Thursday, November 17, 2005

Sprawl

We had a long night last night. The first delivery tooks us 85 miles away, out through what used to be almost exclusively agricultural land. Only a few years ago the night time scenery on Highway 5 through the Central Valley was limited to the reach of your headlights, the brief flash from passing tractor-trailers and the occasional oasis of lights from tiny communities floating in the ocean of dark. Drivers had to make sure they could make it from rest area to rest area for pit stops and there was enough fuel to get to the next truck stop - spaced 60 miles or more apart. Now, the fields are being converted to housing developments and industrial parks. There are still sections of the highway that are perfumed by the unmistakable yet invisible presence of cattle and the periodic trace of offended or amorous skunk. However, the fields are sprouting dwellings, not crops.

This has been one of the major food producing areas of the country. If we continue to convert the fields to housing, where will the food come from?

Thoughts that come to the 2am driver.

No comments: