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Ive been reading articles on how much Arizona is expected to grow within the next ten years. Along with the talk of the phoenix urban area and tucson urban areas meeting then Payson reaching phoenix. What Arizona conservation group is the most effective to stop this kind of growth and save Arizona's open. Because i want to get active in some of this conservation because if we don't try to do something Arizona's rural and open lands which i would say make Arizona, Arizona could virtually disappear.
Thanks

In 50 years, the world's population will be what, 15 billion? an extra few million in the valley won't be any different. You'll also need to be a multi-millionaire by the time you retire if you want to pay for health care, in which an average trip to the doctor for a check up will cost you 1000, but your co-pay will knock that down to $150, which doesn't seem much because to drive those 30 miles it cost you forty dollars for two gallons of gas, but you didn't just use one gallon of gas like you would think because by then there will be 200% the amount of cars on a highway with only 25% more lanes, so it takes you at least twice as long to get there.

One possible scenario: There won't be any cars on the roads here in 50 years because we reached and passed peak oil and gas now costs $27\gallon like it does in the Netherlands. Not only will those few extra million have left Phoenix metro, but so will have another half of the population that lives there now because we have water rationing in effect, they can't afford to drive in to work from the sprawling suburb they moved to, and it's now 138F in the summers in Arizona. It's really not that far-fetched, if you think about it!

nonot wrote:by then there will be 200% the amount of cars on a highway

so... it'll be like it used to be?
Before the 101 or 60 it took almost 2 hours to get to the Superstitions from downtown Scottsdale. Going down main street before computer synchronized stop lights was enough to drive you crazy. Light after light after light. If you weren't a mechanic you could forget reliability. The wiring harness of any pre 80's car more resembled a heating element. Fuel injection was great, other than the fact it never worked. People lived at the base of the Superstitions. It's called apache junction and the land was cheaper than dirt.

If you fixed every problem in this world people would whine there's no problems.

True conservation is less babies. It's a little tough to reverse the population and material use until that happens.

I know how you guys feel. With all this talk about global warming and saving the environment it seems like people would realize that building houses over untouched terrain id DESTROYING the environment. I mean theres no use in saving the environment if you build houses over all it. All this growth makes me sick.

joe bartels wrote:True conservation is less babies. It's a little tough to reverse the population and material use until that happens.

That is indeed the crux of the issue...

Unfortunately, Arizona has enough water to support somewhere to the tune of 20 million people according to the state gov't.

That said, there are a bunch of groups involved in the Phoenix area trying to make sure open space gets preserved and make sure the development that's planned (highways, transmission corridors, utility lines, etc.) is all planned in places that aren't "sensitive" lands. AND, if you want to get involved, now's a good time. There are lots of public meetings and not many people from the public showing up. I was at a public mtg for solar last night and for an electric transmission line this morning and there was one person there from the "public". One person...out of how many in Phoenix? (I work for the Arizona Wilderness Coalition, so I'm not necessarily the "public".)

We're all working on different aspects of the growth, but these are a few of the groups that are active on growth issues in the Phoenix valley:
Arizona Wilderness Coalition: any issue that affects current, proposed, or potential wilderness areas on public land including mining, energy transmission corridors, rivers, etc.
Center for Biological Diversity: issues affecting rivers/riparian areas especially
Rainbow Valley Citizen's Group: any issue that affects Rainbow Valley
Sierra Club: all the issues in Arizona related to the environment!
Sonoran Institute: involved in the Superstitions Vista project specifically and transportation planning
The Nature Conservancy: state land issues.
The Wilderness Society: issues all around Arizona, public land--mining, grazing, etc.

I'm sure I'll think of more......give me a call if you'd like more resources or links to public meetings. 602-252-5530

White Mountain Conservation League