Why do so many people who
don't live in California spend so much time worrying about us?
I don't worry about Californians so much as puzzle about them.
Everything about California's natural history, geology, geography, and hydrology suggest that most of the state is unsuitable for human habitation and should never have been settled (other than for a small number of farmers to work the land). And yet not only has it been settled, but the very parts of the state that are most hostile to human habitation are also the parts that have been most densely settled, despite lacking even the most basic resource needed to sustain human life: water.
To me, that doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense. It seems nonsensical to me for people to insist on settling -- indeed, overpopulating -- a place whose entire natural history screams out that it doesn't want those people there. Never-ending earthquakes, tidal waves, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and droughts all scream out that most of California is not a place meant for people. What else does nature have to do to get that message across?
I mean, to me, it's pretty damned obvious that the only real problem California has is too many people in a place that is inherently inhospitable to humans; and that the only real solution is to move the people elsewhere. Get the people out of there, and nature will recover and will do just fine. Even the Delta Smelt will be happy.
But that won't happen because somewhere in the midst of the earthquakes, tidal waves, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and droughts, Californians have decided that they live in "Paradise," which is even more puzzling considering that "paradise" connotes a perfect place of perpetual peace and providence -- quite the opposite message from the one nature has been trying to send, to no avail.
So yes, I puzzle about Californians. But hey, to each his own. The people in California love where they live, and that's good. But it's a shame that they love their state so much that they're going to wind up killing it, rather than saving it by moving elsewhere.
Rich