by Amanda Manjarrez

As the election craze winds down and we all start to take a breath and look at the new turn our country is taking, it can be pretty difficult to settle with complete optimism.  A major issue that our nation still faces is a rapidly growing unemployment rate. As of October, it was reported at 6.5% but is projected to rise up to 8% in the next year. People are losing jobs, layoffs are rampant across industries, and for most underemployment is another major concern as it stands at a rate of 11.8%, its highest in 14 years according to the Economic Policy Institute .

What does this tell us?

We are not struggling with a nation unwilling to work, but a workforce with diminishing prospects and opportunities.  Over 1.2 million jobs have been lost this year and that number will continue to grow as our economy continues struggle unless bold and smart decisions are made by our new leaders. There are many ideas on the table but the most promising is to move our country in the direction of green jobs and a new green economy.

Green jobs could take many forms including solar panel installation, building retrofitting, manufacturing, recycling, etc, with the ultimate aim of energy conservation and sustainability. In the face of high unemployment rates and a bad market economy it seems that our best bet would be to put people to work to rebuild our infrastructure to match it with the challenges of the 21^st century, including climate change. Just to give an example, over 49,000 construction workers have lost their jobs in the past year while at least 157, 000 manufacturing jobs have been lost or sent overseas. It would not only be in our best interest since most green jobs can’t be outsourced but also it would be a reasonable investment that is inherently designed to ultimately pay for itself. Also, more importantly there is the social justice aspect or responsibility of making sure that we are creating good paying career-path jobs to be sure that people are able to support themselves and their families.

If I’ve learned anything from the current economic turmoil it’s that almost everything in our country seems to run on investments, so isn’t it time we start making the right ones?

by Juan Reynosa

The Green Jobs movement has great potential to reduce our carbon emissions and create millions of new environmentally related jobs, yet it also has an even greater potential to unite Americans once again around a progressive, social advancement.  Many are looking at the creation of nationwide green jobs as the “New Civil Rights Movement.” The first civil rights movement in America brought people of all mixes together to help African-Americans fight racial oppression, and the Green Jobs movement is now bringing together people, groups, and even industry together to fight environmental oppression on many of our citizens, especially the low-income, low opportunity citizens.  We are now at a moment when we all need to come together to help our future generation have a prosperous and green future.

That brings me to an upcoming conference that I’m extremely excited about attending.  The Dream Reborn in Memphis, TN is being held on the 40^th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination and is bringing people together from all over the country to reignite MLK’s “dream.”  It is going to be a groundbreaking event in which community leaders of our generation will gather to find solutions towards making our future more socially equal and creating a “New Deal” type, green economy that will, as Van Jones says, “Lift All Boats!”  For me, it’s greatly inspiring to see Americans converging on two issues that seem to have been left by the wayside for a good while: the unhealthy pollution on our environment and our low-income, working class comrades in America. 

The Dream Reborn is going to reignite the dream of one of the greatest visionaries in history.  MLK in his I Have a Dream speech said, “We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.”  This is the position we are facing today, America must be urgent and take action Now in order to counteract the many fierce problems that our outdated, pollutive industries have brought about.  The Dream Reborn is going to serve as the innovative forum that not only will help bring together Americans into a tight knit community to serve for the common good of us all, but it will also help create new dreams based on visions of our greatest leaders.  By taking action Now and working Together, we will once again create a movement that can only make us a better nation.  I hope to see you there!

by Juan Reynosa

Hobbs has a great opportunity to become the hub of energy production in New Mexico, not just within the oil industry, but also within the emerging realm of renewable energy.  Solar and wind industries are growing rapidly in our country, and with the introduction of the Lieberman-Warner bill, Congress is aiming to give economic development incentives to both of these renewable energy sectors.

Not only is it one of the greatest economic opportunities for rural communities right now, but it also provides opportunities to young people with barriers to employment by providing career pathways to green jobs.

Hobbs has always been on the forefront of oil and gas production, and it is this fact that has helped the town survive throughout many economic fluctuations.  Yet with increasing gas prices and peak oil production on the horizon, New Mexicans in Hobbs have an opportunity to diversify our economic development strategy to include other energy sources that are as readily available as oil is: solar and wind energy.

Anyone who has lived even a few months in Hobbs knows that it experiences a large amount of sunny and windy days.  There are many solar and wind manufacturing plants popping up throughout the state and there are government incentives to help get solar and wind farms off the ground.  Other nearby communities, including Clovis and House, NM, have already begun to benefit from the production of wind farms.  Residential solar use is increasing exponentially throughout the state and is saving homeowners money through a cleaner form of energy.

New Mexico has consistently strived for more economic development throughout the state and you can see this in Hobbs with the development of the casino/racetrack, the prison, and the new nuclear enrichment plant.  Yet solar and wind power, besides offering a cleaner form of energy, have much more to offer.  There are many tax incentives, rebates, and credits attached to implementing these energy sources and the jobs created by these industries, especially for young people, are career ladder jobs with benefits and almost always have to pull from the local job market.

Through implementing these economic development strategies, we have the potential to boost our local economy during a national recession. This green economic development is also supported by many state and federal incentives to ease the transition.  Numerious studies show that these types of “green” jobs provide more jobs per megawatt of power generated than fossil fuel related jobs. 

As natural gas and oil prices continue to increase, New Mexicans are being forced to consider alternative forms of energy to alleviate the costs infringing on our quality of life.  These are not just financial burdens, but also the burdens of unhealthy land, water, and air.  Hobbs has always been one of the larger energy producing hubs of New Mexico and in order to stay in this position we must start considering these emerging energy sources as the older energy sources begin to fall by the wayside.

I urge all Hobbsans to look into the positive impacts of renewable energy and the good, green jobs it would bring with it.  Oil and gas production may not be completely phased out yet, but it is only a matter of time before production begins to decrease in our area. 

We need to be ahead of the energy curve and help further our already prospering economy.  Many people support green jobs and renewable energy, ranging from physicians, faith groups, youth groups, and community leaders.  For the betterment of our community, it’s time we implement these great ideas.

by Juan Reynosa

It’s always good to “get out there” and do something good for your community.  Even if it’s super hot outside and the work is a little bit more rigorous than you’re used to.  There’s just something about the feeling you get after you’re done, knowing that you got off your ass and instead did something positive for others.  Add to that the fact that this certain gratifying feeling can get addicting, and it usually makes it easier for you to roll out of bed that next Saturday morning and venture into the hot summer sun.

That’s exactly what happened last weekend.  I was in a deep sleep, dreaming about being somewhere cool and tropical when my alarm clock rang.  “Man,” I thought, “Let’s just snooze it a little while longer.”  But then I remembered that my group, New Mexico Youth Organized, and myself had an obligation to join other volunteers at Joy Junction. There we would be helping to put a Mirrorseal roof on their family dorm.

Mirrorseal is a great product in that it’s easy to apply to the existing roof surface and it is not petroleum based.  Rather it’s made from a salt-based resin that not only is environmentally friendly, but also is highly reflective.  Because of it’s reflectivity, the roof bounces back most of the solar UV rays that hit it, thus drastically reducing the heat absorption by the building.  One last thing to note here, is that this product is great for people who are using water catchment systems at their house since the salt-based resin does not emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like tar roofs do.  The water gathered from a Mirrorseal roof does not contain VOCs that can contaminate crops that you water with your catchment water.

Joy Junction has been making some great improvements at their facilities here lately.  Very recently they built some new shower and restroom facilities that can accommodate the growing number of residents there.  The family dorm also had been experiencing some leaks from the roof and that’s where we stepped in.  NM Solar Shield (the company we are collaborating with on this project) provided the Mirrorseal materials super cheap and NM YO (among other volunteers) is helping to provide the workforce for this project.

So members of NMYO jumped on that roof on an already hot Saturday morning and, despite being novices at this process, helped fix about a quarter of the roof on the dorm.  One great thing I took from this first date at Joy Junction was knowing that part of the roof we had just fixed was overlying a room where a grandmother and her grandchildren were staying.  Knowing that I sacrificed my day to help them out made it more than a worthwhile experience. 

All of the volunteers that day had a great time interacting with each other and learned new skills along the way.  By the end of the day we were tired and covered in white stuff, but we were also expert Mirrorseal roof installers.  I can only think of the other people living in that dorm and how I need to gather more people together to get this job done.  I for one can’t wait until next time, because, even though I may get sunburned, I will also be performing a great service for people in need. 

by Juan Reynosa        

The culmination of a month’s worth of event organizing came this weekend on Saturday, September 27^th, 2008.  This day was a national day of action in which environmental and social justice organizers throughout the nation (there was at least one event in each of the 50 states) came together and organized a variety of events to nationally proclaim that we are ready for green jobs now. 

The event that I had worked on all month long was an Environmental Solutions Fair.  My vision for this event was to organize a fun and educational community event where people could come learn about green jobs, the New Mexico Youth Organized green jobs initiative, and sign the green jobs petition.  But as the month progressed, the event blossomed into something more.  I began to contact people and organizations that were already doing things in our community.  They were just as excited as I was to have them highlight all the good work that they’ve been doing in our community for some time now.

So the list grew into having our local university’s solar trailer on hand to help power the music being played by the band, Young Edward.  We had local bio-diesel producers on hand to show how they are safely and easily making safe fuel from grease from local restaurants.  We had people educating the public on energy conservation and also handed out free condensed fluorescent bulbs as well.  There was a variety of sustainability and wildlife groups on hand, as well as multiple local growers who were there selling their wares.  Finally, New Mexico Youth Organized was on hand promoting green jobs for both their city, state, and nationwide.

It was great to have been part of this national day of action.  Knowing that thousands of other Americans were doing something on this day brought me a great sense of solidarity and empowerment.  I know that together as a nation we can help turn around our economy and help clean up our environment by bringing in more green jobs to some of our people who need it the most. It was a lot of hard work, but interacting with the public that day made me again realize the importance of this work and how much it will help everyone and everything as a whole.

by Juan Reynosa           

I read an article in the Albuquerque Journal today that informed me that Albuquerque residents are officially beginning to use the Rio Grande (25% of it for now that is blended with aquifer water) for our drinking water.  I visited many water treatment plants during my tenure as an environmental science student and definitely feel that they are capable of treating the water to get it clean and clear.

What I am not sure of is if this treatment process is taking out the pharmaceutical remnants and radionuclides that have been found in the water.  The group Agua es Vida has already brought this subject to the surface, and I definitely would like to see the concerns on the levels of these contaminants, even if they are low level as claimed, brought up since we are going to soon be drinking this water.

From all my experience in studying water treatment systems; I’ve never seen the treatment process address low radioactive particles, such as radionuclides.  In the journal article, nothing is noted as to how these particles can or would be taken out, but rather it is dismissed as them being in low enough levels to not be of concern.  To be honest, the only low level of radioactive particles that I want in my drinking water is a level of absolutely none.

Besides the issue of these possible lingering contaminants in the water; what is being said about the 25% percent of the river water being used (I’m assuming this percentage will continue to grow throughout the years as well) and how this is going to affect our contribution to the Rio Grande compact.  Not only that, another question I have is how is this going to affect our acequia systems.  I would love to speak with some mayordomos in town about how they feel this is going to affect the amount of water that they will get.

I have noticed that there seem to be a few unanswered questions with this whole Rio Grande drinking water situation.  Water is a very precious resource, and we need to have a more rigorous process of determining whether we should be using this water as drinking water.  The city would also benefit from implementing a large scale water conservation program that would become more strict throughout the years as water becomes more scarce.

We obviously need a source of drinking water, yet we also need to respect the water that is around us.  First, we all need to begin to develop a water conservation mind frame.  Second, we need to begin imposing stricter measures on the many water wasters in our area. 

To me, these are the first programs we need to be looking towards when thinking of about our water for the future.  Averting to using the river’s water seems like a rash decision in which it is hoped that it will be an easy fix.  There are no easy fixes when it comes to determining how we best use our water.  Rather, it is imperative that we all become more aware of our water use instead of thinking we will always have another source of water to use.  And in our situation, that other source of water does not seem too ideal.