We are all responsible for the state of water in Arizona. Well, maybe not if you just moved here. But, you will if you stay here. And taking responsibility is the only hope for water in Arizona.

I begin this post with that sentence, taking the serious risk that it will turn you off and you will think that I’m going to try to shame you about your life here in the desert.

I promise I won’t. Really.

After all, we are all responsible, including me. We all live in the desert and we all use water. We could all do better.

I posted this piece from Slate Magazine and one climate change denier told me I was just a preaching liberal do-gooder who wanted to look down his nose at everyone else. My response: I’m responsible, too.

The nature of responsibility, especially if we want to create change, is to look at ourselves. There are many things that I did at my home to reduce water use: drained and covered the old pool, eliminated the grass in my front yard. But there are other things that I could still do.

But, more than that, as a realtor I’ve said many times that we realtors have an ethical responsibility to our clients to think about water and energy in the desert.

How can I ethically sign you up for a 30-year mortgage for your home knowing that your house may be worth a fraction of what it could be because we have failed to take care of our sustainability future.

Again, we don’t have to completely run out of water for people and businesses to choose not to live in Arizona anymore, thus tanking the housing market and over-all economy.

Realtors and home builders should be water and energy conservation hawks, but sadly they are not.

Of course, this takes us to the tired, old false dichotomy about whether any individual can solve major problems like water conservation and climate change.

It’s just that, a false dichotomy. I won’t fix all the problems by draining my pool or recycling or driving an electric car. But I should do those things AND vote only for people who promise to dramatically reform water and energy policy in Arizona. Here’s a great scorecard map showing who cares and who does not.

It’s a simple equation. Like losing weight. Fad diets won’t do it. Only a mix of diet and exercise will do it.

So, responsibility should not be about shaming. It is about taking personal action and demanding policy action, together.