A Great Day

Today has been a great day for sustainability for three reasons.

First, the Public Service Board unanimously approved a motion by Dr.Rick Bonart regarding the Rio Bosque.  In gist it directs President and CEO John Balliew to pursue, design and construct a pipeline to the Rio Bosque and, at the same time, get a change in the permit from the TCEQ which will allow treated effluent and reclaimed water from the Bustamante plant to be conveyed directly to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park.  What the motion does in effect is allow a new relationship not just with the Bosque but also with the Water District so that the Bosque can get water in the future.

In addition the PSB awarded a contract to Sanders/Wingo Advertising agency to begin a media campaign for conservation and sustainability and directed staff to create a public service campaign for the same.

All in all, PSB is on the path of sustainability and conservation and matters such as potable reuse are on the table.

Good things also happened at the Open Space Advisory Board meeting today. OSAB's chief role is to recommend to City Council which lands can be preserved in their natural state using 10% of the stormwater fee.  The land must also have a stormwater function which our arroyos definitely do.  At the top of OSAB's priority list for land to be acquired is Avispa Canyon on the northwest side of the mountains.  Today Mr. Stanley Jobe sought approval of a plan which puts Avispa canyon west of the State Park under a conservation easement at his expense.  In return the City Mr. Jobe is asking that the City rezone land which he privately owns to allow quarrying as part of his northwest operations. A motion to accept this proposal passed 3 to 2.  At the top of OSAB's priority list, Avispa Canyon will be preserved in its natural state and not one penny of the open space money will be spent.  That money can be used for other acquisitions.

Finally, and this item has nothing to do with the sustainability and conservation issues of the El Paso region.  However, it has everything to do with the one human characteristic which must be sustained or no other effort for sustainability in other areas will have a chance or even a meaning.  I am speaking about the human spirit - that thing or process or characteristic which attracts us with awe to mystery, to the unknown, to things unseen but certainly experienced.  Without a healthy spirituality, no other human pursuit is possible or worthwhile.  So it was with tearful gladness that today Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina - a man who rides a bus rather than being chauffeured and cooks his own meals rather than be catered - was elected Pope and took the name of Francis - the simple 12th century saint who did indeed rebuild a broken church which had lost its soul.  Francis gave us this prayer:

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life."

March 13, 2013: a great day . . . a really great day.