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Las Cruces and Dona Ana County are moving forward quickly with recycling improvements and expansions, evidenced this month by the signing of a five-year single stream recycling contract between the South Central Solid Waste Authority (SCSWA) and Friedman Recycling in Northeast El Paso.

“We’ve made enormous recycling strides in the past year throughout our community, but this is a milestone — it’s the biggest thing that’s happened in recycling in Las Cruces in 15 years,” says Patrick Peck, Director of the South Central Solid Waste Authority.

“Single stream recycling means residents don’t have to separate cardboard from plastics from metals, anymore.  Single stream makes it much easier: you mix all your recyclables together and put them in the bin.  The separating is done at the plant,” he added.

Peck continued, “We are moving quickly toward curbside recycling, but are still in the drop-off phase of recycling, with bright blue recycling bins available to the community:  Six Commercial locations in Las Cruces, 13 Schools, eight Community Collection Centers throughout the county, and five tate parks.”

All recycling bins are in the process of being retrofitted, with larger openings to accommodate the mixed – or single stream – recyclables. But residents can start single stream recycling now. Peck added, “We are sending 50 tons of recyclables a week from Las Cruces and Dona Ana County to Friedman Recycling, and that’s before we’ve really geared up.”

WHAT’S RECYCLABLE:  Aluminum and tin cans, cardboard, newspapers, office paper and mixed papers, junk mail and magazines, catalogues and phonebooks, #1 and #2 plastics (milk jugs, detergent bottles, soda and water plastic bottles).

NEW STICKERS reflecting Single Stream Recycling Will be fixed to recycling bins at Sam’s Club 2711 N. Telshor (by the gas pumps) Tuesday, February 2nd @ 10 a.m.

For more information or other recycling questions, please call the South Central Solid Waste Authority at (575) 528-3800.

Where to find single-stream bins:

City of Las Cruces

• Kmart 1240 El Paseo Road

• Walmart Supercenter 1550 S. Valley Drive

• Sam’s Club 2711 N. Telshor (by the gas pumps)

• Mesilla Valley Mall 700 S. Telshor Blvd. (southwest of J.C. Penney)

• The old landfill 555 Sonoma Ranch Blvd.

• Amador Avenue Recycling Center, 2865 W. Amador Ave.

Dona Ana County

• Hatch 110 Cerrito Road

• Hill 9293 Del Rey Blvd.

• Butterfield 4925 Eason Lane

• Mesquite 725 County Road B-059

• La Mesa 1310 W. Afton Road

• Anthony 2120 E. O’Hara Road

• Garfield 505 Nightwatchers Road

• La Union 2590 Visnaga St.

Schools in Las Cruces

• Camino Real Middle School 2961 Roadrunner Parkway

• Picacho Middle School 2700 W. Picacho Ave.

• Central Elementary 150 N. Alameda Ave.

• University Hills Elementary 2005 S. Locust St.

• Desert Hills Elementary 280 N. Roadrunner Parkway

• Mesilla Park Elementary 955 W. Union Ave.

• Booker T. Washington Elementary 755 E. Chestnut Ave.

• Hermosa Heights Elementary 1655 E. Amador Ave.

• Alameda Elementary 1325 N. Alameda Blvd.

• Valley View Elementary 915 E. California Ave.

• Holy Cross School 1331 N. Miranda St.

• Vista Middle School 4465 Elks Drive

• Sierra Middle School 1700 E. Spruce Ave.

• Booker T. Washington Elementary 755 E. Chestnut Ave.

• Hermosa Heights Elementary 1655 E. Amador Ave.

• Alameda Elementary 1325 N. Alameda Blvd.

• Valley View Elementary 915 E. California Ave.

• Holy Cross School 1331 N. Miranda St.

• Vista Middle School 4465 Elks Drive

• Sierra Middle School 1700 E. Spruce Ave.

Commentary

By Jenifer Smith

Luis Posada Carriles is scheduled to appear in federal court in El Paso, Texas, on March 1, 2010.   He will be tried on perjury charges that result from an immigration matter that occurred in 2005, at which time, he provided false testimony about his role in orchestrating and participating in a multitude of terrorist activities directed against Cuba, in particular.  Although Posada Carriles had previously claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Hotel Copacabana that caused the death of Italian tourist Fabio DeCelma, and wounding many others to the New York Times in 1998, when he was interviewed by immigration officials in relation to these self proclamations, he denied that they were true.  He is also known (again, by his own admission) to have been a principal organizer for a number of other hotel and restaurant bombings that took place in Havana throughout 1997.

In addition to the above-mentioned series of planned attacks against the nation of Cuba, there exists an insurmountable amount of evidence that proves Posada Carriles, along with his cohort, Orlando Bosch, who is also a long-time CIA operative, were the responsible agents in planning the bombing of a commercial Cuban airline in 1976.  An  explosion occurred in mid-air which caused the innocent deaths of all persons on-board the flight  that fateful day in October of 1976.

Venezuela made a formal request to the United States government for the extradition of Posada Carriles on June 15, 2005; however, this petition has remained unanswered up to this time.  Posada Carriles is eligible for extradition to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela under international law because he escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985, where he was being held after being convicted for committing serious acts of felony crimes, including the downing of the Cuban airline flight 455.

A demonstration is planned to occur on the date of Posada Carriles’ appearance in court as follows:

DATE:          Monday, March 1, 2010

TIME:           8:00 AM

PLACE:        United States Federal Courthouse, El Paso
                                                                                                  511 East San Antonio Avenue, El Paso, Texas

Protesters will convene to voice their demand for the immediate extradition of Posada Carriles to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.  This demonstration will include a demand for the immediate freedom of the Cuban Five, political prisoners who were unjustly tried and convicted in the U.S. for attempting to monitor and subvert dangerous terrorist activities like those perpetrated by the likes of entities such as Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch.

There are hundreds of organizing committees all over the world enjoined in campaign efforts to fight for justice and the release from prison on behalf of these five Cuban heroes.

The U.S. base of the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five has just launched a new postcard campaign addressed and directed to President Obama.  This new campaign effort was initiated in direct response to an overwhelming number of requests made by members of the international community to this Committee and, especially the ten Nobel Laureates, whose names appear on the face of the card.  The message calls on Barack Obama, a fellow Nobel Laureate, to enlist in this call for justice; which in his case, can be achieved and executed by the simple stroke of a pen.  To learn more about the Cuban Five visit:  www.thecuban5.org, www.freethefive.org, or, www.antiterroristas.cu.

While the anti-terrorists, the Cuban Five, continue to serve unjustly imposed sentences  in U.S. federal prisons (they will soon have completed 12 years in detention), the real terrorists are walking freely and gleefully about the streets of Miami.   Posada Carriles returned to a hero’s welcome in Miami when the aforementioned charges against him were dismissed by this same federal Court in El Paso, and he was released in May 2007.

In spite of the fact that a federal grand jury issued a superseding Indictment against Posada Carriles on April 8, 2009, that officially acknowledges an established link between him to the 1997 bombing in Cuba, this criminal master-mind will only be appearing on perjury charges before this Court on the first while the acts of murder to which he is a known and named party will remain unanswered.   Justice has yet to be served in the case of Luis Posada Carriles.  If the United States refuses to charge and try Posada Carriles for the murders he is guilty of, by all rights, he should be remanded to the courts of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, where he will be judiciously tried.  Extradite Posada Carriles/Free the Cuban Five — now!

Local

LOS LUNAS – How does a grower take advantage of direct marketing at a farmers’ market? That question and many more will be answered at a free workshop from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, at the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus Learning Resource Center, 280 La Entrada Road, Los Lunas. Admission is $10, which includes lunch and workshop materials.

The event is jointly sponsored by the NMSU Cooperative Extension Service, the New Mexico Farmers’ Market Association and Farm to Table.

“With 58 farmers’ markets now in New Mexico, there is more demand than ever for locally grown food. Gross sales have been on the rise, but in many cases farmers can use some outside assistance to help make their operations more profitable. These workshops connect farmers to new ideas and good resources for working into the future,” said Denise Miller, executive director of the New Mexico Farmers’ Marketing Association.

With the increased opportunities to market their produce through farmers’ markets, growers can get help from NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service to increase their profits through the sale of high-value crops and value-added products.

“Farmers’ markets are a growing direct-marketing arena where the business transaction occurs between the grower and the consumer. Through these workshops we want to help producers reduce their risk and increase their profits,” said Michael Patrick, NMSU Extension community resource and economic development specialist, who is coordinating the program, which is funded by a Western Center for Risk Management Education grant.

Growers attending the workshop will learn from NMSU Extension specialists Stephanie Walker and Ron Walser about specialty crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, spinach, tomatoes, apricots, nectarines, peaches and berries. Nancy Flores, Extension food technology specialist, will show attendees how to create value-added products, such as jams and jellies.

The business side of direct marketing – producing for profit by selecting specialty crops and products, evaluating costs and returns, developing a business plan, and merchandizing and marketing – will be presented by Michael Patrick and Anil Rupasingha, Extension community resource and economic development specialists; Carlos Mayen Solorzano, assistant professor of agricultural economics and agricultural business; and Laura Bittner, Valencia County Extension home economist.

The program will also feature presentations on the following topics:

•Understanding state regulations regarding producing value-added products in home kitchens and commercial kitchens, presented by Nancy Flores.

•Preserving agricultural land, presented by Cecilia McCord, Rio Grande Agricultural Land Trust, executive director.

•Direct marketing of beef, presented by McCord.

•Small-scale cheese production, presented by Donna Lockridge of South Mountain Dairy.

•Organic production and organic certification will be presented by Joanie Quinn, New Mexico Organic Commodity Commission, education and marketing coordinator.

To register call the Valencia County Extension Office at (505) 565-3002.

Border

By Gordon Solberg

James Cameron’s blockbuster movie Avatar deals with an important theme currently playing itself out right here on Earth: planetary destruction. Will the culture of destruction win, or not? Right now it looks like there’s little to stop the destroyers. The pro-Earth forces seem too few, too compromised, and too weak to make the necessary difference. But no worries, let’s just take $300,000,000 and create a movie with the desired happy ending!

The year is 2154, and the Earthlings have pretty well destroyed their own planet. So they’ve invaded Pandora, a paradise located in a nearby star system, for some necessary resource extraction. The Earthlings are white, corporate Americans with a militaristic bent. In this movie, at least, it looks like the Republicans took over our planet and destroyed what was left of it. With rare exceptions, the Earthlings of 2154 are a bunch of assholes. In fact, the corporate boss looks and acts remarkably like George W. Bush.

Pandora is inhabited by a race of 9-foot-tall, blue humanoids with tails who live in harmony with their planet. The Pandorans are trying to defend their home from the invading Americans, who have overwhelming firepower and a no-nonsense culture of total destruction. The ensuing conflict is what we would expect in a movie: cowboys and Indians, good guys and bad guys, might vs. right. But Cameron turns convention on its head by making the Pandorans the good guys, and the Americans the bad guys. What a change of pace to see the Americans shipped home in humiliating defeat! Cameron has wisely (from a commercial viewpoint) tapped into the global zeitgeist of fear and frustration with the out-of-control American Empire. In movieland at least, America gets its long-awaited comeuppance.

The movie gives Cameron the opportunity to contrast two opposing cultures: the sterile, exploitative, high-tech American corporate culture, and the magical, harmony-oriented world of the Pandorans. Like Star Wars, Avatar is lifted right from the pages of Joseph Campbell. In this movie, as in real life, the Americans have lost the Holy Grail, the spiritual connection with reality which Campbell calls the “infinite depths… of the living waters of the inexhaustible source,” and consequently live in a spiritual and physical Wasteland of their own creation. The Pandorans, on the other hand, have never lost the Grail in the first place.

We are already all-too-familiar with the American Wasteland, since we live in the middle of it. Americans, and by extension the entire industrialized world, are projecting their spiritual desolation onto the planet, and in so doing, laying waste to it. The Wasteland culture reduces life to a routine whenever possible. Everything is ordinary; nothing is sacred. The wealthy set the agenda, and technocrats run everything. Indigenous cultures are destroyed. It’s all about money and exploitation; anything not for sale is valueless. As Campbell says, the Wasteland is “… where there is no poet’s eye to see, no adventure to be lived, where all is set for all and forever: Utopia! It is the land where poets languish and priestly spirits thrive, whose task it is only to repeat, enforce, and elucidate cliches… There is no time, no place, no permission – let alone encouragement – for experience.” In other words, life is always tightly programmed within the Wasteland culture, and the vital essence of life – which requires long periods of unstructured time in which to grow — has been squeezed right out of it.

The critical mass of Americans don’t feel spiritually desolated. They don’t even realize they’re living in a Wasteland. They’ve adapted to it, and in so doing, have lost more than they realize. The Grail is a strictly optional experience – powerful, yet exceedingly subtle. Experiencing the Grail within the Wasteland culture is like trying to hear a bird singing in a tree next to a busy freeway – the bird is singing, but all you hear is traffic. (I don’t want to minimize the amazing creativity and spirituality to be found in our country. But when we look at our behavior on the national level – war, torture, environmental destruction, financial exploitation, on and on – we must conclude that something is terribly wrong with this nation.)

What’s most fascinating about the movie is the Pandoran culture Cameron created. The Pandorans are in full contact with the Grail, which I would define as the lived experience of connection with the transcendental ground of reality. The Pandorans are TUNED IN: to their emotions, to their own animal nature and spiritual nature (animal and spirit are one and the same), to the spirit of the planet that gave them birth. The Pandoran culture Cameron created is loosely based on Native American spirituality (in which everything is sacred), and as such is perhaps the first exposure many young people have ever had to a culture with a spiritual orientation to life. This is a good thing: I imagine that many a Quest has been activated within the soul of many a young person from watching Avatar. This movie might spark questions like: What is life all about? Does my pre-programmed religion or non-religion really satisfy my spiritual needs? Where are my people? Is destruction the only possible human outcome? Hopefully, questions like this help to break the tyranny of the take-it-all-for-granted mindset of the Wasteland. Even a Hollywood caricature of nature-based spirituality is better than nothing.

One positive aspect of the movie is the way in which Pandoran women – and specifically the heroine, Neytiri – are portrayed. They are the equals of men in every way; they come across as powerful, competent, physical, spiritual, sexual. Being products of Cameron’s imagination, they transcend the “mere human.” They are archetypes more than accurate representations of actual living creatures. For all practical purposes, they are goddesses. Neytiri and her cohorts are excellent role models for young women living on the cusp of a collapsing Empire. They (along with people of all sexes) will need some major inner resources as chaos fills our planet.

Cameron has tapped into the hunger for harmony and magic that many people feel within the Wasteland culture. After all, the Grail (or whatever you want to call it) is closer to us than our own breathing. Even if we’ve been distracted out of noticing it, it’s always there. So it stands to reason that a certain percentage of Americans feel dissatisfied with the spiritually primitive nature of American mainstream culture: “Where is the culture that amplifies and supports my own inner experience?” they might well ask. Mainstream America has made remarkably little progress since the heady days of the ‘60s and ‘70s, when many of us believed that surely we could create some sort of alternative to the madness. Now, 40 years later, it seems obvious that things are significantly worse. The wealthy now control all the levers of national power, the rabble are thoroughly trivialized, life is more tightly programmed than ever, and the biosphere is on the verge of collapse.

But we still have our inner experience, as free as ever. What can we ever hope to accomplish with such evanescence? As with every generation, today’s young people will have plenty of opportunities to figure this out for themselves, or not. They’re inheriting a stark new world, in which the traditional explanations will be revealed to be the prattle they’ve been all along.

In the final analysis, spirituality is not about outcomes. It’s about awakening from the hypnotism of the altered state of consciousness we take as “normal,” and reclaiming the birthright that has been ours all along. Looking at it that way, all Avatar can ever hope to be is just another movie. It’s very entertaining, to be sure, and will no doubt cause at least a few young people to seek the real thing in terms of nature-based spirituality. This is probably more than Cameron ever intended… which, along with being a blockbuster success, is not a bad outcome for any filmmaker.

(Gordon Solberg’s blog is a never-ending review of America: The Movie.  http://newearthtimes.blogspot.com )

Environment

By Trisha McCaul

We human beings are funny creatures. In working with the public for 16 years, I’ve seen a lot of the curious mental and emotional machinery that makes us tick. Something that consistently recurs is the eternal quest for the elusive “Magic Pill.” Pharmaceutical advertisements are particularly adept at bombarding us with claims of cures for ailments, real and imagined. Alternative medicine gurus also promise youth, vitality, strength and mental brilliance with just one supplement – and it’s only $19.95. Marketing magic doesn’t counsel that we can’t continue to shun clean water and food and keep putting our bodies through a barrage of physical, mental and emotional stressors. We’d rather that “there’s a pill for that.”

Here’s the bittersweet truth: The “Magic Pill” is a myth.

Of course, herbs, supplements and pharmaceuticals have helped countless people with serious health conditions. We should recognize however, that most often, we’re addressing symptoms of dis-ease. We’re prone to putting band-aids on the symptoms and avoiding the causes. Optimal wellness is encouraged and supported by changing the behaviors, the causes of dis-ease.

On that note, here’s a list of active behaviors that preclude (to a very significant extent) the need for band-aid and Magic Pill treatments.

• Eat your fruits and vegetables. This has been said so many times it’s cliché. Yet, despite endless counsel from grandmothers to government agencies, the average American still only eats 1-½ servings of vegetables and one serving of fruits every day. The recommended daily diet should include at least 5 servings of both per day.
• Drink plenty of water. To figure out how much you need every day, divide your body weight in half, and drink that many ounces. Example: A 100-lb. person would drink 50 ounces of water every day. (100 ÷2 = 50).
• Exercise – Walk – dance. Move your body.
• Get outdoors. Treat yourself to sunshine and fresh air.

These suggestions deal mostly with the physical body. The emotions and the spirit must also be addressed. Lack of emotional fulfillment and/or stressful lifestyle choices don’t serve us.

Support your emotional and spiritual health:

• Keep a journal. Writing in the morning helps to clear the mind. It doesn’t have to be special, just what’s on your mind.
• Do the thing you’ve been wanting to do. Most people have a secret aspiration. Often we avoid it because it requires getting out of our comfort zones. Take the class you’ve been thinking about. Take the trip you’ve been promising yourself. Submit a story to a publisher. You’ve much to gain, and nothing to lose.
• Practice stress management techniques like yoga, meditation, or prayer.
• At least once a month, write a list of everything you’re grateful for. Simple gratitude often puts “problems” into perspective.
• Don’t judge yourself if sometimes you’re not “happy.” Chronic, long-term depression can require the assistance of a qualified healthcare practitioner. Brief periods of feeling disheartened are normal. In our Walmart happy-face, denial-based society, we often think something is wrong with us if we’re sad or depressed. The presence of those feelings doesn’t necessarily mean that something is “wrong” with us. Looking at our world, there’s much cause for joy and laughter, as well as for feelings of sadness and disillusionment. These are perfectly natural and rational responses. In the whole of the human experience, both sadness and joy are present. To honestly recognize them, and feel them is necessary to our wholeness of being.
• A healthy physical lifestyle and respect for our emotional and spiritual well-being brings genuine vitality and wellness. Then we aren’t prey to the next magic pill promise. We don’t want it, we don’t need it. We recognize that we can bring all the magic we need into our experience through choosing to take back control of our own lives.

Sources

Herbes, Kirsten. “Dietary Trends, American.” FAQS. <Http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Diab-Em/Dietary-Trends-American.html> (15 Jan 2010).

Lichtenstein, Alice H. “How Many Portions of Fruits and Vegetables Should I Eat A Day?”

ABC News. <Http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HeartDiseaseRisks/story?id=4218214> (15 Jan 2010).

Trish McCaul is a long-time student and adviser in the field of herbal medicine, and is assistant manager of the vitamin and supplement department at Mountain View Market. Her responsibilities require a wide knowledge of herbal and nutritional supplements. She is founder and owner of Mother McCaul’s, a line of locally hand-made organic and wildcrafted herbal health and body care products.

Editor’s note: The tips and suggestions in the article are not intended as medical advice.