[clubtokyo]

Originally Posted by Tech House

"So Texas is now the golden child – for the moment. But it won’t last. Texas isn’t different. Texas is just a generation behind the curve. It’s on the same trajectory as California whether it knows it or not."

He writes as though California has collapsed in ruins, when in fact it's still leading the nation, economically and on every other level. He writes as though Texas has the same set of circumstances as California, which it absolutely does not. He's spot on about the problems with horizontal sprawl and the limits of infrastructure, but he seems to miss the fact that California has always been a vastly different place from Texas, both in terms of its natural assets and its inhabitants. Texas is land as far as the eye can see, without a whole lot for anyone to get all uppity about preserving. California is spectacular and varied, and most of its land is priceless in terms of natural beauty and/or resources. It's much easier to develop Texas, not only because of natural conditions, but also because there's not much of a constituency for preventing growth and/or preserving natural beauty here.

I grew up in Santa Barbara and was an environmental activist by the time I was 14. I founded an environmental group for teens in that year (1970) and we had weekly meetings with guest speakers, our most famous being Paul Ehrlich. California is the kind of place that inspires a 14 year old to found an environmental group. Had I grown up in Texas, I'd have probably been more focused on turning down the damned humidity. Anyone figure out where that knob is yet?

Nice read! Thank you for sharing. Cali is beautiful and I appreciate the beauty of Texas also. If I had to choose between Texas and Cali, I would choose Cali, but then the cost of living hits me. I would love to live in San Fran, but its so darn expensive. :/ Austin is the next best thing for me, since my career is technology.