h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Lake Powell features prominently in the book "The Monkey Wrench Gang" by Edward Abbey. One of the characters' grand plan at the end of the book is to blow up the dam. According to Abbey, the lake and the dam itself represented an unnecessary and environmentally and culturally damaging addition to the desert.

Alas the lake has filled, with silt, many ruins of anasazi culture. The lake is a recreation hot spot in Southern Utah, and I have been to it. But it is a polluted hole now.

I used to support removal of Glen Canyon Dam until a friend pointed out to me that without the hydroelectrity it generates, the populations of desert environments who cannot live without water, air conditioning, and swimming pools such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles would have to move elsewhere...like Northern Utah and Western Montana.

I could care less about those that live on the power made by a resovouir that is not even in their state. Azians have some claim to the power as the damn and some of the lake (not a lot BTW just a small percentage of it) are in their state. I think that the people of Southern Utah are the most worthy of it. But that is my misplaced civic pride there.

Marv

Who do you think paid for that dam (and by extension the stinking pond behind it)? It was a federal project. Certainly not the people of Southern Utah.

So you contend that the people of Southern Utah pay no taxes? I simply feel that the project was not in the best interests of many of the residents near it. Hite Utah was erased off the map and the residents forced to relocate because of the lake. Yes the majority of the tax money that was used to fund the project came from outside of Utah and Arizona borders, it came from everywhere. But the benifit of the hydroelectricity goes only to one place. I have great sympathy for the characters portrayed in Edward Abbey's books, but yet I do not feel that it would be right to drain the lake, not only because the power generated would have to be made up by some other, possibly more pollutingmeans, but because the ecology of the Grand Canton and that of the exsisting canyons that are filled in with silt would be destroyed. We have to lie in the bed made by the goverment elected by our forbearers. It is perhaps hypocritical, but I have enjoyed time spent on a boat in the myriad canyons on Lake Powell, but I know that my slight entertainment comes at a huge price.

The point isn't who gets the benefit of the power. It's like arguing over who gets to eat the body after a murder. "Well, he's already dead, and I'm hungry..." The point is the lake should never have existed.

With that I whole heartedly agree with you. I am against damning major rivers like the Colorado. There are two large damns in Utah, Flaming Gorge and Glen Canyon. They are both disgusting wastes.

I also think that nature should be left alone, whenever possible. This does point out the problem of overpopulation, however. If there weren't so many people, we wouldn't need so much power.

I suppose that makes too much sense, though.



G7

There are good arguments on both sides of the issue of Glen Canyon's removal. Right now, it is affecting the Colorado's ecosystem. A river that once ran red with silt (hence the name, Colorado) now runs clear thanks to the artificial raising and lowering of the dam's discharge. They have made some effort in timing it so that downstream areas are not affected as much; such as riverbanks being washed away, etc.

Everyone here agrees that it should not have been built. It was not needed at the time. In those days, the Army Corps of Engineers never met a dam they didn't like. But now, with American's wasteful habits, what energy source would take its place? You can't ask the residents of LA, Vegas, and Phoenix to just pick up and move. Major cities do not belong in the desert anyway, but it's too late now.

Destroying the dam, a la Hayduke and pals, would only create danger for downstream areas--recreationists in the Grand Canyon, the Havasupai and Hualapai tribes, and ultimately, Hoover Dam. Could it take the enormous pressure of the water in Lake Powell?

As for the book, did anyone else notice that its eco-warriors were notoriously wasteful--tossing beer cans out car windows, leaving garbage where they camped... Irony or sloppy writing? I was not impressed with the book--how it was adopted by the environmental movement as a sort of Bible I'll never understand.

As a former (I repeat fromer) Earth First'er I think the idea was more "Get out and destroy" not "Save the Planet". And Bonnie chided Hayduke for littering, which he then rationalized as making a bad thing (roads) worse. It might be fun to see a Cat9 dive into the water someday however. Yes I am that twisted.

I don't see you stalking around the canyons of Southern Utah with a balaclava over your head and a screwdriver in your hand, Marv. Twisted yes; sneaky, no.

Side note: a good book to learn more about the intertwined subjects of overpopulation, environmental destruction, energy policy, and the Southwest is Marc Reisner's "Cadillac Desert".

Nah, you are right. I would never spoil the canyons like that. I might however do it up norther somewhere. I do not like Utah north of Price.

I would briefly take issue with the statement that the Monkey Wrench gang became a bible for environmentalists. Maybe for the Earth First people, but definitely not the majority of more peaceful groups. It is a popular book among greens, but not seen as a guide...although I for one have often wanted to go on a billboard burning spree.

I would like to join you on a spree of advertisement destruction. Grab some torches and seom gasoline... Hmmmm this sounds fun.

"Monkey Wrench Gang" is a bible in the same way "Walden Pond" or "A Sand Creek Almanac" have become bibles...they have inspired people to care more about nature, the environment, and man's role in the natural world. My problem with it is the one-dimensional characters (especially Bonnie, who is just Hayduke's sex toy) and their hypocrisy.

"Monkey Wrench Gang" is a bible in the same way "Walden Pond" or "A Sand Creek Almanac" have become bibles...they have inspired people to care more about nature, the environment, and man's role in the natural world. My problem with it is the one-dimensional characters (especially Bonnie, who is just Hayduke's sex toy) and their hypocrisy.

I don't know. In "Hayduke Lives!" her character was better developed. But then again I love both books.

I hate to argue semantics here (that must be a lie since I keep doing it) but to me the term bible refers to a sort of life manual or authority for a particular subject, lifestyle, etc... Therefore, Walden Pond could be a bible for people wanting to live simply and without material concerns, the hitchhiker's guide would be a bible for anyone cruising the galaxy, and MWGang would be a bible for eco-terrorists but not the majority of more restrained environmentalists. Now, an interesting question would be what are other "bibles" out there?

There are many many books on technology related topics that would be biblical in their repected feilds. Other than that I cannot htink of any.,