Taos Land Trust

Urban forests are a key climate change adaptation strategy. The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico has a strong and successful urban forestry program. What lessons can be learned from the Albuquerque program that are applicable across the rapidly warming American Southwest?

Jim O'Donnell talks with Dave Simon from the City of Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Department and Sarah Hurteau of the Nature Conservancy about the Albuquerque urban forestry program, and how trees can help us adapt to climate change.

This podcast was recorded in May 2021 at the studios of Taos Sound and Media in Taos, New Mexico. Produced by Jim O'Donnell. Recorded and edited by Brett Tomadin of Taos Sound and Media (www.taossound.com/)

Links in this episode:

https://www.nature.org/en-us/newsroom/new-mexico-climate-ready-tree-list/

https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/new-mexico/stories-in-new-mexico/creative-conservation-in-albuquerque/

https://www.cabq.gov/parksandrecreation/news/city-tree-planting-alliance-to-boost-albuquerque-urban-forest

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taoslandtrust.org/donate-form

Journalist Julia Daye hosts KNCE's informational special in response to community concern and recent protests over the Abeyta Water Rights Settlement and the future of the Taos, New Mexico valley watershed. This special was recorded in early June 2021.

New Mexico is in a battle to escape the powerful grip of the oil and gas industry. For nearly a century, the oil and gas industry’s influence on New Mexico has ranged from the education system to elected officials to issues of water and air quality. New Mexico has long been an oil and gas colony - and oil and gas is one of the top polluters in the world.

New Mexico's oil and gas industry has promised good-paying jobs and economic growth while leaving behind broken and polluted communities and massive environmental damage. New Mexico taxpayers will have to pay the bill for all of this.

How can New Mexico escape the grasp of the oil and gas industry and move forward to an equitable, clean and prosperous energy future?

Jim O'Donnell talks with Megan Milliken Biven, an energy policy expert and the founder of True Transition, an organization devoted to employing oil and gas workers to address the country's mounting abandoned oil and gas well crisis.

This episode was recorded at the studios of Taos Sound and Media in Taos, New Mexico on March 3, 2021. Produced by Jim O'Donnell. Recorded and edited by Brett Tomadin of Taos Sound and Media (www.taossound.com/)

Links in this episode:

https://www.truetransition.org/

Please support this podcast with a small donation:

taoslandtrust.org/donate-form

Dr. Amy Brady is the Executive Director of Orion magazine and the author of Ice: An American Obsession, a cultural history of ice forthcoming from Putnam in 2023. Her writing about culture, environmentalism, and climate change has appeared in O, the Oprah magazine, Slate, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, The Village Voice, the Dallas Morning News, Pacific Standard, McSweeney’s, Literary Hub, and other places. She is also the co-editor of the anthology, House on Fire: Dispatches from a Climate-Changed World, forthcoming 2022 from Catapult.

This episode was recorded at the studios of Taos Sound and Media in Taos, New Mexico on February 9, 2021. Produced by Jim O'Donnell. Recorded and edited by Brett Tomadin of Taos Sound and Media (www.taossound.com/)

Links in this episode:

Burning Worlds: https://chireviewofbooks.com/category/burning-worlds/

The Weight of Light: A Collection of Solar Futures: https://csi.asu.edu/books/weight/

McSWEENEY’S ISSUE 58: 2040 A.D.: https://store.mcsweeneys.net/products/mcsweeney-s-issue-58-2040-ad-climate-fiction?taxon_id=5

Amy Brady Writes: https://amybradywrites.com/

Gun Island: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42436500-gun-island

Bangkok Wakes to Rain: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40308310-bangkok-wakes-to-rain

Watercolors: http://www.hoppermag.org/watercolors

Hanging, Just Outside the World: https://www.modernliterature.org/hanging-just-outside-world-jim-odonnell/

Please support this podcast with a small donation:

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In season three of the Taos Land Trust podcast, we will explore climate change in New Mexico. What can we expect? What impacts do we see right now? Most importantly, how can we adapt to the changes that are coming, like it or not?

Jim O’Donnell talks with environmental reporter Laura Paskus, the producer of the series “Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present and Future” featured on New Mexico in Focus. Laura’s new book is At the Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate (UNM Press), essential reading for anyone interested in the coming climate catastrophe.

This episode was recorded at the studios of Taos Sound and Media in Taos, New Mexico on February 9, 2021. Produced by Jim O'Donnell. Recorded and edited by Brett Tomadin of Taos Sound and Media (www.taossound.com/)

Links in this episode:

https://unmpress.com/books/precipice/9780826359117

https://twitter.com/LauraPaskus

Please support this podcast with a small donation:

taoslandtrust.org/donate-form/

Since early 2019, the Taos Land Trust has been engaged in a long-term iterative process known as the Working Lands Resiliency Initiative. The goal of this work is to reconnect traditional farming families to their lands and their farming heritage. The land trust is asking: How can conservation easements, tax breaks, planning and zoning work together to keep farm lands from development while at the same time giving those lands economic, community and conservation values? How can this help a rural community achieve climate resilience?

In this episode, Jim O’Donnell talks with Chyna Dixon, the Working Lands Resiliency Coordinator and Ben Wright, the Education and Lands Projects Coordinator for the Taos Land Trust.

This episode was recorded at the studios of Taos Sound and Media in Taos, New Mexico on September 29, 2020. Produced by Jim O'Donnell. Recorded and edited by Brett Tomadin of Taos Sound and Media (www.taossound.com/)

Listen to the November 2019 podcast introducing the Working Lands Resiliency Initiative here: https://soundcloud.com/taos-land-trust/working_lands

Links in this episode:

https://taoslandtrust.org/working-lands/

https://taoslandtrust.org/nm-healthy-soils-program/

Please support this podcast with a donation:

taoslandtrust.org/donate-form/

The Taos Land Trust and Vista Grande High School (VGHS) have joined forces to provide fresh weekly produce to Taos families, school food delivery programs, and local food pantries while offering paid technical training to Vista Grande students. The project is funded by Vista Grande High School’s Career Technical Education and Community Schools grants. The program takes place at Taos Land Trust’s Rio Fernando Park, the 20-acre public space created by the Taos Land Trust in the center of Taos.

Jim O'Donnell talks with Corbett Wicks, the Vista Grande High School Sustainable Agriculture & Leadership Teacher and Mentorship Coordinator, and Amanda Flores, the Vista Grande High School Community Schools Coordinator about the program at Rio Fernando Park, the changes to education brought on by the COVID19 pandemic and about the future of education.

This episode was recorded at the Taos Land Trust office in Taos, New Mexico on September 8, 2020. Produced by Jim O'Donnell. Recorded and edited by Brett Tomadin of Taos Sound and Media (www.taossound.com/)

Links in this episode:

https://www.vistagrande.org/

https://taoslandtrust.org/2020/07/06/land-trust-innovative-feed/

Please support this podcast with a small donation:

taoslandtrust.org/donate-form/

We have mismanaged our forests over the last century—and we are now paying the costs. Climate change is making forests drier, beetles and other pests (driven by warming temperatures) are making kindling of vast stretches of woodland, and “booming development…[has] filled forests with human-produced sparks and heat,” and far too many houses.

What is a megafire? How is climate change influencing wildfires throughout the Western United States of America? How are towns and communities pushing development into fire prone areas, thereby creating a deadly situation. Should American taxpayers bear the costs of poorly planned development or utilities that spark fires?

Jim O’Donnell talks with Michael Kodas, Senior Editor at InsideClimate News, author of “Megafire” & “High Crimes” and former deputy director at the Center for Environmental Journalism

This episode was recorded at the studios of Taos Sound and Media in Taos, New Mexico on May 7, 2020. Produced by Jim O'Donnell. Recorded and edited by Brett Tomadin of Taos Sound and Media (www.taossound.com/)

Links in this episode:

http://www.michaelkodas.com/

https://twitter.com/MichaelKodas

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22082020/california-colorado-wildfires-climate-change-global-transformation

Please support this podcast with a small donation:

taoslandtrust.org/donate-form/

Host Jim O'Donnell talks with John Fleck, Director of the University of New Mexico Water Resources Program and Eric Kuhn, self-described "Colorado River nerd" about their new book "Science be Dammed: How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained the Colorado River" and how the realities of water in the American West run up against the hopes and dreams of developers and land managers. "Science Be Dammed" is an alarming reminder of the high stakes in the management—and perils in the mismanagement—of water in the western United States.

This episode was recorded at the studios of Taos Sound and Media in Taos, New Mexico on May 7, 2020. Produced by Jim O'Donnell. Recorded and edited by Brett Tomadin of Taos Sound and Media (www.taossound.com/)

Links in this episode:

https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/science-be-dammed

http://www.inkstain.net/fleck/

https://twitter.com/R_EricKuhn

https://twitter.com/jfleck

Please support this podcast with a small donation:

taoslandtrust.org/donate-form/

We are at a critical time for agriculture and the environment. The realities of extreme weather events, conflicts over water, the blight of rural communities, and diminishing natural resources are bearing down on all New Mexicans, with farmers and ranchers at the forefront of these serious problems. At the same time, awareness that soil stewardship can be part of the solution to the climate crisis has been rising and new approaches, mutually beneficial for agriculture and the environment, are gaining traction. Agriculturalists are looking for ways to improve their soil, but they require know-how, sustained technical assistance, help in over- coming institutional barriers, financial incentives, and risk mitigation.

Host Jim O'Donnell talks with Isabelle Jenniches of the NM Healthy Soils Initiative and rancher Tommy Casados of Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico. This episode was recorded at the studios of Taos Sound and Media in Taos, New Mexico on April 1, 2020. Produced by Jim O'Donnell. Recorded and edited by Brett Tomadin of Taos Sound and Media (www.taossound.com/)

CLARIFICATION: The Healthy Soil Program is administered by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA), not by the Healthy Soil Working Group which is the advocacy organization behind the bill. NMDA developed the program and is administering the funds.

Links in this episode:

http://www.nmda.nmsu.edu/nmda-homepage/divisions/apr/healthy-soil-program/

https://www.nmhealthysoil.org/about-2/

https://www.instagram.com/c4farms/

Please support this podcast with a small donation:

http://taoslandtrust.org/donate-form/