View Full Version : Yeah......let's build in paradise, and ruin it...............
I keep forgetting the name of this commercial I've started seeing fairly often. It's something like Buy Paradise Realty..........or something similar. It talks about the all the beauty, the clean air, the blue ocean, the "pristine rainforest"..........and a piece of this can be yours. All you have to do is buy land and build on it. I think it's some islands near Costa Rica. How sad is this? Is there any place on earth where man won't go and obliterate it? :(
you know as soon as people get there they will want everything from modern plumbing, internet, electricity, then a grocery store that isn't a boat ride away and maybe a swimming pool next to the ocean. then it will look just like where they came from!
ToomuchStuff
2-26-15, 4:10pm
How about inside an active volcano?
that would take care of multiple issues! Make sure they bring a gas guzzling SUV
It's a constant struggle where I live.
"Incomers" move here for the self-sufficient rural ways and the natural beauty.
Then they want urban-level services and conveniences, "just like we have down in Seattle"....
Yes.....I don't understand these people. People move into the rural areas around here, in huge subdivisions and feel that they are "living in the country".
And yep....they want to bring everything to their doorstep.
I live near a small town (about 11 miles away), and occasionally I check out an online discussion forum of people who live in that town and around it. I just cannot believe the difference between them and the people in this forum. All they want is an IKEA, or some other huge business to move here. I try to talk to them about the consequences of wanting to bring all this business to our little town, and they respond with "It's progress........get used to it." I try to explain to them that "progress" doesn't have to mean what it's come to mean. It could be something that takes into account the environment, the air quality, the traffic, etc., etc. But I am the ridiculous one to them. And if I'm unhappy about another huge subdivision going in, they say it's just a case of me getting what I wanted, and now I don't want anyone else to get theirs. But there's quite a bit of difference between us living on 35 acres in the country, and someone living 10' from the next house in a huge development. They don't understand the difference. I don't understand why they even choose to live in a small town. Why not move to the city?
I guess I digressed! Just had to blow off a little steam! ;)
What frustrates me the most is that they can't see any further than their noses, in terms of the consequences of their wants. The town officials (and all the sheeple that believe them) are constantly saying "We need to enlarge the tax base". But nothing EVER improves with more companies coming in. In fact, things get worse. Why can't people see this? It's a little frightening to me. No, it's A LOT frightening to me..............especially when it starts ruining my peaceful rural lifestyle.
Blame the media.
Honestly, we are all bombarded all the time with the idyllic nature of the greener grass, while no mention is made of what we should realistically expect to give up. Dissatisfaction is the key to selling anything and everything! Move to the city because it's so glam and nicely decorated (oh, did we forget to mention it costs about 200% more than your current lifestyle?) Move to the country because it's so bucolic and peaceful! (oh, did we forget to mention there is no Williams Sonoma or Nordstroms or Planet Fitness here?) Dye your hair blonde! (oh, did we forget to mention you'll need a $200 salon visit every 4 weeks from now on?) Do this do that have this buy that because it is so much better than what you now have, and no mention ever of the ways it's perhaps not as good as what you now have, no mention of the fact that every choice contains a compromise. So we get there and we buy this and we have that, and all we can think of is how we can have everything, including what we gave up. The question is, why do we go on falling for it?
ETA: if you want to drive yourself crazy, watch international house hunters. This little tiny old apartment in the heart of Paris looks just right ... only oh my god, where is the dishwasher? I love this quirky 500 year old farmhouse on the outskirts of Lisbon ... but good lord, I couldn't possibly have a bathtub in the kitchen, it has to be like it was at home or I can't live here. strangle these people before they breed.
I'm not so sure it's all the media's fault. I think people are just really short-sighted and all ID. (as in Id, ego and superego). They have no insight into what the consequences of their choices are. But our country seems to teach everyone that their civic duty is to buy more and more stuff. We're brainwashed into thinking that this is the only way to live.
Remember what Bush said that we Americans could do to help, when the recession hit? ........."Go out and buy". :0! I think the media is just spewing out what the over-all belief system in this country is............which is that there is no end to what we can have....and there shouldn't be! :(
Isn't this the logical consequence of capitalism/consumerism?
This stuff goes on even in the big city. Status quo is never good enough. All around us, newcomers are moving in and knocking down our little bungalows to build their 4000 sf uber-modern box houses with all the latest and greatest technologies. His and hers Range Rovers. Blecchhh.....
lessisbest
2-28-15, 6:28am
Urban Nirvana sprawl here in farm country equals developers grabbing prime farmland or native grassland to place a few McMansions on the hilltop for one and all to admire, with several acre lots of well-manicured lawns replacing cropland and grassland. But make sure there are rules so you can't hang your laundry outside, erect a privacy fence, or have space for a vegetable garden, because it would sully the pristine view.
Most people still eat the last I checked, and the family farm is where much of it comes from. Take away the tillable ground.....well you get the idea. Higher crop yields now come from fewer acres of land by spreading chemical "poison" everywhere. And by-the-way, don't drink that well water due to farm chemicals. We all lose when we lose farmland!
Miss Cellane
2-28-15, 11:17am
It's a constant struggle where I live.
"Incomers" move here for the self-sufficient rural ways and the natural beauty.
Then they want urban-level services and conveniences, "just like we have down in Seattle"....
We get people moving up from Massachusetts, because we have no sales tax or state income tax. Southern NH is becoming a "bedroom" community for the greater Boston area because of this.
But then the incomers want all the things that MA has--the things that all their taxes down there provided for them. We have property taxes, but a smaller population base--there's simply not the same amount of money.
There's a disconnect there, somewhere.
Where do you think we, as a society (or civilization, or homo sapiens) went wrong?
Where do you think we, as a society (or civilization, or homo sapiens) went wrong?
Agriculture.
ToomuchStuff
2-28-15, 2:08pm
Agriculture.
Terraforming, the development years.;)
Back on the volcano stint: http://www.gardinerchamber.com/
Bae and Jane, I'm not sure I completely understand. Is it because at that point, besides ruining much of the forests/prairies, etc., We started to be able to feed people who would have otherwise starved?
Or is it somehow connected to how capitalism was started?
We seem to have made a wrong/bad turn along the way that has led us to thinking that life has got to be so destructive, in order to be worthwhile.
http://discovermagazine.com/1987/may/02-the-worst-mistake-in-the-history-of-the-human-race/
Interesting article, but I liked some of the responses even more.
I just wonder if our downfall was having the brains we have, the opposing thumbs, etc. It seems to be leading to our own demise. Would any other species of the animal world eventually caused such destruction?
Was the human race cursed from the start because of the type of brain that evolved, which has led us to this point?
Unsustainable is the word I keep hearing in my head.
There seem to be a few modern societies that aren't self-destructing as much as some others. (Scandinavia, for one). I wonder what has made the difference?
I can't help having a tiny part of my brain that considers the alien theory of populating the earth with humans, as being a real possibility.
Then again......maybe those of us who don't seem to fit are the aliens! :~)
At any rate, my original post on this thread is just another example of what makes me shake my head, with great sadness.........and then take a walk in the woods.
When the earth gets fed up, she'll shake us off. At least that's my belief. I don't think it's too late to defuse the population bomb--it's already happening in the developed countries.
When the earth gets fed up, she'll shake us off. At least that's my belief. I don't think it's too late to defuse the population bomb--it's already happening in the developed countries.
Personally I have no doubt the earth, with life on it, will continue. Whether humans will continue to be part of the equation is debatable. The book "the world without us" was a fascinating look at how quickly the planet recovers once we do leave, or might recover if we leave certain places, when people aren't there anymore. From the book, even Chernobyl has plenty of wildlife nearby. (The animals may well be dying younger, and from cancer or whatever, but as long as they make it to the next generation it doesn't really matter.)
Even global warming will be dealt with by the planet. The last warm period found leafy fernish plants way north of where they grow now. They absorbed the CO2, brought down the temperature and then died off when no longer able to survive.
ToomuchStuff
3-1-15, 1:08am
When the earth gets fed up, she'll shake us off. At least that's my belief. I don't think it's too late to defuse the population bomb--it's already happening in the developed countries.
It is happening in third world countries (and spreading) as well. Things like Ebola, etc.
It is arrogant to think that man has done damaged to the earth. It has gone through cycles and life that has ended. It is unwise to think the Earth couldn't shake us off. Man is part of nature and it may or may not be in man's nature to destroy itself. If we survive, I expect what we become would look as strange to us, as we would to it (with values/belief's, etc). I like Stephen Hawkings view that man will end unless we some day take to the stars, but that to me seems as far away as the nearest habitable/earth like planet.
To quote Cathy "I can't help having a tiny part of my brain that considers the alien theory of populating the earth with humans, as being a real possibility."
Personally I think we are more likely to create some kind of ark's with DNA, to send out to other systems, LONG before we would ever have the ability to travel to them. Then those we meet, may be our own relatives.
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