Sustainability Program

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What is Sustainability?

Sustainability is the principle of creating and maintaining the conditions for humans and nature to coexist in harmony. Here at Santa Ana Pueblo, our aim is to ensure that resources are used with care and consideration. The role of the sustainability program is to pursue opportunities that will improve Santa Ana while also benefiting the natural environment, with a focus on energy and solid waste management. 

What is Climate Change?

The Earth’s climate is a complicated and delicate thing. It is influenced by a variety of factors, and among them is the concentration of a few specific gases known as greenhouse gases (GHGs). GHGs get their name because they allow visible light to pass through the atmosphere but trap heat that is being radiated back into space, just like the glass in a greenhouse. Some of the most prominent GHGs are carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), which are created as a byproduct when we burn fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas. 

Here is a video from NASA explaining the process:

How Does it Affect Santa Ana Pueblo

Often, the threat of climate change can seem far off, and that it doesn’t really affect us here at Santa Ana Pueblo. However, the unfortunate reality is that we feel the effects of climate change every day, and the situation will likely worsen before it improves. Threats posed by higher average annual temperatures include:

  • Increased risk of heat related illness
  • Shifts in seasonal life cycles and abundance of plants & animals
  • Changes in water availability (E.g. precipitation events which are less frequent and more intense)
  • The spread of invasive species previously kept in check by cooler temperatures
  • Increase in wildfire frequency and intensity, degrading air quality and threatening tribal resources
  • Increased risk of flood/wind damage from extreme weather events
Below is the “U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit Climate Explorer”, which is a powerful tool created by a team of climate experts from the EPA, NASA, NOAA, and the U.S. Geological Survey. It allows us to visualize the climate of the past, as well as what different climate change scenarios might look like here in Sandoval County through the 21st century. The tool includes projections for two different futures, one in which humans drastically reduce and stabilize global emissions of heat-trapping gases (labeled Lower emissions), and one in which we continue increasing emissions through the end of the century (labeled Higher emissions).

Click on Sandoval County and look at some of the available maps in the upper left corner to see how temperature and precipitation are predicted to change in the coming decades (move the vertical slider in the middle of the screen to see the map before and after).

What is the Pueblo Doing to Adress Climate Change?

The Pueblo of Santa Ana acknowledges the threat that climate change poses and has made climate action a priority. Addressing climate change means reducing GHG emissions from all sources, which will require years of work and many projects targeting specific sectors. The following goals for climate action on the Pueblo were identified with the help of feedback from the Tamaya community: 

  • Utilize available resources to secure energy that is clean, efficient, and reliable.
  • Create a community with comfortable, safe, well-built, and energy efficient homes.
  • Become leaders in environmental stewardship, and natural resource management. 
  • Address waste by reducing, reusing, and recycling.  

Through the EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grant, the Environmental Division developed a Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP) to help understand impacts of GHG emissions on the Pueblo. With input from the community and Tribal Leadership, our approach to developing potential GHG reduction measures that could be implemented at the Pueblo are described in the PCAP.

The proposed climate actions can be read about here: PSA PCAP 

Community Solar Development for Santa Ana Pueblo

Community Solar refers to a local solar facility with benefits that are shared by community members. The Pueblo of Santa Ana is establishing one such program with the help of funding from the newly awarded BIA Tribal Electrification Grant, which will pay for the installation of the solar facility on Tribal land. Those who participate in community solar are called subscribers; subscribers of the Santa Ana community solar project will enjoy significantly reduced electric bills, as they will be credited for the energy produced by the solar installation. 

Aside from cheaper electricity bills, community solar comes with a wide variety of benefits, including: 

  • Access to clean renewable energy
  • Workforce Development
  • Reduction in the combustion of fossil fuels used to generate electricity

The project proposal has been approved by the BIA, and is now officially in the early planning stages

Subscriber registration will be made available once the project is nearing completion. 

Read the press release here!

Currently, the community solar project is expected to generate approximately 12.6 million kWh per year, or enough to power 1200 homes!

Location of the Community Solar Project

Reducing Solid Waste

An important part of sustainability is reducing the waste we generate and send to the landfill. Decreasing waste helps preserve our natural resources by reducing the amount of raw material that must be extracted from the earth to make new products. Resource extraction and product manufacturing not only have the potential to pollute and degrade the local environment, but they also require the use of GHG emitting fossil fuels. 

The average American generated 4.9lbs of waste a day in 2018, a number which has been trending upwards for decades. The graph on the right is from the EPA and displays the mass of waste created over time in the US and breaks them down into categories so that we can see how our trash has changed over time. An interactive version of this graph and more are available on the EPA’s website, and is linked in the “Additional Resources & Articles” section below

 

In order to fulfill our commitments to the environment, we must continue to increase recycling and composting capacity on the Pueblo. We have recently broadened the scope of materials accepted for recycling at the transfer station and are working on other ways to assist the community in recycling and composting. 

If you would like to know more about solid waste, including details about what can and cannot be recycled at the transfer station here on the Pueblo, please visit our solid waste page here: Solid Waste 

Additional Resources and Articles

Contact the SADNR Environmental Division

Interested in sustainability at the Pueblo of Santa Ana? Please reach out!

Stephen Sanders, Environmental Program Specialist, stephen.sanders@santaana-nsn.gov

Lisa Hopinkah, Environmental Division Manager, lisa.hopinkah@santaana-nsn.gov

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