We are called to reciprocate what we take, offering our gratitude in action. - Robin Wall Kimmerer

In the timeless words of the Onandaga Thanksgiving Address:

"We are thankful to our Mother the Earth, for she gives us everything that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she still continues to care for us, just as she has from the beginning of time. To our Mother; we send thanksgiving, love, and respect. Now our minds are one."

These words of wisdom were called to our attention by the Indigenous botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of the epic Braiding Sweetgrass, who reminds us "We are called to reciprocate what we take, offering our gratitude in action.” For us that sacred duty of reciprocity means not only thoughtful stewardship of the land we call home, but action for our Mother, the Earth.

Our action matters. When we fight together, we win. Like we did when we made sure the San Juan Generating Station was replaced with 100% renewable replacement power. Like we did against Avangrid. Like we did at the WQCC when we prevented the discharge of fracking waste to our sacred waters.

In 2026 New Energy Economy will continue that fight. We will:

• Continue defending the WQCC win against NMOGA’s appeal and new fracking waste reuse efforts 

• Fight BCP's attempt to buy New Mexico Gas Company behind a wall of secrecy when the risks far outweigh the benefits; and

• Stand up to oppose Blackstone’s multibillion-dollar play to own New Mexico’s energy future.

  
  

Despite our rapidly devolving democracy, the EPA's move to scrap the endangerment finding that underpins all federal climate regulation, and despite the failure of COP30 to include the bare minimum - a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels worldwide—on the ground the transition to clean energy is happening at a pace that no one predicted.

The increasingly desperate and extreme efforts of fossil fuel executives and petro-states, including the United States, to pretend that climate change is not obvious to the naked eye and to slow the advance of cheaper, cleaner, democratically owned energy are destined to fail. As Bill McKibben often points out, solar energy cannot be hoarded. It does not lend itself to the enrichment of the few who can control all resources. It is the ultimate democratizer.

Since the industrial revolution control of energy has determined who has power and who is subservient. With the advent of solar energy that equation is changing, fundamentally, and with it society and geopolitics will inevitably change as well. Researchers at Ember published a white paper documenting how a 40% cost reduction and rapidly advancing battery technology in the last two years makes it more cost effective to power many of the major cities on earth with solar+storage than any other energy source.

California, the fourth largest economy on the planet, is using 40% less gas powered electricity than it did two years ago. In Nepal, the NY Times reported last week, more than 76% of new vehicles sold in the past year were EV's, compared with 0% five years ago. Pakistanis put up the equivalent of half the national electric grid last year in distributed rooftop solar!

Here in the US, where federal policy is being directed almost exclusively by compromised fossil fuel funded politicians, state level policy and advocacy is where its at. Permitting costs make rooftop solar three times more expensive in the US, but those policies are largely under local and state control. Rooftop solar is more expensive because utilities profit by restricting distributed energy, but those policies can be changed locally - and they are changing. In Utah, a deep red state, Republican and Democratic lawmakers together recently passed a bill to remove red tape and allow plug-and-play "balcony solar" systems that have made solar energy accessible to people worldwide.

Imagine buying a panel off the store shelf and just plugging it into your outlet to lower your electricity bills, no electrician or permit required! In Europe millions of apartment owners and renters are plugging into the sun in exactly this way. Why not in New Mexico?

These advances in technology and geopolitical shifts put the wind at our backs, but the fossil fuel industry is still rowing hard in the opposite direction. The IEA reports that total energy-related CO₂ emissions increased by 0.8% in 2024, hitting an all-time high of 37.8 Gt CO₂ and dangerous methane emissions from the fossil fuel sector were close to a record high in 2024, with over 120 million tons released. But the IEA also finds that these scary numbers would have been much higher without the clean energy technologies that are proliferating across the globe. The New Energy Economy is already here and it will only accelerate. It is up to us, together, to ensure that New Mexico, the beautiful land and people we love, is not sacrificed to the extractive corporate greed of oligarchs and oil barons as that transition proceeds. 

“The practice of reciprocity is a path to healing ourselves and our communities,” Kimmerer writes. Today we are asking you to join us on this healing path.