A little lesson on Imperial County, and why living here is so difficult: I live in reclaimed desert. There is desert pavement covering loose sand outside of populated areas. Vehicles break up the top soil, loosening up the sand particles to fly in the prevailing winds. All the agriculture here generates massive amounts of pollen and loose plant fiber which easily becomes air borne. This is a desert valley that is below sea level. The evaporation from canals and Salton Sea creates dense, moist air which is further trapped down by cool, dry air blowing overhead. Mix in vehicle exhaust, fires (lot of poor Mexicans live across the border), and the methane produced from several dozen cattle feed lots, it is a recipe for disaster down here. One in five people here have asthma and/or allergies. Some school kids will have such severe asthma attacks that an ambulance will need to be called to the school, sometimes several days in a row. We used to get many more elderly tourists down here during the winter. People do not go to places where they cannot breathe. This is part of why we have the highest unemployment in the US. It is not due to Mexico. Mexicali is the most profitable Mexican city on the US border, while Calexico is the poorest on the American side.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 23:48:51 +0000
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