A LEGACY OF WASTE IN THE SIERRA

At least several times a week our household receives thick, glossy invitations to invest in time-shares, fractional ownerships,  or second homes in resort communities near and far.  Montana, Idaho, the Sierra, Palm Springs--the locations vary, but the message remains the same.  "You've earned this."  "Live the good life."  "Bond with your family."  "Build a legacy."  

Typically, there will be pictures of a golf course, and statements as to the exclusivity of the resort.  Sometimes I think the marketing group sprays these missives with eau de old money before mailing them off, in order to entice us all the more. We may be boomers who were raised in small tract houses in some hot inland California valley, but by golly, we're magnates now and deserve to be recognized as such.

I believe the most insidious message in these glossy ads revolves around  legacy.  Every single one of these invitations I have received, if it has photos, has pictures of smiling white children.  Smiling white children hiking in grassy glades, smiling white children jumping off docks into cold Idaho lakes, smiling white children frolicking in azure pools, smiling, well orthodontia-ed white children on skis.  I guess these are supposed to be the grandchildren we have, or might someday have. 

Well, the marketing groups obviously haven't caught on to the fact that California is pretty multicultural,  and smiling children come in all colors.  I imagine that future mailings will pick up on that angle pretty fast, and maybe they'll even catch on that many are childless, by choice or by chance.  That's a tangential complaint, anyway-- it's this perversion, this commodification of legacy that developers are trying to sell us that disturbs me the most.  

To me, legacy means leaving something of value to ensuing generations.  Legacy encompasses intangibles like warm memories of time spent together.  Legacy  also means leaving those who come after us ,whether related to us or not, an environment that hasn't been turned into a club for the haves, to the exclusion of the have- nots. Legacy means safeguarding watersheds, and protecting the wildlife dependent upon those very watersheds. Legacy does not encompass the capturing of  a natural river like the South Yuba with yet another dam.

Legacy means protecting natural resources, and managing them in a way that allows all to access and appreciate them-- not just those who have enough money to purchase exclusivity.  A park district that is designed to protect beautiful land, and allow access for all is a worthy legacy.  A development that seeks to pave and commodify , restaurantize and condo-fy, leaves a legacy of waste.

Here at Serene Lakes and Donner Summit, we're confronted with this very issue.  Will we work to somehow preserve the legacy of a treasured Sierra, whether through trusts or parkland,  or will we allow Royal Gorge LLC  to sell our Donner Summit heritage?  The thick glossies for Royal Gorge LLC haven't started arriving in mailboxes quite yet-  perhaps if we work hard to preserve what we have up here, they never will.  And all of California's children who come after us will thank us for preserving a priceless inheritance, instead of leaving them a legacy of parking lots and waste.