consume or die

We spent our weekend at Folsom Lake. Folsom for those of you unfamiliar with California geography is near Sacramento, the state capital. To some it is an infamous place as it is the site of Folsom prison. To others it is a mecca in the middle of the Central Valley. Up until a few months ago, it was the site of booming real estate development. To many it looks indistinguishable from similar developments in Orange County. Irvinitis I call it. Now it is quickly becoming foreclosure city. Not Folsom per se, but all the communities around the lake.

Folsom Lake is very pretty, especially in Spring, before the heat sets in. Yesterday was a beautiful day to boot. A day you'd expect the lake to be very busy. However that turned out to be wrong. So, where were all those people ? No doubt a fair number had made the trek to Tahoe to take advantage of the snow. Yet, not everyone had left the area. Indeed, the parking lots at the countless malls were all filled to capacity.

From the looks of it, it appeared everyone was doing their patriotic duty. Consume or die. In an area hard hit by the lending disaster, consumerism was alive and well. Instead of taking advantage of the many recreation opportunities offered by the lake and the American River, overweight consumers were driving their SUV's to the mall. To be honest, I cannot be sure they were actually spending a lot of money. It has been said that most visitors these days look but don't buy. But what I can tell is that many were strolling or driving around eating donuts and ice cream, despite their already oversized girth.

The influence of continuous advertising is clearly visible. What compels people to spend their time in shopping centers on a sunny weekend day is beyond me. Why they would want to sit inside dark movie theaters when they could be biking, running, or walking is equally puzzling. And why they need to always be eating or drinking high fructose corn syrup (aka soda) is another mystery. Not surprisingly, Folsom Lake is an area where few if any normal-weight people live. Being overweight and obese is so prevalent here, that the normal look skinny in comparison.

Driving through these endless housing developments, with their cookie-cutter McMansions, wide four lane roads, and ubiquitous strip malls makes me wonder how long this madness will last. Here we are in the middle of a near-desert, where temperatures are oven-like for three seasons, and freezing in winter, and we see nothing but 4,000+ sq foot homes with technicolor green lawns. The amount of energy and water needed to sustain all this is staggering. Unfortunately, most of it seems to go to waste for no good reason. I wonder what it will look like a 100 years from now.