Sustainability

PRESS RELEASE: Partners for a Clean New Mexico Launch Statewide Campaign to Combat Illegal Dumping
DATE: April 18, 2013 Donna Hummel, Bureau of Land Mgmt., 505/954-2018
Joy Esparsen, NM Assoc. of Counties, 505/820-8111

By Robert B. Carleton
Central Group Executive Committee

You can’t deny they were here first.” Thus began Biologist Jerry Burton’s July 13, 2003, article in the Albuquerque Journal. Despite intense efforts, they are still just barely hanging on in the Middle Rio Grande. A brighter future might be in store.

According to Green America's Better Paper Project latest report, (more info click here) the organization has succeeded in getting one of the largest, most influential magazine publishers in the country to admit the benefits of using recycled paper.

During March 2013, Bernalillo County has scheduled many events. Plus, it’s also time to apply for the Master Naturalist Program. Please see the attached Open Space Program of Events for a complete listing of the County’s Open Space activities this year. You can sign up for the workshops this month at bernco.gov/openspace.

Master Naturalist Program
Accepting applications now until March 29. The training will take place this June and July at Bachechi Open Space (9521 Rio Grande Blvd. NW)

A NEW TWIST ON RECYCLING

There’s a fun new activity on NASA’s Climate Kids website. Instead of just emptying the paper-shredder receptacle into the recycle bin, recycle it yourself! Make your own recycled paper greeting cards—and then plant them! This “seed paper’ activity is easy and fun, and produces a greeting anyone would find endearing for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. Visit climatekids.nasa.gov/seed-paper.

Check out these great sites for kids:

Zero Waste is a concept based on nature. Nature doesn't generate waste or pollution. What is waste for one organism is food for another.

Zero Waste focuses on reducing waste by reusing products and composting rather than recycling.

The Sierra Club Policy
The Sierra Club adopted a Zero Waste policy in 2008. It addresses not only the qauntity of waste we generate but also its toxicity and its important link to corporate responsibility and climate change.

By Eliza Kretzmann, Resilient Habitats Associate Organizing Representative

The last time the U.S. Forest Service updated the National Planning Rule that affects management of forests across the nation, Ronald Reagan was president, hot-pink legwarmers were all the rage, and I sat in a second-grade classroom. The year was 1985. My, how the world has changed since then! The world of forest planning has changed immensely as well. The new plan will focus more on sustainable, healthy forests and less on the “board feet, red meat” extraction of the old rule.

By Dan Lorimier, Chapter Conservation Coordinator and Lobbyist

After almost three years of wrangling with New Mexico’s dairy industry, calling themselves the Dairy Industry Group for a Cleaner Environment (DIGCE), and the New Mexico Environment Department’s Groundwater Quality Bureau, the Rio Grande Chapter saw the Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) implement new regulations specific to the dairy industry early in 2012.

New Mexico hit the conservation daily double on Sept. 27, when we gained two national wildlife refuges—America’s 559th and 560th. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, along with Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Rep. Martin Heinrich and other dignitaries and community supporters were on hand for two ceremonies celebrating land acquisitions for the new refuges.