Parking Lots as Urban Altars for a Culture's Cars, Trucks, and Motorcycles.

Much insight about a culture can be gleaned by looking at its architecture and urban landscape.

Millions of cars, trucks, and motorcycles clutter our urban landscapes. In America, everywhere you go, you see, smell, and hear them. Municipalities, and private companies dig holes, pave over valuable real estate, and erect multistory buildings to warehouse them. Security companies are hired to guard them, tolls are collected, leaf-cum-dust power blowers are used, in the name of neatness, to disperse the filth that falls upon them.

This is another view of these vehicle edifices.

 A tidal zone parking lot, in seaside Santa Barbara, California.

A hotel and an underground parking lot excavation in Santa Barbara, California.

Trenching an underground parking lot in Santa Barbara, California.

A multilevel parking garage on the University of New Mexico campus, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Multilevel car parking garage downtown Chicago,Illinois

Santa Barbara Architecture: a Parking Lot.

Interior of multilevel City owned parking lot Santa Barbara, California.

Parking lot oil, soot, engine drippings and stains Santa Barbara, California.

More Parking Lot photos...

All photos (C) 2012 {D. T. Lange

Climate Change the Biggest Story in All of Human Existence But Doesn't Make the Front Page

"Climate change is the most pressing issue ever to face humanity.  Our very existence is threatened yet you don't see it on the front page of your newspaper, and it is not mentioned on your television newscast." - ClimateLeaks

See new post on ClimateLeaks blog...

The toxic alchemy and cultural deification of black petroleum asphalt in America.

Azote: The absence of life, to wit, all life sustaining elements have been either withdrawn, or destroyed.

Much of our natural landscape has been coated with a black mat of solidified petroleum muck we call asphalt pavement. It is upon these hardened surfaces, that people park, junk, repair, operate, and race, their cars, trucks, and motorcycles, junkers and clunkers.
While many may think the semi solid black surface is stable and benign, it is rarely so.

Point of fact, vehicle tires do not wear out, roadway friction shreds and pulverizes the metal reinforced synthetics and rubber into fine dust particles that mix with asbestos brake linings, and all other roadway dust contaminants which become part of our air supply, and still toxic, falls and lands on the landscape and our children.

See Urban Asphalt page for more... 

All photos (C) 2012 {D. T. Lange}

Black carbon - traffic dust - soot - fossil fuel America.

Fossil Fuels - Black Carbon - Traffic Dust - Soot in America.

Toxic black soot and traffic dust is found in abundance in public places such as, parks, playgrounds, and schools in Santa Barbara, California, USA.

Santa Barbara County Administration Building address facade with black drippings,2012

All photos (C) 2012 {D. T. Lange}

Black carbon diesel soot embedded in cargo trailer .

Extremely toxic diesel soot.
See Toxic Diesel Soot page...

Diesel particulate - Photo Link (not an endorsement of hybrid cars.)

Embedded black carbon diesel soot emissions, Flagstaff, AZ.October 23, 2012. The embedded particulate is represents only a small portion of diesel soot produced, the rest went into our communities.

Drought in Santa Fe River Watershed & Rio Grande River Autumn 2012

Low river water flow and drought conditions in Southwest USA.

A shallow Rio Grande River at Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 16, 2012.

The Santa Fe River, an integral part of the Santa Fe Watershed, and its concrete channel before it flows to the Rio Grande River, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 13, 2012.

The Santa Fe River, an integral part of the Santa Fe Watershed, before it flows to the Rio Grande River, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 13, 2012.

Santa Fe Watershed signage at a bridge that spans the Santa Fe River which then flows to the Rio Grande River, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 13, 2012

All photos (C) 2012 {D. T. Lange}