Grand Central

Los Angeles is often the straw man when you read about California’s environmental problems.  The left screams bloody murder at the thought of offshore drilling.  Conservative farmers ask why “their” water is going to swimming pools in Southern California.  LA = smog, which is the view of many people, including one former college pal who stopped contacting me when I challenged her view that there’s so much more to LA than smog.  Oh, and the San Pedro Bay is a Superfund site.  I can go on and on and on about the Southland.  But there’s another environmental disaster underway in the Golden State.

California’s Central Valley is the country’s breadbasket, but may be going to hell in a hand basket.  Towns such as Arvin and Taft are amongst the most polluted areas in the USA with respiratory illnesses and birth defect rates disturbingly rising.  Charming retro towns like Fresno and Modesto have replaced farmland with McMansions and big box stores.  Even when I lived and studied in Fresno, rare was the day when I could see the stunning Sierra Nevada Mountains.  And back then, talk of toxins such as selenium building up in the soil was a constant topic in the local newspapers.

I was reminded about all of this when I drove up the San Joaquin Valley on I-5 to visit my parents.  I’ve always loathed the drive, but flying is not the most eco-conscious means of travel, and I had the dog with me.  As I navigated the 200 or so miles towards CA-152, there were huge swaths of barren land screaming “Congress Created Dust Bowl.”  Bitterness rages in Fresno County, where farmers have had to let orchards and farms whither because there’s less water to go around.  I also passed the cattle range region, known in vegetarian circles as “Cowschwitz.” Meanwhile, the heat beat down on my car at a ferocious 110 degrees.  We can’t forget that this region was once known as the great California desert before the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers’ delta region became the source of irrigation that waters crops from cotton to tomatoes to melons.

I was relieved to go finally get off the 5 for 152 West . . . I’ve always loved driving by the San Luis Reservoir, but sighed when I saw how alarmingly low its water levels had receded.

There’s no easy answer.  We cannot let this region collapse, nor should smug Bay Area or Southland residents smirk the Central Valley.  Despite the recent housing market meltdown, families still move here for the lower cost of living.  Fresno County is agricultural powerhouse that employs countless people.  Merced shows promise as the home of the newest University of California campus.

I don’t know what the answers are, but my family roots are here and I want this area to thrive.  We’ve got to encourage farmers to use more effective means of irrigation, which in the long haul would only let them thrive—and therefore not encourage them to trade their land for awfully built homes.  Fresno needs to get out of the stranglehold of residential land developers.  Local universities should make more of an effort to incubate more businesses so this heartland can become more economically diversified.  And perhaps residents should pay more for water:  I could never understand why lawns in Fresno could be so green while those in San Jose and Los Angeles have, well, more tan in them.

The answers aren’t easy, but I know the Central Valley has so much potential.  The rows of trees in its orchards are fragrant in spring, the old neighborhoods such as the Tower District are charming, and the foothills of the Sierras are peaceful.  But I cringe when I think of its future.