Viva Las Vegas?

The week before last, I traveled to Las Vegas for the annual Progressive States Network/EARN conference for state legislators. It was a great event - lots of terrific legislators are planning to do a lot of really progressive things in the upcoming legislative sessions. But as I say in my new newspaper column this week, I left struck by the city of Las Vegas itself - and specifically struck by how it is such a perfect symbol for the predicament our country now faces.

Vegas* is a monument to our nation's environmental and economic hubris - and gluttony. It is the product of our long-held "what me, worry?" attitude about things like energy and water, its lights helping make Nevada the fastest growing carbon emitter in the country, its desert location threatening the existence of Lake Mead.

Likewise, Vegas' central industry - gambling - represents both desperation and the root core of what crushed our economy in the first place. People come to Vegas hoping beyond hope that they can bet their way out of economic pressure, and that gambling impulse is what now guides our financial industry towards catastrophe.

But the thing is, Vegas isn't just limited to Vegas - Vegas as a concept is people everywhere wasting energy in their homes, buying gas guzzlers, using too much water spending too much on credit and betting too big with their 401(k)'s. And so the question, as I say in the column, is whether we as a country can mature beyond that Vegas attitude during this moment of crisis? Are we ready for all the lifestyle and public policy sacrifices that this new era will demand? I think we are, but it's going to take a radical societal and legislative shifts.

Read the whole column here. Not surprisingly, it has elicited some angry responses from people who live in Vegas - such as this one in the Los Angeles Times that refuses to concede even the most basic point about the problem of fast-growing population centers in the most ecologically unsustainable environment's possible. But that' sto be expected - and if the column generates debate, then that's a good thing.

The column relies on grassroots support, so if you'd like to see my column regularly in your local paper, use this directory to find the contact info for your local editorial page editors. Get get in touch with them and point them to my Creators Syndicate site. Thanks, as always, for your ongoing readership and help contacting local editors. This column couldn't be what it is without your help.

* The best part about Vegas IMHO is that it is a major union success story in the service industry. While that doesn't negate my point about the entire concept and geography of Vegas, it is worth pointing out at this moment when the commentariat seems intent on bashing organized labor.

Comments

[sleepingtil08]

Vegas actually does a surprising job on water conservation. The Lake Mead problems are 2-fold (did you even read the article you linked to?): 1) The lake supplies Southern California, including San Diego and L.A.; Vegas' water usage is small in comparison.
2) Lack of snowfall. Last year the lake began a reversal due to an increase in the snowfall that feeds it. Hopefully, that will continue.

Re: the union: My gf got a job 5 years ago at the Bellagio front desk. The union harassed her relentlessly at work and home, even pasting signs to our front door, because she had the audacity to ask for more information before signing with them on day 1. In the end, she quit after 2 weeks because union people would follow her to her car at night, and she no longer felt safe. She never did get the literature she asked for.

Your article reads like the preconceptions of someone who visited here but never left the Strip (a miniscule part of the lives of Vegas residents). It's like visiting the La Brea tar pits and then bitching about how L.A. is surrounded by bubbling soil. Rather than calling for decent public transportation or bicycle routes (of course, not leaving the Strip you wouldn't know anything about that), you complain about gambling and water usage. Thanks.

By the way, David: Those unions you love so much only exist because of gambling.