Source: For this discussion I draw upon my own life. Before coming up here to Humboldt State I lived in a town that has had drastic development over the last ten years. I am also drawing upon Robbins, chapter 2 pg.29 and 43, about the death of a way of life and economic development. This is about how development changes ways of life either for good or for worse. A lot depends on where a person comes from in life, this changes how they view progress.
Relation: People think that development is important, especially in the way of building and taming nature. We live in a society in which most of us live in the city everybody living in close quarters. They take out the trees that were once there and that had been in that same place for hundreds of years and build on it, not only that we than plant trees that fit into our way of life. We change the landscape to fit our needs and wants.
Description: I have lived in a place called Lincoln, located in California, my whole life. For almost 15 of these years I lived in the outskirts of Lincoln where the closest person was over a mile away it was heaven. lived amongst the trees, plants, snakes, and other animals and loved it . This is where I learned about nature and why we all must respect it. So I lived here for many years but we then moved to the main city of Lincoln and I must say it was weird. I didn't understand why people would voluntarily pack themselves into such tight places. There's more, this place used to be very small. It was an agricultural town when I was young. I saw it change so fast. People started to sell their land whenever enough money was offered and a way of life soon started to fade, it is now almost completely gone. The people that had once grew rice and raise cows now were willing to sell the land that they had grown up on if money was waved in their face. Now this town where I grew up is no longer a small town where people grow food, its just like all the other cities full of cookie cutter houses and places to go shopping. It truly makes me sad.
Analysis: Development happens. People want economic security so when the chance comes along they will take it. Money is important to people and they think that it offers a way to success. The land that they sold is then turned into houses that all look the same and are placed as close as possible so that the land developers can make as much money as possible. It truly is money that runs our society and most are willing to do whatever they can to obtain it. Money is the backbone of this world and if it were to suddenly disappear many people would not even now how to survive anymore. To many the way to live is to work to earn money, how would they live if they had to find their own food how would they know. Many have never even seen the world outside of the city and I'm am always amazed when people don't know what Poison Oak is. I know that I have had a great opportunity in life to grow up where I did and learn what I did.
It is really sad to see changes like these happen. And it sucks to realize that our whole society is money. Money can truly buy almost anything when the perfect amount is offered. These little towns is what keeps America, America. I mean back before white settlers, the natives that lived here; lived here. They subsisted off the land; rather they lived with the land. This idea is soo different than how it is now, like you said, people changing the land into what they want. This is what is not only ruining our society but this idea is why we have so many environmental issues. People hate to see trees just wasted being there, so lets chop them down and make money, build a house. Having being able to witness these changes first hand, you become educated on the issue without realizing. Personally I grew up here in Humboldt, and I soo luck because I have been able to grow up next door to nature and just let it be. Not to say these issues aren't happening in their own way here, but you definitely see it better down south.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Los Angeles, so coming to Humboldt was a huge change of scenery. I love it up here though. It's so nice to get away from the hustle and bussle of the city. Up here you can actually feel a difference in the air. Los Angeles is very smoggy. I enjoy living in a more rural setting. I feel it helps me concentrate and not worry about the stresses of life. I think it is such a shame when trees are cut down or old buildings demolished to make way for a new sort of housing facility.
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