Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Slab City reaches its boiling point

bluedotliving.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 112 posts

Re: Slab City reaches its boiling point

#41

Post by freemanindia »

nrclark wrote: post #13

Anybody here ever been to Slab City? I'd love to get the HN perspective on it.

I think the article under estimates how many people live there in winter, and over estimates how many people are there during the summer.

During the winter some camp will host a gathering usually an open mic most days of the week. Hanging out around a camp fire listening to songs one time I commented to my neighbor how I've never heard so many songs about a place before. He said, 'no song writer comes to slab city and doesn't write a song about slab city.

Re: Slab City reaches its boiling point

#42

Post by Rebelgecko »

labster wrote: post #26
johnohara wrote: post #7

> The California Energy Commission estimates the sea [Salton Sea] might produce 600k metric tons of lithium carbonate per year. > The land under the lake is a patchwork of ownership spread across three primary entities: the federal government – mostly the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Land Management, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID), and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. Should be interest…

I’m not sure the drying of a man-made lake quite qualifies as an environmental disaster, though the smell certainly isn’t pleasant. But it’s definitely not the largest environmental in California. That would be the destruction of millions of acres of wetlands in the Central Valley from the dry and vanished Tulare Lake northward. Next is the desertifying low Sierra as forests are replaced by chaparral and grasslands s…

>Fourth is air pollution which continues to be quite deadly

That's part of why the Salton Sea drying up would be so disastrous. For the last 100 years, as water as evaporated it's been refilled with runoff from agricultural waste, a nearby superfund site, and other locations that probably should become superfund sites. All that runoff brings fertilizer, pesticides, etc that just sit at the bottom forever... Until the shoreline recedes, the dusty playa blows off and all that nasty stuff goes back into the air. Even with the current state of the Salton Sea, childhood asthma rates are way higher than elsewhere in the state.

Re: Slab City reaches its boiling point

#43

Post by lazide »

labster wrote: post #26
johnohara wrote: post #7

> The California Energy Commission estimates the sea [Salton Sea] might produce 600k metric tons of lithium carbonate per year. > The land under the lake is a patchwork of ownership spread across three primary entities: the federal government – mostly the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Land Management, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID), and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. Should be interest…

I’m not sure the drying of a man-made lake quite qualifies as an environmental disaster, though the smell certainly isn’t pleasant. But it’s definitely not the largest environmental in California. That would be the destruction of millions of acres of wetlands in the Central Valley from the dry and vanished Tulare Lake northward. Next is the desertifying low Sierra as forests are replaced by chaparral and grasslands s…

Eh, just wait until the giant pesticide laden sand storms start kicking up and blowing into LA.

Re: Slab City reaches its boiling point

#44

Post by layoric »

grecy wrote: post #27
linksnapzz wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I drove through once; my feeling is that it takes a fair amount of guts to live in the desert-that desert, in the summertime. 120F+ is lethal to the unprepared who are out in in it for more than a brief period.

I read hyperbole like this all the time and it shocks me. Have you never been outside in 120F+ temps? I have spent many years of my life in those temps (Australia, all around Africa). Shade and plenty of drinking water and it's completely fine. Millions of people live their lives in those temps with no AC, no fridge, etc. I hear the same thing about the cold like "Frostbite in a matter of seconds past -30F". I used t…

Where in Australia did you live? No where I can find “regularly” hits above 48.9 degrees Celsius.

The reference, the hottest recorded temperature in Australia is 123.2F (50.7c).

Yes it gets into the 40s pretty regularly in a lot of places in Australia. But even 45c in a heatwave is very different to “regularly” living with temperatures close to 50c.

Re: Slab City reaches its boiling point

#45

Post by MAGZine »

labster wrote: post #26
johnohara wrote: post #7

> The California Energy Commission estimates the sea [Salton Sea] might produce 600k metric tons of lithium carbonate per year. > The land under the lake is a patchwork of ownership spread across three primary entities: the federal government – mostly the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Land Management, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID), and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. Should be interest…

I’m not sure the drying of a man-made lake quite qualifies as an environmental disaster, though the smell certainly isn’t pleasant. But it’s definitely not the largest environmental in California. That would be the destruction of millions of acres of wetlands in the Central Valley from the dry and vanished Tulare Lake northward. Next is the desertifying low Sierra as forests are replaced by chaparral and grasslands s…

It's not just that the dust coming off of the lake smells bad—it's toxic. And given the nature of man-made lakes (i.e., being near other man-made things like homes), it means that the drying of the lake has immediate health effects to the surrounding community.

Not to say that the rest of the things you mention aren't ecological disasters as well, but likely none are so immediately hazardous to the surrounding communities.

The environmental DDT you complain about, and the air pollution which you complain about are actually both problems that stand to get worse as the lake dries. As it dries, it and exposes more of these chemicals and particulates that were once buried under water--now able to be carried freely by the wind.

The same thing is happening around Salt Lake City.

Re: Slab City reaches its boiling point

#46

Post by freemanindia »

xrd wrote: post #36

I'm so curious how many people from Slab City relocate to Black Rock City (Burning Man) for a week or two. Seems like a similar ethos.

There's overlap in travelers who work festivals in the summer, dpw at burningman and spend some of the winter in slab city.

There's also digital nomads doing vanlife there.

Much of the art has a distinct BRC vibe. The founder of East Jesus was a burner in the art car scene. Last winter there was a giant LED penis up at one of the camps, and spaceport 42 is a collection of 6 burned out trailer chassis planted vertically in the ground.

Re: Slab City reaches its boiling point

#49

Post by dieselgate »

grecy wrote: post #27
linksnapzz wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I drove through once; my feeling is that it takes a fair amount of guts to live in the desert-that desert, in the summertime. 120F+ is lethal to the unprepared who are out in in it for more than a brief period.

I read hyperbole like this all the time and it shocks me. Have you never been outside in 120F+ temps? I have spent many years of my life in those temps (Australia, all around Africa). Shade and plenty of drinking water and it's completely fine. Millions of people live their lives in those temps with no AC, no fridge, etc. I hear the same thing about the cold like "Frostbite in a matter of seconds past -30F". I used t…

Oh nice I’m American and have recently been curious with how touque is spelled - have only heard Canadians say it

Re: Slab City reaches its boiling point

#50

Post by everybodyknows »

FeaturelessBug wrote: post #15
nrclark wrote: post #13

Anybody here ever been to Slab City? I'd love to get the HN perspective on it.

I'm interested in going after reading about it, but also scared.

There are several documentaries set in Slab City or nearby towns Niland and Bombay Beach -- I found all of them fascinating. Sorry, don't remember titles.

A safer alternative destination might be the Fountain of Youth Spa, which has been there since at least the 1970s. But I'd check the recent reviews, and hold off until November at least.

Post reply on HN