Brown is the color of my city's air
Her highways are beyond compare
The SUVs and the mini-vans
Have fouled the earth on which she stands....<
One problem with driving to work circling around the city is that you get such a
nice view of the brown cloud that sometimes hangs over it. I saw a noticeable one
the other day, but last night we got a tasty little thunderstorm which cleared the
air out nicely. I love the smell of ozone and wet desert -with luck we'll get more
tonight.
The good thing about driving on a highway circling outside town is the views of
mountains and desert. Yesterday I was depressed to notice that one area I pass is
about to be built on. The consolation is that it's not virgin desert; instead of
saguaros and mesquite trees, it's covered with lage more-or-less evenly spaced
bare bushes. (Creosote?) I think that means it's been grazed or farmed. It's had
something done to it, anyway, because that's just not the shape of untouched land
here. Still, I'd rather see mountains over second growth than catch a tiny glumpse
of them between big-box stores.
There are a lot of things I like about Phoenix. That's one reason I want to leave
it. This is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country and there are already
way too many people for the land (water and air) to support. There are plenty of
people who come here and oppose "sprawl" and growth, which is much like saying, "I
moved in but no one else should." I don't want to be one of them. If I want this
town to prosper, the best I can do for it is leave.