Day 47: Stack 'em high

Stack 'em high, Tel Aviv, Israel, January 2011,

Nikon D5000, 35mm focal length equiv. 82mm, exposure 1/4 sec @ f5.6, ISO 900, no flash

 © Steven Crisp [Click on the photo to enlarge]

We were out walking around the beach area in Tel Aviv when we snapped this shot of the moon flanked by some high rise hotel or apartments.

Then just a little bit farther, in a park area left undeveloped, look at the little fellow we found.  That's a hedgehog ... in Tel Aviv, Israel of all places!

And it reminds me that we really do need to be careful not to overdevelop our land.  As the Native Americans would ask, how will our development strategy affect the next seven generations?  Is our approach really sustainable?

If we cannot answer 'yes', we need to look long and hard at our development policies.  There are plenty of good examples of how to do it -- right here where we live in Germany.  Houses built closer together, but vast open fields and forests with trails nearby.  Community shopping that can be within walking or biking distance, as well as access to public transportation.

So go-ahead.  If you must add rooms or apartments, stack 'em high.  But retain some open space for the critters and we humans, who need to maintain that bond with nature, for our good health, sanity, and enjoyment.

The Peace of Wild Things -- by Wendell Berry  

When despair for the world grows in me 

and I wake in the night at the least sound 

in fear of what my life and children’s lives may be, 

I go and lie down where the wood drake 

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. 

I come into the peace of wild things 

who do not tax their lives with forethought 

of grief. I come into the presence of still water. 

And I feel above me the day-blind stars 

waiting with their light. For a time 

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

• Donation:  Donation to Green Sangha to ban single use plastic bags.  Please check out the fun video on the topic.
• Exercise: Walking on Patch Barracks (15 mins)