Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice 202 Harvard SE Albuquerque, NM 87106 505-268-9557   Updated: 29 March 2009 Newsletter April 2009
April 2009 Newsletter Contents Noticias Membership Application	Noticias Galore People Before Profit (PB4P) Film series needs you! If you like movies and/or the behind-the-scenes planning it takes to make a really great event, come be part of the PB4P committee. Even if you just like to eat popcorn, please consider joining our efforts to make this important project of the peace center thrive. Help is needed in choosing films, screening them, developing posters and press releases, distributing publicity, and facilitating the film nights. Call Mary at 268-9557 to volunteer.Thank you! Art at P&J Dialogue: Abstract Drawings from Morning Meditations Tina Garcia will be the featured artist for April and May. Tina not only paints but also sculpts, does tile mosaics, and creates murals. You're invited to the reception on Saturday, April 11 from 6-8 pm. Tina's work will be on display til the end of May.
Solidarity Visit to Palomas, Mexico border town south of Columbus, NM, on April 6 and 7. After reading a couple of articles in Grassroots Press (links below), we decided to visit again as a late follow-up to a community action realized the weekend of April 21, 2001, when in solidarity with an international action on the Canadian border, some 35 Albuquerque activists decided to do an action on our southern border.In coalition with other border communities, in 2001 we participated in a demonstration against militarization on the border and erected a symbolc immigrant rest area just meters north of the line. Other spontaneous small efforts connected us with Palomas residents, an orphanage, and migrants coming to the U.S. out of economic necessity. P&J representatives Janet Greenwald, Renee Wolters, Raquel Silva and Cecilia Chavez will travel south to connect with the women's cooperatives in the area and bring some needed supplies, mostly canned or non-perishable food. Money to buy fresh fruit and vegetables in Palomas to distribute to families there will be appreciated too. To read about the current situation there: http://www.grass-roots-press.com/page/10/?s=palomas and http://www.grass-roots-press.com/page/3/?s=palomas .To contribute to our already growing barrel of help, please drop off your donations at P&J. If you have any questions or would like to know more about this humble endeavor, please call Cecilia at the Peace Center at 268-9557. P&J's Administrative Committee Noticias Many thanks to Kim Fisher for volunteering on the administrative committee. We will miss him while he takes a sabbatical. His last project was seeing that the front door at the Peace Center was replaced. You will notice that you no longer have to be a body builder to open the door. Thanks also to Roger Harmon and his paint crew for giving the peace hall a much needed facelift. Everything should be nice and shiny by the middle of April. We appreciate the comments that a number of people have made about our sustainability letter, especially in regard to the temperature in the peace hall. We appreciate people's willingness to understand our priorities and to make accommodations by using a small heater or wearing additional winter clothing. At this point such changes are not about saving money but rather about having a habitable planet for Nalla and her many friends around the globe. Thank you for your support as well as for all of the things that you are doing as individuals to lessen climate change. P&J's Awards Celebration 2009 on Saturday May 23rd, 7-9pm at Immanuel Presbyterian Church fellowship hall, 114 Carlisle SE This year we celebrate the work of four groups who have contributed primarily to the lives of immigrants. They are: --El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, Enlace Comunitario, Mahassen Schukre, and Somos un Pueblo Unido. The celebration will include a skit illustrating the challenges of immigrants, short presentations about the work of the four groups, music by Somos L@s Otr@s, and light refreshments. Tickets for this fundraiser to benefit the Peace Center are $8 (or more if you wish) "early dove" (before May 15) or $12 at the door. Guatemala: New DVD's, New Organization The Central America Solidarity Network has donated two DVD's to P&J: "En toute solidarite - L'accompagnement international au Guatemala" (international human rights accompaniment in Guatemala, English subtitles), and "Sipakapa is Not for Sale" (international exploitation of minerals at the expense of local Mayans).This newly organized local group (currently a working group of First Unitarian Church) supports human rights and economic justice efforts in Central America, seeks to informlearn fromcommunity about Central America, and promotes a progressive Latin America foreign policy. If interested in joining us, call John or Renee at 341-9146.To find out more about accompaniment or to donate to the Guatemala Accompaniment Project, go to the http://NISGUA.org website. Community Noticias Edward Bernard Grothus, of Los Alamos, died February 12, 2009. A machinist at the labs since 1949, Ed left LANL in 1969 when his conscience could no longer tolerate his role in nuclear bomb development. Since then, he became well-known for speaking out against the nuclear mission of the laboratory. (Please see the April 4 event in our April 2009 calendar). Casa Clara is pleased to announce the completion of the project to create an intentional community for cooperative aging as of April 1, 2009; there are a few apartments left. Anyone interested may contact Carol Glassheim at 266-3331 or ceaglass@nmia.com . The Peace and Justice Community is invited to the grand opening on Sunday, May 17 from 2-4pm at 1408 D Vassar NE. Please come and see what we have created. Opportunity to yank the open-burn/detonation permit New Mexico is inundated by unmonitored toxins released by open burning of 200,000 pounds of hazardous wastes each year at Kirtland Air Force Base. In addition, Kirtland is legally permitted to detonate up to 18,000 pounds of explosive wastes per year. The exact chemicals and their concentrations released into our atmosphere are unknown, but at present, Kirtland is licensed to release flammable petroleum solvents, cyanides, perchlorates, mercury, lead, benzene, trichloroethylene (TCEs) and many other toxic substances. The gases and fine particulates released have been linked to a variety of health problems, including asthma, cancer, hormonal changes, skin disease, reproductive issues and immune system suppression. The time to act is NOW! Kirtland's open-burn/detonation permit is about to be renewed for 10 more years. This would mean an additional 2 million pounds of wastes burned in our backyard and potentially an additional 180,000 pounds of explosive wastes. We invite you to ask that all open burning and all but emergency detonation at Kirtland stops: Kirtland Air Force Base Commander Col. Michael Duvall 846-7377, NM Environment Department Secretary Ron Curry 827-2855, U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman 1-800-443-8658, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, 346-6791. Contact CARD at 266-2663 or contactus@cardnm.org for more information. Green Column, by Anna Christina Peterpaul Most scientists now recognize that there is a definite relationship between extreme weather conditions, which we so often witness, and the greenhouse effect. In 1896 the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius became the first to posit that changes in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could alter the Earth's surface temperature through something that we now call the greenhouse effect or global warming. Yet it wasn't until 2006 that the UN climate panel convinced its members to accept the scientific findings that heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere have greatly increased as a result of human activities. The fact that the climate is actually warming is undebatable. Incredibly, even the Bush administration admitted that global warming poses a threat to certain species. One example of how humans affect the climate is given by Johan Tell, author of 100 Ways to Save the World. He maintains that "...the American lifestyle, which is a looming disaster for the planet and which the rest of the world imitates more and more, is too dependent on automobiles, junk food and disposable rubbish." The Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty governing greenhouse emissions, came into effect in 2005 and calls for a 5% reduction in 1990-level greenhouse gases by 2012. This treaty clearly lays out the dangers of rising greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide. More than 170 countries have signed this treaty. The U.S. is not one of them. Some of the most important ways to combat global warming consist of replacing fossil fuels with renewables, getting politicians to institute environmentally friendly policies, and engaging in a lifestyle that saves energy. Please send calendar items, comments, and questions concerning this Web document to Web@abqPeaceAndJustice.org .