Environmental Nightmares

[Joseph Tracy]

On Nov 30, 2009, at 11:07 AM, David Morris wrote:

> Having just returned from Thanksgiving holiday in Las Vegas (not my
> idea - the two kids decided that their families and my wife & I should
> converge there this year), I was reminded of Sportello's venture
> there.  And I remembered the real estate thread of that trip, the "old
> strip" about to be redeveloped into a brand new casino (am I
> remembering correctly?).  Then I thought about how Mickey's
> residential development that is the scene of the initial murder is
> called an "environmental disaster" or something to that effect.  Why
> is it that Pynchon seems to ignore the environmental disaster that is
> Las Vegas?  And similarly, wouldn't Mickey's "putting up a whole city
> from scratch someday, out in the desert" for people to live in for
> free also have been an environmental disaster in terms of water
> supply?  And later, when Doc is discussing Mickey's development with
> that "old money" guy (I forget his name), it seems Mickey's
> development is an environmental disaster only because it brings the
> riff-raff out into the domain of the more aesthetically-minded
> old-money crowd.
>
> It just seems that real estate, development, and the environment have
> a large place in IV, but I just  don't see how the integrate into a
> coherent picture...
>
> David Morris

I think for a larger  picture of the role of  profit driven real  
estate ventures, one has to consider a larger body of Pynchon's  
writing and the alternative mythologies surrounding land and shelter 
( the M&D line, feng shui,real estate moguls, women as property vs  
the feminine as half the universe, Mining in ATD vs native mythos  
earth as mother, Humboldt county as a rare outpost of Vineland the  
Good, Pierce Inverarity) .

I find the issues surrounding Mickey Wolfmann's connection to real  
estate and development as complicated as you point out, but there is  
another vision implied in the Zomes. Steve Baer's and other  
experimental architecture of theTaos builders etc. has some qualities  
that distinguish it from LA and Vegas, both of which drain lakes and  
rivers.  The main features  are minimal water and energy  use,  
maximum use of mud and castaways,  personal expression and  
adaptability, incorporation into the landscape and the ancient  
architectural wisdom of longtime inhabitants.

It seems like Riggs wants to take some of that magic and wisdom and  
turn it into a development.  I see him as representing the Rocky  
Mountain Institute/Stewart Brand branch of the environmental movement.

As a life long gardener I see it this way
Real estate is the way colonial enterprisers fuel their imperium.

Land is the home of all terrestrial life, the soul of a people and  
place.