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Post by NicoleMarie on Jun 28, 2005 15:24:01 GMT -5
Since I have seen people concered with the environment post on here, I think this is a good place this rant. My neighbors are in the process of having 3 trees being ripped out of their backyard. One was moved because the tree was in the way of shed being built, the others were removed because it got in the way of the kids play area. Why couldn't they just place the shed a whole 15 feet away from the tree? The shed will sit where the tree was. The play area is sitting where the other trees were. Again, they could have placed them 15/20 feet from the tree. (If only I could draw a picture and post it here!) I asked my neighbor why he had the trees moved and he said "They're in the way". Then I said "Wouldn't it have been easier and cheaper to just work around them?" and he said "it's worth the hassle." (Ok???) When I said "They would have been good shade for summer" and he asked if I was a tree hugger. {{Skakes head}} I really hate people sometimes!
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jaquetta
Silver Shield Investigator
Posts: 171
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Post by jaquetta on Jun 28, 2005 15:33:23 GMT -5
I vote to ban dirt bikes everywhere, but then, I'm noise phobic.
Wow, nice discussion. I hadn't thought about the drug testing anyone receiving Federal Aid in those lights (new employees are, etc) but I have to say, I'm for it. I've never had to, but a friend of mine is in the mortgage business and those companies seem to fold overnight. Every single new company wanted a drug test. I personally would be happy to know that my coworkers managed to stay off whatever long enough to at least pass a test once.
And it's my money. And yours. It wouldn't actually stop drug use, but it could check it.
Oh, Social Security does max out, but Medicare is forever. A consumption tax does sound fair, but I wonder how "perks" would be handled. The more you have, the more you get for free.
As for outsourcing - notice how all the manufacturing/data entry jobs are "globalization" and thus help everyone on the planet, but China buying 76 oil is a terrible horrible economy wrecking move? Huh? Isn't that the same thing?
Your neighbors are ripping trees out too? What is with the tree hatred? Our new next door neighbors took out 4 pine trees in their back yard and all the trees in the front. The local grocery mall took out all the trees that lined the streets because it "blocked the businesses". It looks horrible. Save the trees!
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Post by trisha on Jun 29, 2005 5:23:47 GMT -5
I have a horrible, icky, sticky cottenwood tree in my back yard that I would love to chop down, but it's over 50 ft tall and would cost quite a bit to get rid of. My neighbor has 5 maples that are just as tall, and they drop a few hundred lbs of those helicopter seeds each year, which clog the gutters of every house around theirs (having gutter gards doesn't help much since they drop so many seeds at once.)
I like trees, but sometimes they are impractical and annoying. I do agree that people can be needlessly damaging to the environment, though. I just also see the other side.
Don't worry, if I get the money together to chop down my cottenwood, I'll plant another tree somewhere else.
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Post by Patcat on Jun 29, 2005 8:49:47 GMT -5
We destroy a lot of things out of simple selfishness. I include myself--I do a lot of things bad for myself and the world out of convenience.
There's a highway being built in Indiana right now that will destroy several thousand acres of beautiful farmland. It will save 20 minutes on the route from Indianapolis to Evansville. 20 minutes!
Patcat
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Post by NicoleMarie on Jun 29, 2005 10:50:48 GMT -5
Jaquetta, I am noise phobic too. I'm a Taurus and we like it calm and quiet! And yes, save the trees!! ;D
Trisha, I certainly understand why you would want the cottonwood out of your backyard! I'm not sure why my neighbors ripped out their trees. They didn't drip sap or anything like that. They were just sitting there minding their own business. LOL!
Trees can be a pain. I have a tree "horror" story from a friend that might make you feel better about that cottonwood! hehe! She told me she had to cut down a big tree because everytime they had a bad storm, limbs would fall off. 3 branches had fallen off in 15 years! Finally they had to cut it because its weight had shifted from losing branches and was now leaning towards the house. They were afraid it would eventually fall on the house so they had to cut it down. She said "There went our best shade tree!" hehe!
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Post by Metella on Jun 29, 2005 14:39:35 GMT -5
I'm glad some others agree about the snowmobiles - I know I can be too pro-environment sometimes for the general public.
If you have a deciduous tree near your house; it can reduce your summer heating bill - so that is $$ you can save - use that as logic if you don't give a rat's ass about the world. But cutting down & doing so much is now actually threatening the seals - who pups are born on the ice shelf - that is now breaking up and DROWNING them before they can grow large enough to swim. It will soon affect polar bears. After that - the suckers still alive will have to evolve to breath CO2 and like a mean temp of 95F for the whole summer. Arctic foxes are now fighting (and loosing) to red foxes that are able to migrate further north. No more white foxes soon.
Don't these people have children? Do they want them all to die? I don't get it - there is a problem here & everyone wants convenience (me too, my concession is using my AC) ARGH......... Wind, Solar ..... HELLO you blind bastards.
oh, well, there, I got carried away on my own thread. ahem. pardon me.
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js
Silver Shield Investigator
Posts: 143
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Post by js on Jun 29, 2005 21:53:06 GMT -5
There is a woman in Houston who has been fighting the city for several years over her yard. She has turned it into a wildflower area (weeds if you ask some people). It is lovely and attracts bees, birds, butterflies, and yes, some snakes.
She does, thankfully, have supporters, but I fear the city and the environment non-literates will prevail. They'd rather have the manicured lawn that saps the soil and uses gallons of water to stay in shape. It's been so hot here, however, that we are about to get hit with a watering ban. Guess whose lawn will survive the best!
js
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Post by Metella on Jun 30, 2005 6:39:22 GMT -5
The National Wildlife Fund has a certification to make a backyard into .... I forgot what they call it - but it is planted with native plants for shade, beauty and for animals.
I got a little carried away, eh? well I guess that was my point anyway. Why not have gorgeous cacti in Arizona? and stately oaks in the midwest? Why must everything look the same? Well I think some of it boils down to people striving for status from others - if they have the ornimental red maple and a lawn that Europeans outright make fun of and call golf courses, then they must feel some self worth- and how hollow is that?
I have 3 holly bushes planted (birds eat the berries) I will have just a few evergreens filling in - some other evergreens and in 5 years I will have the best and "yummie-est" natural fence and privacy screen around, not to mention that my yard with 3 mature maples is the greenest around this summer and needs cut less; and I don't have the sun wasting my car's paint job away (no garage). Every thing I plant now for my fence with few exceptions will be edible for some other fellows.
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Post by domenicaflor on Jun 30, 2005 11:20:11 GMT -5
Cool edible fence plan, Metella.
I love my big tree out front of my house. Yes we have to watch falling branches and have to rake tons of leaves and gumballs and gummy pollen, but the shade makes it all worth it. I have a Japanese maple that I also love - it's so peaceful.
I live in the city and the more trees in the neighborhood the less concrete jungle it feels like to me - plus the shade helps a lot in the summer.
As other posters mentioned earlier in the thread, Philadelphia has a fair amount of urban blight, some even caused by the politicos themselves. But we also do have some dedicated people who are trying to take over the abandoned lots and make them into community garden spaces. This summer I hope to do a community garden tour and take a lot of photos and then put them up on a blog I have. More on that TBD.
D.
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Post by janetcatbird on Jun 30, 2005 15:48:18 GMT -5
I dunno where I fall in the scheme of things political. Admittedly I despise them because of the majority of shouting matches; I would prefer to be far removed but in this day and age that just ain't gonna happen.
Of course, my family has always been a bit out of whack with where we be living. I was born in Texas (that's where Daddy could find a job after he and Mom got married), and my mother still laughs/shudders about being, as she phrases it "One of about six liberals in the state and a die-hard Molly Ivins reader". Of course, this was during the Reagan years, which I don't remember but will send Mom into fits.
Currently we're living in a pretty well-to-do, pretty conservative suburban section. My immediate family has always been comfortable, but we're surrounded by country club brats (who I went to school with for 9 years, I swear to God high school lunch discussion involved how much their last houses sold for when they moved, gag me). These are the bankers, lawyers, real-estate people. Dad may have been lower middle class, but Mom grew up in the country where if you weren't on a tobacco farm you were in the textile mills, both were the first generations in their family to go to college. My great grandmother raised five children as a single mother during the Depression, the family knows what hard times are like. My moderate opinions seem completely left-wing nutso to most people out here, who stare at me in confusion when I simply ask "How would you feel if?..." That's what infuriates me, people refusing to even consider others sympathetically because they think it makes you a weak pushover. Selfish, egotistical pricks!
My own young-and-dumb opinions:
Abortion: I'm not sure if I'd be comfortable using it myself, but I definitely think it needs to be available. Health problems? Rape or incest? Financial concerns? Adoption is a wonderful way to take care of a need, but what if you can't support yourself throughout the pregnancy? I don't know if state-sponsored is the best option, but it certainly must be a healthy, realistic course. Same thing for family planning and counseling of all sorts.
(To be flippant for one minute, a story. A family of storks is sitting at the dinner table, talking about what they did during the day. Daddy Stork: "I was making a family very happy, what were you doing Honey?" Mommy Stork: "I was making another family very happy too. What'd you do today sweetie?" Baby Stork: "I was scaring the crap out of college students!")
Birth Control, I think, should also be readily available in safe, healthy forms. If you're sexually active it means someone is taking responsibility, being careful. Besides, many people seem to have the stereotype that the girls who use any form of control are just sluts, and nothing could be further from the truth. Pills/patches/whatever help even out your hormone cycles and keep you steady--and in a situation like a dorm when you got 20-30 bio clocks interfering with each other, you're gonna want some kind of self-defense.
I don't know enough about welfare stats to have an informed "What we Should Do" plan, but I think some kind of help needs to be available. People get laid off, families get sick, stuff happens even to hard-working, decent people. I'd like to have a form of reliable health care/social security to look forward to, things look overwhelming when you realize that in just a couple years the parental units won't be taking care of you anymore. That doesn't mean I don't approve of safe guards, check-ins and sponsors, etc. to try to prevent/minimize abuse, but I think social Darwinism is a dangerous and ugly concept that should be kept well away from government policy.
And as to substance abuse--there's a lot of issues involved for everybody. I mentioned a while back a fmaily member who's had to deal with alcoholism and addiction to pain meds for a long time. In some ways she fits the stereotype, in other ways she doesn't. I have mixed feelings about the situation and my Mother was in Hell last week with the latest round of news, so I'm probably not the one to talk to on that.
--Catbird
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Post by Cassie on Jun 30, 2005 19:10:46 GMT -5
My neighbor has 5 maples that are just as tall, and they drop a few hundred lbs of those helicopter seeds each year When I was a kid we used to call them pollynoses. We would peel them open and put them on the tip of our noses As much as I hate to see trees cut down, because of the shade they bring, homes for squirrels and birds. They can be used to make furniture, and building materials, and fuel too. For every tree taken down you can always plant another one. Everyone wants to save the trees. What about saving some water for the trees to drink? Our ground water is being depleted by over development. Not only is the water usage increasing, but the blacktopping and paving that goes along with development is inhibiting the replenishment of ground water.. Unfortunately the day is coming when we will be fighting over fresh water
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Post by trisha on Jul 1, 2005 12:28:02 GMT -5
Thank Dog I live in Michigan! Gah! First time I ever said that! "There are only two things infinate; the universe and human stupidity, and i'm not sure about the former" - Albert Einstien
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js
Silver Shield Investigator
Posts: 143
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Post by js on Jul 1, 2005 21:50:53 GMT -5
Environment: In my area, near Houston, TX, pouring concrete has become a religion. Being on the coast, we get many rain storms and hurricanes that dump large amounts of water which then has no place to go. To wit, the two last bad storms!!! I 10, the major east-west highway through town was so flooded that semi-trucks were submerged. Those that could be seen were above water because they were sitting on the submerged trucks.
Also, the medical center was totally flooded. Water was rushing through the basement and lower floor corridors of major hospitals, and one woman drowned in an elevator that stalled as she tried to get up to a higher level from the parking garage.
In spite of all this evidence that concreting over the earth gives the storm water no place in which to absorb, the concreting and the building continues.
Trees/Plants: I know that even trees eventually die, but I have a real problem with swath cutting them to build new developments. Builders/designers are too lazy and too worried about costs to plan around the trees. They strip the earth and then plant 2 spindly trees- one in the front yard and one in the back yard - at each new home as though that compensates for the death of 50 - 100 yr. old trees.
My son in VA finally had to cut a tree, one that was over 100 years old, because the "tree man" checked it out and said that the though it was very tall, it was also very hollow. Had a storm taken the tree down, it would most likely have fallen on their house. The tree gave magnificent shade, and all of us felt as though history had been destroyed. What had that tree "seen" since it's start in circa 1895?
Abortion: I will echo Det. Goren- abortion has to be an option. I think it is a woman's right to choose. Gladly, I never had to choose. My very, very close friend (since 1963) did have to make that decision. Most of the time, she "never looks back," a statement she has made to me. However, she also does look back, in spite of what she's said, and wonders about her decision and about the child that might have been. Recall that to get an abortion at that time, she had to fly to California - alone! She didn't tell me until it was over, or I would have gone with her.
National/State/Local Parks: When I am able to go to any of these parks, I want the peace of nature. I want to hear the trees rustle, the birds sing, the animals call, and all the other sounds of nature and NOT snowmobiles, ATV's and so forth. If they must be let into these parks, designate a remote corner of the parks for them that is far away from the people who really enjoy the parks.
Water Conservation: Referring back to my post about the wild flower front yard, this woman's yard will survive the impending water shortage in this area. Wild flowers and even weeds, some of which have lovely flowers, make it no matter what. No one has to water acres of Bluebonnets or Indian Paintbrush. They come back and spread every year in spite of near drought conditions. When fresh water becomes less and less available as people deplete the supply, can you see the crowds around the Great Lakes or other fresh water supplies fighting each other to live??
Recycling: It is amazing to me that my subdivision does not recycle. If I recycle, I have to drive 35 miles one-way to the recycling station to drop off my trash. A 70 mile round trip then becomes an issue about the cost and use of gasoline. Recycling is so easy. Paper, glass, plastic!! Three cans!! (Of course, I guess we might need a whole separate can for disposable diapers - the bane of the recycling industry. Thousands of years from now, think of the archaeologists that dig up our landfills and try to understand the diaper situation. But, don't start an older lady on that subject.)
Promoting Wildlife: There is a woman in Wimberly, TX 9where my son lives) that buys 20 lb. sacks of deer corn and just piles it on her carport. The deer have learned to come there, and they even open the sacks themselves. They eat, not bothered by anyone or anything, and hang around because they feel safe. They bring their babies in the spring, and it is just the most wonderful sight to watch. Another woman in that area takes apples to her fence line every morning, and the deer are there waiting for her - every morning! They show up every am for their meal/treat - and in the spring, they bring their babies who then know to continue coming back.
Well, I guess I piled several soap boxes on top of one another, but I do feel strongly about all of these things. Too many people feel, I think, that they need not worry about the future. But it is their children, their grandchildren, their great grandchildren and beyond that will suffer because of the "Me First" folks who will not see that what they do today affects everyone far into the future.
All for now!
js
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js
Silver Shield Investigator
Posts: 143
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Post by js on Jul 1, 2005 21:51:50 GMT -5
janetcatbird,
Loved the stork story. How cute!
js
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Post by Techguy on Jul 3, 2005 17:08:39 GMT -5
This thread has become a must read for me, even if I don't have anything to contribute. But I do appreciate how everyone has shared their personal rants and vents--I detect a lot of steam blowing off, which is good for one's constitution.
Speaking of Constitution, my latest gripe has to do with attempts to get a Constitutional amendment passed to ban the burning of the flag. I'm sorry to have to report this to the zealots behind this idea, but you most certainly do NOT speak for me in your ill-advised attempt to trash the First Amendment for your own convenience or political purposes. I hope this notion goes down in flames, but having already passed the House and being very close to passage in the Senate, I hope if it ever does come before the states for ratification that sensible citizens who care about liberty will vote this abominable idea down.
Re: trees. You don't appreciate their value until there has been widespread fires destroying all vegetation, followed by torrential rains. With no trees and their deep root systems, there is nothing to hold the water, and then you see homes and other buildings sliding away in the mud, as happened in California perhaps last year or the year before? Annoying leaves and helicopter seeds aside, the benefits of trees far outweigh the negatives. Clearing away trees en masse in the name of "progress" ie urban development makes no sense in the long term, but try telling that to the greedy developers who are only interested in the big bucks to be made by razing the land and erecting more concrete and glass structures.
Re: snowmobiles and other vehicles on public lands. These lands are for EVERYONE'S enjoyment, so while I am loath to ban the vehicles altogether, I do support the idea that some areas should be set aside for this type of recreational use away from those who are there to enjoy the peace and quiet and solitude. If there can be smoking and non-smoking areas in restaurants and other public buildings, surely a way can be found to create separate zones for motorized vehicles and non-vehicle zones so everyone can enjoy the forests and parks.
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