Columbine bridge building

Bridge building in wilderness - life of bridge expected to be at least 20 yrs.

Building this bridge has made the hiking trail easier to negotiate. It invites us to cross - to keep walking up the trail, taking it in. By maintaining trails on public lands we ensure the integrity of the area. Staying on trails and crossing streams with care can help protect surrounding fragile banks and  hillsides. One may go to these places to enjoy them, to know them. But by looking after them we can continue. The pathways and bridges into national forests and wilderness areas invite us to keep exploring.  

 By Mike Malixi, Feb 2015

refill reuse rethink

Reusing our containers = more resilient 

than buying new 

when we use water filling stations 

(around Taos and elsewhere).

 Photo by Mike Malixi, Feb 2015
  

Spotting resiliency around Taos

These are the solar panels at the Eco Park on Salazar road. I was told these panels help supply electricity to the Eco Park (a high altitude soccer training center), which brings in revenue because people train there for serious competitions (because of the altitude). The state averages 360 sunny days a year and with some effort we can harness that solar power. 

The Taos Eco Park is earning its name, February 9, 2012 
JR Logan, The Taos News, writes:

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative celebrated the completion of a 60-kilowatt solar canopy installed in the parking lot of the turf field on Salazar Road with a ribbon cutting ceremony Feb. 1, 2012.

The array was designed to generate enough electricity to power stadium lights for three fields at the Eco-Park. The town has completed the first field, with other phases pending.

Ideally, the solar panels would store electricity during the day that could be used to light the fields at night. Power from the panels now goes into the co-op’s electric grid.

Taos Recycling center

Some people may feel the recycling center is limited in its ability to recycle different things and that it ships many things out of town to be recycled. But I think it is a great start in the ability to have residents of an area have the opportunity to discard potentially reusable/recyclable items that otherwise end up in the dump.

By Darah Spencer, February 2015

sixty+ volunteer DJs = resilient radio

Koko, T-bone, and Max

This is the local radio station - KNCE 93.5 - with members/founders/workers, all of the above. KNCE is a local radio station focused on bringing a wide range of music. It's community run and funded with over 50 different programs - truetaosradio.com.

In their own word: "KNCE is an independent, locally-owned, community-supported radio station dedicated to bringing the eclectic musical tastes, unique cultural interests, and diverse community voices of Taos, New Mexico to the airwaves and the world. We’re broadcasting from a 1978 Airstream Excella in the Boneyard behind Taos Mesa Brewing, across from the airport on Highway 64 in El Prado, New Mexico." 

By Darah Spencer, Feb 2015  

Taos - One Billion Rising

These are photos taken from the One Billion Rising - moving flashmob that was here in Taos this weekend (Feb. 14, 2015). I think it is important to remember that what helps a community to be resilient is the activeness of the people in that community - people who are willing to go out and show their support and assist others who are suffering in their community. This flashmob was put together in part by Community Against Violence, Taos. The idea of One Billion Rising is that one billion women and girls who are alive right now will at some point experience violence in their lives. This flashmob is worldwide. This is the 3rd year that our community has participated in One Billion Rising.

 By Darah Spencer, February 2015

Taos - food and resilience

This is the Taos Food Center. This building houses industrial kitchens that are up to code so local cooks and chefs can have a legal, permitted place to cook food to be able to sell at farmers markets and fairs without having to own their own permitted kitchen. Learn more here http://www.tcedc.org/about.html.

Food not Bombs is on the Taos plaza ever Saturday giving out free lunches if you are hungry. Locals are looking out for each other no matter what you look like or where you come from. Learn more here http://www.foodnotbombs.net/taos.html.

By Darah Spencer, February 2015

Acequia - El Prado, NM

This is an acequia system in El Prado, NM. Our ability to harness water flow from the mountain is something that this area has been doing for generations. It helps to reserve water and use what naturally is provided for us for local farmers and herders in the area. People in the Taos area take a lot of pride in the heritage of these waterways and for the most part take very good care of them under the instruction of mayordomos who have learned how these systems work.

By Darah Spencer, February 2015.

Community Connective Tissue

Before - Photo by Christopher Heron, Feb 2015

Here is photographic evidence of resilience in our community. The before picture is of a solitary man in need of a ride; taken by a solitary man alone in a gas guzzling truck. The after picture is of the two men traveling together along their joint way.

Our community is a place where hitchhiking is still both possible and safe (which leads it to be a common occurrence). This is the embodiment of resilience not merely because the carbon footprint of the entire community goes down with ride sharing, but because it forges bonds of camaraderie as well as reinforcing a general faith in humankind (including strangers).

After - Photo by Christopher Heron, Feb 2015

If we are to shift broken paradigms and steer our communities through tumultuous planetary change we must certainly reduce the amount of combustion vehicles combusting each day. But more importantly we must believe there is a community worth sailing with. The act of hitching and giving rides to hitch hikers does just that. It reminds us that regardless of appearance we are all equally peers of humanity, that we are all headed to the same destination - to tomorrow. I feel the more social cohesion we can cultivate today the better the condition our shared tomorrow will be in, and the more likely we will be able to work together to solve the issues we may find in that future present.

With faith in those around us we can weather climate’s storms.

By Christopher Heron