I’ve reached Columbus, Ohio as of this evening and come down off of the Allegheny Plateau and out of the backwoods hills that dot its surface.
As the land flattens out the towns grow less sad, the farms more substantial, and the businesses are actually open and not boarded up. In the hills of eastern Ohio though the industry of choice is mining and hydraulic fracturing aka fracking. Halliburton just returned to eastern Ohio in 2011 to serve the reborn energy industry in the hills. Drill rigs dot the hill tops. Heavy construction equipment crawls across fields building new paths between sites and Halliburton trucks conveys blaze down two lane highways like carrion birds on the scent of a corpse.
I’m glad this depressed-appearing area has some industry, but the positive economic effects seem limited. I’m not sure the wages of a rig worker but they probably don’t compare to the Halliburton executives in Houston.
We have necessitated this second coming of energy exploration with our lifestyle demands for more cheap resources. Money that could have been spent on future fuels is used to develop new methods to pump every single last drop of fuel out of previously untappable sources with questionable environmental consequences.
When we built this American lifestyle after WWII with the advent of the interstate and suburb I wonder if we saw this challenge coming.
Now we have all this incredibly expensive infrastructure that supports a way of life that we can now see is not sustainable. We have to adapt or abandon current resources to support denser living.
We used to live that way. Ohio used to have a huge interurban electric rail network. Now they have this.
A true patriot will think of the good of his country before he chooses live in his own 3 bed, 3 bath, with a den, living room, dining room, breakfast nook, far away from his work requiring him to keep and drive a car that usually only holds him alone.
Unfortunately apartment living is looked down on by many and the housing stock outside of cities reflects this perception.
We need sweeping changes in perception and in the supply of housing to create a sustainable nation.
Happy Fourth of July!
Day 19
Day 20
3 Comments
Columbus, OH is about 1/2 way to Jeff City, MO from NYC. In fact, I think you have passed the 1/2 way point! I hope that you see some more encouraging activities and sights along the upcoming route.
Wonderful post for the 4th of July!! Have lived in the Midwest all of my life. Public transport is nil; would love to see the whole country hooked up with it. Thank you for addressing this. Continued safe travels!
What a great post! I look forward to talking with you over a milkshake and a walk or a sit-down to discuss sustainable living. One of my Eureka moments was when I wanted to make a beet and orange salad because I had my first home grown beets…it was summer in Kansas…I went to my local Dillon’s to buy an orange and the only ones I found were from New Zealand! Oranges were not in season! Just building the awareness and to use that awareness to make decisions is empowering! Thank you for helping to build that awareness!