I’m in Vegas this week for work. I got in this afternoon and I’m here until Saturday morning. It’s been almost a decade since the last time I was here. And yeah, it’s pretty much just like I remember.
I flew through LAX and so came in on a prop plane and got a nice long, low look at the valley before we landed. I was struck by how big it is, this unsustainable city in the desert.
And while I didn’t see a single green lawn on the way in to my hotel on the strip, it’s still an awful lot of water and imported food required to keep a city this size running. And since it’s also a city mainly full of business travelers this week (there are two large conferences in progress) you get the impression that no one else is even concerned.
And yeah, I didn’t realize how much it was going to bother me to be here. But it does. A lot. I’m going to try to minimize my impact this week, but that’s hard when you’re at the mercy of a jam packed tradeshow schedule for 4 days. But I’ll do my best.
*****
Possibly Related posts (newest to oldest):
I know what you mean. I flew in and out of Vegas this August, and I was very, very happy that I wasn’t staying. It made my heart sink to see all those lawns and pools, and then fly over the Hoover Dam and see how much the water level in Lake Mead has dropped. I had a physical, emotional reaction to be looking down on all that.
I was happy to get back to my little corner of the world where I have my own well and water is plentiful. I do believe, though, that water will be a national crisis for us, sooner than we think…and Vegas and southern California will be coming for my water!
Ouch. It really is a different world there, isn’t it. I haven’t been to Vegas in many years, and with the perspective I have now I doubt I’d enjoy it much. I’m sure if there is a way to make less of an impact this week, you’ll find it.
I’m right there with you. I hate going to LV for conventions and meetings. And there is at least one per year that I have to attend. I spend a lot of time walking around people watching but it’s a little hard to watch all the waste when we work so hard to be sustainable. It’s kind of culture shock the first time it happens and I wasn’t really expecting to be so resentful that first time. Then it just turned to being sick in my heart over it.
Driving in is the worst!! All that garbage everywhere! Ugh…
Get back home soon!!
Vegas is a bad acid trip. I’ll be there next weekend for my brother’s bachelor party. What I remember from my last visit years ago was all the bored kids sitting around the rooftop pool, having already played Marco Polo for 72 straight hours while their parents blew the vacation money on one-armed bandits. Truly a sad spectacle. We got out of there asap and hit the real desert.
[...] Hennery hits Vegas and questions the city’s [...]