Many of the tens of thousands of people moving to Arizona are moving because of the growth in the electric vehicle, clean energy and battery manufacturing industry. After all, Arizona is now an auto manufacturing state.

(Take that, Detroit.)

That means your property value is going up as the demand for housing continues.

I wanted to take a moment and make it very clear that we have President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to thank for that.

For whatever reason, media is not reporting on these huge benefits that the President won from a hostile congress.

The IRA set aside billions in investment dollars and tax credits to match private money for all kinds of clean energy manufacturing and infrastructure. See this link for a breakdown of where those jobs are going in Arizona, specifically.

If you’ve lived in Arizona for long, you know that our rural towns suffer from high unemployment. So much of this growth is going to rural Arizona. See this example of how EV and battery manufacturing is bringing jobs to Arizona.

I’ve said it before. Investments like this affect the real estate market and your home directly.

Congratulations Arizona.

Climate Change seems so overwhelming that it almost freezes us in place.

But it does not have to be that way.

You can do with your vote and your wallet by standing up to the utilities and supporting those who want reform.

Utilities like APS, SRP and TEP make money selling electrons to us with a mark-up. So, why would they want to support solar and batteries on your home?

That’s bad, but we could fix that that if only we had a corporation commission that would hold them to higher standards. But we don’t. The current, MAGA-dominated corporation commission is now considering dismantling the requirements we put in place in 2008 that push the utilities to meet carbon reduction standards.

Just as a reminder, the production of power from fossil fuels wastes millions of gallons of water per year in Arizona.

The Corporation Commission also directed APS to add fees to those of its customers who have solar panels.

Meanwhile SRP continues to throttle residential solar and they have plans to add over 4,000 megawatts of dirty methane gas power generation. Remember, methane gas is 80 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon alone.

Please take a moment to research the SRP Clean Team, a crew of citizens who are very close to getting a majority of SRP board seats in elections happening right now. Many people don’t know that SRP has an elected board. Learn about that here, including maps of voting territories. If you own a home in current (and some past) SRP territory, you may have a right to vote. Register here.

There are also three candidates running for the Corporation Commission who all want to reform the commission. People don’t know that the Corporation Commission has more control than any other elected office to decide our climate fate. The Corporation Commission is the “climate commission” when it comes to clean energy.

You can sign e-petitions at this link. The only pro-clean energy candidates are Ylenia Aguilar, Jonathan Hill and Joshua Polacheck.

Please check them out. This is the simplest, most direct thing you can do today.

The Oh My Ears (OME) New Music Festival is an annual event where we invite unique and adventurous ensembles, solo artists, and projects to perform works by modern composers.

The OME Festival has historically featured its performers in an eclectic variety of venues, from traditional concert halls to art galleries, bars, and cafes.

This year they will be at Phoenix College and Cibo’s Carriage House. OME is proud to be a presenter of new music in Phoenix for 10 years.

Festival Line up and Tickets: https://www.ohmyears.org/festival