Toxic Tour of California Highway 99

CALIFORNIA EXURBAN GOTHIC:
Accumulation in Toxic Land of Waste

“I should be very much pleased if you could find me something good (meaty) on economic conditions in California…. California is very important for me because nowhere else has the upheaval most shamelessly caused by capitalist centralization taken place with such speed.”

—Letter from Karl Marx to Friedrich Sorge, 1880

Top 5 U.S. counties in

agricultural sales (2007)

Counties                                *         **

1. Fresno County, CA	1.3	3,730,546
2. Tulare County, CA	1.1	3,335,014
3. Kern County, CA	1.1	3,204,147
4. Merced County, CA	0.8	2,330,408
5. Monterey County, CA	0.7	2,178,470

*Percent of US total receipts
**In thousands $
[2007 USDA results from http://www.ers.usda.gov/StateFacts/US.htm]

 

Slurbs (slums + exurbs) Along California Highway 99

A: Slurbs near Merced

 

America's #1 Underwater Exurb, Mountain House, CA

 

Ad for Speculative Auction of Foreclosed Homes

 

Regional Scope of Exurban Sprawl

 

Consumers' Paradise -- or Monotonous Mall Hell?

 

Central Valley: America's #1 Food Processing Zone

 

Orchard Felled for New Home Construction

 

Farm for Sale: Trying to Cash in on the Housing Boom