Interfaith Power & Light New Mexico & El Paso and Sisters of Mercy of the Americas are co-sponsoring an immersion retreat through some areas of New Mexico to bear witness to the damage #extractivism has inflicted on the people and the land of our state.

The retreat starts on Sept. 17 in the northern part of the state, including Los Alamos and the Four Corners. Pilgrims will eventually make their way to the Permian Basin in Southeat New Mexico, concluding on Sept. 23.

Tbe accounts and pictures come courtesy of Heather Scott-Molleda, senior director of communications for Mercy Sisters of the Americas.

Day 1: We Begin a Pilgrimage

We are beginning our pilgrimage through New Mexico to bear witness to the damage #extractivism has done to the people and the land.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2: Los Alamos and Red Water Pond

As we begin the second day of our pilgrimage through the #sacrificezone of #NewMexico we are grateful for the blessings of Pueblo women elders who joined us at Los Alamos, where the nuclear complex is expanding even as people fight to protect the land and water.

 

 

 

 

 

We closed day 2 of our pilgrimage with a visit to Red Water Pond on Navajo land, which in 1979 suffered the biggest spill of radioactive waste in US history. It was one of the biggest in the world, behind Chernobyl and Fukushima. This was land where their sheep grazed and their children played. Community leader Edith Hood told us they are still waiting for that site and contamination from the closed uranium mines to be cleaned up, while Diné people suffer the health consequences. There is a connection between colonialism and #extractivism
We were very fortunate to receive a Navajo blessing for healing of Mother Earth.