I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
At Friday night’s closing plenary, delegates to the United Nation’s climate talks emphasized compromise and balance. Afterwards, they returned to meetings, and in the early morning hours on Saturday, agreed to continue discussions next year on the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period and the design of a Green Climate Fund and the creation of low-carbon development plans by industrialized nations.
After the “COP 16″ talks in Cancún end today, the public should anticipate that US officials will pin blame for the failed negotiations on Bolivia’s President Evo Morales. That’s despite the fact that in almost 20 years of talks, the US has never agreed to legally binding cuts in carbon emissions.
CANCÚN, MEXICO — There are rumblings around Cancún that China may be willing to legally commit to its domestic cuts in carbon emissions. Leading the world in emissions, China indicated at the COP 16 climate talks that it’s open to dropping its past resistance to a legally binding resolution.
CANCÚN, MEXICO — On Monday, Kevin Conrad, special envoy and ambassador for environment and climate change, Papua New Guinea, unveiled a new project from Sir Richard Branson: The Carbon War Room is a US-based nonprofit that “harnesses the power of entrepreneurs to implement market-driven solutions to climate change.”
CANCÚN, MEXICO — As the second week of climate negotiations begins, the Mexican government is preparing for the arrival of ministers and world leaders–and hoping to head-off the same chaos that broke apart last year’s talks in Copenhagen.
CANCÚN, MEXICO — During a two-week summit, which ends December 10, negotiators and world leaders will again try to hammer out agreements on climate change, carbon emission reductions, adaptation and mitigation. Tagged “COP 16,” the meetings are the 16th annual Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In welcoming participants to his country, President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa said, “Putting a stop to climate change is a true challenge, and there is only one power to rise to this challenge: The power of humanity itself.”
Water experts and advocates converged in Albuquerque recently at the New Mexico Watershed Forum to talk government policy and the health of the state’s rivers and waterways. While touting accomplishments such as restoration work along the Rio Grande and Pecos rivers, many acknowledged much remains to be done.
On Monday, the New Mexico Environment Improvement Board began hearing testimony from experts, citizens and industry concerning a rule change that could allow New Mexico to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and the oil and gas industry. The rule, proposed by New Energy Economy the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, would affect coal and natural gas power plants, as well as oil and gas facilities.
A year and a half after the first of eleven bodies was found on the West Mesa, there is no sign of progress on a promised memorial to the victims. City Councilor Ken Sanchez says he thought a park, built on land donated by KB Home, would raise awareness of the crime. He’s still waiting for blueprints he thought KB would have delivered months ago. But the father of one of the victims says he trusts KB will follow through.
At the end of April, the Center for Biological Diversity announced it plans to sue the Forest Service for not protecting rare species on lands throughout Arizona and New Mexico. The group says the Forest Service has continued to approve projects that destroy endangered species and their habitat without doing required monitoring.
While scientists agree that the potential impacts of climate change will be widespread—and in the already arid southwestern United States, severe—Congress has yet to pass climate change legislation. The move for federal cap and trade legislation—which would cap emissions but allow flexibility in compliance— is on its death bed, felled by the poor economy and vehement industry opposition, among other factors. As states grapple with how to move forward, in New Mexico, gubernatorial candidates on both side of the aisle agree that climate change regulation is not a state’s prerogative.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Turner on Monday filed a temporary restraining order against Governor Bill Richardson, saying he hoped that move would halt the state’s plans to administratively cut greenhouse gas emissions from facilities such as coal- and natural…
Helena Chemical Company won a defamation lawsuit against Arturo Uribe, a 40-year old social worker who lives near a warehouse owned by the Tennessee-based Helena Chemical Company, and had spoken out repeatedly about the company. Two months prior to Helena’s suit against him, Uribe and 22 community members sued the company–which had been repeatedly cited for air quality violations–saying its emissions were making local children sick.
