Businesses and global warming changing the face of America
Student chefs in Colorado during a cooking competition. The economy of the state is far much better than that of Kansas. PHOTO | ALEX WONG |
What you need to know:
- Climate change is everywhere in the mountains.
- While fishing on the Big Thompson River, I could not keep mosquitoes away.
America’s business and landscape is changing and there’s no better way to see this than while on vacation.
On my way across the middle section of my country, I found familiar businesses closed and new ones opening. Climate change is also impacting heavily on the US.
The highway to the cool Rocky Mountains in Colorado was once populated with discount malls that lured travellers into stores with promises of discounts from well-known retailers.
The stores are gone. New discount malls have sprung up on the edges of big cities, where they can take advantage of transient and resident shoppers.
A pattern of electricity producing windmills has grown astronomically. At some stretches on the highway in the Great Plains, I counted up to 100 and then gave up.
The problem with wind power is storage. Not all of it can be used or transported.
But that will no doubt change with advances occurring in Japan, Germany and China.
I saw far more windmills than oil derricks, which once populated the great wheal fields by the hundreds.
POLICY FAILED
Upon entering Kansas, I saw signs advertising teaching jobs in nearby states. The Kansas governor recently instituted a tax policy to lure new businesses, but it has failed.
The result has meant a shortage of money for the state budget. Large school districts in Kansas are laying off teachers and downsizing. Adjoining states are taking advantage by offering higher pay and benefits.
In Colorado, the economy is better. In the Rocky Mountains, hiking trails are full of visitors. It’s a reflection of the popularity of America’s parks and the economic recovery.
Hotels are packed. I drove through several towns with “no vacancy” signs. I stayed about 40 miles south of Denver in a Chinese-owned hotel. It only had three vacancies when I pulled in.
Climate change is everywhere in the mountains. Beetles, which once could not survive the winter, are working year-round on the pines. Dead trees make landslides more likely, and I saw lakes that were completely filled in by rocks that had fallen from the hillsides. Frequent and harsh rains have made the situation more dangerous.
While fishing on the Big Thompson River, I could not keep mosquitoes away.
In years past, there were few bugs. Now, the mosquitoes are flying to over 8,000 feet. They are climbing to reach water that’s not available at lower altitudes.
The rains have produced more elk and deer, and it’s not unusual to see flocks of wild turkeys in the morning and afternoon.
Signs are up everywhere warning of bears.
Might this be a snapshot of the future: More people, bugs and animals inhabiting an endangered landscape?
