Here is the weather forecast for the next three days: highs 105, 107, 111. Lows: 83, 85, 81.
I have a question for NN regarding energy consumption. Is it really wise to bring a bunch of people who will require a bunch of energy just to stay alive in the desert in the middle of summer? And, are they going to be required to bring their own water with them?
Basically, Arizona gets its water either from wells or from the Colorado River system, which is the most over-adjudicated river system in the US. The Colorado headwaters are either in Colorado or Wyoming, depending on how you choose to look at the maps, and the river heads toward Mexico to a once-flourishing delta, but does not ever quite make it there any more (except maybe this year for a few days).
I think Arizona is an incredibly beautiful and scenic state. The Sonoran desert is a national treasure, as are the "sky island" mountains of southern Arizona. The mountains around Flagstaff and the Mogollon Rim are gorgeous with their ponderosa pines stands, too. And, of course there is the beautiful sandstone country around Sedona and Prescott...
But Phoenix, not so much.
The Valley of the Sun is, in my opinion, an overgrown eyesore. People have been encouraged to move there and behave as though they are still in the Midwest where water consumption is not discouraged. Sprawl is horrifying, as it spreads to outlying areas and ruins the whole desert night sky experience, which is one of the most exhilirating things about the desert. Clear bright stars should be the norm in the desert.
If you fly into Sky Harbor, you will see whole neighborhoods where every single house has a swimming pool that probably needs to be cooled to be usable in the hot summer months. This makes no sense in the desert. Think of the evaporation rate at the incredibly low humidity level in Arizona and just imagine the water loss over the course of one day.
And this is personal to me because I live in Colorado where that water is coming from. We have to watch how much we use because of the Colorado River Water Compact, which guarantees a certain amount of water to downstream states. That in itself is not a bad thing at all. What is objectionable is the waste of that water for swimming pool after swimming pool in the same neighborhood!
So, I am hoping Meteor Blades will weigh in on the environmental impacts of holding NN 2015 in Phoenix. He knows a lot about the ecology of the West and could be quite useful in any discussion of NN and the Southwestern environment.
As for the hateful legislation regarding immigrants and the truly horrifying Sheriff Joe, I would never question Markos and Armando about their feelings. They are more than entitled, as they both have a personal stake.
For those who think that somehow holding NN in Phoenix will boost the fortunes of progressives, I would simply ask if that has happened anywhere else that has hosted NN.
And, I did not hear either Kos or Armando saying they would not help with a campaign in Arizona. They just said they would not be going to NN in 2015.
