February 15 General Meeting Notes
Sustainable Tucson's General Meetings are a time to learn and to discuss issues as well as network and get to know members of this large and growing coaltion of groups and citizens.
About 50 people gathered at Councilwoman Nina Trasoff's Ward VI offices. Members of the coalition delivered short descriptions of groups forming to accomplish common objectives of sustainability (water conservation, alternative transportation, food security, youth education, public education, business opportunities, greening the built environment, etc.)
Focus on Water ConservationFernando Molina, Director of Conservation at Tucson Water, delivered a summary of Tucson's water future. He described the City's current strategies to secure water for the future.
His presentation followed Melanie Lenart's discussion of the IPCC's February 2 Report to Policy Makers on Climate Change. Melanie represented the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth at UA. Tucson faces increasing average temperatures as a long-term drought continues and will intensify.
Brad Lancaster, Rainwater Harvesting in Drylands, summarized the most important actions citizens can make and that the coalition can support. During the Q&A that followed, it became apparent that we must be proactive to conserve as much groundwater as possible and be prepared for the liklihood that the CAP supply will be not be the steady source now projected, but subject to decline with years of drought and related decreased precipitation/snow melt.
Coalition members brought up the need to curb growth as a key part of the solution. Guy McPherson described the problems we face as a community (growth, food security, water supply) as the "elephant in the room."
An important connection between engaging youth to be a part of the solution and water conservation was offered by Patty Weiss, who suggested we seize the moment and engage the high schools whose mission includes community service experience. Patty offered that youth can be trained and then hired to help us implement the simple actions suggested by Lancaster that will decrease residents use of potable water for irrigation (which Molina noted is 60% of residential use of water). This offers youth opportunities to learn about water management, science and appropriate technologies AND earn some income.
Using rainwater exclusively for irrigations of trees, plants and gardens through landscaping and rainwater harvesting principles makes sense. The control of flood waters that now gush down paved streets can be redirected to irrigate fruit-bearing, trees that also cool the built environment for an integrated approach to managing the effects of drought. These kinds of projects can be done by neighborhoods creating community along the way.
Following the discussion, Sustainble Tucson sponsored a networking hour with opportunities to join many Affinity Groups that are engaged in projects ranging from food security to permaculture to building codes. ST'smembership team produced an Interest Card to begin to build a data base that will help us facilitate the work of our members.
This is the fourth general meeting called by Sustainable Tucson (October 17, December 12 2006 & January 17 and February 15, 2007). In January we heard from the City of Tucson's Office of Sustainablity and Conservation and Pima County's Department of Environmental Quality.
See
www.sustainabletucson.org for more information and to joint the coalition.
Our next meeting is March 6, Tuesday from 4-6 pm. Location and program to be announced.
On the trail together,
Susan