AMERICAN HOSPITALS: Healing a Broken System

Events, Information

Several PDACNM members attended the screening of this film today at the Guild Cinema followed by a panel discussion and Q & A. The event was organized by District 1199NM of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees led by Rep. Eleanor Chavez.

The film is a compelling indictment of the U.S. hospital system. Health care has a stranglehold on the U.S. economy, dominating our annual national spending with unsustainable, out-of-control growth that far outpaces annual economic growth. American Hospitals uncovers the economic structure of an industry that is charging outrageous fees while sitting on billions of dollars in accumulated cash – and paves the way towards solutions.

During Q&A several people mentioned money in politics and the corruption in both political parties prevents meaningful reform. Rep. Chavez replied that we need to elect more progressives to office. YES!

Rebirth of Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center on May 20, 2023

Information, Meetings

Cheers and a sigh of relief filled the community room in the new International District Public Library in Albuquerque on Saturday, May 20th. That’s when more than 70 members came together to vote on new bylaws for the Peace and Justice Center, and then elected a slate of new council members.

Many of us had not seen each other in person since before the Covid pandemic hit three years ago, and it felt like a mini reunion of sorts. Although the average age was probably north of 60 years, it was encouraging to see the young people, including the council’s new president, Joshua Orr. 

Given the challenges of the past few years, the new council has a lot on its plate. Everyone appears ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work. The next regularly scheduled council meeting is 6/20/23 at the Center.  More details to follow.

The new council members are: Cecilia Chavez, Bob Anderson, Jeanne Pahls, Katarina Robinson, Torrence Green, Joshua Orr – chair, Alan Wagman, Aiden Hendrickson, Andreas Archuleta, Ilse Biel – secretary, Nancy Henderson, Anamargarita Otero – treasurer, and Bob Kermott.

Communication with the council members can be directed to Jeanne Pahls at  jeannepahls@comcast.net and Joshua Orr at orr.d.joshua@gmail.com with a cc. to board@abqpeaceandjustice.org

Hydrogen as a Source of Clean Energy

Information, Opinion

By Paul Stockes

First, organizations like 350nm.org and the Sierra Club have shown that it is almost certain that the hydrogen extracted from natural gas (blue hydrogen) cannot generate clean energy as the extraction process generates significant amounts of greenhouse gases.  Some proponents of blue hydrogen count on greenhouse gas sequestration (i.e. burying it) to eliminate its emission into the atmosphere, but that has been tried by the US and Australia and maybe others, and has been abandoned as economically infeasible.

Hydrogen produced by the electrolysis of water (green hydrogen) using energy from renewable sources does produce clean energy, but electrolysis is not very efficient, so it is far better simply to use the renewable energy to produce electricity.

Continue reading Hydrogen as a Source of Clean Energy →