Dispatches
Navajo Preparatory School
December 17, 2009
Getting out of the cold, 
or so we thought, we hit Great Sand Dunes National Park on our way to New Mexico. Passing large solar fields on the road reminded us of the enormous potential of wind and solar energy and are grateful that we are on a tour promoting sustainability.
By the time we got to the Navajo Preparatory School in Farmington, NM we were not surprised that not only 
had we brought the snow with us, the amount of which they hadn’t seen in over a decade, but their electricity had gone out as well! Not to worry we thought, we’ll wait. In the meantime we got a great tour of the school from several Navajo students. Kevin Keeley, the science teacher who invited us, had been busy. He helped in starting several green initiatives including “The Energizers,” a student group
focused on sustainability. During our tour we saw their greenhouse, garden, grow boxes and were introduced to their newest building on campus which is LEED certified. Helping these Navajo children make a connection between their Navajo backgrounds and their futures, “Keeley” as he is affectionately referred to, consistently ties sustainability lessons to the surrounding reservations and the present politics involving local coal plants. Hearing the kids talk about their ancestry, their current education
and walking through the schools’ traditional Navajo Hogan, really resonated with us; whether it is around the globe or in our daily lives, sustainability is not a new concept, but rather an idea, capturing the essence of life and to preserve that for generations to come.
