#Tularosa Basin

[nmnomad]

A man named John Wilson, allegedly an escapee from a Texas prison, discovered gold in the Jicarilla Mountains in 1879. Wilson had no interest in lingering to mine for gold so he told two friends, Jack Winters and Harry Baxter. This was the Old West's version of winning the lottery. White Oaks became known as one of the liveliest towns in the #NewMexico territory in the 1880s. It was an amalgamation of commerce, culture and cattle rustling.

[bingwallpaper]

White Sands National Park, New Mexico, USA

If today's photo evokes some chilly feelings inside of you, surprise! That's not snow, but part of the largest gypsum dune field on the planet. We're at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, which was first established as a monument and then became a national park in 2019. The National Park is named as such due to the abundance of gypsum that has worn off the surrounding mountains. Roughly 4,082,331,330 metric tons of gypsum sand has massed in the Tularosa Basin over the past 12,000 years, having worn off the surrounding mountains. Thousands of species live in the park, many of which have evolved to have white colouration, allowing them to blend into the environment.

[denimbex1986]

'The Manhattan Project was essentially a collective of brilliant American physicists united for the sole purpose of using science to create a bomb capable of destroying the entire planet. Never has so much raw brain power been dedicated to such a monstrous purpose. Oppenheimer, the movie, reveals that the physicists involved acknowledged this horrific possibility.

Oppenheimer reassured his boss, Gen. Leslie Groves, that the chances the test detonation of the bomb would destroy the world were “near zero.” Not “zero.” Nevertheless, they plunged ahead because they believed the potential rewards outweighed the risks.

Oppenheimer, adapted from Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s brilliant book, American Prometheus, is currently blowing up in theaters around the world. (Sorry; I couldn’t resist.) The explosive film sparked furious debates about what the movie means in hindsight.

At its core, Oppenheimer is a lesson about unintended consequences. Unlocking nature’s secrets can backfire, and as Steve Wozniak, cofounder of the Apple computer, stresses, “When engineers create something…that creation could be used for bad or good. Like the atomic bomb.” Such is the promise and perils of science.

In “Andrea del Sarto” Robert Browning wrote “…a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, / or what’s a heaven for?”

The scientific method brings changes and improvements to everyday life. But these advances occur well before their potential consequences are known.

Oppenheimer believed the atomic bomb would forestall future wars. He also opined that, although possible, he was “fairly certain” that the nuclear explosion could be contained and would not destroy the entire planet. He was right about one claim, and profoundly wrong in the other.

The devastation that the bomb detonation visited upon Japan is well documented. Less well known is the devastation United States citizens suffered. The ghastly impact the fallout from the cataclysmic explosions had on the lives of Americans living in any proximity to the explosion continues to this day.

The Trinity test was conducted on March 17, 1953. In Las Vegas, St. Patrick’s Day always arrives with a bang. But never like it did 70 years ago when the physicists detonated the 16-kilo-ton atom bomb atop the Nevada Proving Grounds, a mere 65 miles north of the city. To determine what effects the bomb would have on people within the range of the blast, the government constructed an entire fake town within a couple of miles of the test site. It was populated entirely by mannequins. In a macabre twist, the workers who constructed the fake town referred to it as “Doom Town.”

I have viewed the iconic black and white video of the impact the blast had on Doom Town. One test house was built a mile from ground zero, which, it turned out, was not nearly far enough away. The video shows the house being seared by the power of the nuclear flash; it is completely blown away by the force of the pressure wave.

No official records of the fate of mannequins used in Doom Town appears to exist. All we know for certain is that the mannequins were taken from the test site and were subsequently used as window dressing at a JCPenny store as silent, glowing “evidence” of the bomb’s power.

It turns out that the government could have gotten more reliable data by examining the effects the radiation fallout had on real people living in and around New Mexico. Hundreds of New Mexicans were harmed during the Trinity test. As Tina Cordova, a seventh generation New Mexican, wrote last month in The New York Times, “[t]he people of New Mexico were the first human test subjects of the world’s most powerful weapon.”

She continues, “[t]he area of southern New Mexico where the Trinity test occurred was not, contrary to the popular account, an uninhabited, desolate expanse of land. There were more than 13,000 New Mexicans living within a 50-mile radius. Many of those children, women and men were not warned before or after the test. Eyewitnesses have told me they believed they were experiencing the end of the world. They didn’t reflect on the Bhagavad Gita, as Oppenheimer said he did. Many simply dropped to their knees and recited the Hail Mary in Spanish.”

In 2005, Ms. Cordova co-founded the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, which works to bring attention to the negative health effects of the Trinity test. Tragically, New Mexicans exposed to radiation fallout from Trinity have never been eligible for compensation under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. This, despite thousands of unusual cases of cancer that continue to plague New Mexicans.

Ms. Cordova’s emotional response deserves the last word in this essay as she laments the physical, mental, and emotional toll Oppenheimer’s “achievement” gifted New Mexicans: “This, too, is the legacy of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the government he worked for. I will never be able to forgive them for wrecking our lives and walking away.”'

[mutant-distraction]

Three Rivers Petroglyph Site is a hidden gem, often overlooked by visitors traveling to White Sands or Ruidoso. It is located off US-54 at the end of a winding country road, 17 miles north of the Village of Tularosa. People in the area named the site based on three streams that converge there: Indian Creek, Golondrina Creek, and Three Rivers. Archaeologists credit the Mogollon with leaving thousands of images in the area: humans, birds, fish, insects, plants, geometric and abstract designs. The plethora of petroglyphs adorn the basalt boulders lining a low ridge at the north end of the Tularosa Basin, dispersed across 50+ acres.

[eowyntheavenger]

By Susan Montoya Bryan

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. —  The movie about a man who changed the course of the world’s history by shepherding the development of the first atomic bomb is expected to be a blockbuster, dramatic and full of suspense.

On the sidelines will be a community downwind from the testing site in the southern New Mexico desert, the impacts of which the U.S. government never has fully acknowledged. The movie on the life of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the top-secret work of the Manhattan Project sheds no light on those residents’ pain.

“They’ll never reflect on the fact that New Mexicans gave their lives. They did the dirtiest of jobs. They invaded our lives and our lands and then they left,” Tina Cordova, a cancer survivor and founder of a group of New Mexico downwinders, said of the scientists and military officials who established a secret city in Los Alamos during the 1940s and tested their work at the Trinity Site some 200 miles away.

Cordova’s group, the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, has been working with the Union of Concerned Scientists and others for years to bring attention to what the Manhattan Project did to people in New Mexico.

While film critics celebrate “Oppenheimer” and officials in Los Alamos prepare for the spotlight to be on their town, downwinders remain frustrated with the U.S. government — and now movie producers — for not recognizing their plight.

Advocates held vigils Saturday on the 78th anniversary of the Trinity Test in New Mexico and in New York City, where director Christopher Nolan and others participated in a panel discussion following a special screening of the film.

Nolan has called the Trinity Test an extraordinary moment in human history.

“I wanted to take the audience into that room and be there for when that button is pushed and really fully bring the audience to this moment in time,” he said in a clip being used by Universal Studios to promote the film.

The movie is based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.” Nolan has said Oppenheimer’s story is both a dream and a nightmare.

Lilly Adams, a senior outreach coordinator with the Union of Concerned Scientists, participated in the New York vigil and said it was meant to show support for New Mexicans who have been affected.

“The human cost of Oppenheimer’s Trinity Test, and all nuclear weapons activities, is a crucial part of the conversation around U.S. nuclear legacy,” she said in an email. “We have to reckon with this human cost to fully understand Oppenheimer’s legacy and the harm caused by nuclear weapons.”

In developing and testing nuclear weapons, Adams said the U.S. government effectively “poisoned its own people, many of whom are still waiting for recognition and justice.”

Adams and others have said they hope that those involved in making “Oppenheimer” help raise awareness about the downwinders, who have not been added to the list of those covered by the federal government’s compensation program for people exposed to radiation.

Government officials chose the Trinity Test Site because it was remote and flat, with predictable winds. Due to the secret nature of the project, residents in surrounding areas were not warned.

The Tularosa Basin was home to a rural population that lived off the land by raising livestock and tending to gardens and farms. They drew water from cisterns and holding ponds. They had no idea that the fine ash that settled on everything in the days following the explosion was from the world’s first atomic blast.

The government initially tried to hide it, saying that an explosion at a munitions dump caused the rumble and bright light, which could be seen more than 160 miles away.

It wasn’t until the U.S. dropped bombs on Japan weeks later that New Mexico residents realized what they had witnessed.

According to the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, large amounts of radiation shot up into the atmosphere and fallout descended over an area about 250 miles long and 200 miles (322 kilometers) wide. Scientists tracked part of the fallout pattern as far as the Atlantic Ocean, but the greatest concentration settled about 30 miles from the test site.

For Cordova and younger generations who are dealing with cancer, the lack of acknowledgment by the government and those involved with the film is inexcusable.

“We were left here to live with the consequences,” Cordova said. “And they’ll over-glorify the science and the scientists and make no mention of us. And you know what? Shame on them.”

[shu-of-the-wind]

i made a post a few weeks ago about oppenheimer and how it's appalling that indigenous people were neither consulted nor mentioned in the film when they and other BIPOC folk in new mexico specifically have been dealing with the most consequences of nuclear testing in the US in the 60 years since. and ever since i've been looking for a good resource to synthesize all the shit that was done to mexicano / latine / indigenous peoples of the southwest thanks to the nuclear bomb and nuclear testing.

i found it. and honestly i should have looked here earlier.

the red nation podcast is a podcast run by nick estes, an assistant professor at the university of minnesota, a journalist, and an environmental activist from lower brule nation in south dakota. nick is not on this episode; instead it is his co-host jen marley interviewing beata tsosie-pena, a santa clara pueblo and el rito birth worker and traditional midwife, and tina cordova, a founder of the tularosa basin downwinders consortium, an organization seeking to spread awareness and gain reparations for unknowing survivors of the trinity tests in 1945.

together in a 90 minute deep dive episode, jen, beata, and tina do a deep dive on the impact of the nuclear testing not just on the american southwest but the entirety of the united states, the ways that the oppenheimer film erased oppenheimer's culpability in choosing when and how to test and use the bombs, the way the federal government has never offered any compensation to those victimized by the bomb's testing in new mexico, and the ongoing fight to pressure the us government to acknowledge the damage and offer some form of assistance and reparations in cleaning up the sites and getting medical treatment for the people who are to this day dealing with side effects of the testing.

[butchboromir]

oh thank god the tularosa basin is near albuquerque so i don't have to egergiously fuck us geography to keep the name tularosa. yayyyyy

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Photo: Mitch Warnick (2022)

* * * *

Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world's great natural wonders — the glistening white sands of New Mexico. U.S. Department of the Interior: At White Sands National Park, great wave-like gypsum dunes cover nearly 300 square miles of desert. The sand is soft and cool under your feet and provides a beautiful contrast to the bright blue sky. The dunes are ever-changing, growing, cresting, but constantly advancing. One of the best ways to experience the park is sand sledding, a popular activity and great fun for children and adults alike.

[Scott Horton]

* * * *

“Despair is paralysis. It robs us of agency. It blinds us to our own power and the power of the earth… Restoration is a powerful antidote to despair. Restoration offers concrete means by which humans can once again enter into positive, creative relationship with the more-than-human world, meeting responsibilities that are simultaneously material and spiritual. ... Restoration is imperative for healing the earth, but reciprocity is imperative for long-lasting, successful restoration. Like other mindful practices, ecological restoration can be viewed as an act of reciprocity in which humans exercise their caregiving responsibility for the ecosystems that sustain them. We restore the land, and the land restores us.”

― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

[supermarveldragon]

There's been an uptick in tourism here because of the movie so please understand that we are still dealing with the environmental and social repercussions of the Manhattan project. This is not a past problem, this is current and still killing lots of people. If you can, go support the RECA bill that was recently introduced that will hopefully give some compensation to families who have been afflicted with generational radiation poisoning.

Full story here

[nmnomad]

White Sands National Park is one of the most beautiful geological anomalies to explore in New Mexico. 275 square miles of undulating, gypsum dunes, a testament to the ancient sea that filled the basin long ago. 🤩

[beyondcuckoo]

Selenite Quartz Charging Stations: A Guide to Cleansing and Energizing Your Crystals (Shared from Mu the Motherland) has been published on Elaine Webster - http://elainewebster.com/selenite-quartz-charging-stations-a-guide-to-cleansing-and-energizing-your-crystals-shared-from-mu-the-motherland/

New Post has been published on http://elainewebster.com/selenite-quartz-charging-stations-a-guide-to-cleansing-and-energizing-your-crystals-shared-from-mu-the-motherland/

Selenite Quartz Charging Stations: A Guide to Cleansing and Energizing Your Crystals (Shared from Mu the Motherland)

Selenite Quartz Charging Stations: A Guide to Cleansing and Energizing Your Crystals (Shared from Mu the Motherland)

Gemstones and crystals have been used for centuries as healing conductors. Ancient Chinese texts, Ayurvedic Indian texts, and the Judaic-Christian Bible all reference the power of stones. The Olmecs of Mesoamerica and the Egyptians incorporated gemstones into their sacred sites and ceremonies. Their practices continue today by various spiritual practitioners and alternative healers.

Crystals and many other precious and semi-precious gemstones have the ability to conduct energy due to their molecular structures. This energy is utilized to store information and conduct electricity by the computer and other industries; however, it can also be used by an individual to enhance the positive effects of meditation resulting in heightened awareness, inner peace, calm, increased intuition, empathy, intellectual awareness and love. The chakras that run up and down our spines also react to these energies, resulting in a rise in Kundalini, which is the term most commonly used for the life force that starts at the spinal base and can be aroused to move upward to the crown of the head. The image of a coiled-up serpent is often utilized to demonstrate this process.

So, what do you do when you are no longer feeling the vibe? Maybe your crystals and gemstones are depleted or have attracted some negativity along the way. They need a thorough cleansing and that s where selenite plays in. Selenite is an inexpensive milky-white stone that grows into a brittle staff-like shape and is found where ancient saltwater bodies have evaporated. Here in New Mexico, at White Sands National Park, where gypsum composes the dune fields in the Tularosa Basin, selenite literally sticks out in clusters, since it s a crystalline form of gypsum. The San Andres and Sacramento Mountains that surround the basin are compose of gypsum layers which are dissolved by rainfall and snow melt, and puddle in the valley below. The water evaporates and the dissolved minerals recrystallize and form selenite crystals. If you re ever in the area, it is quite a sight to see, and selenite is available for a few dollars at the visitor center.

To regenerate your personal stones, it is convenient to use widely available manufactured selenite charging stations. Unlike other rocks, selenite holds its charge, creating a positive energy environment. Selenite is also known for its calming and soothing energy, which can help to promote mental clarity and emotional balance. This makes it particularly useful in meditation practices, as it can help to quiet the mind and create a peaceful atmosphere for introspection and spiritual growth.

Additionally, Selenite s transparency and soft glow make it a visually appealing addition to any space. Whether in the form of a charging station, a lamp, or a decorative piece, Selenite adds an element of natural beauty to any room.

A Selenite crystal charging station can be used in a variety of ways to enhance spiritual practices, meditation routines, and energy healing sessions. Below are some of the most common uses:

Cleansing and Charging Crystals: The primary use of a Selenite charging station is to cleanse and charge other crystals. By placing your crystals on the Selenite station overnight or for a few hours, you can ensure that they are free of negative energy and fully charged for your next use.

Enhancing Meditation Practices: Selenite’s calming energy makes it an excellent tool for meditation. You can place a Selenite charging station near your meditation space to help create a peaceful and serene environment. Holding a Selenite wand or stone during meditation can also help to clear the mind and enhance spiritual connection.

Energy Healing Sessions: In energy healing practices, Selenite can be used to cleanse the aura and remove blockages from the energy body. A Selenite charging station can be used to cleanse and charge healing crystals before and after sessions, ensuring that they are at their highest vibrational frequency.

Creating a Protective Energy Grid: You can use a Selenite charging station as part of a larger crystal grid to create a protective energy field around your home or workspace. By placing the station in the center of the grid and surrounding it with other protective crystals, you can amplify the energy and create a powerful shield against negative influences.

Promoting Sleep and Relaxation: Selenite’s soothing energy can also be beneficial for promoting restful sleep and relaxation. Placing a Selenite charging station near your bed or under your pillow can help to calm the mind and body, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Manifestation and Intention Setting: Selenite is a powerful tool for manifestation and intention setting. You can place your written intentions or manifestation crystals on a Selenite charging station to amplify their energy and bring your desires into reality more quickly.

A word of caution from personal experience. No matter if you are a long-time meditator, or a beginner. Spinal energies are powerful and can bring experiences that you may or may not be ready for. It is always a good idea to find a path and a teacher that you know and respect and who knows and respects you. Slow and steady is a much better approach than instant gratification. You CAN blow out your nervous system, or God forbid be negatively influenced by a spiritual worker with bad intentions. A kundalini rise brings with it the risk of deep-seeded fears, painful experiences, trauma and abuse releasing too fast. So, be sure you are ready to move through what can be intense changes to your physical and mental well-being. Enlist the help of a close friend to witness your progress and to be honest with you if they feel you are going too far, too fast. Just sayin’. Meanwhile, be well, be safe, and filled with love. We need you.

[thefearandnow]

Just in case there’s any questions about whether this is simple ignorance or intentional omission, this interview with lifelong Downwinder activist Tina Cordova proves that Hollywood simply does not give a shit about New Mexicans. Yet again, we’re wanted for our land and labor from an exploitative industry and tossed away when our existence becomes inconvenient.

And if you’re reading this far and wondering if there’s anything you can do, there is!

So far only 14 members of Congress have signed on to the bill, check here to see if your representative has.

If they haven’t, let them know that you stand in solidarity with the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium and support the expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). Look up your representative here:

So with Oppenheimer coming out tomorrow, I feel a certain level of responsibility to share some important resources for people to understand more about the context of the Manhattan Project. Because for my family, it’s not just a piece of history but an ongoing struggle that’s colonized and irradiated generations of New Mexicans’ lives and altered our identity forever. Not only has the legacy of the Manhattan Project continued to harm and displace Indigenous and Hispanic people but it’s only getting bigger: Biden recently tasked the Los Alamos National Lab facility to create 30 more plutonium pits (the core of a nuclear warhead) by 2026. So this is a list of articles, podcasts and books to check out to hear the real stories of the local people living with this unique legacy that’s often overlooked. 

Keep reading

[dougrobyngoold]

Baylor Pass Trail - Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, NM

We did a nice 7-mile hike up to Baylor Pass today. The trail was a bit rocky and sandy in the bottom portion, but the top was fairly smooth with a few switchbacks. Great views looking back at Las Cruces on the way up:

There were a few cactus and wildflowers blooming along the trail:

And lovely views looking down on the Tularosa Basin and White Sands Missile Range from the top of the pass:

Another great day in the desert - a wonderful breeze to keep us cool during our hike and plenty of sunshine!

[queenofir]

VETERANS SHOULD LOVE THIS NATIONAL PARK!

This month the 59 Vets is mapping out an exclusive itinerary and making rough-terrain plans for a future visit to the one and only White Sands National Park.

Located in the state of New Mexico and completely surrounded by the White Sands Missile Range, the iconic park "covers 145,762 acres (227.8 sq mi; 589.9 km2) in the Tularosa Basin, including the southern 41% of a 275 sq mi (710 km2) field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals."

The gypsum dune field is the largest of its kind on planet Earth with a depth of about 30 feet for dunes that can get as big as 60 feet (18 m), and contain about 4.1 billion metric tons of gypsum sand.

For motorbiking, ATVing, UTVing and even surfing (really!), the white sand dunes are every extreme sports enthusiast's high-adventure dream come true!

We can't wait to go. With a slew of transitioning veterans beside us who we will be training in the techno art and craft of high-definition videography and photography.

When the event takes place, we promise to let you know. Then we can all ATV these sandy summits together! Meanwhile, to learn more about White Sands National Park, check out this rugged site: https://www.nps.gov/whsa/index.htm

[nicepoethere]

VETERANS SHOULD LOVE THIS NATIONAL PARK! This month the 59 Vets is mapping out an exclusive itinerary and making rough-terrain plans for a future visit to the one and only White Sands National Park.

Located in the state of New Mexico and completely surrounded by the White Sands Missile Range, the iconic park "covers 145,762 acres (227.8 sq mi; 589.9 km2) in the Tularosa Basin, including the southern 41% of a 275 sq mi (710 km2) field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals." The gypsum dune field is the largest of its kind on planet Earth with a depth of about 30 feet for dunes that can get as big as 60 feet (18 m), and contain about 4.1 billion metric tons of gypsum sand. For motorbiking, ATVing, UTVing and even surfing (really!), the white sand dunes are every extreme sports enthusiast's high-adventure dream come true! We can't wait to go. With a slew of transitioning veterans beside us who we will be training in the techno art and craft of high-definition videography and photography. When the event takes place, we promise to let you know. Then we can all ATV these sandy summits together! Meanwhile, to learn more about White Sands National Park, check out this rugged site: https://lnkd.in/gy7zH4Xs.

[christinamac1]

Nuclear Weapons and New Mexico’s Downwinders: Tina Cordova on “the legacy for us that no one ever talks about”

NTI 18 Oct 23 Mary Olney Fulham, Communications Officer, Rachel Staley GrantDeputy Vice President, Communications Tina Cordova is co-founder and executive director of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. Since its founding in 2005, the Consortium has brought attention to the serious health effects that New Mexicans have suffered due to the development and testing of nuclear weapons in the…