potential to achieve these goals. This article examines the second entry point, and explores how it can be advanced in New Mexico.

Sustainable and Just Economies in New Mexico

The UN report notes that economic activity should be seen not as an end in itself, but rather as a means for sustainably advancing human capabilities. It points out that the current dominant measure of economic health, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), leaves out key aspects of the economy, specifically around the decoupling of benefits and costs. The GDP does not account for negative externalities such as waste generation, pollution and health impacts of the products produced. GDP assumes increasing consumption can continue without any negative consequences and that there are no limits to the natural resources consumed to make those products.

The difference between the highest and lowest paid person in an organization has increased significantly in recent decades. A report by Elise Gould, State of Working American Wages 2019: A Story of Slow, Uneven, and Unequal Wage Growth Over the Last 40 Years, published in February 2020 by the Economic Policy Institute, found that “the highest earners (95th percentile) continue to pull away from middle- and low- wage workers” with the largest gaps for people of color and women.

A report by the federal General Accounting Office, Poverty in America: Consequences for Individuals and the Economy, published in February 2007, noted that “research shows that poverty can negatively affect economic growth by affecting the accumulation of human capital and rates of crime and social unrest. Economic theory has long suggested that human capital—that is, the education, work experience, training and health of the workforce—is considered one of the fundamental drivers of
How well N.M can continue to act as a leader could be a key to how we can help lift our state and export that expertise.
individuals’ ability to remain healthy and develop skills, in turn decreasing the potential to contribute talents, ideas and even labor to the economy. An educated labor force, for example, is better at learning, creating and implementing new technologies. Economic theory suggests that when poverty affects a significant portion of the population, these effects can extend to the society at large and produce slower rates of growth. Although historically, research has focused mainly on the extent to which economic growth alleviates poverty, some recent empirical studies have begun to demonstrate that higher rates of poverty are associated with lower rates of growth in the economy as a whole. For example, areas with higher poverty rates experience, on average, slower per capita income growth rates than low-poverty areas.”

How New Mexico shapes the recovery after the pandemic is key to how well the state will fare economically. Forecasts from the University of New Mexico’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) before the pandemic projected slow job growth below the national averages. The pandemic and a growing understanding of inequity in the U.S. and the world are having profound effects on how we think about the economy and policies that affect it.

What do we need to do to transition to a post-recovery future that leverages New Mexico’s human resources and helps address historic poverty rates?

In the previous issue of Green Fire Times, we explored how we have been repressing the full potential of our human resources due to unconscious biases. New Mexico consistently ranks low on most economic and well-being indicators.

SUSTAINABILITY

Understand how a given place can leverage the Indigenous knowledge.

Economic Sustainability

This column previously explored Human Well-Be- ing and Capabilities and found that addressing poverty and inequity is key to creating a sustainable, safe, and thriving community. The more I explore economic stability, I keep coming back to the multiple benefits of addressing poverty and inequity, including how that would help the local economy. How might the economy benefit from the elimination of poverty and allowing the full potential of every person to be realized?

Balance of use of resources with their ability to regenerate. Terms like “peak oil” and “sustainable yield” speak to the limits of natural resources, but who decides when re- source use rates are unsustainable? Without outside oversight it is the very industries benefitting from the resource use that define the rate. The current system also does not require that those extractive industries pay for the impacts of pollution, deforestation and other impacts to the environment, leaving the public with those bills. Regulations are needed that ensure that resources are protected and impacts are paid for by the industries causing those impacts.

Leverage Indigenous knowledge. Strategies for stabilizing the economy and ensuring justice vary from one place to another. While it helps to see how communities improved their economies and have become more just, these things are “one size fits all.” In order to maximize the potential, it is critical to understand local influences. Local knowledge is the key to unlock this potential. The first people who settled the area and the culture that grew out of living in that place is the first place to start to understand how a given place can leverage the Indigenous knowledge. How the community subsequently evolved as other cultures moved to the area and the history of how people have treated each other is the next layer of information to inform how best to facilitate moving forward in a more sustainable and just manner.

New Mexico has a rich history of Native American lives. It is believed that the Anasazi people abandoned their communities due to a long and severe drought. Climate change is causing droughts on the magnitude of that historic drought and projections show that it may get much worse. Therefore, understanding how access to water will be key to creating long-term sustainability and sustainability in this arid state. In fact, New Mexico has been on the leading edge of water conservation and reuse in the US. These strategies will be put to the test in coming years, and how well New Mexico can continue to act as a leader could be a key to how we can help lift our state economically and export that expertise to other areas that are not yet experiencing water shortages but are projected to in the future due to climate change.

Another area in which New Mexico has the potential to be a leader and exporter is renewable energy. We have long known that between solar and wind energy potential, New Mexico is uniquely positioned to have an abundance of energy resources. Currently, the limiting factor is the lack of transmission lines to move that energy to other states and even within New Mexico.

To understand how else New Mexico can leverage the opportunities unique to our state, we need to listen to each other and explore together how we can lift our state economically while ensuring that the benefits will be equitably distributed to unlock all the human potential available to us, and as I concluded the last article on the Sustainable Development Goals, let’s start thinking outside of the box to elevate people living in New Mexico, and by doing so, improve the quality of life for all of us. In the next issue of Green Fire Times, I will explore food systems and nutrition patterns.

Katherine Mortimer is the founder and principal of Pax Con- sulting, LLC, a New Mexico business providing government and businesses with tools they need to achieve the interconnected pillars of sustainability: environmental stewardship, economic vitality, and most importantly, social justice.