Third Act New Mexico will be holding its Santa Fe SunDay celebrations at the Santa Fe Railyard Plaza on September 21, 2025. We may also have events in Albuquerque,Taos and Aztec. Stay tuned!

Third Act is sponsoring a nation-wide mobilization to promote solar and wind power with events across the United States. Third Act wants to initiate a major cultural shift toward widespread acceptance of solar energy and other renewables as the power for the future. See Sunday.earth to learn more about SunDay and how to organize an event or donate.

The Santa Fe SunDay festival will be intergenerational, family oriented, incorporating music, dance, art and poetry – as well as educational events promoting New Mexico’s Community Solar program, etc. We may even have a Solar – Bake Off! We will celebrate the autumn equinox and the human right to clean air, water and energy justice.

To volunteer for Third Act New Mexico events please use the SunDay volunteer form and a Third Actor will contact you directly.

We have already started to work and have a SunDay Committee that includes environmental planners, educators, artists and more. We would love for you to join us and share your energy and talents!

Read Bill McKibben’s account of the April 26, 2025 SunDay public launch in Boston at the Old North Church and the need for SunDay.

Tentative Symposium Discussion Topics

New Mexico’s energy transition—insights from operators and developers

Tribal energy developments

Advanced technologies: overview and progress

Updates on national energy policy

Workforce development initiatives in New Mexico

Formulating a pro-environment energy strategy

Overview of economic development opportunities

more info

Following on the success of the Hands Off Day of Action, SUN DAY is another opportunity for Third Actors to use our wisdom, energy and power to support climate action around our beautiful state and protect our earth!
More information on SUN DAY will be provided at our Third Act New Mexico All Members meeting on April  16th, 2025 at 7 pm. Please be sure to attend this important monthly meeting. There will be a call for volunteers at this meeting.

We experienced how powerful the Hands Off Day of Action was in uniting Americans to stand up and take action to protect our earth and our democracy. We must keep the pressure on to make real positive change. 

Now let’s use the powerful force of the Sun which drives life on Earth to energize us once again to put ourselves forward to save our planet and our democracy. We can do this, together!

 For more information lIsten to Bill McKibben speak on SUN Day and the importance of renewable energy.

American author Upton Sinclair once said “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Millions, maybe billions, of dollars have been spent by the oil and gas industry to suppress research, spread disinformation, buy off legislators, and influence legislation successfully enough to prolong our dependence on fossil fuels and keep carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere.

Their pernicious influence is felt here in New Mexico. Our beloved balloon fiesta has been renamed the Exxon-Mobil Balloon Fiesta. Exxon-Mobil scientists did research on the effects of carbon dioxide in the 70s and 80s and kept it secret. They knew their product was already causing climate change. The architects of planetary destruction are now the brand of that wonderful ballooning event.

Are you happy with that? Then let’s do something about it.

I say the Balloon Fiesta belongs to all of us, not just to corporations with no social conscience. They spend millions in tv ads telling us what wonderful caring people they are, keeping us cozy and warm. Well, let me tell you, the biosphere is not cozy, and it’s not warm. It’s overheating, and biodiversity everywhere is suffering because of it. There’s a word for the lies they’re spewing. It’s called greenwashing. I call bullshit on them. Let’s do something about it.

Meanwhile, climate change is affecting our ability to enjoy the Land of Enchantment. Witness last month’s wide-ranging sandstorms. The electrical grid and transportation network were threatened. Power lines were downed and blinding roadway conditions halted interstate traffic. It’s a straightforward cause and effect relationship: burn more fossil fuels and we can expect more infrastructure disruption. The sandstorms are not isolated climate-related weather events. The drought in the Southwest has gotten progressively worse. And worldwide, earth’s ten hottest years occurred this past decade.

Are you content with that? Then let’s do something about it.

For me, one of the most satisfying experiences is hiking and backpacking in the back country of New Mexico. It pains me to see the increasing wildfires burning significant swatches of our forests, and it has cost many New Mexicans their livelihoods.

We can fight back, and Third Actors and others are definitely doing just that. If you’re over 60, please talk to someone at the Third Act table, find out what actions we have taken, what we have planned, and join us. If you’re not over 60, visit 350.org or others to see how you can help fight climate change.

Having transferred my savings and checking balances to my local credit union, I made sure that all transactions had cleared and that there was a zero balance both on my credit card and on my line of credit and then visited the branch where I had first opened my business over forty years ago. The line of credit was an extra measure of security for me but at what cost? I would rather give up my line of credit than support a bank that undermines the security of us all.

I sat with a bank officer and explained why I was quitting a bank that had served me well for so long. I was very kind and told her of my concern for the world we are leaving for our grandchildren, my grandchildren. I was not going to contribute any longer to our decline. She was very attentive and I felt she understood my position and would have changed things herself if she could. I filed complaints with another representative on the phone and the bank manager and asked that my concerns be passed up to the higher-ups who may be in a position to make changes.

My actions were very small within the big picture, but it felt very good and was the right thing to do. If enough of us protest, perhaps they will begin to listen.

signed, Doug Parker

The New Mexico rallies for HANDS OFF day, Saturday, April 5, are now 10. No doubt it will keep growing in the coming days.
Alamogordo
Albuquerque
Clovis
Gallup
Las Cruces
Santa Fe
Silver City
Socorro
Taos
Truth or Consequences

Campaigns

Climate Finance

Third Actors are retired. Your bank deposits, pension, or IRA may be producing more carbon than the average American does in 6 months! We don’t want our money used to bankroll the climate crisis.

Despite the climate crisis, our biggest banks are huge funders of coal and gas and oil companies. In the years since the Paris climate accords, they have given more than three trillion dollars in loans to these companies, even as scientists have told us we must stop the expansion of this industry.

https://thirdact.org/our-work/banking-on-our-future/#actions

Power Up Communities

Influence Public Utility Commissions to strengthen clean energy policies. At stake is the electric power that courses through our electric grids, as well as the political power that shapes our leaders’ decisions.

Third Act’s Power Up Communities! campaign is designed to hold Public Utility Commissions (PUCs), legislators, electric and gas utilities, and fossil fuel companies accountable.

Solar Is the Cheapest Form of Energy in the World. Fossil gas extraction is dirty and dangerous, harms frontline communities who are forced to live near fracking wells that harm our health, our environment and our climate.

https://thirdact.org/our-work/power-up-communities/#resources

Democracy and Voting

The right of all Americans to vote freely and easily-enshrined in the 1965 Voting Rights Act—is under siege. We can help pressure Washington D.C to create laws that will make it easy for everyone to play a robust role in our democracy. Take action to help us safeguard our democracy today!

Today, the right to vote is being suppressed and eroded in many states across the U.S. Amidst a cloud of hateful bigotry and lies about stolen elections, we are being led right to the edge of rebellion against democracy itself.

Politicians threatened by the shift toward a more Democratic electorate are reverting to the types of tools that limit access to political power –enacting restrictive voter ID laws that purge voter rolls, and blocking voting-by-mail during a global pandemic.

https://thirdact.org/our-work/safeguarding-our-democracy/#actions

https://thirdact.org/our-work/safeguarding-our-democracy/#resources

This is a triple win for our state:

1. Individuals who receive power from the three for-profit electric utilities (PNM, EPE, and Excel/SPS) will have the opportunity to reduce their electric costs by subscribing to these programs.

2. 500MW of new small solar projects are coming online with distributed ownership. Non-profits could own and operate some of these.

3. Roughly 30% of the subscriptions are set aside for low income New Mexicans to help them save on electricity costs.

Our Third Act Democratize Energy campaign (recently renamed to Power Up Communities) advocated for expansion of this program at the Public Relations Commission.

Get in touch if you want to help with further advocacy. We hope to see expansion of the program in the future, lower its costs, and encourage non-profits to become owners.

More info here