The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Although there is a clear line between childhood and adulthood, that line gets blurry during the college years.
Most of my students are living away from home for the first time, learning more about themselves and the world than ever before. Yet right at the same time, my students are now expected to vote, to pay taxes, and to sign up for the draft. Most of my students hold down hourly jobs to help chip away at the debt and living expenses they are accruing.
All of a sudden — and without much warning — society expects that much more from those on the cusp of adulthood. Confronted with this new reality for the first time, most begin to take a big picture view of the world they are inheriting — for better or for worse.
Not so long ago, the entry into college was an exciting time brimming with all of the possible futures one could imagine and work toward. But recent events have cast a dark pall over these futures. Most notably, the specter of climate change has become an urgent reality, and one which my students on all sides of the political spectrum acknowledge as fact. They want to know: Where are the adults in the room? Why is everyone content to let their future burn?
As many in Arizona already know, climate change has contributed to extreme heat, the single most deadly weather-related risk today. We also face prolonged drought, as our farmers see up close and personal every day of the year — scientists have measured it as the worst drought humans have faced in the American West in 1,200 years. The Colorado River — the same river that carved out the Grand Canyon — is drying up to the point where mandatory usage cuts were made for the first time ever in 2021. This suggests Arizona needs to start looking for other sources of precious water.
Our abundance of sun should be a good thing. If we can tap into all the clean solar energy we receive year-round, not only would we have a great new revenue stream for the state government coupled with thousands of new well-paying jobs, but we would be able to greatly reduce the massive amounts of carbon we are pumping into the atmosphere nonstop. Just think of all the air pollution we produce from running our air conditioning and other cooling systems each day. Can we make that carbon neutral from producing solar energy? Dare to dream.
But this is where the federal government and the Biden administration need to step in and lead. Right now, as the President’s Build Back Better plan dangles on the Senate vine, my students are losing hope and confidence in the future. BBB includes some $300 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy, cleaner transportation and domestic manufacturing. These incentives have the potential to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon energy, expand economic opportunity and make a positive contribution to human and environmental health.
Sen. Mark Kelly supports Build Back Better. But Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, while stating that the climate provisions in the bill that could truly transform Arizona for the better are among the most important, has been less clear in whether she will actually fight for our children’s future.
Arizona is my home, our home. My students and I don’t want to watch it burn as the Senate fiddles.
Dr. Jonathan Jae-an Crisman is Assistant Professor of Public & Applied Humanities at the University of Arizona.
"Opinion" - Google News
March 08, 2022 at 01:40AM
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Local Opinion: Washington fiddles while Arizona burns | Local Editorials and Opinion | tucson.com - Arizona Daily Star
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