Glittering Place

Dec 20, 2010

Looking forward to watching the eclipse on Solstice in Snow Canyon, UT. However, I was able to celebrate the day in advance with my Sierra Club friend, Jane who lives here in Vegas and is one of the organizers of a solstice ritual with candles and chanting! Fantastic. I learned some new rituals for our Maine gathering.

I have been talking for years about touring the country, visiting Sierrans on the way. Maybe this is a start. Jane and I of course lamented about the sprawl, water use, and federal inertia re. GW etc. but spent most the of day hiking in the Red Rock Canyon, BLM conservation area. One would never believe that this exists so close to the glitter of LV. The amount of electricity used here is astounding. Hopefully there is a lot of LED usage.

This area is the Mohave Desert while Tucson was the Sanoran Desert. The Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is part of the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System which is a diverse program that incorporates Wild and Scenic Rivers Wilderness Areas etc. This program aims at protecting and restoring nationally significant landscapes, cultural, scientific and ecological valuable areas. It is home to among other creatures the threatened desert tortoise.

Lots of ads on TV about how to save water – “It’s a desert out there! Be water smart.” and retail air conditioning sales are promoting the federal tax refund for buying a new air conditioner. They figure is adds up to about $2500.

Yesterday on my own I drove the truck down to the Strip and drove the whole distance gawking at the shows on the walls of the hotel and the folks walking the streets. I felt very powerful in my huge truck among all the other tourist. They say that after Christmas the place explodes with more tourist. Actually the ads on TV for New Years looks kinda fun. I did a bit of walking to “enjoy” the BUILT and BRIGHT enviro. Went by the Hard Rock where we stayed a couple years ago after Thanksgiving. ONLY IN AMERICA!