DEAR FRIENDS OF NM'S WATERS ~
As winter and the holidays approach in earnest, we send our warmest thanks to each of you for your love of rivers, lakes, streams, acequias, wetlands, and the mysterious waters of the deep from which many of us draw our drinking water. The Amigos Bravos board of directors and staff are grateful for your support of the work that is so profoundly necessary if we are to keep New Mexico's waters as clean and abundant as possible for wildlife and human communities. We wish you, your friends, and your loved ones a most wonderful solstice season and a very happy new year!
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In this issue of the E-Currents, Amigos Bravos is excited and proud to announce the formation of a Youth Council to address environmental issues related to Los Alamos National Laboratory. We are also happy to announce that the December
"Water Matters" Lecture will feature three women activists from Santa Clara Pueblo - Marian Naranjo, Beata Tsosie-Pe�a, and Emily Blue Corn Harrington, who is also of the Ojibwa tribe of the Great Lakes region - speaking about Indigenous Perspectives on Water.
Scroll down for more information!
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Happy Holidays !
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YOUTH STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE IN RESPONSE TO LANL'S HAZARDOUS WASTE
Amigos Bravos and its partners at Communities for Clean Water (CCW) are establishing an initiative to develop and enhance environmental leadership among youth, ages 13-30, who live downstream and downwind of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Participants on the "Youth Council" will become stewards for the protection and restoration of the health of northern New Mexico communities impacted by historic and current operations at LANL. Members of the Youth Council will, as a result of a twelve month training process, have the knowledge, skills, and peer-support necessary to become authentically involved in regulatory processes and public participation opportunities occurring at the Lab. Amigos Bravos and CCW have demonstrated over the years that mobilizing the public can push government and LANL into action. Teaching and inspiring youth to action will bring a previously under-represented constituency to the decision-making table and will foster participation by this generation in environmental issues in the future. Youth can and will make an exciting and influential difference!
| Clean Water Act Trainings at Santo Domingo Pueblo |
Amigos Bravos and CCW will provide the ten member Youth Council with monthly issue-focused trainings, workshops, and coaching with regard to a variety of environmental concerns related to LANL, as well as strategic planning, media messaging, power mapping, public speaking, and campaign implementation. At the end of the year, the Youth Council will become a self-governing entity and will make presentations to decision-makers, including LANL's Environmental Management staff, regulators, and legislators. The Youth Council will also be assisted in identifying creative methods - including the use of social media, music, the arts, and radio - to bring awareness to specific LANL issues and to ensure those methods are done in languages that are spoken in affected communities, including Tewa and Spanish.
Twenty-one year old Robert Chavez, of Santa Clara and Ohkay Owingeh Pueblos, has been hired to coordinate the Youth Council. As Youth Council Coordinator, he will be supervised by Santa Clara Pueblo elder, Marian Naranjo, also Director of the CCW partnership organization, Honor Our Pueblo Existence.
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Robert Chavez, Youth Council Coordinator, and Marian Naranjo, Supervisor
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Amigos Bravos and member organizations of CCW (Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Honor Our Pueblo Existence, and the New Mexico Acequia Association) will each nominate and mentor members of the Youth Council. Sponsorship includes a $50 stipend for each participant for each of the twelve meetings. Young people from communities downwind and downstream of LANL, who would like to be considered for sponsorship by Amigos Bravos, are encouraged to call 575-758-3874 and leave a message for Brian or Sawnie.
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El Rio Bravo del Norte
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THE AMIGOS BRAVOS DECEMBER "WATER MATTERS" LECTURE FEATURES THREE PUEBLO WOMEN SPEAKING ABOUT INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES ON WATER
On the evening of Tuesday, December 17, at 5:30pm, at the Santa Fe Community Foundation, the Amigos Bravos "Water Matters" lecture will feature Emily Blue Corn Harrington, Beata Tsosie-Pe�a, and Marian Naranjo. The "Water Matters" Lectures are held on the third Tuesday of every month at 5:30pm, are free to our members and the public, and feature some of the most knowledgeable and dynamic speakers in the region, including writers, scientists, poets, environmental activists, and scholars.
During this very special lecture, three Santa Clara Pueblo women will speak about indigenous perspectives on water through "poetry and other offerings." Santa Clara Pueblo is located next to Los Alamos National Laboratory, a known polluter of waters sacred to the Pueblo People. Each of the speakers are environmental activists focused on protecting their ancestral homelands and the Sacred Jemez Mountains and water. Their work includes the restoration and sustainability of community health through native seed exchange, aquaponics, and permaculture.
All three women are leaders in the community-based non-profit Honor Our Pueblo Existence (H.O.P.E.). Emily Blue Corn Harrington is the mother of three and a potter, weaver, seamstress, painter, and farmer. Beata Tsosie-Pe�a is a poet, farmer, musician, past school board member, and member of Tewa Women United. Marian Naranjo is a mother of four and grandmother of seven, as well as a traditional potter and Supervisor/Mentor for the Communities for Clean Water Youth Council Initiative Project, co-sponsored by Amigos Bravos.
To catch up on previous lectures or gain a preview of upcoming ones, tune in to the fabulous Mary-Charlotte Domandi's Santa Fe Radio Cafe, every weekday morning from 8:05am to 9am, on KSFR radio, 101.1FM - or google Santa Fe Radio Cafe and type the name of the lecturer, whose interview you wish to hear, into the search box.
The Santa Fe Community Foundation is located between Old Santa Fe Trail and Acequia Madre, at the corner of Paseo de Peralta and Halona. For more information, call 575-758-3874.
AMIGOS BRAVOS IS CELEBRATING
25 YEARS OF PROTECTING & RESTORING NEW MEXICO'S WATERS
Please celebrate with us and help to make sure Amigos Bravos remains strong for the
DONATE NOW!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORT OF AMIGOS BRAVOS AND NEW MEXICO'S RIVERS & WATERWAYS!!!
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