Politicians and every day people alike in Nevada have stood by and watched their state crumble to the ground as the recession, heavy foreclosures and a dramatic slowdown in population growth choked tax revenue.

It’s no secret that the financial infrastructure of the state is overly reliant on gaming, tourism, and steady property values for the lion’s share of its general fund.

“Nevada markets itself as a place to escape reality, and Nevadans have been doing just that for, frankly, close to 150 years,” said Michael Green, a UNLV professor and Nevada state historian.

“It is time for us to grow up and face reality.”

Will crisis create an opportunity that policymakers can seize to make a dramatic shift away from the regressive and cyclical revenue streams that have run dry?

Any real movement toward change starts at the top and at the grassroots level, ending in a meet in the middle with a shared goal.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid has long been a proponent of making Nevada the nation’s leader in green energy. The sunshine that pounds the desert state more than 200 days of the year in some areas may in fact be in its most valuable untapped resource.

In a guest column he wrote for the Las Vegas Sun, Reid spoke openly to his constituents about the problems his state is facing and how to solve them.

“In the coming months we will continue to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and make Nevada a world leader in clean power and clean-energy jobs,” he wrote.

“Tapping into our state’s vast resources will create good-paying jobs in construction, manufacturing and engineering, and reverberate to countless other industries.”

It was Reid that organized the first National Clean Energy Summit last year in Nevada. Former president Bill Clinton gave a speech in which he suggested a state like Nevada could pave its own way to economic prosperity and blaze a trail for the rest of the country by becoming completely energy independent.