L.A.-like Louisville

Whenever I think of Los Angeles, I think of smog. That’s a primary reason I wouldn’t want to live in California. A close second reason is the San Andreas Fault. That’s two strikes against L.A.: if one doesn’t die from not being able to breath due to smog, one could die when the west coast falls into the Pacific Ocean. (Yeah, I know that’s not probable, but it sounds good).

So rather than Los Angeles I live in Louisville:

Photo of smoggy Louisville that appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal in 1997

Louisville has been under an air pollution warning for most of the past three week. Folks who have breathing problems—such as me—are told to remain indoors. Because Louisville is the in Ohio River Valley, stagnant air just seems to hover over us for ever. And besides the smog, the air also contains allergens, which have also been high, that affect many people. Sunday I talked with a woman whose daughter is affected by asthma caused primarily by various allergies. She told me that her daughter has not been outside to play for weeks.

It isn't just Louisville that has the pollution problem. During the eleven or so years I lived in a town on the Ohio River in southern Indiana the problem was worse. The walls of the valley were steeper there and the pollution seemed to hang around much longer and was definitely stronger. Even worse, across the Ohio River in Kentucky was a paper mill. If you have never smelled the pollution caused by making paper, you cannot imagine how appalling it is. As I would drive back to the parsonage from a visit away from the town, the smell would overcome me and I would begin to gag. The scary thing is that after an hour or two back home I wouldn’t notice the smell.

So maybe Louisville isn't better than L.A. so far as the air is concerned. But what about that fault?

To my west is the New Madrid Fault: to my east are the faults associated with the Lexington/Kentucky River fault system. Back in 1987, on the day that I returned to the region from my years in seminary, I was great by... an earthquake.

So I must be honest. It doesn't really matter where one lives so far as environmental problems and potential nautural disasters are concerned. They seem to be everywhere! So, why worry? It's all part of life. What I believe does matter is the joy of living wherever one is.

Life wouldn't be worth living if I worried over the future as well as the present. ~ W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965) Of Human Bondage', 1915