Meet Gina, a valued community leader in Albuquerque whose work has significantly advanced community resilience and climate action efforts. Her contributions to environmental justice and grassroots organizing have had a meaningful impact on the city, and her presence on the Community Task Force will be a powerful asset to its work and vision.

This story offers a glimpse into Gina’s journey, highlighting her deep commitment to community building and environmental justice.

Submitted by an Albuquerque resident with a deep connection to public transit, “Bus in ABQ” is a story rooted in community and a shared understanding of our collective challenges. It highlights the critical role public transit plays for working-class residents, following one community member who relied on the bus to get to their kitchen job in Nob Hill.

What begins as a reluctant commute becomes a powerful story of unlikely connection. This experience reshaped their understanding of community and remains a lasting reminder of how public transit connects and supports us all.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) planning program provides funding to U.S. states, regions, territories, and tribes to make meaningful plans and implement projects that meaningfully reduce climate pollution such as greenhouse gasses (GHGs) and other harmful air pollutants while also benefiting frontline communities.

Frontline Communities are those that are hit first and worst by climate pollution and extreme weather.

Ensuring that New Mexico’s communities and institutions are future-proof means that we must identify and work to protect our most vulnerable populations. 

The ways we move, power buildings, create and dispose of materials, and manage the land around us can produce harmful climate pollutants. These pollutants can impact human health, damage the environment around us, and alter weather patterns. Activities like burning fossil fuels produce climate pollution which exposes our communities to toxins and an increased risk of experiencing environmental disturbances like wildfires or drought. If not addressed, the hazards that these pollutants can cause will have a negative effect on the individual, economic, and ecological prosperity of New Mexico.

Everyday, humans create both bodily and landfilled waste that must be treated. The infrastructure needed to process and treat this waste is a necessary part of maintaining the public health of any community. Without the proper treatment processes in place, this waste can lead to water quality, air quality, and public health concerns in the community.

Getting around and moving things are vital parts of any community facilitating access to employment opportunities, educational institutions, essential services, and social gatherings.  However, traditional transportation systems predominantly rely on fossil fuels, thereby contributing to air pollution and the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs).

The built environment encompasses everything that is human-made. Every day, we live, work, and play within the built environment, which includes buildings, infrastructure, parks and open spaces, and more. Most humans spend much of their time in buildings, whether it be at home, at work, or during their leisure time. Consequently, buildings hold a special significance in human experience and offer numerous advantages when improved, including greater comfort, positive health outcomes (i.e. better indoor air quality), increased building resiliency, and reduced operational expenses associated with heating and cooling systems.