N&O - "People are not drawn to NC by our shopping centers and subdivisions..."

[botanist]

An excellent editorial published in the News & Observer on Jan 26, 2007 --

Land in the balance

People are not drawn to North Carolina by our shopping centers and subdivisions. Pavement is pavement, no matter where you go.

But not every state can claim our wealth of natural resources. Tree-covered mountains, miles of undeveloped beaches, coastal waters rich with fish, farmland stretching to the horizon, these are among the natural charms that have made North Carolina so desirable to so many people.

The price of that popularity has been dear, however. The state has lost more than 1 million acres of natural and rural areas to development over the past 10 years, according to Land for Tomorrow, a coalition of nearly 300 local governments, historic preservation groups and environmentalists. New homes, shopping centers and industry devour an average of 277 acres of North Carolina's natural or agricultural land every day.

Read more at http://www.newsobserver.com/579/story/536144.html

[curlygirl]

...on a similar note: one of my favorite personal photos of all time is
a picture I took of friend at midday on a beach outside of Ocracoke
Village on July 4th. The photo is taken from the side as he looks
out at the greenish sea and you can see about 75 yards of beach
on the other side of him. The sand is soft and the color of cafe au lait,
the sky is blue with puffy white clouds, and the towel he sits on is
vibrant shades of sherbet. That's it. I haven't left any detail out.
There is no one and nothing else in that photo because we were
the only ones on the beach...again, it was July 4th. How would that
photo have been different if taken at Virginia Beach? or Myrtle Beach?
or Nags Head? Once that natural beauty is gone it can't be regained.

[chathamartist]

I agree curlygirl.

And once Chatham's farm fields, woods, and rivers are defiled
nothing will be able able to replace their original beauty.

Of course some people find strip malls, postage stamp development,
and rock quarries beautiful.  I'm just not one of them!

[native68]

curlygirl
where do you want people to live and shop?

[integrityticket]

In surrounding counties 

[curlygirl]

curlygirl - where do you want people to live and shop?

Live in Pittsboro: Ashford Lake; Magnolia Trace; Southridge; Willow Springs; Sherwood Forest; Potterstone Village; Powell Place; Chatham Forest; Log Barn Acres; Willow Springs; Walnut Grove; Creekside; as well as the older streets such as Salisbury, Nooe, Small, Credle, Toomer, there're a lot more AND along Hanks Chapel PLUS Downtown above the shops,   

Shop in Pittsboro- Groceries:Chatham Marketplace; Food Lion; Lowe's Foods;
the Tienda or the Farmer's Market (in season).    Pharmacy: Kerr Drug or the
independent drug store in front of Food Lion.    Art, Jewelry, Cards, Gifts and
more: ChathamArts, Fusions, Bizu, and Side Street Galleries and New Horizon's
Trading Company.    Appliances: Pittsboro Appliances (Archie's), Sears, Lowe's
Home. Cars: Dealerships on 15-501 and Thompson @ 64 plus several used card
lots.    Misc.: Lowe's Home or one of the 2 Dollar Stores in town...and many
more if you're looking for farming or gardening equipment, equestrain stuff, pet
supplies, antiques, and other home and/or office furnishings, it's here! Just use
your eyes and try breaking out of the sheep mentality. If you happen to be
unable to find what you need at one of these places, maybe you don't really NEED it.

[chrstnhsbndfthr]

Here we have exactly the problem: Some feel absolutely qualified to tell everyone else where to live, what to eat, where to shop, and give control over their very existence to the government. 

Let's go back to living in a free society where people can make these choices for themselves.

(The DO choose where to shop and so far they are choosing by a 55-45 margin to shop outside of the county because they do not have the choices they want within the county.) Give people real choices within the county and they will choose to spend their money at home.

[curlygirl]

Here we have exactly the problem: Some feel absolutely qualified to tell everyone else where to live, what to eat, where to shop, and give control over their very existence to the government. 

CHF - C'mon! please stop being so incendiary! I wasn't telling anyone what
to do. Native 68 asked me a question and so I did something REALLY INSANE:
I answered with "real choices". Relax. I'm sure you'd be the first to agree that
there are many perspectives. You of course are free to disagree but I just
happen to prefer the rolling green hills, open vistas and beautiful night sky
currently available in Chatham County over the seas of ashpalt, neon glow,
choking traffic and pre-fab franchise hell available in Apex, Cary and Durham.
Have a fabulous day.

[chrstnhsbndfthr]

Here we have exactly the problem: Some feel absolutely qualified to tell everyone else where to live, what to eat, where to shop, and give control over their very existence to the government. 

CHF - C'mon! please stop being so incendiary! I wasn't telling anyone what to do. Native 68 asked me a question and so I did something REALLY INSANE: I answered.
Relax. I'm sure you'd be the first to agreee that there are many perspectives.
Have a fabulous day.

Why do you consider advocating for freedom to be incendiary?  I didn't call you insane, those are your words.   There are many perspectives.  The question I have, is: Should we use the power of Government to enforce one particular perspective?   I don't think so. Remember that I am advocating for the system that allows people to make these decisions for themselves. Curlygirl, i consider you the utmost authority on where your family should live, where your family should shop, where your family should work, and almost every decision on your personal life, to the degree it does not interfere with another persons life,  should belong to you.

I for one do not like government taxing one group of people and using that money as an incentive to get another group of people to do things.  (ISP being bribed to start a business here comes to mind)  We need to attract businesses by having an environment that is attractive, not by subsidizing them. The heart might be in the right place, for heaven knows we need jobs, but I question if this is the right way to get them.  Can the discussion of freedom be incendiary? Maybe.  I guess you will have to judge if these concepts light a fire under you or not. 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:


The term incendiary refers to a fire that has been deliberately set. While it is most often used to refer to crimes of arson, it is also technically correct to use it for any fire which has been deliberately started.

Such a fire may also include the use of accelerants to cause rapid ignition.

[NC YIPPIE]

Likewise, here we have exactly the same problem: Some feel absolutely qualified to tell everyone else that they should support building more and more and more stores and thousands of new houses.  That they should support more and more consumption, more shopping, more gas stations, more cars, more parking lots.  Where is the choice in that for those who value freedom from over-development?  Many 'decisions' do in fact interfere with the lives of others. Should the power of the dollar be the only force that is considered? I think not. 

I believe that people are making free choices in Chatham, they just happen to be choosing to elect a BOC that doesn't approve everything.  I support that common sense approach.     

The polluters of our streams and destroyers of our natural resources, who do so simply for their own profit, will have to answer for their actions someday and I will not be in their camp.  That is not to say that we should not bend a blade of grass or fell a single tree, but rather that we should be cautious and reverent about the preservation of our natural resources.

I will stand with those that look for solutions that work in harmony with the natural world and preserve it for future generations.  I don't think anyone in the future will look back and say that they are sorry we didn't build more strip malls, but I do believe that many will look back when our forests are gone and say that someone should have spoken out against their destruction.   

[chathamartist]

Very wise words, NC Yippie.
Thanks for putting into words what some of us less eloquent posters (me anyway) believe!

[chrstnhsbndfthr]

So what do you advocate to stop the growth of humanity, Yippie?  The Chinese have a plan. I hope you do not advocate for forced abortions and limits on the number of children.  So what is your plan to limit the expansion of humanity?

If we do not limit the growth of humanity, but we limit the places humans may occupy or build or grow food, we create an untenable situation.  So carry the anti-growth ideal to its logical conclusion. What are you willing to do to stop the growth of humanity?  Growth is inevitable When we stop growing we die.

Setting hysteria aside we are no where near the peak of sustainable life on our planet.  We have learned to produce more food on less land through technology.  We feed much of the world from our farms.  Forests are a renewable resource, wildlife has benefited from human growth, as there is more life in edges than in old forests and humans create edges. We bring water where there was none.  Of course we create problems too. But we have the minds necessary to solve problems.  And we can.  We were part of the plan for the earth from the beginning.  Being a good steward of our resources need not mean that we cannot exist and grow.

[botanist]

Being a good steward of our resources need not mean that we cannot exist and grow.

With that statement, I agree.  But, C, you are living with your head in the sand if you believe that we can continue to spread to the far corners and not have it bite us in the rear. 

The fact that we can transport water is unimportant if that water isn't fit to drink and bathe in.  And wildlife, by and large, has NOT benefited from human growth - there have been lots of extinctions and increases in populations of weedy opportunists to the detriment of diversity...habitat for many keystone species is disappearing, polluted water doesn't support healthy populations of aquatic species, we have to worry about mercury in our fish... and so on.  By the way, edges are also created without humans. 

[NC YIPPIE]

I hope you do not advocate for forced abortions and limits on the number of children.

You may want to take note that comments like this are exactly the type of invective discourse that others find a bit dyspeptic.  I said nothing remotely similar to that thought, yet you try to link my post to forced abortions.  However, it's all good.  No biggie.

You seem to want to carve up complex issues into "growth" and "anti-growth", however, if the same twisted logic is applied to your all out 'growth' platform and we follow it to its 'logical conclusion' - we will not have a single bit of open space left because we can't stop 'growing.'  So zoning laws equal forced abortions?  Give me a break.  Talk about hysteria.   

You can't 'be a good steward' if you simply approve everything that is put forth, which is what you seem to be supporting.  As far as wildlife, sure a portion of the world's animals have benefitted from our existence in some ways, yes.  But they have also died in oil spills and been hunted to extinction.  They have been injected with chemicals killed for sport.  We only have the minds necessary to solve problems if we actually use those minds and plan for our collective future.

[domspe]

NC yippie - you give me hope for "yippies"

thanks for yet another eloquent post summing up what so many of us are thinking!

[Tags:]

Jump to: Please select a destination: ----------------------------- Chatham County Online ----------------------------- => Chatham County Online => Chatham County Schools => Chatham County Food & Drink => Chatham County Music & Arts => Chatham Community Calendar => Free Classifieds & Help Wanted Ads => Noah's Ark - All Creatures Great & Small. => Neighbor to Neighbor => Gardening and Agriculture => Chatham County Real Estate => North Carolina => This, That and Everything Else