PALM SPRINGS - UNSUSTAINABLE JOY

Have you ever flown across the USA and peered out the airplane window?  It is such a captivating experience to witness the change in landscape from one end of America to the other.  From east to west, you see change from forests to farms, mountains to canyons and deserts.

The strangest site however, is when flying over the dry and inhospitable desert and seeing a spec of green.  How did that get there?  Upon closer examination, you start to realize that this green spec in the middle of the desert is what some people consider an oasis – Palm Springs.  The home of retired stars, top notch vacation resorts and golf courses with the greenest and lush grass you will ever see.

What bothers me of Palm Springs is not the joy a place such as Palm Springs may bring to a vacationer or someone spending their final days in paradise, but the fact that mother nature is being squeezed beyond her needs to fuel our pleasure centric, leisure-filled lifestyles.  Although the city draws its water resources from its own underground aquifer, it still diverts water from the drying Colorado river and snow from mountain tops for replenishment.   Water stats show that the city consumes twice as much water compared to the average American city.  All in the name of unsustainable pleasantry.

As a society we should work towards understanding that our wants should not supersede the needs of others, especially when there are millions struggling for fresh water around the world.  Don’t get me wrong, no one is suggesting that tourism and leisure should be eradicated, but when there is draining on nature and the people in need of nature’s resources, maybe things should be re-assessed.