Local opinion: Earth Week 2024 is pivotal

Earth Week 2024 marks a time of urgent need for action. The impacts of the climate crisis have never been as costly and dangerous to our way of life. Over the past two decades, climate change has zapped the Colorado River of 20% of its flow and aggravated the already severe impacts of over pumping on the availability of groundwater supplies. Water is just part of the problem of climate change for us desert-dwellers — there’s also wildfire smoke and the spiking temperatures that add zeros to our utility bills. Unless we turn this around, the future will be so much worse, especially for the most vulnerable members of our community — our kids, our seniors, people of color and those belonging to our indigenous tribes.

We can turn it around, and Arizona can lead the way. Arizona has the second-highest solar potential in the nation, and thousands of clean energy jobs are being added yearly in the state, driven by public and private investment. Thanks in large part to the formerly democratic-controlled Congress, our state has seen more than $10 billion in investment in new clean energy projects, many of them in Southern Arizona. The American Battery Factory in Tucson and NextEra Energy’s battery storage project in Eloy are just two that are creating local jobs while tackling climate change.

It’s not just about building more batteries and solar plants. It’s about wise tax policy, starting with ending the billions of dollars we spend each year in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. Why do we allow Exxon Mobil and Chevron to write off 80% of the costs of drilling before they have produced a drop of oil? Oil companies are permitted to take massive tax write-offs as a result of century old laws. While America burns, our domestic oil and gas industry continues to reap record profits from such tax breaks, profits it has distributed to company executives rather than investing in their businesses.

It’s also about investing in technological solutions where they are available and make sense. Why, when the clean energy transition will require expansion of our grid capacities, are we not investing in new technology like advanced reconductoring, which would replace existing power lines with cables made from state-of-the-art materials and could roughly double the capacity of the electric grid? Technology like this can avoid many of the land use conflicts that divide utilities and energy developers on the one hand, and private landowners, ranchers, environmentalists and tribes on the other.

The climate crisis will only be solved with every bit of 21st century know-how and leadership we can muster, much of it supplied by Millennials, Gen Z, like my daughter, and very soon, Gen Alphas. Here locally, you can see how the Arizona Youth Climate Coalition was instrumental in developing Tucson’s Climate Action Plan. The University of Arizona is brimming with outstanding researchers working on climate-related issues in nearly every college on campus, many early career scientists. Across the state, I’m especially proud of the many women-owned businesses breaking new ground in sustainability, whether it’s composting, distributed solar, or fashion.

To win the climate battle, we need every bit of the talent, drive and innovation of our young people, especially from women and girls. Yet right when we need our young people the most, policies being pushed by Arizona Republicans may drive them away. Stripping women of abortion access, worsening the housing crisis by slashing rental assistance programs, eliminating Pell Grant funding, and repealing the clean energy supports in the Inflation Reduction Act, all threaten life, health, dreams and a livable earth. If we want to protect our future, our land, and our planet, we need to make sure to elect climate conscious lawmakers this November.

This Earth Week, it’s all hands on deck.