The demise of “the country”
Freshly back from a visit to Northwest Ohio. Farm country. Or what used to be farm country. Today’s post is all about lamenting, so sorry to whine but the loss of true farm land and farm communities is at best sad and at worst destroying the future of cities.
Disclaimer: I grew up on a farm so I am very biased.
BEST = SAD … I miss the views of fields and forests without McRanch-ions dotting the landscape. Sure the percentage of people who farm has dropped drastically, thus people do no need to live in the small towns but that’s the problem: they DON’T live in small towns, they buy 1/4 acre out in the country and slap together a pablum ranch house. Bleh.
WORST = DESTROYING THE FUTURE OF CITIES … When the lines blur between “town” and “country,” both suffer. Moving into a ranch-ette in the country does not give someone the best of both worlds. In fact it is the worst: isolation, long drives, not nearly as much space as you thought – besides what do I need it all for.
So if I had more time, I would look up some stats on the de-densifying of America because that would be a good reality check … but I don’t have that kind of time right now and am not that interested in the objective reality of my subjective reaction.
