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Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

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Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#51

Post by throwaway894345 »

vkou wrote: post #21
throwaway894345 wrote: post #6

This is the sort of thing I think about when the pro-urban/pro-density/anti-car people talk about their vision for the world. I live in a city now, and the lack of substantial nature is suffocating to the extent that I plan to move. The idea that we should all live this way to conserve space—a resource which is only scarce in these urban places—seems excessive to put it mildly. EDIT: A lot of urban folks are rebuttin…

The suburbs don't actually present a solution to this. There is no more nature in them than there is in any other urban environment. It's all manicured lawns and endless pavement, and you can't even walk to a park, because getting anywhere requires hopping into a car. If you want to see nature, you have to live way out in the boonies, on at a minimum, two-acre lots. If everyone lived like that, we'd all have two-hour…

I wasn’t advocating for suburbs. There are more options besides suburbs and urban areas—you should check them out!

> If you want to see nature, you have to live way out in the boonies, on at a minimum, two-acre lots. If everyone lived like that, we'd all have two-hour commutes on twenty-lane highways.

What a strange comment! Millions of people live with reasonable access to nature and most of them don’t have 2 acre lots nor do they need “twenty-lane highways”. Y’all urban folks need to venture out of your cities once in a while—it’s a biiiiggg world out there.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#52

Post by radu_floricica »

Funny thing is, making cities more green isn't even _that_ difficult. I see above conversations on living closer to nature, or mountains vs parks - but the vast majority of time spent is walking and driving in the cities. So it seems a no-brainer that before everything else, before thinking about taking a 2 hour drive to hike, or making the time for a weekly visit to the park, we should first make sure the places people actually walk through and live in every day are as green as possible.

There is no one solution, of course, since at the very least climates and budgets can be wildly different, but a good start is making sure every street has a green canopy above, starting with the largest. After that, take every space you can and put something living on it.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#53

Post by throwaway894345 »

null_object wrote: post #45
throwaway894345 wrote: post #6

This is the sort of thing I think about when the pro-urban/pro-density/anti-car people talk about their vision for the world. I live in a city now, and the lack of substantial nature is suffocating to the extent that I plan to move. The idea that we should all live this way to conserve space—a resource which is only scarce in these urban places—seems excessive to put it mildly. EDIT: A lot of urban folks are rebuttin…

> when the pro-urban/pro-density/anti-car people talk about their vision for the world Beggars belief your response to an article on the psychological and health benefits of nature is… more cars? Building roads, urban sprawl, the noise and pollution from the cars themselves, the destructive invasion of all the infrastructure associated with car-use - all of it is directly destructive of the nature we’re talking about…

> Beggars belief your response to an article on the psychological and health benefits of nature is… more cars?

Of course, I didn’t say that, I only said the pro-density utopia sounds super bleak to me.

Anyway, there’s still plenty of space out there and all of the urban people in this thread are talking like they’ve never seen other parts of the country before—there’s still a whole bunch of space between New York and San Fran—it’s not the endless suburbs you seem to be imagining.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#54

Post by throwaway894345 »

ls15 wrote: post #48
throwaway894345 wrote: post #6

This is the sort of thing I think about when the pro-urban/pro-density/anti-car people talk about their vision for the world. I live in a city now, and the lack of substantial nature is suffocating to the extent that I plan to move. The idea that we should all live this way to conserve space—a resource which is only scarce in these urban places—seems excessive to put it mildly. EDIT: A lot of urban folks are rebuttin…

> A lot of urban folks are rebutting my “substantial nature” complaint with references to their city’s parks One important aspect of nature is the ability to escape people. Most city parks cannot do that.

I agree. That was my point, in case that’s not evident.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#55

Post by diob »

radu_floricica wrote: post #52

Funny thing is, making cities more green isn't even _that_ difficult. I see above conversations on living closer to nature, or mountains vs parks - but the vast majority of time spent is walking and driving in the cities. So it seems a no-brainer that before everything else, before thinking about taking a 2 hour drive to hike, or making the time for a weekly visit to the park, we should first make sure the places peo…

This is part of why I love visiting Japan, so much nature scattered throughout otherwise urban areas. Lot's of other places in the world like it as well. Makes me jealous since I love in the concrete wasteland that is Phoenix.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#56

Post by standardUser »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #6

This is the sort of thing I think about when the pro-urban/pro-density/anti-car people talk about their vision for the world. I live in a city now, and the lack of substantial nature is suffocating to the extent that I plan to move. The idea that we should all live this way to conserve space—a resource which is only scarce in these urban places—seems excessive to put it mildly. EDIT: A lot of urban folks are rebuttin…

"not just green spaces scattered amid the concrete"

Most major cities have at least one park that is a few hundred acres.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#57

Post by n8cpdx »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #6

This is the sort of thing I think about when the pro-urban/pro-density/anti-car people talk about their vision for the world. I live in a city now, and the lack of substantial nature is suffocating to the extent that I plan to move. The idea that we should all live this way to conserve space—a resource which is only scarce in these urban places—seems excessive to put it mildly. EDIT: A lot of urban folks are rebuttin…

I was just in the forest this weekend. I can take a train to get there - it runs every 15 minutes or more often depending on time of day.

I got nervous towards the end of the walk because I was seemingly in the middle of nowhere - no one in sight - and I was losing the light.

If I take the train the other direction, I can walk up a mountain (actually a dormant volcano) and enjoy the park there. That tends to be a bit busier, but then again, humans are also animals that exist in naturally, and they tend to be less intrusive than other animals in parks.

And I didn’t even mention the rivers, islands, and beaches I can get to on foot or by transit. I haven’t tried visiting the buttes yet, but I know at minimum one is accessible by bike.

All of that nature is available and present in part because of an urban growth boundary that constrained the expansion of suburbs.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#58

Post by throwaway894345 »

ehnto wrote: post #43
throwaway894345 wrote: post #6

This is the sort of thing I think about when the pro-urban/pro-density/anti-car people talk about their vision for the world. I live in a city now, and the lack of substantial nature is suffocating to the extent that I plan to move. The idea that we should all live this way to conserve space—a resource which is only scarce in these urban places—seems excessive to put it mildly. EDIT: A lot of urban folks are rebuttin…

Anti-car is pro-nature not pro concrete jungle. Cars are a big part of why we have a concrete jungle and not nature intersected with density. Think of cities with substantial nature passages, botanic gardens and reserves throughout. Not just one big one but many. Suburbia isn't nature either, at least not standard suburbia. It's carbon intense lawn, concrete and asphalt. A front lawn and a big tree isn't nature. The…

Why do people keep framing this as a dichotomy between urban areas and suburbs? I agree that suburbs aren’t “nature”, obviously. There’s a lot more to the US than urban cores and suburbs.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#59

Post by anoplus »

I have set myself a daily dose of daylight exposure, either by going out or looking through windows. I feel my sleep has improved since I started a week ago. Although I don't want to jump to conclusions early. So maybe nature, or daylight, or good weather, or all of them - does it to me.

I write this comment while sitting in a local garden to start my day.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#60

Post by throwaway894345 »

Teknoman117 wrote: post #46
throwaway894345 wrote: post #6

This is the sort of thing I think about when the pro-urban/pro-density/anti-car people talk about their vision for the world. I live in a city now, and the lack of substantial nature is suffocating to the extent that I plan to move. The idea that we should all live this way to conserve space—a resource which is only scarce in these urban places—seems excessive to put it mildly. EDIT: A lot of urban folks are rebuttin…

I've spent the last year living at my parents' cabin in the woods. It's right next to Jackson state forest. They've got 8 acres of land full of wildlife and redwoods. Waking up and stepping out onto the deck in the morning feels like crawling out of your tent when camping. But now it's back to SF as the office is reopening. I won't miss driving 3+ hours to see friends, but I will miss the scenery.

That sounds beautiful!
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