Young Han

An acquaintance of mine recently made the comment that I should “enjoy the flyover states,” in reference to my decision to move to Utah. In response I could have said that for a professional liberal like him, spending some time in a flyover state would do him some good. Between living here in Utah and spending much time driving around the US (most recently a few weeks ago from Seattle to Salt Lake City), I've been able to make a few observations about where things come from and where they go:

Driving far from the cities where most resources are consumed, it's astounding to note the scale of the displacement caused by extractive industries. Some of the most remarkable places in the United States, such as the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest and the Wasatch and Oquirrh Ranges in Utah, are scarred by decades of resource development. It's not uncommon to see an entire landscape denuded, or the entire side of a mountain stripped mined. Here near my apartment in Salt Lake, a mining company has stripped off the side of a mountain for landscaping materials. About 20 miles further south is the notorious Kennecott Copper Mine, an gaping hole in the Qquirrh Mountains so large it can be seen from space. A mile down the street, for a change, Rocky Mountain Power burns something like a pound of coal to power each of my light bulbs for an evening.

The other remarkable feature of rural America—other than irrigated farm land (which actually looks pleasant, but is highly resource intensive) is the animals. I've driven across the West numerous times, but never as early as February before. I didn't realize that ungulates had their young so early. Everywhere there were calves, and to a lesser degree, foals. The fact that much of the rural West is populated to a greater extent by domesticated animals by than humans is astonishing enough, but the sight of these creatures in their fragility struck at my conscience. All along the highways from Eastern Washington to Utah I saw animals born of an industrial production process and whose sole ostensible purpose for living is to be sold as commodities. People have been exposed to so much animal rights propaganda that many of us become somewhat desensitized to some of its more hysterical arguments. But witnessing thousands of cows and their young struggle in a wintery Idaho storm put much in perspective for me.

This isn't an essay, just a collection of impressions that might help us think about the small actions in our lives and connect them to larger consequences.

Young Han is a health policy advocate, persistent trouble-maker, and practicing homosexual. He lives next to "the Dump" in Salt Lake City, Utah.