Lost in the Supermarket

Lest you imagine it's an native problem, look across the sea to the Emerald Isle. The Irish are struggling with runaway development, which has run smack against a hill enshrined in myth.

In America we build highways and lay concrete without fear of upsetting the ancestry. In America the future is already here:

Driving to the office, parking, working for a corporation owned by far-flung shareholders, and getting back in the car at the end of the day. Driving to the big-box retailer, parking, buying items produced by corporations, offering up your credit at the automated checkout station, and getting back in the car with plastic bags. Driving to your local entertainment center, parking, paying corporations to be entertained, and getting back in the car with the faint buzz of escapism that lingers until the cycle is repeated.

In my city they are building eleven more Wal-Marts, three more Meiers, and lord knows what else. Homogeneous sub-developments are multiplying like snowy white rabbits. Planned or not, this is the culture that has come into existence around us.