Impermanence (Annica) - Buddhist understanding that all conditioned things are in a constant state of flux; all of existence is in a continuous flow of change, is subject to change, and is to pass away.
Salton Sea
The skeletal remains of deteriorating structures and other manmade materials consume a landscape of rapid change. Once a popular stop and thought to be future home to many resorts, Bombay Beach (Imperial County) and much of the Salton Sea's shoreline, has had to do battle with fluctuating water levels and a salinity level that continues to increase; mainly due to agricultural runoff that dumps into the accidental sea. Harsh natural processes coupled with man's intervention and ambition set the stage for varying levels of environmental and economic decline.
Unincorporated Communities
Displaced by advances in technology and travel, the financially insolvent communities of Essex and Ludlow (San Bernardino County) were once bustling towns and popular stops along National Old Trails Road but now, more or less, resemble the economic and environmental decline of Salton Sea’s Bombay Beach.
Inland Empire
The demise of business and property are scattered about in corners of the urban cities located within the more heavily populated communities of San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The fragility, no matter how prosperous a community may be, is evident and the community is always subject to the ups, downs and inevitable change to an economic landscape.
Like that of Salton Sea’s Bombay Beach and San Bernardino County’s Essex and Ludlow, the Inland Empire is vulnerable to these ups and downs, not to mention the persistent processes of the natural world.