In particular, the preliminary report provided estimates (only) for the residential population for cities greater than 65,000 in population, so it was interesting to note that Phoenix had the youngest median age among the nation’s 15 largest cities at 30.9 years of age. That, in spite of the fact that we also have one of the largest retirement-age segments of the population in the nation—-go figure—but the statistics still show that 29% of Phoenix’s 1,400,000 residents are younger than age 18; that’s a huge revelation!

It strikes me that we can utilize this demographic information in our never ending quest to inculcate sustainability in the minds of the most important target group in Arizona (or anywhere for that matter), that we want to reach—it’s our youth who will become the future leaders of our communities!

Stated another way, if 29% of Phoenicians are under the age of 18, that’s almost one third of the city’s population who will soon be employed full-time and looking for permanent residences—(assuming the job market returns in the near future)—most of whom, according to the Survey, will likely be seeking apartments or rental homes. (In that age bracket, home ownership is financially tough even in the best of job growth times).

But, here’s another statistic that reinforces the old adage that, to maximize your marketing opportunities, you must know who your audience is. Almost one-third of our target audience (i.e. the 29% under 18 years old) for sustainability education must be approached in ways we’ve not considered before. The reason: according to the Survey, 51% of Arizona’s population, (not JUST in Phoenix but ALL Arizona), under the age of 35 are non-white—Hispanics, Native Americans, Blacks, Asians, and other minorities—and we will not reach them with traditional logic like, "…go ye forth in a sustainable lifestyle for the good of the environment…and your children’s future happiness."

Now, couple that with the fact that the Survey found that 40% of all Hispanics and one-third of all minority groups in Arizona, don’t have a high school diploma—and 40% of all families with children are single parent households—those 29% under 18 who make up those families—and, in the words of ‘60’s activist Godfrey Cambridge, "we have a lot of work to do, folks…a lot of work!"

It is obvious that our (combined) efforts to promote the general idea that environmentally sustainable life styles should become a priority if our future generations are going to have a "quality of life" legacy we will not be ashamed of. The idea that single parents with little formal education, with English as a second language, working two or more jobs just to make ends meet, can understand sustainability issues, even if they are explained in elementary schools, just doesn’t make it a priority in their daily life when they are struggling to keep food on the table and their kids in school.

So where does that leave us if we want to move our youth—this diverse demographic of mixed cultural millennials and ‘tweeners—and motivate them to buy into sustainable lifestyles and really walk the walk, we need to provide them more options for how they can integrate their work-lives into the daily pursuit of sustenance?

Even in a down-economy, our most jaded politicians appear to understand that we need to be moving toward an alternative energy future. And, we need to be providing jobs, education, and training for technician and technical-level workers in those alternate energy technologies manufacturing facilities—and, for the first time since the cyberspace revolution began, we are looking at a future that will (once again) require hands-on and technically trained/skilled workers who actually know how to make and read schematics and CAD drawings, skilled workers who know how to fabricate and build…and implement high-tech solar and wind powered superstructures and build giant as well as small residential installations—and we need to provide the tech schools and trade schools that specialize in training these technician-level workers—today’s youth who will become the next generation that carries us into a sustainable-non-fossil-fuel-based future.

It is that diverse (youth) population identified in the Survey statistics that we really need to be training and educating today, for the sustainable future we all want to see tomorrow for our children’s, children’s, children.