The growth of Las Vegas since 1990 has significantly degraded water resources and natural habitat in Clark County, Nevada, and threatens to expand its impact rapidly. The gaming industry and the municipal water authority are primarily responsible for the environmentally problematic development of the region. Both the industry and the authority are replete with decision makers; but Steve Wynn, a mega-resort developer, and Pat Mulroy, General Manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, are particularly prominent among the many individuals involved. The harm caused in the region can be attributed to a lack of awareness of the impact of low-density human residential development in a water poor region: there is excessive depletion of natural resources, with the likelihood of reduced access to them by future generations.
Las Vegas illustrates a recent trend in the United States. Living in a resource-rich, well-educated, developed nation, Americans have abundant opportunities to become cognizant of the damage caused by establishing large human communities in water stressed areas and the resulting high rate of habitat loss. Yet Las Vegas has been the fastest growing city in the country for much of the past century. This would seem to signify the occurrence of an ethical breakdown. The pertinent history of Las Vegas suggests that its problems today, including urban sprawl and water shortage, are the consequence of local consumer habits and particularly high levels of materialistic consumption. Yet, despite these habits, there are possibilities for environmental improvement within the metropolitan area.
While planning and developing a large city in an area that is water stressed is clearly unwise, it is also unethical. The Colorado River and its watershed are degraded from excessive water extraction based on the needs of housing and hosting millions of people in the driest region of the United States. Studies indicate a 50% probability that water extraction and shifting rainfall patterns resulting from climate change will cause Lake Mead – the source of 90% of Las Vegas' water – to run dry by 2021[1]. Urban growth in Las Vegas has consisted largely of low density, single-family homes, which create significant non-human habitat loss and disruption. Intense growth has been associated with most of Las Vegas' 100-year history, with every decade since 1930 experiencing a population increase between 60% and 194%[2]. Since 1990, the population has grown from approximately 750,000 to 2 million residents, which has caused the city's problematic increases in resource demand[3].
The Origin of Las Vegas
In 1930, 20 years after Las Vegas was incorporated, US President Herbert Hoover authorized the construction of what would become the Hoover Dam. The project resulted in a five-fold increase in the population of Las Vegas to 25,000, as men flocked to the region for construction work. This growth in population, coupled with the legalization of gaming by the State of Nevada in 1931, led to the rise of the entertainment industry in Las Vegas that characterizes the city today[4]. The completion of the dam gave Las Vegas access to vast amounts of hydroelectric energy and a water reserve that would ensure ample supplies during drought years. In turn, the abundant water and energy ensured that tourism would flourish. A culture of excess, opulence and fantasy developed, as indicated by the words of Steve Wynn, who has orchestrated projects such as the $700 million Mirage Resort: «what keeps Las Vegas powerful is that every few years it becomes more fabulous, more outrageous»[5]. The short-term boom in water and energy encouraged rapid population growth, while promoting the rise of the culture of excess characteristic of the city today.
Perhaps ironically, President Hoover had envisioned the dam as a major step towards safeguarding the environment of the American southwest. Viewed as a conservationist, he approved the dam project with two major objectives in mind: to control flooding by the Colorado River, while protecting downstream properties from potential flood damage. Hoover was not primarily interested in the hydroelectric potential of the site, but nonetheless perceived that its power production would pay for the project and additionally, power Los Angeles[6]. Advancements in the field of ecology reveal that despite good intentions, the dam had seriously problematic consequences: regional ecosystem destruction and the unintended growth of Las Vegas, both unanticipated at the time of construction.
The Growth Problem in Las Vegas
As scientific understanding of the ecological implications of unchecked urban growth has increased, to claim lack of understanding of the implications of such growth is disingenuous. The growth is excessive because it is unsustainable; and unethical in taking little or no consideration of its impacts on wilderness or non-humans. Urban sprawl is frequently contrasted with "smart" growth, which seeks to protect as much habitat as possible in order to retain the results of natural evolution over time[7]. Two specific principles of smart growth are maximizing public transit effectiveness and redeveloping "brownfield" sites[8]. Despite the vast numbers of people moving to Las Vegas, the city has failed to limit its ecological impact. Awareness of this impact seems not to have been raised. The desire of the consumer and developer epitomized the prevailing consciousness. In one characteristic downtown development, single-family lots averaged more than a half-acre in size[9].
The combination of sustained high population growth and sprawling development patterns meant vast environmental conversion from natural ecologies to human landscapes. Here the term natural refers to the structure of the land-based community of life prior to human intervention and domination. What was undertaken as economic development had the effect of degrading the ecological integrity of the land, while also failing to achieve goods such as public transportation. This serves as an efficiency of dense population growth, yet is often needed by those of lower income in areas of sprawled population. The prioritization of single-family homes with large lots has scattered the residents of Las Vegas to the extent that a subway system has not been developed. The city's response to the need for transportation infrastructure has been to create an extensive road network. This serves well to move cars and other vehicles; but an effective transit system focuses on moving people and goods rather than vehicles. Las Vegas' transportation system leaves the city dependent on the automobile, and carries with it the associated costs of increased carbon dioxide emissions and other air quality pollutants[10]. In the absence of effective public transit, several important environmental justice issues arise, which are themselves related to Las Vegas' growth. Sprawl necessitates distant jobs, if people are to be employed[11]. Without an effective public transit system, citizens without personal vehicles have reduced opportunities for gainful employment; they are apt to become jobless[12]. A second issue ensuing from sprawl is the loss of community atmosphere. Individual spaces within homes become the locus of much human activity, while common resources such as recreational parks, inspired urban architecture, and pedestrian meeting places are diminished in importance[13]. Still a further environmental justice issue in Las Vegas is the lack of redevelopment of "brownfield" sites abandoned in the urban core as sprawl occurs. Brownfields are places of former industrial or commercial activity that need serious clean-up before they can be reused[14]. Failing to redevelop and reclaim these sites perpetuates their contamination, together with that of the urban core, while inducing further conversion of "greenfield"- previously undeveloped - sites into urban acreage. This is not only an ecological problem but also an environmental injustice, as poor people living in the urban core disproportionately suffer adverse health effects and high opportunity costs from the presence of brownfield sites. All such issues demonstrate that urban sprawl fails to be ethical. As Las Vegas and other cities continue to experience urban population growth, greater emphasis needs to be placed on growing smarter, not bigger.
A Culture of Consumerism
The high water and energy demands of Las Vegas caused Lake Mead (the water reservoir created by the Hoover Dam) to reach record lows in October 2010[15]. These demands are generated by the desire, heightened through effective marketing, for large homes and new technologies. As James Speth argues, such consumerism "is a pillar of modern capitalism" and works together with materialism to create the societal value of wealth accumulation[16]. The value attached to consumption is so great in the United States that consumer spending constitutes 70% of US GDP[17]. A large home is viewed as a source of self-validation, in demonstrating the owner's capacity to purchase and provide. This feeling is often locally gauged, moreover, as families tend to compare themselves to their neighbors in the tradition of "keeping up with the Joneses"[18]. Las Vegas has enjoyed significant economic growth during the past twenty years as a result of these consumption patterns. The city's economy has historically benefitted from a high demand for home construction, driven by a booming tourism industry characterized by gambling, lavish hotels and all-you-can-eat buffets[19]. These buffets can be said to illustrate a pervasive gluttony in Las Vegas, which results in deep personal and environmental harm. Overeating yields obesity that degrades quality of life and aggravates strain on health care resources. Agriculture has itself been cited as the foremost cause of habitat loss in the United States: growing enough food to fill endless buffets can only worsen such environmental impact, including the severe depletion of Lake Mead[20].
Overconsumption of land, energy, water and food characterizes the growth of Las Vegas. As scientific advancements improve our understanding of the damage caused by these indulgences and the means to mitigate such damage, the ethical responsibility to reverse the situation becomes urgent. Smarter growth in Las Vegas is a possibility; but ethical choices must be made to achieve it.
The Water Dilemma in Las Vegas
In view of the impending water shortage, the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), run by Pat Mulroy, has developed a plan to build a pipe system to harvest 200,000 acre feet of ground water per year from Spring Valley in rural Nevada. The plan requires the SNWA first to acquire rights to the water, but the process has engendered conflict with environmental groups in the area[21]. Opponents of the plan believe extracting ground water to service Las Vegas will significantly lower the water table, which will have deleterious impacts on Spring Valley's wildlife and agriculture. Proponents argue that water within the state should be used where it can benefit the greatest number of people, which would be the population of Las Vegas[22]. Both sides are convinced they are right; but what is the ethically correct choice?
As an historical example, the fate of Owens Lake, California, sheds light on Nevada's dilemma. Owens Lake was pumped to supply Los Angeles with water starting in 1913. Eventually it became completely dry, a condition that allowed sand, arsenic and other metals to blow into the air and out of Owens Valley. Historically high levels of air pollution and sharply increasing asthma rates in children hundreds of miles around the site resulted[23]. A hydrologic survey commissioned by the SNWA to assess the water supply in rural Nevada led to the conclusion that similar circumstances would be caused by the project planned there[24]. Evidently, a precautionary approach, including alternative courses of action, should be taken to prevent environmental damage indicated by comparative case analysis. Yet Pat Mulroy has framed the pipeline as the lesser of two evils, without acknowledging the possibility of a third option, such as limiting the growth of Las Vegas. From an environmental perspective, Matthew Klingle analyzes the growth of Seattle, describing how water disputes can occur even in a relatively water rich city. The combination of sprawl, industrialization, water conflict and environmentalism in Seattle caused irreversible damage to salmon habitat in the region[25]. This example lends credence to the idea that reducing, or at least controlling demand may be the best decision, insofar as it limits environmental impacts proven to have cascading negative effects in comparable cases.
In addition to potential adverse effects on Spring Valley's wildlife and agriculture, the Las Vegas water pipeline has potential adverse effects on culture in the area. The "moral economy of water," a significant factor in apportioning water rights, has been defined as a collection of beliefs underlying a people's determination of whether a proposed water plan is ethical[26]. Among them is the belief that decisions should not meet the needs of one party at the complete cost of another party's interests[27]. If it is to be ethical in terms of a moral economy of water, Las Vegas' water solution must consequently meet with approval by the people of Spring Valley, whose way of life would otherwise be changed by negative impacts of the pipeline. The amount of water taken must allow the residents to sustain their community culture, not merely to survive its depletion.
Options for Smarter Growth
The economic and environmental vulnerability of the urban core of Las Vegas, caused by the suburbanization of jobs and wealth, appears to be mitigated by the gaming industry, which has powered the city's growth. The industry has brought tourism and entertainment to the city's core. Yet the recent national recession has hit Las Vegas particularly hard as people have cut back on gaming. The economic consequences have been significant, cascading to the hotel and tourism industries, which benefit from customers drawn to the city to gamble[28]. The economic downturn has left poor residents with even fewer job opportunities[29]. Instituting smart growth in Las Vegas requires a holistic approach to reform, not simply the prohibition of gambling. In addition to curbing sprawl and reducing demand on water resources, the city would improve its ethical standing by providing educational and alternative employment opportunities for its less advantaged citizens.
Providing improved public access to natural settings is also important to the quality of urban life and is instrumental in producing appreciation of natural landscapes. Appropriate iconic public space in downtown Las Vegas could serve to redefine the city by giving it an environmental emphasis[30]. Such redevelopment might be viewed as creating "designer nature," an environmental outcome of human design. There can be too much human influence in the design of "green" or natural spaces, especially when these are designed to maximize human benefit, while all other species are strictly delimited in the space they can occupy. Human design of urban space can pay homage, however, to the natural history of the area now within city limits.
The restoration of Spring Valley from negative impacts of the proposed water project would be an extraordinarily difficult task, in comparison to urban redesign efforts. In addition to problems of scale and accessibility that reengineering a healthy groundwater system would need to solve, there is value in the original spring, unaltered and still connected to its ancient past[31]. Once this value is lost, together with the spring, there is no amount of human ingenuity or effort that could bring back the original. No gain could be fully equivalent to the loss; but the holistic approach to urban redevelopment, without the need to redesign rural nature, could generate gains far in excess of present losses.
Recreating natural space in an urban environment adds the further social and economic benefit of contributing to healthy lifestyles. Natural spaces provide therapeutic views and restorative places for play and reconnection with other species on Earth[32]. Their existence is intrinsically important, but the act of helping to ensure their existence can be instrumentally important to human well-being. As people restore a natural habitat or establish some aspect of nonhuman nature within a city, they are apt to bond with nature, becoming invested in its own continued health. Restoration can awaken the part of human culture that has been connected to nature throughout our history on Earth[33]. Humans might then reconnect with nature, while creating the possibility that others, including future generations, will themselves do so. Cultural adaptation to such priorities means people are more likely to make future choices to protect nature. In Las Vegas and throughout the US, implementing nature-based urban development can restore the connection of citizens to the land, air and water, while building momentum for a higher ethical standard in the treatment of nature. The term development would then be restored in its own way: when used with reference to the residential and commercial sprawl of Las Vegas, it can be seen to connote the destruction rather than the development of habitat and resources. Restoring the signification of the term could generate public discourse, perhaps eventually altering public perception of the meaning of development. A motivated citizenry is needed to accomplish the change to smart development.
In presenting his path-breaking idea of a "land ethic," Aldo Leopold envisioned human connection with and care for the land as the responsibility of individuals. Every landowner can provide for his or her land, if willing to invest the time and effort to do so[34]. If the land is to provide for tremendous human populations, then these must provide for the land. Starting this effort with nature-based urban renewal projects is reasonable, since these can benefit both people and areas typically left behind by sprawl. The relationship that grows from such interventions is itself highly important. It could lead Las Vegas to a community ethic of understanding the needs of the land and holding one another accountable to meeting those needs. If a land ethic were incorporated into the culture of Las Vegas, the city's ability to convert to smart development would be much enhanced. In accomplishing this conversion, Las Vegans would improve their quality of life by securing both water and fairness for all, concurrently with the viability of their desert city.
E-mail:
