It opened in 1931 and underwent a major renovation in 1997. Apparently, the water usage is sustainable (see below), but it still doesn't excuse the fact, in my mind, that continuing to support the upkeep of a green-ass golf course at the edge of Death Valley shows how out-of-whack its patrons are with the changing climate.
"In an area as hot and dry as Death Valley, balancing water usage with conservation requires significant planning. Furnace Creek and its namesake resort exist in their location because natural spring water flows from nearby mountain ranges to create an oasis. By routing the water from one point to others, the resort’s goal is to use the same molecules of water for several purposes. The spring-fed water is first used at the Inn to irrigate gardens and supply the swimming pool which was designed with a flow-through system that minimizes chemical use. That water then continues downhill to the Ranch where it fills the ponds on the golf course, providing habitat for local and migratory wildlife. The water in the ponds then irrigates the golf course." - How Xanterra’s Furnace Creek Resort is Sustainable, greenlodgingnews.com
You are mad and calling this dystopic but ... it's specifically been made to work in its location? Isn't this exactly what we want our environmental changes to support?
Shouldn't this be a sort of utopic example? "Look what we can do if we think carefully about interacting with our environment.'
If it's all lies or something, bring the evidence and I will be there supporting you. Otherwise, what is it you want, exactly?
It doesn't need to exist. It is a tourist location. That's why this is here. People charter flights to fly out to there to see Death Valley and play golf at the lowest golf course on Earth. I'm not discontent with a golf course being there, more that people insist on going to see the hottest place in the world and the driest place in North America because there's more to do that just say, "Hoo boy, sure is pretty and hot and pretty hot." It just adds to an ever-worsening climate. And, I know...corporations, not people, are mostly responsible for climate change...I get it. But surely there are better uses for this runoff water than a golf course.
Guess everyone should just stay home until the whole world is bland and homogeneous but equitable.
If the most reasonable way you can devise to have fun is to charter a flight to the desert and play golf, then I daresay you have a pitifully weak imagination.
You don't care about the environment. You hate golf. And you picked a site that does everything right and works with the local ecology. It's a VERY poor example.
If they built a McDonalds on the moon and called it “sustainable” you'd be out here defending it.
There is no amount of right for a golf course there. It's very existence is so wrong they cannot make it right.
It's pretty easy to hate golf when all I do is chop at grass and hurt my shoulders...
It's easy to hate golf when it's one of the most ecologically wasteful sports in existence.
Based
Not being able to empathize with people is a failure of your imagination, not theirs.
Correct. I cannot imagine how installing an air conditioned compound with a swimming pool and a golf course in the middle of the desert could be anything other than ecologically disastrous. But then again, I tend to be skeptical of marketing claims — unlike you, apparently.
I'll crap down anyone's throat if it means my life is just a little bit more comfortable. Thank you for empathizing with my plight and arguing that a golf course is more important than public green spaces.
So to be clear, unless you’re playing golf at the hottest location on earth, you must stay home? Solid reasoning.
You can also swim at the pool, that sounds like fun
... which is ironically a step towards the heat death of the universe
Wow, you managed to both misinterpret his dumb comment and misrepresent the second law of thermodynamics all in less than one sentence.
How shitty and bland is your home dude?
Yes. Those first few months of covid showed what we could accomplish if people got their heads of out their asses. Problem is, people like smelling their own shit too much.
How else are they supposed to know whether its good to eat or not.
Wouldn’t something like a botanical garden bring even a more diverse range of people therefore more of the issues you have with?
If anything a golf course limits the people there while providing this oasis that’s far more protected.
I never mentioned a botanical garden. The fact is that there are fewer than 15,000 people in that whole county, and almost 90% of the people who live in that town have jobs in accommodations, food service, or retail. The area was a curiosity, and then capitalism got a hold of it.
You said surely there are better uses, there are, but wouldn’t they bring in more traffic conversely though? No matter what you do, it would be a tourist destination almost definitely. So why not do something to effectively limit the the people that would go there, while also being a pseudo reserve.
So make traveling there more viable. I don't see an issue here tbh.
That kinda involves moving literal mountains, one of which is the highest point in the contiguous US
Well they've also denied an oasis to the entire local ecosystem. They can claim that golf course ponds fulfill the same purpose all they want but nothing wants to live next to golf carts and flying golf balls if it's big enough to recognize it. People think deserts are wastelands but in reality that water is even more critical because animals can't just pop a mile down to the next spot. Then there's the effect on local plants, they're diverting all of this water and they probably killed the entire local plant system.
Sustainability also means taking care to build in places you won't impact as much. There's no world in which growing grass in a desert is sustainable. It doesn't matter how much technology you throw at it unless you figure out how to get everything you need from the air itself.