Anna Maldonado created a short You Tube video as part of her SUST 499 Independent Capstone Project. The title of her project is "SUST Kids"! Take a few minutes to watch this inspiring video.

Donut gingerbread soufflé. Icing icing tootsie roll muffin jelly-o chocolate bar. Icing jelly bear claw pie muffin dragée. Dragée tiramisu dessert croissant halvah cheesecake pie chupa chups. Halvah sesame snaps chupa chups muffin sweet roll.

Jujubes sweet roll chocolate bar lemon drops gummi bears icing. Danish marshmallow bonbon jelly beans marshmallow chupa chups pie gummi bears. Toffee jujubes gingerbread cotton candy tart tart tart bonbon. Tiramisu topping gummi bears brownie gummi bears caramels.

Cake pastry pastry tiramisu apple pie cupcake fruitcake chupa chups. Ice cream biscuit gummi bears. Apple pie ice cream jelly tiramisu gingerbread pastry lollipop. Cotton candy oat cake tiramisu wafer sweet roll. Powder liquorice donut topping cheesecake icing apple pie. Bear claw pastry cake brownie carrot cake sesame snaps.

• Undergraduate UNM students applied for this interdisciplinary summer foodshed field school over the course of two summers - 2011 and 2012. A total of ten (10) students each received a $3,000 stipend and in-state travel allowance during both field schools! The remaining students received in-state travel allowance. In addition, one graduate student was selected from a large group of candidates to receive full support for two years of graduate school.

• The field school visited a total of 52 major agricultural areas of the state over the course of both Summer Foodshed Field Schools. They included farms, ranches, markets, processing facilities, and community food projects in traditional Hispanic, Native American, and other communities. Ten (10) nights were spent out of town during each field school.

• Students developed land literacy, direct knowledge of the value chain, and orientation to Hispanic and Native traditions through face-to-face meetings with rural and urban agriculturalists.

• Mentoring was provided by faculty and off-campus partners.

• Students conducted original research projects on foodshed related topics.

• Interdisciplinary opportunities, such as topics courses, seminar series, social events, and student symposia have been made available to participants.                                                 

Curious about sustainability and the faces behind its many movements, University of New Mexico students Juliet, Rhett and Gabriela sit down with passionate Albuquerque locals as they tell stories about their own projects and experiences in sustainability.

Check out The Sound of Sustainability here.

By- Cody Slama

Currently, within the United States of America there is over 80,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste, which is considered some of the most dangerous waste on the planet because it remains highly radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years. The federal government seeks to consolidate all of this waste into either a permanent repository or a centralized interim storage facility. The current proposals to store HLNW, in a permanent repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada or in centralized interim storage facility’s in New Mexico and on its border in Texas, is an environmental injustice as both of these storage sites disproportionately impact primary people of color and those living below the poverty line. In addition, all three of these facilities, where the federal government is planning on storing all of the Nations HLNW, lack local support and consent from the targeted community’s. Yucca Mountain has been constructed, but faced enough public opposition to make it un-operational. The other two facilities, being built by private corporations, are currently going through a licensing process with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, that would allow them to be constructed. If any one of these facilities began accepting waste, it would set into motion the unsafe transport of HLNW throughout the country putting the entire nation at risk, but more so, in the places where this waste will be stored for an indefinite amount of time. This nuclear waste has the potential to absolutely devastate the land, air, water, and peoples health. It is essential that the Federal Government move away from their current proposed solutions, that carry the weight of being environmental injustices, to alternative solutions that have public support and consent.

The Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL) is an unlined dump, home to “low level” radioactive waste including byproducts of nuclear weapons, nuclear energy production, metallic sodium as well as many other hazardous materials. This unlined pit has the potential to leak into local aquifers and there is evidence that contamination could already be occurring. Radiation is something that is hard to visualize, thus the focus of our project was to create a map to visually map out the potential dangers of the Mixed Waste Landfill. The map indicates the location of our precious aquifer, the proximity of residencies to the MWL, and the potential area of impact if the dump were to explode (based on a documented explosion of a similar dump in Beatty, Nevada).

Check out the interactive map

Decluttering Your Home

Bored during quarantine? Try de-cluttering your home (while doing your part to reduce waste sent to the landfill).

Check out more about this topic at ABQ Stew.

Eco-Friendly Cleaing Products 

Cleaning can be a hassle, especially during our current times, but that doesn’t mean it should be hazardous for your health. This video brings to attention some chemicals in common household items that can be dangerous for both you and the environment. Learn more about the production process, use, and afterlife of certain chemicals, and enjoy a simple DIY cleaning product recipe that helps you save money and resources while staying eco-friendly and healthy.

Find more on this topic at ABQ Stew.

Recycling 

Find more on recycling at ABQ Stew.

The Sustainability Studies Program encourages students to use their talents to express what they learned in our courses. For SUST 418 Nuclear New Mexico Vincent Laroza decided to make a ceramic collage focused on the topic of Radioactive Colonialism. Each section of this piece represents a different aspect of Radioactive Colonialism, such as “Replenishing the People,” Replanting Unpolluted Seed,” and “The Red Road.”

This is a StoryMap created by students Adrianna Trujillo, Hector Lara, Kineo Memmer, and Zachary Trischitta in the Sust-334 Environmental Justice Practicum class. This map provides a walkthrough of Superfund and Brownfield sites in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, which are the nation's most hazardous waste sites. This map is a great resource to use to inform and protect yourself and your loved ones from toxic waste. After the interactive map portion, there are some resources on prevention and protection, including mycelium remediation and natural remedies. There are interviews with local medicine women and some protection resources of workers, information about the proposed HOLTEC site, and some ways that readers can get involved.

Find the StoryMap here. 

Albuquerque does not have a broad resource that combines all of these food resources in one place. We wanted to change that. A map is a great way to have an interactive, visual resource. Maps are easily accessible, on computers, tablets, cellphones, and even printed! Our map is filled with a range of information for each location on the map, including links to food resource websites and a distance from UNM for each location. If you would like to check out the map on a separate tab or share it you can click the link here. 

What If Our Trash Followed Us?

Actors: Itsa-Lichii Gomez & Megan Lovato

Director & Photographer: Melissa Francis

Producer: Cameron Townsend

Music: Eileen & the In-Betweens - Walking With You Trash Statistics from Garbology by Edward Humes

Location: University of New Mexico in Albuquerque

For her sustainability capstone project, she was interested in exploring the use of artwork to communicate scientific principles. Science can be inaccessible to many because of jargon and other language barriers. This prevents communities from accessing information that is critical to their health and well-being. Her project itself had two components, the first a piece of artwork and the second being her work on Shared.Futures.

The objective of her artwork was to communicate the issue of microplastic pollution in the Rio Grande. Last semester she took part in a research project that looked at the amount of microplastics in the river. They found evidence of microplastics in the river, specifically fibers from synthetic clothing. For her artwork she spent around three months collecting plastic items that were going to be thrown away. She collected items such as plastic bags, single use cups and cutlery, old school supplies, and old children’s toys. For the base of her project, she used an old white board that was being thrown away. She then cut it into the shape of New Mexico and began the work of figuring out how to use all her trash. She ended up deciding to shred the plastic bags and used one of the children’s toys to make a river through the center of the white board. Then glued sand onto the bottom and added “litter”. She then painted the upper third blue and added a sun and a few clouds made of plastic bags. Wanting to represent the atmosphere, river, and soil which are places around the world that microplastics are found. It was important that the items were distinguishable in the piece. I wanted people to be able to look at the piece and be able to reflect on their own actions, whether that is seeing a Starbucks cup or recognizing one of the various brands in the plastic river.

For the second aspect of my project, She was an organizer of Shared.Futures, an Albuquerque based SciArt community. Every Tuesday over dinner, the other organizers and Ashley would meet to discuss and plan every aspect of this year’s cohort. We collaborated on promotional materials, chose the members of this year’s cohort, and planned the monthly cohort meetings. Individually, she worked on video editing and running the social media accounts, as well as doing odd jobs here and there like digitizing survey results and updating the website. To combine the two aspects of my project, she displayed her art piece, “Rio Plastico” as part of the Shared.Futures 2023 exhibit. Ashley installed the piece at Explora alongside a short SciArt statement that explained the issue of microplastic pollution and her vision for the piece.

She really enjoyed the process of the project, especially the creative aspect since she doesn't typically think of herself as an artist, it was a new way to push herself and get out of her comfort zone. It was fun to think about what she wanted to communicate through the piece and how I could best get that across. She also really enjoyed being a part of Shared.Futures. It is an incredible community and being able to be mentored by Yolanda has helped her growth professionally and personally. She's been able to make many new connections that have opened the doors to many new opportunities, and she is excited to continue working with Shared.Futures in the future.

The Mexican Gray Wolf is also known as Canis lupus baileyi. It is a subspecies of the gray wolf, or Canis lupus. They are always being threatened by illegal human killings, low genetic diversity, and USFWS regulations that often reflect political agendas instead of scientific facts. Their most recent population size was documented at 241 animals in the wild, making this the seventh consecutive year of population growth. Although this is excellent news, it is still crucial to keep up with conservation work and federal regulations. Policy revisions are also very important in order to maintain their population size and increase it much more.

Throughout this paper, Kiera incorporated three aspects of the best efforts being made toward the betterment of the Mexican gray wolf. The first aspect she included discusses the best efforts put forth in New Mexico, while also including Arizona since this wolf subspecies travel between the two states. The second aspect she discussed is based on the best efforts being made elsewhere, such as in other states or outside the country. The third and last aspect will be her personal recommendations on how to improve the management and recovery practices of the Mexican Gray Wolf. These suggestions will be based on the best efforts already being made in New Mexico and elsewhere but on what else we can do to make it better.

Under the direction and guidance of Sandra West, he created a resource map of composting facilities in the city. The process began with identifying stakeholders and potential participants, then progressed to the drafting, revision, and distribution of emails to said individuals and organizations. They were sent a link to a Google Form he created to collect relevant data for the map, such as location, public access information, contact points, security concerns, and volunteer opportunities. After the end of a fixed time period for collection, Charley aggregated this data into the ESRI ArcMap mapping program, creating point features and logging and structuring data manually. Once this feature layer package was created, the next task was to upload it to Sandra’s ESRI account and convert it to Web Map format. This proved tricky and required a lot of troubleshooting as ESRI’s software is notoriously buggy, but eventually he found a solution in publishing the data from his account, then downloading it into the city’s account from the web platform. He stylized the features for ease of interpretation in web format, then the final step was to create a self-reporting survey through ESRI’s Survey123 tool which included the same questionnaire from the initial Google Form. This survey should be housed alongside the web map and ensure longevity and dynamic updating by allowing any developing or previously omitted organizations to join the map. My portion of this task is now completed, and the department should be publishing the map and survey to their Climate Action resource page soon.

The second task of Charley's internship and project was guided by Denise Castillo in the same department. She requested a heat map of aggregate summer temperature extremes in the city overlayed with disadvantage status as determined by the federal Justice 40 Initiative. She put me in contact with Lauren Childs-Gleason of the NASA DEVELOP team, which conducted social and biophysical research in Albuquerque for development of the Urban Heat Exposure Assessment Tool. Lauren shared the team’s data from this project with me, but it became clear that the metadata of this project was corrupted and the files inaccessible. He sought help from the Earth Data Analysis Center on campus, who were unable to recover the data, then reached out to other city employees, organizations, and NASA team members with access to this package to request alternative copies of the records, but all were likewise corrupt. At this point Denise, Sandra and Charley decided to shift focus and utilize the one aspect of the data which was accessible: the heat vulnerability scores, which were derived by NASA from a series of social, economic, and physical variables of risk. He hit another road block when attempting to average the data across the three years of study (2018, 2019, 2020), and sought help from a grad student in his department, who helped him discover that the census tract boundaries had been changed with the 2020 census, resulting in incompatible polygons in the data. We performed a merge function to adjust the data to the current reality, a join function to aggregate the data across the time period, then a statistical analysis to create a new data field of averages. From this point, he created a set of four maps – the first identifying which tracts were disadvantaged according to the Justice 40 assessment, the second displaying heat vulnerability of tracts on a graduated color ramp, the third eliminating any heat vulnerable tracts scoring below zero (ie not vulnerable) and overlaying disadvantaged tracts to identify overlap, and the fourth isolating only the tracts which met both criteria and ranking them by severity of heat vulnerability. The result of this study was that the most at-risk tracts were in the International District and the South Valley. The final step of this process was to format the maps with elements like legends, scales, etc. and to thoughtfully construct descriptions which explained the details of what “disadvantaged” means and the methodology of the organizations we acquired the source data from. Maria Lane once told him, “there’s no such thing as an unbiased map”, and he wanted to deeply consider and hold space for the reality that he, a white person, guided by another white person in office, was making maps based off of research done by white people outside of the community, in order to tell predominantly Native and Hispanic communities that they were experiencing disadvantages. This series of maps will be used in the next legislative session to guide decision making of where to allocate federal grant funds for retrofitting and implementing cooling stations to communities most in need in the city, and Charley hopes that it can manifest real and direct benefits to people’s lives and safety. He learned a lot about data management, professional correspondence, and the capabilities of ESRI software from this project, and he's grateful to have had this opportunity.

Grounded by restorative and environmental justice concepts, six new quantifiable metrics were created, intended to prompt researchers to assess how regionality and history play into the justice implications of their work. These supplementary six metrics were created to accompany the original Justice Underpinning Science and Technology Research (JUST-R) Metrics Framework, with both being assessed in two case studies that took place within the Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of New Mexico (UNM).

Deliverables include: the final version of the conference paper created for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management (ICEM), two completed case study implementation packets that were specifically tailored to the current study, and an MS PowerPoint presentation that was used as a visual aid when speaking at the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Conference (UROC).

The focus of this project is working with the Coalition of Sustainable Communities of New Mexico to develop a social media based communications strategy. The goal of these modes of communication is to increase information projection to the general public as well as a means to promote the Coalition’s objectives and the accomplishments of their member municipalities and the Coalition.

The enactment plan encompasses:

· Contacting Gary about the Facebook account

· Seeing if he already has a SM email for the Facebook, if not then I’ll make a gmail for Coalition accounts

· Making an Instagram account

· Making a Twitter account (to hold the handle from imposters, not to utilize)

· Bringing control of the Coalition LinkedIn account back to the Coalition, connect with account creator

· Linking together the Meta business suite (Links Meta products, Instagram and Facebook together to get additional statistics)

· Creating a Buffer account so that all of the social media can be managed from one place

· Create Linktr.ee for accounts

· Creating a quick guide on Social Media Statistics (what they mean, and which are important)

· “Branding Guide” and templates

· Running a training for the Coalition team to teach them how to utilize the developed Social Media strategy (platforms, management accounts, design, etc.)

Progress

All objectives are complete, barring the final three. Due to personal matters and time constraints within the initial start with the organization, the full completion of the project is projected to be within the mid-June timeframe.

As part of Hailey Robbins capstone project with Stefany Olivas, the Local Agriculture Community Coordinator with CABQ Parks and Recreation Open Space Division, she developed a working document to repurpose city-owned vacant lots into community-driven urban agriculture hubs. The project focused on integrating equitable land use, food access, and public space activation in the historically underserved neighborhood of the International District. The twenty-seven page document outlines potential uses like community gardens, food hubs, incubator kitchens, and urban green spaces as well as recommended sites for these potential projects. It also addresses governmental barriers that make it difficult to develop and support community-driven urban agriculture projects on city-owned land. Drawing from national precedents and local partnerships, the document offers actionable recommendations for how the city can collaborate with nonprofits to ensure long-term, sustainable stewardship of urban land. Moving forward, this document will serve as a reference tool for Stefany Olivas and the CABQ, supporting the integration of urban agriculture into larger municipal plans  for community-based projects on vacant land.

Read it here! 

In the summer of 2024, Esther traveled to Colombia to explore what could be learned about a community's health based on the vitality of its social infrastructure and the perspectives of community members. Esther was inspired by the idea of placemaking, a movement that reimagines public spaces as the heart of every community in every city, as well as by NYU Sociologist Erik Klinenberg's research on social infrastructure. Esther finished the capstone with a public art showing and a published Storymap that included qualitative elements such as personal communication, photography, and storytelling.