To the Readers

Welcome to Albuquerque's Environmental Story: Toward a Sustainable Community. This collaborative effort is a testament to the love its many authors feel for Albuquerque and to their shared determination to make our growing city a wonderful place to live. The book is designed as a guide to the city's natural and human systems - past, present, and future. It is intended to serve as companion to the curricula used by teachers in all grades from kindergarten through high school. It is also a useful reference for youth leaders, parents, new members of the Albuquerque community, historians, and environmentalists of all ages.

This book:

• Does not tell anyone what to think. It does, however, call attention to issues that those concerned for Albuquerque's environment should be thinking about, and suggests ways they can become constructively involved in addressing those concerns.

• Stresses the teaching of informed and intelligent thinking as fundamental to a sustainable future for our community. The information and activities are intended to inculcate skills needed to critically interpret the ever-present barrage of inadequate or misleading information which can confuse and complicate our efforts to make knowledgeable judgments on issues.

• Will ideally help young people and adults understand and value Albuquerque's rich natural, built and cultural diversities. We hope users/readers will appreciate varying perceptions and learn to objectively evaluate them. They will recognize and respect the balancing factors between economic development and environmental preservation.

• Is designed to enable readers to view the city, its environment, and the people who live in it as interacting parts of an integrated natural and human system. Unfortunately, printed material cannot convey complex interrelationships as effectively as the mind can perceive them. Thus, organizing and writing this volume required that facets of the total environment and of the total person frequently be dealt with apart from the context of systems. However, it is expected that the book, in its totality, will represent these many aspects of human beings and their environment as the interdependent entities they really are.

• Is the product of many contributing authors, who selflessly donated their time and energies and expressed their own knowledge, hopes, beliefs, and attitudes. The information offered should be read with that in mind. Allowing and encouraging authors to express personal views should also lead readers to investigate alternative perspectives for themselves.

• Is intended to collect and present the broadest possible range of background material in a comparatively brief volume. References are provided for those seeking more extensive information.

If Albuquerque's Environmental Story: Toward a Sustainable Community succeeds in its mission, students will develop the insight, the problem-solving skills and the knowledge necessary for environmental decision making. They will also question their values, perhaps modify their attitudes, and translate this heightened appreciation of their environment into responsible citizen action. The authors and editors especially hope that students using the activities in this book will learn to include people - themselves and others - in their concept of "the environment," and that they will grow in their ability to live in closer harmony with their human and natural surroundings. Of equal importance is the hope that the most refreshing and natural characteristic of children, their sense of wonder, will be nurtured and remain a stimulus to learning throughout their lives.