Rural Nature Lover Paradox

[urbpan]

People who love Nature (in my most optimistic moments I imagine that this includes a majority of people) of course like to be surrounded by it. Often nature lovers are repelled by cities, and take effort to instead live in the countryside or surrounded by wilderness.

But living outside of the city causes a greater environmental impact: Trees must be cut down, roads must be built, and resources are sent out through diffuse networks. Rural people use more energy heating and cooling their homes, getting to and from work as well as running simple errands. As the population increases, whole non-urban communities are created, paving over wilderness and paving the way for more cars, more houses, more development.

In order to live where you are surrounded by natural beauty, one must participate in a system (development of rural areas) that is slowly and surely destroying that beauty.

Discuss.

Comments

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

Why not time share?

not commuting every day but doing a live at work 3 days, live at home 4 or visa versa and job and dwelling share? Or 6 months city, 6 months country and sharing both spaces with a separate storage for personal touches?

Firemen do it.

Co-ops could include two locations... Condo's come with time share...

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

This is an intriguing idea, but would only work for a slim minority of people. Most jobs are year-round, in one location, and most people have kids that they wouldn't want to shuffle from one school to another every six months.

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

I know that people don't want to move every six months but what about renting and renting out. Lots of people I know have no choice but to move every other year because of working internationally, and others because of poverty...

The school system and year was established to accomodate kids having to help on the farm for the summer months, this is no longer true but I don't see why it can't change to accomodate the newer restraints on people and earning an income.

Also, the internet should be better used for employment and education.

For location intensive jobs, job sharing just makes so much sense. Longer days, shorter weeks, then fly to the country and kick up for a while or hunker down in a cupboard for a few days of intense city working and living.