Way back when, when I was young and dumb and optimistically naive (5 years ago) I truly believed Americans would wake up, face the water and climate crisis, and start making changes. Oh, sweet summer's child! Oh, foolish dreamer!
It was not to be and never will. We seem determined to run headlong into that tall and thick brick wall some call reality. We seem determined to push it - not to the cliffs edge but over the edge. We seem determined to condemn our grandchildren to some fresh apocalypse simply to maintain the fantasy of limitless growth among the grinding desert sands.
I suspect the Four Corners states will continue to react to their shrinking amount of water much as Texas has to its overabundance of water this week … not until after catastrophe hits. The behavior pattern seems to be wired into our species.
In Imperial County, 130,000 acres is in fruit, veg, etc, which benefits from the warm southern CA climate, but 250,000 acres plus is in hay/alfalfa/grass. There is no need to "preserve farmland" or whatever related rallying cries are saying about fallowing for solar there or elsewhere. Not a whole lotta farmworkers laid off if 20,000 of that turns into 5000 MW of solar. Milk is bad for most of us anyway, and there is nothing wrong with concentrating it into cheese in Wisconsin or Oregon and hauling it to the SW for our pizzas and enchiladas.
Also in a Western coal or nuke power plant about a half gallon of water is evaporated for every kWh generated. A little math shows that for each acre in solar substituting for our old coal plants is reducing that evaporated water by 3/4 of an acre foot in addition to the two acre feet avoided by fallowing. Already reduced use of water at coal power plants basin wide has been one item actually delaying the day of CO river water reckoning.
And wells to disguise river water use. Will we ever learn? It's like building on sand barrier islands. Didn't I hear this was a bad idea in 1970?
Confession: I love Kanab! For sentimental reasons. My husband and I got married there while on a 900-ish mile trek across Utah at the Kane County court house, by Judge Gary Johnson. I couldn't help myself at the time and explained to Judge Johnson that we were getting married THERE because of our love of Utah's public lands. (The geologic formations of Kane County continue to embody some of the places we love most on this magnificent ball of water and rock we call Earth.) When my partner initially suggested getting married in Kanab, I wasn't so sure I wanted to support the regional economy; given all sorts of things that happen in and around the county (no, not just the practice in the towns a little further to the west, but ordinances that were anti-LGBTQIA+). However, conversations with some locals and business owners over a couple of rest days and hitches revealed their hypotheses that enterprises such as Best Friends were paving the way for a more diverse and inclusive community to grow in Kanab, little by little. Maybe that was too optimistic on their parts and mine, but that perspective tilted my scales into thinking it was okay to have a marriage certificate from Kane Co. on our fridge.
Now I'm wondering if that "growing diverse community mindset" somehow got squirted into a radioactive petri dish for gentrification; similar to how it seems to be happening in other communities around the West that appeal to target markets of upper income, outdoor enthusiasts. It also boggles my mind to think about how there's been a shortage of affordable workforce housing around Kanab for years (just sit in a coffee shop for an hour or so and listen to locals chat) and now most of the housing that gets built is for luxury vacation homes. Oh, and developers are sourcing water that probably took a very long time to pool underground. Sigh. 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Gentrification is, indeed, a weird phenomenon. It seems that the folks who are most opposed to gentrification are also the ones who often spark and enable it (in the sense that they are the ones who bring art and culture and amenities to backwater places first, in part because they are remote and more affordable). That is to say, the "diverse community" folks clear the way for gentrification, but when it starts to manifest they are also leading the fight to stop it. Problem is, by then it's usually too late ...
Damn! It's been awhile since I've been to Kanab, but not all THAT long. I really used to like it. A pub in a Mormon town even. Small, cute, outdoorsy, affordable. I guess that was then and this is now. I'll go through Kanab, but not TO Kanab. Bummer. People with money...there's not much they don't buck up.
It depends on what you mean by all of that. Certainly the amenities economy is extractive, and Kanab is charging headfirst into the amenities economy. At the same time, it's surrounded by BLM land, which seems to be heading back to the Bureau of Livestock and Mining days, so that's another form of extraction that could return to the area (if there are resources to be profitably recovered).
My meaning is purely conventional. The service economy of the 90’s, touted as a kinder, gentler savior if not redeemer of the region turned out, (without qualifying) pretty rapacious itself. On top of it now a revival of mining and drilling, the conventional industrial extractors.
One can just as well speculate - in a self-reflective kind of way - that if well regulated and integrated mining, drilling and grazing industries had been maintained, instead of displaced to where oversight is lacking, (Mordor), it’s plausible this may have indirectly kept industrial tourism and outdoors adventurism’s in check. Conversely, miners and drillers are not so bothered by river rafters and bicyclists.
Great points and question. I often wonder about that same thing. Moab started building its recreational/amenities/tourism economy back in the 1950s and 1960s, but it really took off after the uranium industry died in the 1980s (which also coincided with the advent of mountain bikes), when locals needed a new economy. Silverton, Colorado's housing prices were "normal" until the mine shut down in 1992, then prices crashed for about five or six years, before rebounding into the stratosphere after other forms of economy (including second-home ownership) were established. There seems to be a similar dynamic in Page and in the Farmington area.
But did that happen because miming/extraction kept the "beautiful people" at bay, because they didn't want to live next to a mine (or a miner, for that matter)? Or did it happen because with mining, the communities didn't need tourism as much, and so didn't try to develop that economy as much? Or a bit of both?
And what will happen to the amenities/service economies if mining returns in a big way? I think we may get our answer in Moab, where there may be a bit of a uranium mining renaissance paired with lithium and potash extraction -- as well as some oil and gas drilling. We also may get an answer from Farmington, which is trying to build an outdoor-recreation economy, and that includes a bunch of mountain bike trails through the oil and gas fields. I happen to like the trails down there, and am not bothered by running past a pumpjack (though I try not to linger, given the possibility of hydrogen sulfide leaks). But I can only speak for myself.
It is interesting that there is currently a massive cleanup of radioactive uranium mill tailings at the entrance to Moab and Arches National Park and right next to the bike path that sends folks out to trails, and it seems not to have deterred anyone. So I do wonder whether industrialization really would hamper industrial tourism.
If the acceleration of global heating continues much longer, the Four Corners may become unhabitable nine months of the year. The gentry better invest in heavy duty air-conditioning.
Regretfully, I don't spend as much time in canyon country as I used to do since age is catching up with me. That may be just as well as I remember how wonderful it was before it became the target of a huge advertising campaign to flood it with tourists. The locals have never understood its special nature, and only perceived it as a way to make money or graze cows. It deserves much better treatment than that.
Thanks for the informative report and the beautiful photographs – you have an artist’s eye Jonathan.
Your report that high levels of cyanotoxins have been found at the mouth of Antelope Canyon on Lake Powell is interesting. The result from toxic biosynthesis of the cyanobacteria (blue/green algae) can be harmful for animals and humans. But let’s also remember that such bacteria produce numerous bioactive compounds that have been shown in recent medical research to be useful in the treatment of various cancers and tumors. Also, there are many of the bioactive compounds derived from cyanobacteria that are used in pharmaceuticals, food and energy. I am not saying that cyanotoxins in Lake Powell are a good thing but that cyanobacteria can produce substances that are extremely useful to mankind.
This put me in a very disturbed headspace. I cannot for the life of me comprehend how this is going to work out and emanate “luxury.” I’ll just keep watching the show while wandering by on foot.
Way back when, when I was young and dumb and optimistically naive (5 years ago) I truly believed Americans would wake up, face the water and climate crisis, and start making changes. Oh, sweet summer's child! Oh, foolish dreamer!
It was not to be and never will. We seem determined to run headlong into that tall and thick brick wall some call reality. We seem determined to push it - not to the cliffs edge but over the edge. We seem determined to condemn our grandchildren to some fresh apocalypse simply to maintain the fantasy of limitless growth among the grinding desert sands.
Alas.
Brilliant and brilliantly expressed
I suspect the Four Corners states will continue to react to their shrinking amount of water much as Texas has to its overabundance of water this week … not until after catastrophe hits. The behavior pattern seems to be wired into our species.
In Imperial County, 130,000 acres is in fruit, veg, etc, which benefits from the warm southern CA climate, but 250,000 acres plus is in hay/alfalfa/grass. There is no need to "preserve farmland" or whatever related rallying cries are saying about fallowing for solar there or elsewhere. Not a whole lotta farmworkers laid off if 20,000 of that turns into 5000 MW of solar. Milk is bad for most of us anyway, and there is nothing wrong with concentrating it into cheese in Wisconsin or Oregon and hauling it to the SW for our pizzas and enchiladas.
Also in a Western coal or nuke power plant about a half gallon of water is evaporated for every kWh generated. A little math shows that for each acre in solar substituting for our old coal plants is reducing that evaporated water by 3/4 of an acre foot in addition to the two acre feet avoided by fallowing. Already reduced use of water at coal power plants basin wide has been one item actually delaying the day of CO river water reckoning.
And wells to disguise river water use. Will we ever learn? It's like building on sand barrier islands. Didn't I hear this was a bad idea in 1970?
Confession: I love Kanab! For sentimental reasons. My husband and I got married there while on a 900-ish mile trek across Utah at the Kane County court house, by Judge Gary Johnson. I couldn't help myself at the time and explained to Judge Johnson that we were getting married THERE because of our love of Utah's public lands. (The geologic formations of Kane County continue to embody some of the places we love most on this magnificent ball of water and rock we call Earth.) When my partner initially suggested getting married in Kanab, I wasn't so sure I wanted to support the regional economy; given all sorts of things that happen in and around the county (no, not just the practice in the towns a little further to the west, but ordinances that were anti-LGBTQIA+). However, conversations with some locals and business owners over a couple of rest days and hitches revealed their hypotheses that enterprises such as Best Friends were paving the way for a more diverse and inclusive community to grow in Kanab, little by little. Maybe that was too optimistic on their parts and mine, but that perspective tilted my scales into thinking it was okay to have a marriage certificate from Kane Co. on our fridge.
Now I'm wondering if that "growing diverse community mindset" somehow got squirted into a radioactive petri dish for gentrification; similar to how it seems to be happening in other communities around the West that appeal to target markets of upper income, outdoor enthusiasts. It also boggles my mind to think about how there's been a shortage of affordable workforce housing around Kanab for years (just sit in a coffee shop for an hour or so and listen to locals chat) and now most of the housing that gets built is for luxury vacation homes. Oh, and developers are sourcing water that probably took a very long time to pool underground. Sigh. 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Gentrification is, indeed, a weird phenomenon. It seems that the folks who are most opposed to gentrification are also the ones who often spark and enable it (in the sense that they are the ones who bring art and culture and amenities to backwater places first, in part because they are remote and more affordable). That is to say, the "diverse community" folks clear the way for gentrification, but when it starts to manifest they are also leading the fight to stop it. Problem is, by then it's usually too late ...
Damn! It's been awhile since I've been to Kanab, but not all THAT long. I really used to like it. A pub in a Mormon town even. Small, cute, outdoorsy, affordable. I guess that was then and this is now. I'll go through Kanab, but not TO Kanab. Bummer. People with money...there's not much they don't buck up.
The comment section in the youtube video seems to to agree with your sentiments.
So you think the area/region is heading from pristine to extraction, through service to the service & extraction economy?
It depends on what you mean by all of that. Certainly the amenities economy is extractive, and Kanab is charging headfirst into the amenities economy. At the same time, it's surrounded by BLM land, which seems to be heading back to the Bureau of Livestock and Mining days, so that's another form of extraction that could return to the area (if there are resources to be profitably recovered).
My meaning is purely conventional. The service economy of the 90’s, touted as a kinder, gentler savior if not redeemer of the region turned out, (without qualifying) pretty rapacious itself. On top of it now a revival of mining and drilling, the conventional industrial extractors.
One can just as well speculate - in a self-reflective kind of way - that if well regulated and integrated mining, drilling and grazing industries had been maintained, instead of displaced to where oversight is lacking, (Mordor), it’s plausible this may have indirectly kept industrial tourism and outdoors adventurism’s in check. Conversely, miners and drillers are not so bothered by river rafters and bicyclists.
Great points and question. I often wonder about that same thing. Moab started building its recreational/amenities/tourism economy back in the 1950s and 1960s, but it really took off after the uranium industry died in the 1980s (which also coincided with the advent of mountain bikes), when locals needed a new economy. Silverton, Colorado's housing prices were "normal" until the mine shut down in 1992, then prices crashed for about five or six years, before rebounding into the stratosphere after other forms of economy (including second-home ownership) were established. There seems to be a similar dynamic in Page and in the Farmington area.
But did that happen because miming/extraction kept the "beautiful people" at bay, because they didn't want to live next to a mine (or a miner, for that matter)? Or did it happen because with mining, the communities didn't need tourism as much, and so didn't try to develop that economy as much? Or a bit of both?
And what will happen to the amenities/service economies if mining returns in a big way? I think we may get our answer in Moab, where there may be a bit of a uranium mining renaissance paired with lithium and potash extraction -- as well as some oil and gas drilling. We also may get an answer from Farmington, which is trying to build an outdoor-recreation economy, and that includes a bunch of mountain bike trails through the oil and gas fields. I happen to like the trails down there, and am not bothered by running past a pumpjack (though I try not to linger, given the possibility of hydrogen sulfide leaks). But I can only speak for myself.
It is interesting that there is currently a massive cleanup of radioactive uranium mill tailings at the entrance to Moab and Arches National Park and right next to the bike path that sends folks out to trails, and it seems not to have deterred anyone. So I do wonder whether industrialization really would hamper industrial tourism.
Thanks!
Yes, I remember my mother dropping us at her parents on her way to raft Cataract Canyon in the 1960s.
If the acceleration of global heating continues much longer, the Four Corners may become unhabitable nine months of the year. The gentry better invest in heavy duty air-conditioning.
Regretfully, I don't spend as much time in canyon country as I used to do since age is catching up with me. That may be just as well as I remember how wonderful it was before it became the target of a huge advertising campaign to flood it with tourists. The locals have never understood its special nature, and only perceived it as a way to make money or graze cows. It deserves much better treatment than that.
Thanks for the informative report and the beautiful photographs – you have an artist’s eye Jonathan.
Your report that high levels of cyanotoxins have been found at the mouth of Antelope Canyon on Lake Powell is interesting. The result from toxic biosynthesis of the cyanobacteria (blue/green algae) can be harmful for animals and humans. But let’s also remember that such bacteria produce numerous bioactive compounds that have been shown in recent medical research to be useful in the treatment of various cancers and tumors. Also, there are many of the bioactive compounds derived from cyanobacteria that are used in pharmaceuticals, food and energy. I am not saying that cyanotoxins in Lake Powell are a good thing but that cyanobacteria can produce substances that are extremely useful to mankind.
This put me in a very disturbed headspace. I cannot for the life of me comprehend how this is going to work out and emanate “luxury.” I’ll just keep watching the show while wandering by on foot.