« Monday Gumpagraph | Main | Congressional Staffers Routinely Edit Wikipedia Entries »

January 30, 2006

Skiing In The Desert Peak Oil

A reader sent me a set of photos that are, I think, a pretty near-perfect metaphor for where humanity stands at present. And we need all the metaphors we can get.

The photos depict an indoor ski slope built in the middle of the desert in the oil kingdom of Dubai — yes, it's for real. Click on any of the images to see a page of the full-size versions.

Dubai is swimming in oil — for now — so they can afford to build this thing in the middle of a 120-degree desert. But it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see what a crazy, doomed, obscenely wasteful project it is. How long before it's just an abandoned, rusting hulk? How long before the children and grandchildren of Dubai curse their forebears for pissing away their irreplaceable inheritance?

We have no trouble seeing the craziness of this thing. But how different is it, really, from building air-conditioned cities in the Arizona desert? Cities filled with high-rises whose windows cannot be opened? Suburbs with 50-mile commutes?

Skiing in the desert.

[Thanks, Clay]

Posted by Jonathan at January 30, 2006 09:52 PM  del.icio.us digg NewsVine Reddit YahooMyWeb

Comments

I figured it was Las Vegas, they're really behind the curve on this one! I don't have a problem with it Johnathan. Are todays young people bemoaning the outrageous sums of money we wasted sending 4 people to the moon for no other reason than to say "we can"?

Posted by: throwaway at January 31, 2006 10:45 AM

On Thursday I have every intention of taking my child to an indoor soccer field right here in Middleton, WI and paying $3 to let him run around and scream his 2-year old head off. I'm going to sip a latte and watch him kick a ball without freezing.

I'm not going to feel guilty either!

Posted by: Charyn at January 31, 2006 08:59 PM