How green is Gallup?

Betsy Windisch speaks during the How Green is Gallup forum on Saturday at UNMG. The group, along with other members of the community, got together to discuss what is currently being done and what the city can do to help Gallup become a greener city. [photo by Brian Leddy / Independent]

By Karen Francis
Staff writer

GALLUP — The question being asked this past weekend was “How green is my Gallup?” While some may answer “Not very,” participants found out some surprising ways that Gallup is embracing the “green” environmental movement.

For example, did you ever hear of green silver? Academy Silver in Gallup is developing ways to make silver that is not destructive to the environment the way mining is.

Or did you know that Gallup citizens can earn rebates for taking certain water-saving measures? Elizabeth Barriga, the city’s water conservation coordinator, discussed ways that the city is trying to conserve water, which include incentives for installing rain barrels and for replacing toilets and shower heads with low-flow units.

A dozen panelists presented before an audience of some 50 people at Calvin Hall at the University of New Mexico – Gallup branch Saturday on the green initiatives that people and groups in Gallup are making.

Presenters included Betsy Windisch, co-chair of the McKinley Citizens’ Recycling Council; David Brunt with Gallup Solar; Stan Renfro, poet; Bob Kuipers, associate planner at Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments; Loline Hathaway, master gardener; and Anna Rondon, Diné activist who spoke on the Green Jobs initiative.

The branch campus was a great locale to hold the forum because of the recycling program that was begun there only this past spring by students in Dr. Caleb Bush’s environmental sociology class.

When Bush moved to Gallup four to five years ago with his wife, he was surprised to find out how difficult it was to recycle. Noticing that much of the trash in wastebaskets around his office every day was white paper, he thought, “This has got to stop.”

He taught the environmental sociology course in the spring with a service learning aspect where students developed the beginnings of a recycling program on campus.

“I can’t begin to describe how successful the class was and how great the class was both for me and I think the students who took the class,” Bush said.

In March he and the students began placing bins around campus to for white paper, newspaper, aluminum cans, electronics and cell phones, and eventually participated in the phone book recycling drive. Every week the class would collect and recycle the items.

In the short time since the recycling campaign began, the class collected 1,239 lb.. of white office paper, 860 lb. of newspaper, 97 lb.. of aluminum cans, 52 rechargeable batteries and 23 cell phones.

Bush said that he would like for the program to collect more materials on campus.

He added that he was amazed at the change in mind-set as the students went through the class.

“The majority of them either began recycling in their homes, began recycling where they work, started talking about recycling in their communities, chapter houses,” he said.

The lack of a quality recycling program in the city was expounded on by several of the presenters.

“Whether our community and civic and political leaders in our region can’t or won’t do it, as far as recycling goes, I do believe there are places where we can do it and my hope is that someday a place like UNM-Gallup and maybe other places in our community can become community recycling centers,” Bush said.

Windisch also talked about the problem.

“Recycling here is a challenge,” she said. “The volume of people who want to recycle is just amazing and that should send a message to our representatives but it doesn’t.”

“It can happen. There’s no reason it can’t happen here,” she added.

An instructor for the UNM-G Construction Technology program, Chris Chavez and his wife Keegan Mackenzie-Chavez spoke about the green initiatives they are taking with their company Shelter + Design.

“We sat down and tried to figure out what sort of legacy do we want to leave to Gallup,” Chavez said. “We basically sat down and designed a construction system using alternative methods.”

He said that last year the company implemented its first project — an 872-square-foot guest house made out of structural insulated panels. In January, the utility bill — gas, electricity and water — was a mere $35, he said.

“Ultimately this stuff can be done, if you design correctly, use energy star ... It’s just a matter of sitting down and doing thoughtful consideration of what you’re looking for in a building,” Chavez said.

Mackenzie-Chavez added that the greener the technology, the more the cost, for now.

“You have to really think about what your priorities are,” she said.

Another innovative business in Gallup is Academy Silver, which is making silver in a more environmentally way than mining it. Academy “green” silver is made using 100 percent recycled or reclaimed silver.

“We use no silver that comes from primary sources,” Bob Siebersma said.

He added that Academy manufactures and sells more than 20 million ounces of silver a year.

“We have the cleanest refinery, we feel, in the entire country,” he said.

That can make a difference in an area where silver is used abundantly in the making of jewelry.

“We produce the most environmentally sensitive silver product in the country, and it’s available to the jewelry industry in this area,” he said.

“We believe there are thousands and millions of customers out there who are beginning to care more and more about how the products that they buy are manufactured,” Siebersma said.

He said that people can realize competitive advantage by using Academy Silver.

Steve Heil, a master gardener, represented the Work In Beauty’s community supported agriculture program. CSA programs get local vegetables to the community and are sweeping the nation, he said.

In Gallup , 10 customers are involved with the program and each gets a share of the harvest from a local garden.

“We’re trying to grow a little of everything because we want to show what really works well,” Heil said.

He added that the people who pay to get fresh vegetables through the CSA program say such things as, “I want things that I know where they came from. I don’t want to support the fuel addiction our country has bringing things from California and if there are things that can grow here, I want those.”

Barbara Ferguson, a Gallup resident of 12 years, was in the audience Saturday and found the presentations very informative.

“It was wonderful. The brainpower was amazing,” she said.

“I think it’s imminent as they were saying. We have to do something and people are beginning to understand that,” Ferguson said.

She added that she believes that the entire town could be powered by solar energy.

“That’s my ultimate goal,” she said as she waited to speak to Hathaway.

Karl Lohmann, who was also in the audience, said that he wants to see more in the community sooner.

“Just talking about it isn’t enough,” he said.

Joyce Johnson from Standing Rock was signing up to help Gallup Solar communicate with tribal communities. She said that her biggest concern was with trash and she would like to see more recycling in the area.

As a part of the Youth Conservation Corps, she has helped to pick up trash in the area and to build trails on the High Desert Trail System.

About recycling in Gallup , she said, “It is difficult. Some of the challenges is you don’t know where to put certain things.”

She said that more education is necessary for the public about recycling.