Sandra wrote:
>I do find the urban core of Ottawa an on the whole friendlier place than
>the suburbs. I'm smiled at and nodded at or greeted far more often now,
>living down town than I was in the hybrid suburb I used to live in.
The friendliness of various communities has always interested me.
We once drove around and timed how quickly people honked after
a traffic light changes from red to green. Some communities were
on edge and everyone was frantic. Others were more relaxed and
friendlier. I suspected that the amount of free time has something
to do with it. The friendliest areas always seemed relaxed and in
less of a rush. Then i read about the effects of free time on a group
of people in some urban areas. The result was riots and crime. This
says free time isn't enough.
All these thoughts lead me to the conclusion that many people do
not have a core ethic or belief system. They believe in money
and that is it. Give them free time and they want an ever increasing
amounts of money.
----
Kathern wrote about natives and burning forests and that got
me thinking about NW forests. I wonder how many people have
seen an old growth forest in this area. Many of these old
foggy costal forests never burned and the trees go back for
hundreds of years. It has to be seen to be understood. The
trees are easily twice the size of forests in other areas.
One tree can build up to 40 houses. We drove through an area
being logged once and the trucks had one section of a tree
per truck. There are not many of these old forests left, so
anyone who has not seen them now is a good time to seek them
out. Most require hiking to see and they can't survive near
pollution. We now know that lichen die anywhere near a
lumber mill or city and lichen are critical to forest health.
I read a few days ago where they can use high altitude pictures
to detect lichen in forest areas and this is now being used to
measure air pollution. The sad part is that most people don't
think lichen are important.
jeff
