New Mexico community action

In January 2019, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order on addressing climate change and energy waste prevention. From this order, New Mexico joined the United States Climate Alliance with a goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 45% from 2005 levels by 2030. As well as supporting the objective of the Paris Agreement at state level. In addition a Climate Change Task Force was charged with producing a New Mexico Climate Strategy.

"Climate change threatens natural resources and public health of tribal communities. Rising temperatures and increasing drought are likely to decrease the availability of certain fish, game, and wild plants on which the Navajo and other tribes have relied for generations. Water may be less available for domestic consumption, especially for those who are not served by either municipal systems or reliable wells, which includes about 30 percent of the people on the Navajo Nation, who must haul water to meet daily needs. Recurring drought and rising temperatures may also degrade the land itself. On the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation, for example, the Great Falls Dune Field has advanced almost a mile in the last 60 years, threatening roads, homes, and grazing areas. Extreme heat may also create health problems for those without electricity, including about 40 percent of the people on the Navajo reservation.

The Rio Grande Nature Center State Park is a New Mexico State Park located adjacent to the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico, US. The Rio Grande Nature Center is a 38-acre urban wildlife preserve established in 1982. About two thirds of the grounds of the park are set aside as habitat for wildlife. The remaining acreage contains a visitors' center, two gardens, several wildlife viewing areas, an education building and a building housing the non-profit Wildlife Rescue, Inc. There are four constructed ponds which provide habitat for birds and other wildlife and which mimic wetland features of the historical flood plain of the Rio Grande.

Solar power in New Mexico in 2016 generated 2.8% of the state's total electricity consumption, despite a National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) projection suggesting a potential contribution three orders of magnitude larger.

As of 2023, wind power was the top source of energy in New Mexico, with approximately 4,400 megawatts (MW) of electricity generating capacity responsible for 38% of electricity produced that year. Wind power in New Mexico has the potential to generate more than all of the electricity consumed in the state.

New Mexico is one of the poorest states in the U.S. and has long struggled with poverty. Its poverty rate of roughly 18% is among the highest in the country, exceeded only by Louisiana and Mississippi. In 2017, nearly 30% of New Mexico's children were in poverty, which is 40% higher than the national average. The majority of births (54%) were financed by Medicaid, a federal healthcare program for the poor, the third highest of any state. As of May 2021, around 44% of residents were enrolled in Medicaid.

In January 2016, New Mexico sued the United States Environmental Protection Agency over negligence after the 2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill. The spill had caused heavy metals such as cadmium and lead and toxins such as arsenic to flow into the Animas River, polluting water basins of several states. The state has since implemented or considered stricter regulations and harsher penalties for spills associated with resource extraction.

New Mexico (Spanish: Nuevo México [ˈnweβo ˈmexiko] ; Navajo: Yootó Hahoodzo Navajo pronunciation: [jòːtʰó hɑ̀hòːtsò]) is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also borders the state of Texas to the east and southeast, Oklahoma to the northeast, and shares an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora to the south. New Mexico's largest city is Albuquerque, and its state capital is Santa Fe, the oldest state capital in the U.S., founded in 1610 as the government seat of Nuevo México in New Spain.

New Mexico is the fifth-largest of the fifty states by area, but with just over 2.1 million residents, ranks 36th in population and 45th in population density. Its climate and geography are highly varied, ranging from forested mountains to sparse deserts; the northern and eastern regions exhibit a colder alpine climate, while the west and south are warmer and more arid. The Rio Grande and its fertile valley runs from north-to-south, creating a riparian climate through the center of the state that supports a bosque habitat and distinct Albuquerque Basin climate. One-third of New Mexico's land is federally owned, and the state hosts many protected wilderness areas and national monuments, including three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the most of any U.S. state.