$540 Billion in 'White Gold' Found Beneath California's Salton Sea

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

The Salton Sea.  Was once a thriving resort IIRC.  Now a lithium source.  Interesting.

I remember an old National Geographic from when I was a kid that featured the Salton Sea. I found it interesting and creepy, like one of those nuclear bomb test sites in the Nevada desert, the ones with furnished buildings and mannequins.

I felt sad, even then, that water mismanagement created a dead zone. Now, it seems to be a fitting memorial to the excess of the post-war era (50s and 60s). Even worse is that nobody seems to understand the lesson nature gave us. I don't understand why people can't see it, the abandoned amusement park is a huge lesson on the excess of our lifestyle and the pursuit of pleasures. It's also a liminal space that foreshadows doom, an obvious sign IMO.

ETA: A post-war playground becomes a dead salt lake and then an open-pit lithium mine. A boom and bust progression reduced down to the remaining resources, very similar to the lumber baron era when they cut down the virgin forests here in Michigan. Capitalism at its best, always making lemonade and more money.