The Environment On The Edge

When you're a multimillionaire, you look for sound investments to make your millions grow. Who wants to run short in one's golden years?

David Evans, otherwise known as The Edge, invested in real estate in Malibu, California. They're not making any more land, now, are they? A sound investment indeed.

Being a member of U2, quite environmentally conscious, Mr. Evans proposed building a housing estate on his property. It was all going to be sustainable and sensitive to the environment.

As far as the California Coastal Commission is concerned, it's not.

The edge of the cliff which The Edge would like to develop is covered with "sensitive habitat". Construction of several homes, even if they are powered entirely by wind and solar energy, would destroy that habitat. Like toothpaste, the habitat can't be put back as it was before the hillside got squeezed.

The Edge believes he's being singled out because he's famous, but the fact is, there's more to environmentally conscious construction than using insulation made from corn cobs.

All well and good that the mansion's roof will be green and undulating like a leaf. There'll be several square feet of leaves getting stripped off the hill top to make room for that roof. And it doesn't matter if the developer is a rock star or a man with a pile of 2 x 4s and a nail gun. Construction is devastating, in so many ways, to the land under our feet.

All that's left is a lawsuit in this ongoing battle over property rights. It has fuck all to do with the environment and everything to do with a return on investment.