Clean energy transition in the Land of Enchantment 🏜️ with Deb Haaland

Before diving into today’s episode, a tiny celebration 🎉: The W hat If We Get It Right? podcast reached 500,000+ downloads! THANK YOU for listening.

More great interviews coming your way. To support the show (1) follow and review 🌟, (2) tell your people to tune in, and, if you can, (3) become a paid subscriber . _____ Our guest for today’s episode is Deb Haaland , one of the most remarkable figures in American politics, currently running to be the Governor of New Mexico.

She is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and a 35th generation New Mexican. Most recently, Haaland was the Secretary of the Interior for the Biden administration, running of one of the largest departments in the federal government.

There, among many other things, she made sure big new tracts of land like Bears Ears and Escalante and Utah were added to the public land system. She has also served as a Congresswoman, and chaired the New Mexico Democratic party.

Often, she has been the first Native American or first the Native woman in the positions she has held. In this conversation, we talk about her vision for New Mexico’s clean energy transition, a state where half the state's budget comes from oil and gas.

We cover everything from water conservation to invasive species management, and the inherent value of nature and majestic landscapes. We also talk about the importance of being a good steward of Earth for future generations — and why we need to hire more lawyers.

This conversation got into the nitty gritty (as we do), but above all had lots of heart. _____ CALLS TO ACTION: Get out the vote! ✅ Local and state leadership matter so much for implementation of climate solutions. So make sure to vote all the way down your ballot!

And it’s definitely not too late pick a candidate, roll up your sleeves and help them win. Some resources for channeling your election/climate anxiety into productive actions: * VOTE! 🗳️ Early voting has started in many states.

Bill and I have already voted. Have you?

Have your friends & family? (Get a preview of your ballot at ) * Check out candidate endorsements from Lead Locally , League of Conservation Voters and Working Families Party . * Volunteer with Third Act , the amazing organization Bill founded and leads. * Pick a candidate you like, go to their website and click the volunteer button. They will put you to work!

Knocking doors and talking to people in your community is super important. * Encourage your friends and family to make a plan to vote. Here’s a great tool from Patagonia to help. * Note: In some states it’s not too late to register to vote — and some places let you register to vote on Election Day. _____ As you know by now, I’m a BIG fan of Environmental Voter Project .

Join me and so many amazing volunteers to phone bank and help make sure all Earth lovers show up to vote. In my election freakout, I’ve signed up to host 2 more shifts.

If these times don’t work for you, sign up for EVPs many other shifts. RSVP here. _____ Mentioned in this episode * New Mexico produces half its electricity from the sun and the wind, and has the second-biggest crude oil production, and the fourth-largest natural gas output in the country. * New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act passed in 2019 to reach net zero by 2050 * Native American Business Incubators Program Act passed in Congress in 2020 * 400 co-stewardship agreements signed by the Biden-Harris administration with Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations and consortiums * New Mexico has the highest-rated system for distributed energy resources (DER) interconnection in the country. _____ Credits: This episode was produced by Remoy Philip and me (Ayana), with support from Jenisha Shrestha.

Original music by Emma Munger . Graphic design by Holly Griffin of Design Hungry , and social media support from Feeling Seen Studio .

Enjoying the show? Share it, spread the word!

And review 🌟 and follow What If We Get It Right? on your platform of choice — that helps more people find us and these timely conversations. Thank you for listening and helping us reach 500,000+ downloads! 💛 Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe