My Journey to the Sphere in Las Vegas

The Sphere is absolutely by all accounts an amazing illustration of human technological advancement. A one of a kind(currently) experience of sound, sight, and immersive entertainment. And frankly, there is no place other than Las Vegas, NV where it could be launched. A town that celebrates unnecessary and uncontrollable excess with zero conscience. As long as the $$ is rolling in, there are only 150 shades of grey in a city like Las Vegas. While there are rumors of a second "sphere" slated for Abu Dhabi and I suppose that is another city in the world where you kind of would expect it. Because who else has $2 Billion you'd want to drop on basically a huge, fully immersive television that sucks energy faster than a frat boy on a Friday night at a toga party?

I was not willing to lay down the many hundreds of dollars per person and potentially thousands if you picked the "best" seats in a venue that truly has no bad seats, to see a live concert while I was in town although I will admit a desire to see what that would be like. Instead, I had a chance to catch the epitome of a greenwashing effort in the truly sensational experience, "Postcards from Earth" as a break from the constant conference chaos.

"Postcards from Earth" is indeed a wake up call to the human race on the long term potential consequences of ignoring the signals sent to us from our planet on how to live symbiotically. As the cameras and music take us across the sweeping mountain ranges I love to hike, allow us to swim into the oceans I love to dive in and fly across the plains that are a joy to watch a sun set across, we are also presented with the cataclysmic consequences of our actions on the planet. It's worth mentioning, you can see equally sensational landscapes all around you outside the Sphere once you journey only a small distance from the Las Vegas strip. But the film is meant to be a call to action. It's the proverbial "thumbs up" to a social media post encouraging you to not use single use plastic. And yet, the very call to action in real world terms would also call us to turn off the sphere.

The day after I visited the Sphere and wondered at the cognitive dissonance of sitting in a theater that at peak energy usage was consuming the same amount of electricity as 21000 homes and at the same time playing a brilliant film screaming at us to stop; I visited to the Hoover Dam.

The Hoover Dam, an iconic representation of the post depression efforts to "rebuild the American economy" is now a central part of the Western United States' energy infrastructure. Jobs of the 1930's had men hanging above the Colorado river and harnessing nature as the land behind it was engulfed in water across an area that millions of years before was a sea bed. Were we returning it to its roots? Watching the sun set across Lake Mead and seeing the changing rainbow of colors cascade across the sky is one of those moments that become engrained in the human psyche and remind you that no matter how many led lights you put above my head, the sky above us as the sun sets and the stars begin their dance will forever be unmatched.

So what are the lessons learned? First, it is that we are individually only a minuscule cog in the life of our planet and that my friends is a relief. Even the most famous, the wealthiest, the poorest, the most wonderful and the worst all will eventually pass away in the annals of time. But, it also matters how we participate because a single pebble can change the flow of a stream and over millions of years affect the creation of a canyon or the flow of an ocean. What we do matters in our lives, our businesses and in the way in which it affects us and our world. And while something as grandiose as the entertainment experience of the Sphere is, it is simply a large blob of light sitting in the middle of an immense seascape that has become a desert for now.

This is not necessarily a recommendation to not see the Sphere if you have the chance. It's a wonder for sure and it's there, killing off the night sky of the desert, whether it makes sense or not. This piece is a reminder to keep in context what it represents. The creators of the Sphere know that what they've built has no use but to entertain and distract. In that entertainment is an obscene use of resources that in a more thoughtful world would be used to help those who may not have the resources some of us are blessed with. It's why they chose to greenwash their temple of energy indulgence with a show like "Postcards from Earth." It could also be seen as a huge resource killer that steals from the future of those who live in its immediate area. The Colorado river as it's drained by human energy overindulgence may in the end have the last laugh as output diminishes because there is no longer enough flow to operate things like the Hoover Dam. The lake we created behind the dam is 170 feet lower than it's average and approaching that level where it no longer produces energy and yet the Sphere plays on

As humans, we have the power to be a pebble in a stream, a shell on the beach, or a rock on a mountain peak. Each has the power to change the world with even the slightest of shifts. What will you do? Not to be a spoiler, but "Postcards from Earth" has us abandoning our planet. I'm less jaded. I see the good in people and believe each of us will choose to be a pebble in the stream and make smarter choices.