To fall asleep on the hottest nights as a kid in midtown Tucson, Fabiola Bedoya used to soak her pillowcase with water.
The cool pillow helped her slip into sleep, but she would awake in the night, sweating and hot. Her single-parent home could not afford to run the air conditioning at times.
As an adult, Bedoya questioned, “Why is accessibility so unequal for Latino families? I wondered about my allergies, the heat and connections between those.”
Examining the relationship between how she grew up, environmental concerns, low-income families and climate change in the desert, Bedoya searched for resources to educate herself.
Now a single parent to a first grader who attends public school here, Bedoya aims to be an example for Lorenzo, age 6. Her mission: Educate parents, caregivers and the wider community as part of Mom’s Clean Air Force, a nonprofit of more than 1.6 million moms, dads and caregivers fighting air pollution and climate change.
The 35-year-old Tucsonan who grew up in the Amphitheater Public Schools, testified at an Environmental Protection Agency hearing this week as the EPA examines stripping the Endangerment Finding — the science-backed basis for regulating climate pollution under the Clean Air Act.
The rollback of the Endangerment Finding, first proclaimed in 2009, would mean the EPA would lose its legal power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and would set the U.S. back decades in the struggle for a livable climate and clean air.
Tucson earned failing grades in the number of high ozone days and particle pollution from the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air” 2025 report, which is based on EPA data from 2021-2023.
Particle and ozone pollution can hurt human health, especially for those with chronic heart or lung conditions or people who work outdoors, the lung association says.
This is no surprise to Bedoya, who has chronic allergies and cites rising temperatures in Tucson’s heat zones as a possible reason why.
“As a first-time homeowner in a lower-income neighborhood, I see how the urban heat island effect makes things worse. There aren’t enough trees or green spaces to provide relief,” she said during her testimony. “And for many families in trailers with only fans or swamp coolers, the heat is deadly.
“Extreme heat is a silent killer. It causes serious health issues and puts already vulnerable communities at even greater risk,” she said.
In metro Tucson, 55% of K-12 public schools are in extreme urban heat zones — an average of 8 degrees higher than surrounding regions because of heat-absorbing asphalt, buildings and lack of trees, according to data from Climate Central. That’s 53% of Tucson students attending 122 public schools in extreme urban heat zones.
Statewide, the lung association report found 84% of Arizonans live in communities with unsafe levels of at least one pollutant. The national average is 46%. And air quality has forced the closure of a Kyrene district elementary school in Tempe so far this school year.
These vulnerable elementary students inspire Bedoya to mobilize her community. She is educating through Mom’s Air Force and around Southern Arizona “getting people to take action,” she said.
“Sometimes, it’s ‘hey can you sign this petition?’ Or maybe it’s to talk with your neighbor or coworker and ask them if their kids are getting bad allergies or are sick,” she told Arizona Luminaria.
“It’s little things we may not make the connections with the air or the environment,” she said. “You can take small actions to be aware and put pressure on people, calling people in leadership, maybe providing resources for rebates on appliances.”
Bedoya found her voice little-by-little during the pandemic. She worked full time, earned a degree from the University of Arizona in art, and had Lorenzo. By telling her story, she sees others open up and ask for help or become motivated to contact community leaders. Testifying at the EPA hearing this week, Bedoya continues to educate and be an example for others to come forward.
“I’m speaking up for my son, my neighbors, and everyone who deserves a safe, livable future,” she said.
Three questions with: Teen inventor Finnegan McGill
To honor his German grandfather, Tanque Verde High School senior Finnegan McGill channeled him.
For his eighth grade science fair project, Finnegan thought of his grandpa thousands of miles away and how he tracked and logged birds. To help with this endeavor, Finnegan worked in his backyard to invent A-BiRD: Automated Bird Recognition Device — Revolutionizing Ornithological Research for Global Bird Conservation.
The weatherproof box he created and perfected over the last four years can help researchers track bird migration while birds fly and sing overhead. It earned Finnegan a $25,000 Davidson Fellows scholarship, one of 21 given out nationwide to students under 18 this school year.
Also the student body president, Finnegan is pursuing a patent for his device. His college list includes the University of Arizona, Harvard, Cornell and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And although he was all about space as a kid, he is now leaning toward cancer research and possibly medical school, he said.
“I know I’m the bird guy and I really do like birds,” he said, but he spent last summer as a breast cancer research intern at the UA.
“I definitely want to keep with the birds and ornithology part of it as a side hobby too, because I think that’s really important.”
Three questions for Finnegan as we caught up with him during a lunch break this week:
Q: Can you describe your invention?
I basically coded a computer with two microphones on it. It’s called a Raspberry Pi, a really small computer and I hooked up two microphones and I had them recording over a long period of time.
The computer will capture the bird songs as birds are singing or flying overhead. The audio signals from these birds are audio waves, which will travel and hit one microphone before the other. It’s not instantaneous. And it’ll have a delay between the microphones and I’ll calculate the delay and then it can tell you the direction of where that bird is. Then I took the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology’s BirdNET analyzer and I integrated that into my project. That’s basically an AI thing that’ll go through the audio and tell you exactly what bird it is.
Q: How do you escape academics and just chill out?
Athletics. I love sports. For school, I do cross country, soccer, and track. Then outside of school, I do Korean martial arts and I’ve been doing that for eight years now. … I’ve been playing the piano for five years, but since I started the Southern Arizona Youth Symphony, I’ve been dabbling my way into some percussion instruments and basically doing a whole bunch of drums and symbols and xylophone. It’s actually really fun because it’s something new.
Q: What three words describe you?
Motivated, inclusive, respectful
Read more
🏫 Nogales school board contemplates lawsuit: The Nogales Unified Governing Board says it needs more time to explore suing the state of Arizona and the Auditor General over the millions of dollars it says it lost when the Santa Cruz County treasurer embezzled $38 million over a decade in the position before she resigned in April 2024.
🐘 Republican party chairwoman says more ESA program oversight is needed.
🧑🏽🏫 Super seven teachers: Seven Southern Arizona teachers are semifinalists for the Arizona Education Foundation’s teacher of the year. The winner is named in October.
💻 Online, 25-minute classes: Virtual school Novatio opened in Phoenix and offers shorter class-times, followed by clubs in the afternoon.
📣 Sound off about education: Are you a student, parent, teacher, or administrator? Tell us what’s working, what’s not and what/who matters to you.
💰 Someone lost $275,000: A former member of a Queen Creek parent-teacher organization says the money is missing.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print.
