From the Director
Spring 2020
Fifty years ago our founder Sally Rodgers had a vision to bring environmental issues to light in our state legislature, engage voters, and connect New Mexicans to their political power. Sally, affectionately called “Mother Green”, realized this vision in 1970 by co-founding the organization that would become Conservation Voters New Mexico and helping to organize Santa Fe’s first Earth Day. She says she wouldn’t have imagined back then the urgency around environmental issues today.
Would any of us have imagined that we would be living on the precipice of a climate crisis in the year 2020, all while in the midst of a global pandemic? Meanwhile the Trump administration has indefinitely suspended enforcement of environmental laws intended to protect the health of our communities, giving industry a green light to pollute our air, land, and water.
The world around us is forever changed. We will never go back to what was considered normal. In this moment of major transition, we can find light and hope at the state and local level thanks to leaders like Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham who have taken aggressive measures to protect the health of all New Mexicans. Bold change is here for us to create. As we experience a growing collective consciousness around our shared plight, will we be able to find the courage to forge equitable change with our most impacted communities at the forefront?
This is our moment to build and execute a stronger, more just, and resilient vision for New Mexico. We have seen the world come together during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s time to stay together to tackle the climate crisis head on and embrace a healthy future for our people with clean air to breathe and safe water to drink.
At Conservation Voters New Mexico we are ramping up our efforts to continue tackling the climate crisis while protecting our public lands, water, and wildlife. We have created a new framework informed by communities to guide our engagement in rulemaking and policy development. We are expanding our advocacy team to increase our power and reach and provide a deep bench of expertise in our collaborative work with partners across the state.
We are also working diligently in this year’s election to protect our pro-climate champions in both chambers of the state legislature while also helping emerging pro-climate candidates win seats where New Mexicans are currently not being represented to reflect their conservation values.
I want to thank each and every one of you for joining us in this fight for our communities and our planet in this fiftieth year of the Conservation Voters Movement.
With Gratitude –
Demis Foster
