Sandra wrote:
>The absolute worst thing I have done is to spend the last ten years
>living in a dream of where I want to be rather than making do with
>what I have and can realistically get.
Yes, rather than view our choices as urban/rural i find it
much more useful to look at where we are in life and consider
incremental changes or ways to merge ecological ideas and
contentment. I live in the country and most of the people
are trying to mimic those in the city. A majority commute to
jobs or turn their land into a business. People who actually
live in the country and embrace it are rare. Most are intent
on domination and economic development. This tells me that
the issue isn't rural/urban it is a problem with our
definition of happiness. Everyone is chasing some future
dream that isn't sustainable and often isn't very
satisfactory.
I was shocked to read about Cambodia once and see that the
Communists thought the problems was cities. So they began
emptying the cities and forcing people to the country. The
book "Killing Fields" is about this event. It didn't work
and many people died. My conclusion from this is that our
methods are just as important as our objective. If we force
a viewpoint then force becomes part of our future. Thus, it
isn't the urban/rural issue that we need to look at. It is
the process of moving from urban to rural... and that is
what i call a ecopath. It is a process.
We could ask when does a house become rural and when does it
become urban? I would say it isn't important. What we need
to look at is the actions and attitudes of the occupants.
How they live each day is what builds our future, not whether
they are classified as rural or urban.
Things like: education, positive action, tolerance,
contentment, etc. are what build a sustainable path.
Location is only a point along the path and doesn't
tell us where the travelers are headed.
----
jeff owens, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.xprt.net/~jko
underground house, solar power, self-reliance, edible landscape
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