All Used Up

When people of European descent first came into the desert southwest in significant numbers, they noticed the ruins of a civilization that had found a way to thrive in the harsh desert conditions.  When they asked the local Native American tribes in the region about the people who created those ruins their response was, ‘they are hohokam.’

Hohokam is an Akimel O'odham word that means ‘all used up’ and it is now the name for this culture.

It is no secret that I hold a bit of disdain when it comes to Arizona’s recent population influx.  I have said on multiple occasions that the worst thing that has happened to Arizona was the invention of air conditioning.  Freon was invented in 1928.  In the 60 years prior to this date, from the beginning of census data in Arizona, the population increased a little over 400,000 people.  In the 60 years following the invention of Freon Arizona’s population had increased by over 3 million people.  In the thirty plus years since I was born my home state has gained almost 4 million people.

Now I realize that it is would be hypocritical of me to be against people moving to Arizona from elsewhere. My family, on both sides, did not move here until the 1940s and even though I am second generation Arizonan, we are still relatively new to the area.  The thing is, even though there are people who have been here longer, there aren’t too many Arizonans that can claim what I just did.  In fact, when a college professor asked a class about 70 students if they were born in Arizona only four of us raised our hand . . . He was surprised that many people raised their hand.

I am not irritated that people are moving here as much as I am irritated that a lot of the people who are moving here either aren’t aware, or don’t care that they are moving to a desert.  And I believe that is mainly the fault of air conditioning. At some point I had heard that there are companies out there that have parking garages for their employees that are air conditioned.  If this is true, that would mean that in the dead heat of summer people could wake up in their air conditioned house, walk into their air conditioned garage, get into their air conditioned car, drive to their company’s air conditioned parking garage, walk into the air conditioned elevator to go work in their air conditioned office and never feel just how bloody hot it is out there. When it doesn’t feel like you live in a desert, you start to believe that you don’t live in a desert.

There are a lot of wonderful reasons to live in the desert southwest, but there are also limitations to living in here. Pretending that those limitations don’t exist doesn’t mean that they will go away.  The fact of the matter is deserts get less than 16 inches of water in a year.  I understand that the place you moved from had lots of green grass, tall green trees and water around, but we don’t have enough water here for everyone that moves here to recreate their old surroundings.

All I ask is that you not only enjoy the good and beautiful things that come from living here, but also respect the limitations that come from living here.  Do you really need a full green lawn in your front and back yards?  Do we really need another golf course?  Do you really need a swimming pool? Do we really need one of the largest fountains in the world?  What can you personally do to limit the amount of water you use so that other people who wish to move to our state can enjoy the beauty of the desert southwest and still have enough water?

I worry about the consequences of continuing to live our lives like we are not dealing with limited resources here.  In a thousand years will the next great immigration come to the desert southwest and see the ruins of Phoenix and Tucson and ask the locals about the people who built these sites, only to have them reply, ‘they are all used up.’

Until next we meet.