For decades, I have worked to decrease footprints and impress the urgency of positive change. This path began in Mexico when friends appointed me Maestra del Eco-Laboratorio at their new summer camp.

 

For weeks, the campers and I played Native-Tree Bingo and Smart-Choice Shoots and Ladders and held birthday parties for our longest-living trash item–Señor Poliesterol. Those moments stuck with the kids, some of whom are now camp counselors themselves.

 

I tended that path further in New Mexican schools and nature centers, winning the “Environmental Educator of the Year Award” and some grants to build a greenhouse, make a documentary, and call for seeds of unity. Later, I would work with fellow Climate Masters to establish Renewable Energy Day at the state capitol, which continues to reach open ears and hearts in Santa Fe.