Rerooting “Opportunity” in Resiliency and Reciprocity

Ocotillos leaf out at the precise time of cool weather and moisture, seasonally.  Prickly Pears produce their fruits at the hottest time of year, quenching the thirst of javelina, coyotes and desert tortoise alike. 

You know summer is near when you hear the white-wing doves croon with anticipation for the bounty soon to be provided by generous Has:an. Like a burrowed Gila monster emerging for a dose of blood warming sun – opportunity moves slow and is basked in with intention. 

All opportunity is space for more life – and in turn more life, means more opportunity. Here, opportunity serves as a vessel for abundance. Saguaro seeds we consumed this monsoon, will be the ancestors standing over us tomorrow.  

It takes a young Has:añ about 10 years to grow its first inch in the wild. It will take another 60 years before they are tall and wide enough to support the growth of their first iconic arm. As they age and await their first bloom, the saguaro will serve as multi-family condominiums for woodpeckers, elf owls and red tailed hawks alike. Given time and patience, there is no affordable housing crisis for those who wait and nest amongst the cactus. 

Those desert people who have lived here for millennia, celebrate abundance as the coming of the new year. The Tohono O’odham calendar begins with the harvest of the saguaro fruit. The desert and it’s dwellers know these truths – that care, connection and slowness are what allow for abundance. Here, opportunity is shared, cherished and celebrated.

As a life long lover and pupil of this place – I am faced with a deep cognitive dissonance when I sit and listen to empty promises from international corporations coded with the language I have learned from the desert. Empty echos of sustainability and success. 

For those of us rooted here, it is confusing to hear agents from foreign mining interests come from across the world to assure us that developments being spearheaded by South 32 and Resolution Copper will bring “prosperity” and opportunity to Southern Arizona. 

Spewing words as fast as their mines spew toxicity into the air and water, they promise “growth” and “economic security” for our borderland communities at the sacrifice of our literal foundation – the land beneath our feet. 

“Economic” growth or and one-sided extraction does not make sense to those of us that have deep connections to this land. What about ecological security? It is an antithetical mode of operation that does not hold any integrity here because it is not informed by the wisdom of this place.  As history has demonstrated time and time again across the American West, a “boom” only comes with a “bust”. This does not imply opportunity but rather short sighted planning and a lack of sustainability.  

Although archaic 1857 US mining law is still what we use to determine the viability of corporate “claims” to the land, the modern mining industry often result in total extraction taking place on average between 5-30 years.  (UA, 2024)

These proposed mines, Copper World, Hermosa and January, will all be gutted and left to waste within 30 years – and the in wake of their destruction will remain a permanent scars haunting our horizons forever. Permanent alterations to a pristine ancestral landscape so that some global venture capitalists can extract a quick buck.

5-30 years is all it takes for these corporations to irreparably damage our landscape. This means young saguaros and nurse trees growing in the foothills of the Santa Rita are more likely to die due to the toxicity poisoning our soil or groundwater depletion than they are to ever grow their first arm. Further more – this run of effects all life down stream in our watershed. 

This is the age of the Anthropocene. A time where our species is making decisions on behalf of our planet for the benefit of a few. Where extraction, expansion and expropriation are the elements that weather and erode our mountains and rivers.  So what is opportunity? Who gets the privilege to define and determine what opportunity looks like for a place? Surely those that have been rooted and immersed in the land, culture and commerce of the region the longest, right?

Surely those individuals who’s way of life, values and understanding are founded in the relationships of the land, would have their concerns headed and their words validated. 

After years and years of submitting public comments it feels vapid and inauthentic to write to these power holders who continuously ignore our pleas. Since the saguaro and the jackrabbit cannot speak, at least verbally, their comments were written off immediately. As have the comments and concerns of indigenous leaders from our region that directly oppose. As have the comments of those advocates working tirelessly in border communities like Patagonia, Green Valley, and Rio Rico. 

So who do we listen to and who do we trust when talking about prosperity, opportunity and our future if not those who are rooted in our past and participating in the present? As the ruling class and private interests attempt to sell us on the glimmering green future they have vapidly promised their constituents, let us now more than ever unite around our landscape and listen to the lessons of the land and leaders as beacons of truth.