We're very grateful to have been part of the NM Delegation of over 50 Indigenous, youth, frontline, and environmental organizers bringing our NM Declaration and demands for justice to the UN, to the streets of NY, to the press, and to the movement. The Source journalists who spent the day with us during our NM Climate Strike a week ago did a great job making the connections in their article below. Y'all - we have SO much work to do. New Mexico is set to reduce our emissions by a measly 1% by 2025 according to the recent Environmental Defense Fund report! This administration is FAILING US on the climate issue!!! Millions are coming down from the federal government for transition and right now NM's big plan is to double down on fossil fuel extraction and expand the industry by investing in exploratory technologies like hydrogen and CCS. This is UNACCEPTABLE! Federal funding for our energy transition needs to be invested in REAL solutions and must follow Justice40 principles (should be Justice90). That is ONLY going to happen if we fight for it! 1) READ & SHARE THE ARTICLE BELOW: Send it to your friends. Help our actions have broader impact than those who were able to be physically present! 2) JOIN US AT AN UPCOMING EVENT: - see below for two upcoming opportunities this week - to learn about our lawsuit on Monday, the 25th - to take part in a train the trainers Energy Democracy Workshop on Thursday, the 28th! 3) SIGN-UP: to get more involved in the People's Climate Plan development campaign we'll be launching in October by hosting a house party 4) INVEST IN OUR WORK: Donate to our campaign!
In front of the hotel, speakers highlighted frustration with what they view as political hypocrisy by New Mexico elected officials that are promising to expand oil, gas, hydrogen and nuclear as “safe” solutions for meeting the state’s Net Zero goal. Jonathan Juarez, a youth media representative with YUCCA, is one of those organizers currently in New York. On Monday, Juarez and other local leaders led a march in the city during the international event. In Albuquerque, Juarez (Laguna/Isleta) criticized New Mexico’s Net Zero plan because “through sequestration or offsets, the concept enforces this market-based approach to the climate crisis” that does not actually slow production or hold polluters accountable. Alejandria Lyons, an organizer with New Mexico No False Solutions Coalition who also traveled to New York, said people inside The Clyde Hotel should understand that “real climate leaders don’t frack.” New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has led efforts to decarbonize the state by 2050 and directed state agencies “to shut down spills, leaks and waste in the oil and gas sector, which produces more than half of all carbon emissions in the state.”
One of those efforts from Lujan Grisham came through an initiative she pushed to make New Mexico a national “hydrogen hub,” a plan that saw limited support by state legislators, but is marching on with plans for the executive such as awarding state subsidies for hydrogen businesses and continuing to apply for billions in federal investment money into the new energy sector. Juarez outlined how hydrogen uses water electrolysis, which he cites as 60% more energy intensive than burning coal or gas. These “solutions” proposed by the industries themselves “will never never make up for the amount of carbon sent into the atmosphere through production,” Juarez argues. Alternative solutions proposed at the rally included a People’s Climate Plan addressing the emergency in New Mexico and internationally. [YOU CAN JOIN OUR PEOPLE'S CLIMATE CAMPAIGN BELOW] Leona Morgan (Diné) said that “nuclear energy cannot exist without nuclear weapons” and talked about the science of contaminated water tables from leaching chemicals used in supposed “green” solutions such as hydrogen and nuclear. Artists also performed at the event, highlighting that the heart of the protest was the soul. Destiny Krupnick shared their poem “Lifeblood” about the history of land-theft and colonization in New Mexico, with emotive lines and statistics about violence against Native women, linking historical and ongoing brutality with the contemporary presence of extractive industry in New Mexico. Freddy Flowpez, one of the musical performers, said he wanted to attend the event to “support mother earth and remind people to care.”
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