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NM Eyes and Ears Head to Copenhagen for Climate Conference

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico

Santa Fe - The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark kicks off in one week, and a few folks from New Mexico will be on hand to witness the historic summit, including Ken Hughes, conservation director for the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club.

In one week, the eyes of the world will focus on Copenhagen, Denmark and the historic climate change summit being held there.  Ken Hughes says his goal is to witness the proceedings ... and bring back a full report, "This is the mother of all environmental challenges - the climate change we've experienced already here in New Mexico with the big droughts is kind of a shade of things to come - so anything we can do to stave off that sort of a future is worth doing."

Hughes says any agreement that comes out of Copenhagen could benefit New Mexico, especially if it increases demand for solar, wind or geothermal power. The UN Climate Change Conference runs December 7th through the 18th. Hughes will share his views about the process and his experiences in Copenhagen at two public events in January 2010.

International agreements on climate change have been elusive, because developing countries like China have continued to increase their carbon output. Hughes says he hopes America and other nations will look at new ways to encourage clean energy in the developing world, "Developing countries can skip right over our polluting bad habits to a clean energy future in a very, very short period of time, with the funding that can come from the United Nations."  Hughes also notes that institutions like the World Bank can also play a major role in pushing the rest of the developing world in a "green" direction, to create less climate-changing pollution by providing funding that helps nations go "green."

For more information visit http://newmexico.sierraclub.org/ .

A CULTIVATED EDEN DESCRIBED AS A WILDERNESS

from the Organic Consumers Association

What European colonists mistakenly described as wilderness was actually a human-created and nurtured landscape, providing food, medicinal herbs, bountiful wildlife, healthy, living soil, and clean water.

Native Americans "managed" the environment "organically," producing and/or maintaining for themselves and the future generations native animals, birds, fish, berries, nuts, greens, fruits, bulbs, corn, mushrooms, roots, basketry and cordage materials, firewood, hunting and building materials, herbal medicines, and plants for ceremonial use.
Many "wild" or commercial plants or varieties that exist today are in fact derived from ancient Native American seed saving and cross-breeding that produced better-tasting, climate adapted, and nutritional varieties.

The popular belief that pre-Columbian America was a "pristine wilderness" is false. This destructive myth is based upon essentially racist stereotypes that reduce the highly successful plant and animal husbandry of Native American rural societies to the instinctual behavior of wildlife or "noble savages."

Native American elders remember better times. "The white man ruined this country," said Southern Sierra Miwok elder Jim Rust. "It's turned back to wilderness. In the old days there used to be lots more game: deer, quail, gray squirrels and rabbits."

There are no "spontaneous Edens" on planet Earth. The New World Gardens of Eden spread across the Americas and the Caribbean, mindlessly exploited by the European conquerors, were the product of the wisdom, hard work, and perseverance of millions of Native Americans, caring for what they believed was a "sacred Earth" and an interconnected web of life that included all living things. In a similar manner, we must understand today that there will be no spontaneous organic or green revival, nor magical climate re-stabilization. An organic and healthy life for the present and future generations will require the dedicated work and perseverance of millions. In the near future we will either stop the deadly assaults on our biodiversity, our food chain, our health, and our climate, or else the biological carrying capacity of the Earth will collapse, along with "modern civilization" as we know it.
Read this and more coverage at Organic Bytes .

Food for Thought

from New Mexico Voices for Children

The winter holidays seem to bring out the best in people, as donations to food pantries, homeless shelters, and other service providers usually see an upswing. Of course, we all know that poverty, homelessness and hunger are year-round problems-even for families with one or two full-time bread winners.

A report put out last week by the USDA shows that New Mexico has the fifth highest level of hunger insecurity in the nation. Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas are the only states where food insecurity is higher. The report defines food insecurity as not having access to adequate levels of food due to a lack of money or other resources. These families are often forced to skip meals or reduce meal portion sizes in order to make limited food supplies last as long as possible. Parents will often skip meals so that their children can eat.

This report looked at data from 2006-2008, so it does not show how the recession is currently affecting people. You can read the whole report here   http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR83/ERR83.pdf 

Time Runs Out on Proposed White's Peak Trade

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
New Mexico Sportsmen Remain Opposed

Springer, NM - There's just one day left until the deadline on a deal that has New Mexico sportsmen up in arms. A proposed land exchange between the State Land Office and two large, private ranches could take thousands of acres of popular hunting ground in northern New Mexico out of public use.

There's just one day left until the clock runs out on a deal that - as it stands now - could leave New Mexico sportsmen holding the short end of the stick. That's the view from the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, which opposes a proposed land exchange involving public lands around White's Peak, west of Springer, that are popular with hunters. The trade involves transferring thousands of acres of mountainous public trust land to a few large private ranches in exchange for thousands of acres of lower, mostly grasslands. Ed Olona is president of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and a long-time resident of the area. Olona says about the porposed trade, "For good prime deer, bear, turkey hunting country they are trading prairie, prairie country."

The State Land Office says the White's Peak lands have been hard to manage due to issues with access, vandalism and illegal off-road vehicle use - and the exchange would solve those problems. But Olona says those are issues that can be solved without trading away the land, and he complains that the deal has been done largely out of the view of the public eye. A map of the proposed exchange was only recently posted on the State Land Office web site. If no one else bids or offers an exchange for the White's Peak lands by November 24th at 5 p.m. the deal can then move forward. The land is managed by the State Land Office.

Olona says the exchange would unfairly impact local hunters who can't afford to pay exorbitant fees to hunt on private lands,  "If they give it away to the wealthy, rich ranchers, the people of the state of New Mexico are going to suffer - they don't have a place to hunt anymore - and this is the reason why we're protecting these lands for the poor."

A map of the area is here: http://www.nmstatelands.org/uploads/News/2009/2009_1120WhitesPeakFacts.pdf

 

New Mexico Thanksgiving Dinner Challenge: Go Local

New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
Embudo, NM - Time to put together the shopping list for holiday meals, and New Mexicans are being challenged this year to keep it local.  Your turkey doesn't have to travel across state lines to make it to your Thanksgiving table. "Eat local for Thanksgiving" challenges are underway, and some local producers say finding a bird that's raised in New Mexico might not be as hard or expensive as you think.  David Rigsby owns Embudo Valley Organics where he raises turkeys and he says,  "I don't think it's that much more trouble. I think that people who are in to conventional productions of all sorts think they can't do it. I don't think that we're set back at all."

Many co-ops and grocers carry New Mexico raised foods, often at very little or no extra expense over conventional, factory-farmed foods. Other tips for having a locally-raised holiday meal include contacting summer farmers market vendors to see who has stored squash, pumpkins, onions and potatoes available. And search old books, magazines and the Internet for recipes from 50 to 100 years ago, when ingredient lists focused more on what was locally available.

Eating local for the holidays is more than about supporting community farmers and ranchers, it also helps reduce energy use. Annie Conley, Market Connection program director at the Western Sustainability Exchange, explains that,  "... not only is energy saved from transporting food shorter distances, many local producers use more sustainable farming and ranching practices that reduce energy consumption and dependence on fossil fuels.

Editor's Note: Folks who shop locally are known as 'locavores.' How much of a locavore are you?