Day 4: Amigos Bravos, Taos Land Trust, and Yukiyo Kawano

Eric Torres & Sana Mohamed

When we woke up on our fourth day, we were greeted by fresh white snow! While we enjoyed the beautiful scenery, we unfortunately could not drive to Taos to meet with our community partners for the day due to the hazardous road conditions. However, we were still able to have a conference call Amigos Bravos and Taos Land Trust. We talked to Shannon Romeling, who is a grant writer for Amigos Bravos, and we discussed the organization’s goals and mission of protecting and restoring water sources in New Mexico. To accomplish this, they strive to hold polluters accountable, restore watershed health, and educate the community about water quality issues. We then discussed Amigos Bravos’ collaboration with the Taos Land Trust working to restore the quality of Rio Fernando and surrounding wetlands, which currently have high E. Coli levels, thus described as possessing ‘impaired’ water quality. Next, we discussed the importance of wetlands, which are crucial for filtering out toxins, providing wildlife habitats, improving water quality, preventing erosion, and sequestering of carbon dioxide. We then discussed their involvement with the environmental justice movement through the Communities for Clean Water alliance. Through this alliance, they have served as watchdogs for groups such as Los Alamos National Labs and were crucial in its designation as a Superfund Site. Shannon then directed us to a colleague, Ben, who was the Education Coordinator at the Taos Land Trust. Ben discussed the ideas of conservation easement with us and highlighted his work in restoring the Rio Fernando wetlands, which includes inducing meandering into the stream, removing invasive species, and delineating wetlands.

Afterwards, we met with a Japanese artist named Yukiyo Kawano, who is completing her residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute. Yukiyo’s family history as a third-generation atomic bomb survivor directly informs the works of art she showed us. We had broad discussions about environmental justice in Japan and New Mexico. She was residing in Santa Fe briefly because after learning about the impacts of uranium mining and Los Alamos National Laboratory, especially within Native American communities, she felt the connection between the two communities through the destructive force of a nuclear bomb. Both the creation and detonation of the weapon have negative impacts on communities, and by creating her piece in Santa Fe, she was reflecting that. She also connected to the community impacted by the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami. The natural disasters caused a devastating nuclear spill from a nuclear energy facility in the city. She spoke critically of the Japanese government about their handling of the spill in a way that was similar to MASE's criticism of the U.S. government, which further reinforced the striking parallel between the two. We actually met Yukiyo through MASE, and our meeting with her was very spontaneous - and partially made possible through bad weather - but we are so grateful that we are able to learn from her.

Today was a day full of great information, powerful imagery, and meaningful discussion. Speaking to Amigos Bravos and the Taos Land Trust, we learned about some of the more concrete ways that water quality can be addressed. Most of us were surprised to learn about the role of wetlands in water justice and even the fact that there are wetlands in New Mexico. It was refreshing to hear about their small successes and the concrete plans they had to continue to improve water quality. In discussion, we looked at the setups of the organizations and how they affect their mission and effectiveness. Amigos Bravos is a broad, generalized organization that helps communities around New Mexico in various issues while the Taos Land Trust was specifically formed to address water quality issues in Taos, NM. These organizations complemented each other well, since one was able to help the other with a more specific goal. None of us quite knew what to expect when visiting Yukiyo’s exhibit. We walked in to see an atomic bomb made out of newspapers from 1945 and a string of hanging lanterns. The bomb was similar to an older piece made of her’s grandmother’s kimono, and the hanging lanterns had strands of Yukiyo’s hair to refer to how nuclear radiation changes a person’s DNA. This exhibit brought to light once again the injustices the Japanese have faced when it comes to nuclear weaponry. After observing the art we sat down and spoke to Yukiyo, first about her exhibit, then about the issues in Japan, the issues in New Mexico, Yukiyo’s story of how she got involved in art and advocacy, and lastly about ourselves and the responsibility we have to advocate for those who cannot do so for themselves. We were all amazed at what she had to say; she was very down-to-earth, grounded, and truly empathetic to anyone she met. She inspired us to question everything we hear and move forward with no fear.