Rebecca Hobart - The Daily Lobo

Culture

OPINION: I’m so proud to be a Lobo

Rebecca Hobart | December 13

I’m wrapping up my final semester as an undergraduate student, graduating with my Bachelor of Science in environmental science and minor in sustainability studies. I’ve compiled some of my greatest hits because the past three and a half years have been chock-full of enlightenment and enrichment. The University of New Mexico has been an exceptional place to grow up and blossom into my fullest self. I moved to New Mexico from North Carolina to study at UNM without really knowing anyone or anything about Albuquerque, except that it was a beautiful place with lots of sunny days and clear, blue skies.

Culture

Julia Bernal undertakes climate change issues through Indigenous worldview

Rebecca Hobart | December 6

With a fierce passion for amplifying Indigenous worldviews in climate change issues, Julia Bernal is a graduate student pursuing degrees in community and regional planning and water resources at the University of New Mexico. She works to assert diverse perspectives through water management in New Mexico. Bernal, an enrolled member of the Sandia Pueblo, has been a steadfast contributor to efforts concerning the oil and gas drilling in the greater Chaco Canyon landscape, which has been a key focus in her work with the Pueblo Action Alliance. She said her graduate studies at UNM will help give her “some credibility in this attempt to merge grassroots efforts to water management and water planning.”

News

ABQ finds widespread heat discrepancies between communities

Rebecca Hobart | December 6

The city of Albuquerque released its heat map findings from the report in late November, compiled by Climate Adaptation Planning Analytics Strategies, a contractor of National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. The study looked at heat impacts on human health through temperature and humidity data points collected on July 9, 2021. Kelsey Rader, the city of Albuquerque's sustainability officer, said this report was an opportunity to evaluate how existing infrastructure was supporting active and public transportation users. The study produced results showing a temperature difference of nearly 17 F from the hottest to coolest parts of the city. Rader said this is a call to action to manage this discrepancy through tree plantings, which has a dedicated budget with the city.

News

Educators across New Mexico denounce oil and gas campaigns

Rebecca Hobart | December 2

Over 200 educators in New Mexico, from early childhood teachers to college professors, signed a letter calling on the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association to stop using disingenuous public campaigns to promote more oil and gas development. These educators want the expansion of revenue sources and lessened dependence on the fossil fuel industry in the state. “It has been extremely disappointing to watch the oil and gas industry and its allies use educators and students as props in campaigns against progress on climate and clean energy policies,” read a Nov. 30 press release sent by lobbying and public relations communications specialist Charles Goodmacher.

Culture

Amy Farnbach Pearson offers social perspective on COVID-19

Rebecca Hobart | November 22

Though she got her start in microbiology in her undergraduate program, University of New Mexico professor Amy Farnbach Pearson now studies medicine through the humanities lens. She seeks to broach conversations on how disease presents in societies and what it means for patients perceived to be afflicted. Farnbach Pearson joined the Honors College team this year, an environment that has been historically welcoming to interdisciplinary conversations and out-of-the-box curricula. She’s a temporary part-time professor teaching “Tuberculosis to COVID-19: What is Health?” this semester, which is one medium she uses to have conversations on how Western societies have and continue to respond to diseases.

News

Biden administration barrs new oil and gas leases around Chaco Canyon

Rebecca Hobart | November 18

President Joe Biden announced on Monday that his administration will block federal oil and gas leasing within a 10-mile buffer zone around Chaco Canyon, a sacred Indigenous site in New Mexico. A two-year ban on leasing will be enacted in the coming weeks, which will enable the Bureau of Land Management to conduct environmental analysis and public comment. They will then consider a 20-year withdrawal of drilling on public lands in the region. “The Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is basically pushing the Bureau of Land Management to do a full environmental assessment of the region, in terms of its impacts relating to oil and gas,” Julia Bernal, director of Pueblo Action Alliance, said.

Culture

UNM alumna receives prestigious clean energy award

Rebecca Hobart | November 15

The recognition of successful women in STEM continues with eyes on University of New Mexico alumna Kate Anderson, chief of staff for energy systems integration at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a sector of the U.S. Department of Energy. This year, Anderson is the recipient of the C3E Social, Economic, and Policy Innovation Award, which recognizes women in clean energy. “There are not a lot of women in clean energy … but there should be,” Anderson said. “An award like this helps because it helps people see themselves and see that, ‘Oh, that’s something that I could do too,’ and not just view it as a man’s field.”

News

Infrastructure law makes investments in local climate, water

Rebecca Hobart | November 15

President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was approved by the U.S. Congress in early November and signed into law on Monday, Nov. 15. The bipartisan law, H.R. 3684, is climate-focused and uses a dynamic approach to dispersing funding, with money going to highways, wildfires, electric buses, water and other related projects. New Mexico’s apportionment of the law is $3.7 billion, which will seek to invest in and address vulnerabilities of the state’s water, highway and bridge infrastructure, among other key ventures. University of New Mexico Professor Claude Morelli, scholar of transportation planning and policy at UNM, said the largest cut of New Mexico’s share, $2.5 billion, is going toward highway development. $255 million in the infrastructure package will also address bridge needs across the state as super storms have undermined bridge foundations, causing the collapse of bridges and necessitating more maintenance, according to Morelli.

News

EPA seeks to expand regulations on methane

Rebecca Hobart | November 14

The Environmental Protection Agency released guidance for tightening methane regulations in early November proposing a series of protections to mitigate the impacts of the oil and natural gas industry nationwide. This comes due to methane’s critical role in advancing the warming of the atmosphere, with emissions having the potential to trap about 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide in the first 20 years following the initial emissions release. To cut down on the methane waste products associated with oil and gas drilling, the EPA seeks to codify actions that would force states to fix leaking production wells and eliminate venting of natural gas for new and existing sites, according to the agency.

Culture

UNM biology student looks to lead in conservation efforts

Rebecca Hobart | November 8

With a lifelong commitment and passion for protecting public lands in hand, University of New Mexico senior Kai Hollenberg embraces the challenges of conservation. As a biology major with a focus in conservation who serves as the president of the UNM Wilderness Alliance, her ongoing work with the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service as well as opportunities to address pressing environmental concerns across the country has prepared Hollenberg for a life of service in the conservation sector. “When I think about how much time the average human spends working, I really want it to be for something I believe in,” Hollenberg said. “Conservation and the health of our planet is definitely at the top of that list for me.”