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2009 International Water Conservation Conference

Albuquerque, New Mexico • February 26-27

Since 2000, the Water Conservation Conference offered by the Xeriscape Council of NM has become the national outdoor water conservation conference. The February 2008 conference attracted almost 400 registrants from 18 states. Over 35 city water departments were represented. Registrants have also attended from Mexico, Japan, Canada, and Argentina.

We have been able to attract and feature the world’s most renowned water experts.  Global water/climate keynoters have included the late Sen Paul Simon, Sandra Postel, Peter Gleick, and Eileen Claussen.  Others, speaking on related landscape and water, water and energy and sustainability have included Hunter Lovins, Peter Warshall, Gloria Flora, Schlomo Aronson, Robert Glennon, and Amy Vickers.

The 2009 global water keynote will feature Maude Barlow, the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest public advocacy organization, and the co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, working internationally for the right to water. Our “Foodshed” keynote address will be by Wes Jackson, President of The Land Institute, who is leading the research to develop perennial grains. The Land Institute has worked for over 20 years on the problem of agriculture with a primary purpose of developing an agricultural system with the ecological stability of the prairie and a grain yield comparable to that from annual crops. Our increasingly current and relevant topic for 2009 is “Watershed – Foodshed”.

 

 

2009 Conference Links:
Agenda
Speakers
Registration
Hotel Info
 

Day 1 Keynote:
Maude Barlow

Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest public advocacy organization, and the co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, working internationally for the right to water. She serves on the boards of the International Forum on Globalization and Food and Water Watch, as well as being a Coucillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council. Maude is the recipient of six honorary doctorates, the 2005/2006 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship Award, and the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel”) for her global water justice work. She is also the best-selling author or co-author of sixteen books, including Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop Corporate Theft of the World’s Water and the recently released Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.

 

Andy Lipkis

Andy Lipkis is a practical visionary leader who began planting trees to rehabilitate smog and fire damaged land around Los Angeles when he was 15 years old. He founded TreePeople in 1973 at age 18, and continues to serve as its President. TreePeople’s work in LA inspires people to take personal responsibility for the urban forest – educating, training, and supporting them as they plant and care for trees and improve the neighborhoods in which they live, learn, work and play. In 2003, the United Nations World Forestry Organization recognized TreePeople as a global model for other large cities.

> Continue bio here

 


Andrew Parker

Andrew Parker is a Royal Society Research Fellow at Oxford University's Department of Zoology. He has been named by the London Times as one of the three most important young scientists in the world for his work in investigating and answering the great riddle of the Cambrian explosion.

Parker is a leading proponent of biomimetics—applying designs from nature to solve problems in engineering, materials science, medicine, and other fields, including water conservation. (Biomimicry is another related term.)

He was highlighted in the feature article in April 2008 National Geographic – “Biomimetics – Design By Nature” – an article describing water gathering and water conservation techniques discovered in a Nambian beetle and a reptile that can drink with its leg.

Andrew Parker was one of the eight “Scientists for the New Century” selected by The Royal Institution (London) and The Times/Novartis in 2000.

He is also the Science Advisor to the Prince of Wales.

 

Day 2 Keynote:
Wes Jackson

Wes Jackson, President of The Land Institute (founded in 1976), was born in 1936 on a farm near Topeka, Kansas. One of the Institute’s major projects is research to develop perennial grains. The Land Institute has worked for over 20 years on the problem of agriculture with a primary purpose of developing an agricultural system with the ecological stability of the prairie and a grain yield comparable to that from annual crops.

Dr. Jackson’s writings include both papers and books. His most recent work, The Virtues of Ignorance: Complexity, Sustainability, and the Limits of Knowledge, co-edited with William Vitek, was released by University of Kentucky Press in 2008 and will be available at the Conference. > Continue bio here

       

Deborah Madison   

Deborah Madison, founding chef of San Francisco’s Greens restaurant, has long been committed to finding local and sustainable ways of feeding ourselves, and has, through cooking, writing, and teaching helped chefs, home cooks, and young people make that connection for themselves. Greens, which opened in l979, was one of the first restaurants to make cooking from farm and garden the driving force behind its menu. In collaboration with Green Gulch Farm, Deborah was able to introduce foods that were then new to the dining public, such as arugula, fingerling potatoes, the many colorful varieties of lettuces, cucumbers, tomatoes, and other edibles that are now a familiar part of the culinary landscape. Since that time she has continued working to introduce and teach about cherished plant foods through cooking classes, writing books and articles on food and farming, through her participation in her local farmers market.
> Continue bio here

 


Paul Stamets

Paul Stamets has written six mushroom-related books.  Several are used as textbooks around the world by the gourmet and medicinal mushroom industries. He is the author of many scholarly papers in peer-reviewed journals (The International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms; Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (eCAM, Oxford University Press); Herbalgram, and others).

He has written more than a twenty patents. He started a mushroom wholesale and retail sales business, Fungi Perfecti, LLC, in 1980.  (See www.fungi.com.)  The business has four laboratories, 10,000 sq. ft. of clean rooms, and is equipped with 20+ laminar flow benches for doing in vitro propagation work. Paul has received several environmental awards. He is an advisor to the Program of Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Medical School, Tucson; on the Editorial Board of The International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, and was appointed to the G.A.P./G.M.P. Board of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. Dr. Andrew recommends his products. Stamets is the supplier and co-investigator of the first two NIH funded clinical studies using medicinal mushrooms in the United States. His strain collection is extensive and unique, with many of the strains coming from old growth forests. He is involved in several other research trials ongoing and pending. > Continue bio here

 

 

Welcome! The Xeriscape Council of New Mexico, Inc., is a non-profit tax-exempt corporation. Our primary goal is to offer education and training about water conservation, primarily through efficient irrigation of xeriscaping utilizing native and other low-water plants. > More on Xeriscape Council

Xeriscaping News & Updates:

CLOSE TO HOME - TO THE LAST DROP
Experts offer intelligent ways to conserve water usage in the yard

NPR & 13th Conference: Talking Xeric in Albuquerque

NPR: Xeriscaping: A Hot Topic in Santa Fe - Click to listen to audio interview with Elspeth Boggs, Scott Varner and David Salman.

USA Today: With xeriscaping, grass needn't always be greener

 

 

 

Landscape Water Conservation -
The Seven Principles of Xeriscape

A surprising amount of water is used in the home landscape. Studies have shown that as much as 70 percent of water from a municipal water system can be attributed to residential use. In addition to municipal water sources, a percentage of water from private sources or wells also goes to residential use. Of water used at homes, almost half is used to maintain the landscape. > Continue article

More articles on xeriscaping

 

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National Water Conservation Center

The Xeriscape Council of NM, supported by NM Senator Jeff Bingaman, is currently working to establish a National Water Conservation Center in Albuquerque. Since any grant we receive will be dedicated to infrastructure costs only, we are now actively seeking donations of any amount to support initial start-up operating costs. All donations are fully tax deductible and will be placed in the National Center Fund.

Thank you for assisting in the establishment of this research, training and education Center.

Xeriscape Photo Galleries:

Click picture for xeriscape plant photo gallery:
(All photos by Eloise Colocho, Albuquerque, NM)


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