Category: Population

Related directly to population issues.

Categories
biodiversity Global Climate Change Population

Pity the Poor Pika

Earlier this month I went where I had been told that there were pikas, the cold-loving relatives of rabbits, near the Wolf Creek Ski Area. I saw one little critter harvesting grasses for the winter. How much longer would this animal be able to live there before he gets roasted-out by climate change?

Even before climate change makes his rock pile too hot, my little friend will probably be rousted out by human incursion. His home is close to the proposed and hotly contested “Village” at Wolf Creek.

Wolf Creek is already suffering from climate change; bark beetles are destroying the spruces. In places, all the mature trees look dead. The only green trees are small; it will be decades before the forest is healthy again, if ever.

Billionaire “Red” McCombs’ money bought 288 acres of land just north of the ski area. For 25 years his people have been trying to make that land into a lucrative venture. They want to build a city there that would dwarf Pagosa Springs on one side of the pass and South Fork on the other. In fact, if McCombs got his way, with the “maximum density development concept” the “Village” would be almost four times the population of both those communities combined!

Let’s look at the practicalities of building a recreational city just below the most dangerous pass in Colorado. The first problem is access. There is only a single lane forest road leading from highway 160 to the parcel. The Forest Service is considering a proposal by McCombs’ people to trade some of his land for land along the highway. His stingy offer is to trade 178 acres of his land for 204 acres of public property.

The closest commercial airports are Durango and Alamosa, each about an hour and a half away with good road conditions. Stevens Field in Pagosa is closer, but doesn’t have commercial flights because it is beset by mountains and bad weather.

The infrastructure for a posh resort is also problematic. The current electric grid is not sufficient to supply the proposed resort. There are no natural gas lines up there, but apparently the plan is to truck in natural gas. Gas might be used for generating electricity as well as for heat during the subzero winter nights. It might be practical to get big trucks up there in the summer, but unreliable in the winter when most needed. Although there is adequate water, the “Village” would require a completely reliable wastewater treatment plant that can function in arctic conditions. A malfunction would pollute the headwaters of the Rio Grande River and a beautiful trout lake, Alberta Park Reservoir, below this pipedream.

Health is the most important reason I hope that the “Village” doesn’t get built. This beautiful parcel of land at 10,400 feet would be a magnet for rich people from sea level. Most of these tourists would fly in and drive rental cars directly to the “Village”. We locals are accustomed to high altitude, but many of these visitors, especially the obese and elderly, will encounter problems. Some will have to drive to lower altitudes, but a few will become acutely and critically ill. They will have to be evacuated by ambulance or helicopter, but there are times when access by either will be impossible. The closest hospital is in Pagosa Springs, over half an hour drive with good road conditions, but it doesn’t have an ICU.

Mr. McCombs must be a clever person to have gotten so rich. I am sure that he has hired a first-rate staff to look at the problems of building the “Village”. I can only surmise that they are familiar with all the problems mentioned above. Perhaps Mr. McCombs just doesn’t want to admit that it is impractical to make a resort out of his 288 acres in Mineral County.

In order to get direct access to the highway, McCombs has offered the above unequal trade. Not only does this deal seem unfair, it would also bring the “Village” a step closer to reality. The Forest Service is accepting comments on this proposal. I suggest that you learn about the possible land exchange and send your comments about the Village at Wolf Creek Access Project to: comments-rocky-mountain-rio-grande@fs.fed.us. The deadline is October first. I hope that you will agree with me that the Forest Service would be wisest to choose “NO ACTION” as the best possibility for us, for the health of possible visitors—and for my pika friend.

© Richard Grossman MD, 2012

 

Categories
Family Planning Population

Broadcast this Message

We were leaving one of Durango’s fine restaurants when the maître d’ engaged me in conversation.
“Aren’t you the person who writes for the newspaper?”
“Yes” I replied.
Then he said something such as “Thank you for writing what you do. It is an important message that most people are afraid to talk about.”
People greet me this way once or twice a month. It is encouraging to get positive feedback from people I don’t know, but who recognize me from the picture in the Herald.
This sort of encounter is heartening for several reasons. It means that people still do read newspapers, historically a vital means of communication and education. It means that I am not the only one in Durango who worries about overpopulation. Most of all, this sort of unsolicited contact shows that we belong to a friendly community.
In one form or another “Population Matters!” has appearing in the Durango Herald for 17 years. Sometimes I have strayed from the topic. I remember a message from my very tolerant editor, Bill Roberts: “stick to the subject.” Yet he has put up with articles that have nothing to do with population, but are about some of my local heroes—Linda Mack, Joe Fowler, Sister Sharon Ekler. In the past I have thanked the Herald for their support in publishing these articles—probably the only regular column on population issues in the world—and I would like to thank them again.
Not only has the Herald printed these columns, but also they have allowed me to own the articles’ copyrights. They have encouraged me to distribute the articles wherever I want. So far, this effort hasn’t been too successful, however.
You can go to the website, www.population-matters.org and find many of the older pieces. I have been lazy at keeping the blog up to date, however. You will find occasional announcements there, too. One notice is a request for subscriptions to the listserv. That way people outside of Durango who don’t subscribe to the Herald can read the columns after they are published.
If you know of anyone who shares a concern about our increasing numbers, and if they would like to get monthly emails with these essays, have them contact me. The best email is: subscribe@population-matters.org. Over a hundred people are now on that listserv from several different countries. Indeed, this growing list makes my regular email account balk at sending messages to so many people.
The preeminent British organization concerned about human population recently changed their name to “Population Matters”. They were kind enough to warn me, and we have agreed to cooperate. Their web address is the same as mine, but without the hyphen. Therefore be careful of that little symbol or you may end up on the wrong side of the Atlantic!
My efforts at reaching large numbers of people about this most important subject are, I admit, amateurish. As many people as possible need to understand that we are using more of the Earth’s resources than is sustainable. Education is the only way we can find a solution to this immense problem.
One friend has an idea of reaching more people in the USA with a mass advertising campaign. It would take a huge amount of money just to design, let alone execute, such a program. Do you know any billionaires who would like to help?
Another friend has brought subtle health education to multiple countries. Bill Ryerson’s Population Media Center promotes radio and TV programs with a message. The Center promote health and family planning through serial dramas (soap operas). They have been shown by scientific studies to be effective in educating and changing attitudes, including about safe sex where HIV is prevalent.
The message about small families has hit Brazil in a big way—but it is unintentional. The average Brazilian woman will have less than two children; the total fertility rate is just 1.9. How did this happen? Everyone watches TV in Brazil, and family shows are very popular. It is difficult to manage lots of kids on a TV set, so show writers have unwittingly set the standard of family size!
Human population growth is the cause of many of the world’s problems—climate change, pollution, extinction of species and probably even our current drought. I believe that people will change their lifestyles and decrease their desired family size if they understand the connection between population and global problems. Please help broadcast this important message!
© Richard Grossman MD, 2012