Mayor Regina Romero and Council Member Paul Durham have proposed a Tucson Climate Emergency Declaration as part of a nationwide call for mobilization to act locally and think globally as a community of communities.
This declaration focuses on issues relevant to our Southwest region needs, including resource conservation, restoring and rehabilitating ecosystems through green infrastructure, and carbon sequestration with a focus on massive tree planting.
A comprehensive climate action and adaptation plan is needed to ensure good quality jobs for a just and equitable transition as we recover from our current COVID-19 crisis. These efforts need community support and adoption. Local First Arizona is in full support.
The climate emergency is indeed the greatest emergency. Scientists have put the crisis in sharp focus: we have less than a decade to act before there is irreversible damage to our communities and economy.
As the largest local business coalition in the country, Local First Arizona supports the established science and our sustainability programs focus on taking action to support both businesses and the community through plans and strategies that are cost-effective and provide long-term economic and community benefits. Our award-winning SCALE UP project planning program provides support for businesses and nonprofits focused on beneficial sustainability strategies that also support the community’s needs in our current crisis.
We are already experiencing realities of the climate crisis with the COVID-19 pandemic. The United Nations finds that zoonotic diseases such as the disease caused by the novel coronavirus are spreading with greater frequency due to human activity, including industrial farming and deforestation.
Climate change and inequity are inextricably linked as the climate crisis does not affect all people equally; low-income communities and communities of color are affected first and most gravely by climate impacts, including extreme heat and flooding. These communities are already struggling because they receive fewer resources causing them to be even less prepared.
Additionally, there is a disproportionate death toll from COVID-19 among Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people due to long-term health care inequities.
Air quality is another major factor to prioritize for accelerated action. According to a Duke University study, staying below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) will lead to major benefits for society, including:
• Air quality and climate benefits and avoided deaths, which combined are valued at more than $37 trillion;
• Avoided health care spending due to reduced hospitalizations and emergency room visits exceeding $37 billion;
•Increased labor productivity valued at more than $75 billion.
On average, this amounts to over $700 billion per year in benefits to the US from improved health and labor alone, far more than the cost of the energy transition.
Sustainable business practices are an integral part of a more resilient, regenerative and human economy. Long-term economic vitality depends on creating conditions and opportunities that will unlock the vast potential for equitable wealth creation while providing many opportunities for community members disproportionately impacted by climate issues.
We must act boldly to support the work being done for climate action and justice by groups such as the youth-led organization Arizona Youth Climate Coalition, which is focused on the intersectionality of the climate issue that directly affects Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities, youth, and frontline workers. Our actions now will create a Southern Arizona community that is equitable, safe, and thriving which can then provide for the livelihoods of all of us.
Tucson has a real opportunity to take climate action and demonstrate historic leadership on an urgent crisis affecting all of us, and in particular which affects low-income communities and people of color. Now is the time to support the Tucson Climate Emergency Declaration, which will propel Tucson into the future as a model sustainable city with inclusive economic development, new economy solutions, and equitable community benefits.
Michael Peel is the Statewide Sustainability Director for Local First Arizona. Contact Michael at mike@localfirstaz.com. For more information about Local First Arizona, visit localfirstaz.com.
This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2020.
Also, there was no monsoon this year and I can’t see the sun because of all the wildfire smoke. Should probably start by listing the issues we can see outside of our own windows…
Marxist redistribution plan. Trees are depleting our water supplies and causing underground damage to sewer lines. The annual maintenance expenses for increased tree populations will tax properties of lower income citizens right out of town.
How many more jobs will be destroyed with the promises of green jobs? I am still waiting for my healthcare refund that Obama promised when he “fixed” my healthcare with the so called Affordable care act.
Where can I sign a recall petitioning on this leftwing AOC copycat
If we let her do this we can be just like Portland. 70% of Portland residents are ready to pull the plug on Mayor Wheeler.
Riots. Killings. Destruction. Loss of jobs. Tourism gone. Boycotts coming.
Be very careful Mayor. We are woke to Marxist attempts.
Thank God someone is doing something, the air quality in Tucson is horrible! The water problem is going to be the Colorado River diversion, Trump has fast tracked, to southern Utah for development! This is the water we depend on, not the small amount used to keep trees.
Recall this mental pygmy….trees required water, BLM is a communist movement and this pinko hung a banner off the city building, expressing her political leanings which is against an ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTIVE!!
Ah yes, because of course the minute you actually try to do something about the climate crisis, it brings the climate trolls out of their burrows, sniveling and snarling that you’re somehow taking their freedom away by making their future more survivable.
You can stick your head in the sand as deep you want, folks, but your ass will still burn either way…
Luckily, we have a mayor who understands that the science is real, and so are the solutions.
Thank you, Mike, for your excellent analysis of the economic benefits of dealing with the climate crisis and addressing issues of equity. Truly a win-win. I can never understand people, like some of the commenters on this article, who think that it’s necessary to destroy our environment and deplete our resources in the name of “profit” – especially when the increased efficiencies and increased productivity that come from being environmentally responsible will improve the bottom line.
I see a lot of fear mongering folks, probably born/lived through the cold war. Tucson air quality has always been concerning, particular due to nuclear test sites surrounding our area, lots of led in our dirt. No one here is pointing out facts or statistics, just what they heard on TV. The issues we are experiencing have been discussed for many decades now, the climate changing, more populated areas are prone to diseases and sicknesses. BLM has nothing to do with taking care of our soil and water to provide a stable environment for future generations. AZ folks dont like spending money on education and this comment thread really makes that clear.
Let’s address some of these issues raised:
Over the last 7,000 years, the oceans have risen 35 feet (if you are ever in Rome, notice the old Roman port, 35 feet under water as you fly into the airport). According to the most recent International Panel on Climate Change Report, we are expecting another 7 inches of rise over the next 30 years.
If we neither noticed nor cared about the last 35 feet, why would we notice or care about the next 7 inches?
In addition to another 7 inches of water, the IPCC report is also projecting that we will have 700 ppm CO2 by 2100. What are the consequences of 700 ppm? CO2 is tremendously beneficial to plant growth, 700 ppm will result in a 20% faster growth rates for food crops and forest trees.
There is another interesting side effect of increased CO2 levels: because enhanced CO2 means that plants can thrive on less water, the 700 ppm will increase arable lands by 8% worldwide.
All CO2 effects are very positive.
Several comments talked about air pollution. In 2018, the increase in real disposable after-tax income of $600 billion, an all-time record, consumer purchased a record 57 million cars and sent a record 30 million high pollution clunkers to the shredder. Result? Measured levels of Carbon Monoxide, Sulphur Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, Lead and Ozone hit the lowest levels ever recorded. Then, in 2019, we hit another record low. Undoubtedly, in 2020 we will see another record low set, especially with the reduced miles being driven.
All of the sudden, our mayor is now a leading expert on climate change??? My father was a PhD in Geophysics, Ive known since childhood that climate change is 100% natural and has been a fact of life on planet earth (as well as other planets) for eons, without anything man made. This is just a pet subject of the lunatic left who are always looking for another reason to reach into your pocketbook, (as if taxing us more is actually going to fix anything.?) Time to send her packing before she turns this place into the next portland!
you’re an idiot. why don’t you make the homeless, whom you pander to, get out and clean up all the trash they leave behind from their camps?
Mike – this is such an intelligent, defendable, factual representation of where we are as a community and a planet today. It saddens me to see the angry, hostile and truly uninformed comments directed at you and the Mayor. It actually blows my mind – especially since my son-in-law just got deployed to fight one of the worst fires of 43 fires now burning in California. Maybe it’s all that “good CO2” being emitted that’s making the plants thrive on less water? How could anyone really think that? At least about 98% of scientists in the world agree with you. You are in good company my friend and I am proud of you – very proud.
105 fires burning in the northwest are almost all arson fires along the highway.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/15/us/california-ranch2-fire-arson-suspect/index.html
https://www.foxnews.com/us/oregon-wildfire-sweet-creek-fire-arson-arrest-sheriffs-office
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/09/arson-investigation-underway-where-human-remains-found-at-almeda-fire-in-ashland-chief-says.html
https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/Big-Sur-s-Dolan-Fire-may-have-arson-cannabis-15522801.php
https://heavy.com/news/2020/08/what-caused-apple-fire-arson/
Why would people intentionally set fires when we are in the middle of a pandemic and rioting in all 50 major cities?
Try giving it some deeper thought.
but don’t forget these fires have been caused by decades of government mismanagement and appeasing the enviro movement that fought clean up of dead wood and overgrowth of grass.
The chickens have come home to roost as some Pastor used to say.
Tucson’s mayor leads a city with innumerable problems and challenges. A violent crime rate more than 20% higher than the national average, a failure to create a single job over the last ten years, over 400,000 miles of cracks and crevasses in less than 4,000 miles of streets and a parent population where less than 10% of parents rate Tucson an excellent place to raise a child.
These problems are all solvable, eminently solvable. However, as this story makes obvious, decades of neglect of the basic blocking and tackling necessary to build a great city will continue to be neglected as leaders have no ability to focus on the basics.
finally! now hopefully there will be real action taken by our government. It is high time to start taking CLIMATE CHANGE seriously. Humans have known about climate change for decades, but it has been the private monied interests of corporations that have prevented us from taking action. This is your friendly neighborhood BLM Socialist Marxist happy as hell that something is being done. Good job. Peace.
“It is high time to start taking CLIMATE CHANGE seriously.”
Really? If Climate Change were a serious issue, Arizona cities would do an intensive annual review on the concrete and asphalt volumes it takes to build a city. Sloppy and inefficient building codes, sloppy and inefficient use of new concrete technology and sloppy and inefficient asphalt technology and requirements result in the U.S. putting hundreds of millions of tons of concrete into our urban heat islands.
You can build excellent subdivisions and developments with more durable streets with 40% less concrete and 20% less asphalt.
Oh my goodness, where to begin to refute this mishmash of hyperbole, gobbledygook and bafflegab.
The author says, among other things: “…we have less than a decade to act before there is irreversible damage to our communities and economy. “
I’m old enough to remember—and I’ve never used drugs so I do remember—the 1968 book, “The Population Bomb” by Paul R. Ehrlich, PhD, and eminent scientist at Stanford. He began thus:
“The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate..”
Now Paul didn’t give us ten years to get our act together, he said it was already too late. Nevertheless, he was nuts, as is the author of this piece. The words may be different, but the melody lingers on.
Defend Tucson says: “If we let her do this we can be just like Portland.”
The lefties running Tucson have always wanted to be just like Portland. Portland had a trolley, Tucson had to build the trolley to Nowhere. I’ve been in downtown Portland in the summer and I saw the same bums on the sidewalks that I see on the sidewalks here in the winter.
I’m amused to see that the photo of Regina is courtesy of Regina. Classy.
composttherich writes about: “… the private monied interests of corporations…”
I have a reasonable grasp of the English language but I confess, I’m baffled by this. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that ‘compost’ is against “evil” corporations.
So let’s leave his (or her) unjustified anger behind and take a look at corporations. According to that self-serving fountain of all knowledge, Wikipedia, “The Tucson Weekly” is owned by 10/13 Communications, LLC. For the uninformed, LLC stands for Limited Liability Corporation. So the fittingly named ‘compost’ is commenting on a website owned and operated by a—gasp—evil corporation! And your favorite lefty scribe is writing for a corporation.
If ‘compost’ has a job, in all likelihood, it’s with a corporation. Have an IRA or 401k, you “own” corporations. Taking a life-saving drug? Developed and sold by, not only a corporation, but the even more evil “big pharma” too. And so on and so forth…
Joe writes: “AZ folks dont (sic) like spending money on education and this comment thread really makes that clear.”
Boy, does it ever.
“According to a Duke University study, staying below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) will lead to major benefits for society, including:”
Making the power company—an evil corporation—really happy as people turn up their thermostats trying to keep warm. Brrr.
Forty years of forestry mismanagement. Even the Forest Service told us this would happen. It’s starting to look like this was all part of a plan.
The fires are not due to global warming. They are being started by terrorists in our country.
https://www.king5.com/article/news/crime/chainsaw-vandal-cutting-down-power-poles-in-snohomish-county-draws-attention-from-fbi/281-b9c5436c-f19a-418c-979e-f6ef459eca24
Joe writes: “AZ folks dont (sic) like spending money on education and this comment thread really makes that clear.”
8th Grade Results
……………………………………………………………New York State……………………….Arizona………………..US
Spending per student…………………………….$22,000………………………………….$9,000…………….$12,000
National Assessment of
Educational Progress
8th grade math scores
Black………………………………………………………….267………………………………………258………………..259
Hispanic…………………………………………………….263………………………………………263………………..268
White…………………………………………………………292………………………………………295………………..291
Asian………………………………………………………….314………………………………………309………………..313
Arizona has over 70,000 high school graduates and 20,000 college graduates per year. These graduates need jobs. New York isn’t producing academic results or jobs for their graduates. Arizona has created over 600,000 jobs since 2000 while New York State has fewer jobs now than they did in 2000.
Yes, spending money on education is destructive to jobs. Being frugal in all things government is tremendously beneficial to our young adults, it creates an environment beneficial to jobs.
City of Tucson is a part of this disease. Inefficient, corrupt, hasn’t created a single job in a decade.
Ok, I was in a hurry. Here are the correct numbers.
National Assessment of
Educational Progress
8th grade math scores
8th Grade Results
……………………………………………………………New York State……………………….Arizona………………..US
Black………………………………………………………….258………………………………………267………………..259
Hispanic…………………………………………………….263………………………………………268………………..263
White…………………………………………………………292………………………………………295………………..291
Asian………………………………………………………….309………………………………………314………………..313
4 dislikes, eh? Don’t like the comparison with New York? Let’s try Connecticut:
.
.
.
8th Grade Results
……………………………………………………………..Connecticut…………………………..Arizona………………..US
Spending per student…………………………….$20,000………………………………….$9,000…………….$12,000
National Assessment of
Educational Progress
8th grade math scores
8th Grade Results
……………………………………………………………Connecticut…………………………..Arizona………………US
Black………………………………………………………….256…………………………………..267………………..259
Hispanic…………………………………………………….263…………………………………..268………………..263
White…………………………………………………………299…………………………………..295………………..291
Asian………………………………………………………….329…………………………………..314………………..313
Connecticut has a median household income twenty percent higher than that of Arizona. They almost all work for government. Fewer jobs in Connecticut than 25 years ago. Imagine that!!!! Arizona has 1.1 million more jobs now than 25 years ago. What does all that Connecticut money do for disadvantaged students????
8 dislikes?
Ok, let’s skip New York and Connecticut and move on to Maryland.
8th Grade Results
……………………………………………………………..Maryland……………………………….Arizona………………..US
Spending per student…………………………….$16,000………………………………….$9,000…………….$12,000
National Assessment of
Educational Progress
8th grade math scores
8th Grade Results
………………………………………………………………Maryland…………………………..Arizona………………US
Black………………………………………………………….261…………………………………..267………………..259
Hispanic…………………………………………………….261…………………………………..268………………..263
White…………………………………………………………300…………………………………..295………………..291
Asian………………………………………………………….315………………………………….314………………..313
Total………………………………………………………..1137…………………………………1144………………1127
Not only are Maryland’s scores not impressive, they have fewer jobs than 15 years ago.
The major drag on Arizona education and the economy is the Tucson Unified School district and the Tucson City government. It’s hard to get up every day and show up to class ready to teach, well organized, really hard. It’s hard to take pride at fixing cracks in roads, heating up that pavement and laying down a great asphalt repair. Jackhammering out a bad sidewalk and pouring cement. Its easier, much easier to create a culture of whining and complaining about money, sitting around and waiting for the next handout. Now we have prop 208- taking away precious jobs from our young people with yielding a single penny of revenue- its all pretend. The perfect Tucson government and education proposal.
jhuppent
I measure my success by how many dislikes I “earn” for my posts. The more 4th Avenue panhandlers I can piss off, the better.
Response to Wes S.
Excellent comments on both Ehrlich and the role of Corporations in our society.