I’m Leaving Las Vegas

I was in Las Vegas recently for work. I flew from Newark Airport to Chicago O’Hare and then to Las Vegas. If the carbon emission calculator is correct, my trip (for me) generated 0.67 tons of CO2 emissions.

The pilot made an announcement just as we started our landing approach into Las Vegas. It was going to be a hot day and the temperature was forecast to be 106 F. Granted, it’s the summer but that sounds way too hot.

As the plane descended, the woman next to me in the window seat opened her window shade. I saw thousands of cookie-cutter homes sprawling out over a large area. They were all in the direct sunlight and I thought about how much energy they were consuming to cool their houses in this heat.

After we landed and I picked up my luggage, I took an Uber to my hotel casino. That’s when I felt the entire Las Vegas experience hit me in the face. The flashing lights, the casinos, the people walking around with drinks, and all the advertisements. Las Vegas is an adult playground that messes with your senses in order to extract your hard-earned money, and it’s quite good at it.

I have nothing against partying and having adults “get loose” from time to time, we’re human and need our rest and leisure activities, but I wonder if doing it in the middle of a desert is such a great idea in the long run.

Last year we flew into Las Vegas as a family and picked up a rental car. We drove that car to the canyons in Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. Then we ended our trip in Albuquerque. It was an epic trip that our family cherishes and talks about all the time.

One of the fondest memories I have of that trip was swimming in Lake Powell. I could feel the Colorado River current move the water as my family and I swam in its cool water. After we finished our dip we noted the water stains on the canyon walls across from us and how low the water level was.