Sustainable ABQ .... solutions for a sustainable Albuquerque
"You must be the change you hope to see in the world"....Gandhi 
At Sustainable ABQ, we recognize the challenges facing our world, including Climate Change, Energy Resources and National Security issues and are committed to addressing them head on. Luckily, many of the things we can do will have a positive impact across the whole spectrum of challenges. (A Three-fer). Yeah!! An excellent return on your investment.
We are excited to have you join us. This site is all about how YOU can make a difference ....right here....right now and help to guarantee a better future for our kids and grand kids. We provide local resources and informational links to help make it easier. (We surf so you don't have to). Browse around and be inspired to do something today. By POWERING DOWN and RELOCALIZING, we can reconnect with our community and work together towards a better world.
We know that it is the little things that we all can do that will make the really big difference. We will provide tips, ideas, and resources right here in the Albuquerque metro area to help you get started or continue on your sustainability journey.
Our favorite quote:
"First, we must find an alternative energy source for national security reasons. Second, we must find an alternative energy source for environmental reasons. And third, we must find an alternative fuel source for fundamental long-term economic reasons. How you rank these reasons is your own concern, but the answer doesn’t change." Tim Leuliette, January 19, 2005 article, "The Drug Our Society Is Hooked On Is Oil".
Challenges (click on tabs for more info)
Climate Change ...
"Carbon dioxide (CO2) traps heat that would otherwise radiate back out to space, thus causing the phenomenon we now know as global warming -- a phenomenon that will produce temperatures by century’s end higher than at any time since before the beginning of primate evolution. And to solve it? There’s really only one way, which is to reduce the amount of CO2 we produce. That is, burn less coal and oil and gas.
Which is why it’s not like the environmental problems we faced in the past. We can’t solve it with a new law or a catalytic converter on our tailpipe. We need to upend the entire way we go about powering our lives, which is to say upend our economies and daily habits." - Bill Kibben, American Prospect.
Geopolitical Concerns...
What does it take to quench America’s mighty thirst for gasoline? Pulitzer-winning correspondent Paul Salopek traced gas pumped at a suburban Chicago station to the fuel’s sources around the globe. In doing so, he reveals how our oil addiction binds us to some of the most hostile corners of the planet—and to a petroleum economy edging toward crisis. Disturbingly, Paul Salopek was detained in Sudan on espionage 
charges but one of our previous governors, Bill Richardson, was able to negotiate his release.
"A single well-designed attack could send oil prices to well over $100 a barrel and devastate the world's economy," the Committee on the Present Danger, an antiterrorism group in Washington, said in a paper co-written by former Secretary of State George Schultz and former CIA Director James Woolsey.
Good Discussion of GeoPolitical Issues surrounding Oil is The Long Emergency by James Kunstler available through BookWorks on Rio Grande.
Gas/Utility Costs ...
Prices at the pump and utility costs are related to supply and demand. As demand goes up...so do prices. If we reduce demand by even 4%, we can impact prices significantly. In addition, reducing your personal usage by even small painless methods will have a positive impact your household budget.
Water and Food Supplies....
We live in the midst of one of the most beautiful high desert landscapes in the country but it is the desert and we are all aware of the need to conserve our precious water resources. Several recent reports are calling water the new "oil" as privatization efforts have begun to capitalize on its scarcity.
Many people are still unaware of the impact of cheap oil on both the cost and availability of the abundant food supplies that we are accustomed to in this country. Oil is used to grow our food (fertilizer, pesticides, farming equipment) as well as to transport it to us.
it's about solutions...power down and relocalize
At Sustainable ABQ, we recognize the formidable challenges facing our world today,
but rather than ignoring them, we are committed to addressing them head on. With both easy and difficult personal changes, we can significantly improve the outcome. Luckily, many of these changes will have a positive impact across the whole spectrum of challenges. We are excited to have you join us.
Sustainability for our community entails solutions for:
- maintaining our community energy needs through conservation and alternative energy sources
- maintaining adequate community water supplies through conservation and innovation and
- preserving our local economy and food supply by buying locally.
