Ecology Of Fear Analysis

In Mike Davis’s, Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster, he analyzes the patterns and trends of Southern California’s environment. Through his research, Mike Davis explains how the history of Southern California’s environment proves that California is uninhabitable. However, over the last century there have only been two earthquakes and no one hundred plus year droughts. Leading to the question, how has man made it possible to live in such an environment? Over the past few centuries California’s weather has not properly represented itself. Instead, California has proven to be one of the best places to live in the world, one of the few places where you can go to the snow and to the beach in the same day. Despite the states many attractions, Mike Davis believes that Southern California’s environment is going to be back on track with its original patterns. This consist of long droughts lasting for hundreds of years, causing plant life and soil to die. This is than followed by large amounts of rain that the ground can no longer retain, resulting in flooding
around the region. In addition, Southern California is on a highly active fault line, surrounded by many other smaller ones. Despite the lack of recent earthquakes, California is bound to have a big one soon. This would trigger the fault line to become much more active on top of the severe weather conditions. Mike Davis refers to the city of Los Angeles as the triumph of super engineers.
Through advancements in technology engineers have made California a livable place. For example, engineers designed aqueducts that transfer water from the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, to the city of Los Angeles. In which the water will be used by civilians to care for their lawns, gardens, fill pools, and many others needs. Because of this technological advancement, it is possible for Los Angeles to continue thriving, and not turn into a waterless desert. However, the aqueduct has also been the reason behind environmental issues. For example, when the aqueduct was constructed in 1910, it diverted Owens river, which drains the eastern watershed of the Sierra Nevadas, from it original ending point, Owens Lake. By 1920, ten years after the construction of the aqueduct, Owens Lake was found completely dried
up. In conclusion, Southern California has portrayed a false environment that is suitable to live in. However, after analyzing Mike Davis’s research, it is clear that Californians have yet to experience its regions natural environment, and are only currently living in a sustainable society due to pipes that transfer water from hundreds of miles away. Mike Davis shows that weather has its patterns, and California is soon to be back on track with its normal cycle. Thus making Southern California completely uninhabitable in the near future.