February 20, 2018
It’s still black history month for about another week and what better way to celebrate it than to be sustainable along with some facts about black history!
Unfortunately, Quita had a family emergency so she was unable to join us today. Best of wishes to her and her family. Today’s agenda includes sustainability in Arizona, black history month and the horrible re-occurrence of mass shootings in America. Former mayor of Paradise Valley Vernon Parker holds a microphone at In the Green Room, along with reporter Frank Camacho and Kinga’s son, Chet Johns. A lot of times, people look at sustainability as a political label instead of a human issue. Democrats are known for supporting environmental matters, but let’s not leave out those Republicans that do as well. What we ask is for environmentally conscious Republicans to bring up these issues with those who aren’t worried about the environment.
Camacho tells us as a citizen of the U.S. we need to call our senators and politicians because they have the power to create policy change.Along with policy change, humans need to follow the four R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Refuse. Stop. Using. Plastic.
Our guests agreed Arizona should be the solar capital of the world, but we are really late. Culture in the pacific northwest is more sustainable and it reflects areas that are behind in sustainability. Chet calls on people to use dollars to show sustainability, you can say you’re sustainable all you want but if you buy items that don’t reflect that, it comes off as hypocritical.
Our in-house musician, James Austin Murray gave us some tips about being more sustainable. Eat fish to replace meat, although a vegan diet is preferable, and stop using straws. Ask your server for water without a straw before they bring it to the table. JAM is the most sustainable person we know, his CD’s are made out of recycled water bottles, printed using green ink, and created using solar energy. You can see him perform at the Crescent Ballroom on Saturday, February 24th and receive a free CD.
Our final topic had to do with the horrific mass shootings that have taken place in our country recently. Camacho experienced the Columbine shooting first-hand, he admits news is not perfect but it’s important we put these issues up front and discuss them because if we don’t talk about it, nothing will change. Vernon thinks we need to make more rational and logical gun laws without being anti-second amendment here.
Written by Jodi Guerrero