We start with a story from last week that’s still reverberating: September 2, the day America discovered it was time to stop ignoring Nature’s wake up call. Climate Change is real. Why do we know? Because Ida landed in New York with a drenching reality check full of massive property damage, heroic rescues, and avoidable deaths. Remember the New Yorker’s view of the world? Nothing counts unless it happens within the five boroughs. You know the stuff: “This isn’t a real World Series without the Yankees.” Well, here you go. Earth is angry. Says so on the front page of the New York Times, top to bottom.
Old News in Arizona
Of course, Angry Earth is old news here. Arizona’s been jousting with Climate Change for decades. We started in 2002 with the Rodeo-Chedeski fire, one of the first mega wildfires to hit the state. Shocking then. Now ginormous fires are just what happens here. Also in the 2000’s “bathtub rings” appeared on the shrinking reservoirs at Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Hydrologists warned declining Front Range snowfall meant Colorado River water was over-allocated. Still, we kept building and acting like our supply was limitless. Then, came the exclamation point that was the summer of 2020, as Arizona broke temperature record after temperature record both for daytime highs and overnight “high lows.” Yes, even with 2021’s refreshingly strong monsoon, we’ve known for a while what it means to be on the business end of Global Warming.
Apparently, the New York-New Jersey metro did not know, at least not until September 2.
· Despite, the annual and increasingly more intense multiple hurricane assaults on the Gulf and the Atlantic coast, the latest being Ida.
· Despite enduring smoky New York skies from the massive Western wildfires that now stretch into Canada and even Siberia.
· Despite flooding in Germany, which had never seen storms of this magnitude and the same for Tennessee in August.
· Despite the subway-stopping monster storm that hit Zhengzhou China and killed who knows how many.
New York was seemingly unaware of catastrophic weather events until September 2, when people caught in the deluge were being rescued from subways and Central Park, when the bodies of drowning victims were recovered from basement apartments.
“We are in a whole new world now.”
“We are in a whole new world now. We saw a storm last night unlike anything we have seen before. And this is the reality we have to face,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters the day after.
The de Blasio message: This used to be a coastal problem in flyover country, so no big whoop. Now, it’s in the concrete canyons. Yikes.
So, New York, the center of all media and everything BIG has been slammed again (remember “Super Storm Sandy”). Will that be enough to make us all finally get serious? I mean, a WaPo analysis of FEMA data found one in three Americans live in a county with a disaster declaration tied to a weather event. Based on that reporting, if you haven’t been personally affected, you probably know someone who’s dealing with climate-triggered trauma.
Climate change is coming for you. It’s coming for all of us. Will we finally get real?
Arizona’s Water Blindspot
Well, even with all our experience and the Ida smack down, Arizona remains in denial. How do we know? Last week, we learned from azcentral.com that in the face of forever drought the City of Glendale will give a new water park 19 million gallons to operate. 19 million gallons for a water park in the desert, even with the Colorado River officially in emergency status.
When reporter Joshua Bowling asked Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa how much they’re allocating for waterparks in those cities, he was told…nothing. That, said city officials, was need-to-know information, and Joshua didn’t need to know. Whether you think water parks in the desert make sense or not, seems like our cities should tell us how many gallons these things will be sucking away. Tempe, Phoenix, and Mesa’s response: none of your business.
That’s an odd stance, since all three have Climate Action Plans and/or citizen outreach targeting water conservation. Phoenix brags in its Water Stewardship plan, it “…has exceeded the sustainability requirements of the State of Arizona. The city reduced its groundwater usage to a minimum and is planning for a sustainable yield, as well as its assured 100-year supply, under conditions of long-term drought and global climate change — not just under normal conditions.”
Mesa also emphasizes “Water Stewardship” pledging to “Reduce waste and improve employee water conservation practices through education and outreach.” Glendale supplies conservation resources for its citizens and highlights ways they can report wasteful water use. Tempe touts “Green Sustainability” in a plan that mentions water 68 times.
Nice! If you’re doing so many things right, then it shouldn’t be tough to tell us how much you’re allocating to these water parks. Please, Arizona Republic editors, sue these cities under the Arizona Open Records law and get this info.
Memo to Arizona: We Live In A Desert!
As you’re flying down the water slide, we all need to consider the consequences of wasting THE most precious resource. We’ve managed the near impossibility of large scale desert living through some incredible engineering that keeps water flowing. The dams and canals and pumping stations are the foundation for the ridiculous development that lands the Valley and state on a zillion population growth indices.
But water is a finite resource. We’re in a climate emergency. It’s past time to start asking if water parks are a good idea. Same for golf courses. While I enjoy having a backyard pool, probably need a rethink there too. And, can we please stop pumping our groundwater for mega farms as reported in this investigation by High Country News? Let’s be smart folks. Contact your city hall. Tell them to release the water park numbers. Answer Nature’s wake-up call. The consequences are literally life and death.
In Other News: You can’t spell CRAZY without AZ….
· Dad gone wild in Tucson, when he shows up at an elementary school to execute a “citizen’s arrest” of the principal. Diane Vargo was targeted for keeping his child out of a field trip due to COVID 19 protocols The principal told The Guardian the dad and two buddies crashed into her office unannounced and unauthorized.
“One, she said, was carrying ‘military, large, black zip ties and standing in my doorway’. Vargo said she tried to explain the school had to follow county health protocols.
‘I felt violated that they were in my office claiming I was breaking the law and they were going to arrest me,’ a shaken Vargo said in a video statement released by the Vail Unified School District. ‘Two of the men weren’t parents at our school, so I felt threatened.’”- From The Guardian
Thankfully, dad, 40-year-old Rishi Rambaran, has been charged with trespassing.
· Governor Doug Ducey, who owns the 19,000 Arizona COVID deaths that have come on his watch, will withhold grant money from hospitals unless they deliver expensive antibody treatments to pandemic patients. Ducey announced the $60 million in grants to help staffing as case numbers spike…again. But not so fast hospitals.
“Hospital eligibility will depend on them using ‘proven techniques’ like COVID-19 antibody drugs and offering ‘vaccination at discharge,’ said Christina Corieri, a senior policy adviser to Ducey” - From The Associated Press.
This from a Governor who’s repeatedly ignored “proven techniques” like masks to control the pandemic all the while bullying mayors, school administrators, and university researchers as they recommend following science.
· Mother Jones reports that “the closest thing QAnon has had to a mascot” pleaded guilty to felonies associated with the January 6th assault on the U.S. Capitol. The pride of Moon Valley High School Jake Angeli, he of the buffalo horned helmet and painted face, he who calls himself the “QAnon Shaman,” he who has been waiting for a pardon from Citizen Trump, is now at the mercy of the court. He could get four years in a federal prison. Of course, his attorney is suggesting Jake go free. Sentencing is in November.
Finally, we’ll remember 9/11 this Saturday.
We’ll be posting the second part of our story on Valley Army Veteran Sgt. Daniel Piotrowski who devoted his adult life to fighting the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dan’s compelling account of his ongoing recovery from traumatic brain injury reminds everyone that 9/11 permanently changed all of our lives, especially those who put on a uniform in defense of freedom. Read the first story here.
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