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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

#71

Post by yongjik »

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…

It feels weird to argue against suburbs while I'm living there, but...

Most pro-density/pro-mass-transit people aren't arguing against rural lifestyle. They're against suburban, car-dominated lifestyle.

I'll conjecture that, for many people, the potential benefit of living "close to nature" is more than negated by driving everywhere. Commuting in a subway in a mega-city easily racks up thirty minutes of brisk walking per day.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#72

Post by ema »

diob wrote: post #55
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.

Take a stroll around the intersection of north Randolph road and north 14th street. Randomly stumbled upon this when I was visiting Phoenix and it was a nice surprise. Overall I would say that concrete wasteland is a bit too harsh, at least the parts I walked through had a decent amount of vegetation here and there.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#74

Post by genocidicbunny »

radicality wrote: post #27
0des wrote: post #12

Nature has an allure, whether it is a window by your desk, or plants in your office. This year I made a resolution to add more plants to my office and home, and slowly both are filling up with various ferns and mosses and other indoor plants. The relaxing effects of being able to walk over to the garden shelf and have my thoughts to myself while I inspect them is something you don't get to enjoy often. If you find yo…

Any resources you can recommend to learn more about house plants / how to choose them / how to care for them? So far I have a snake plant and an orchid but want to get more.

Find a local plant nursery and see if they have any advice. The sort of plants that will work for you will depend on how much effort you're going to put in, what sort of space you have, what kind of home climate you like to keep.

Something that I have found very satisfying is to have a couple of small planters with herbs growing in them. Most don't take much effort, can survive fine by a window with decent light, and the net result is some fresh herbs once in a while.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#75

Post by sg47 »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #4
hombre_fatal wrote: post #2

Wouldn’t be an NPR blog post without bringing up colonialism, and sure enough, there it is.

Yeah, I remember being a proud NPR listener back before they went off the deep end. I’m still hoping it’s a phase they grow out of.

Maybe it's because the right wing has gone off the deep end trying to do coups because they can't win elections legally.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#76

Post by standardUser »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #69
standardUser wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"not just green spaces scattered amid the concrete" Most major cities have at least one park that is a few hundred acres.

A few hundred acres of forest is very different than a few hundred acres of soccer pitches, tennis courts, playgrounds, lawns, gardens, etc with a few acres of bird sanctuary, wetland, or prairie strewn about. It’s better than concrete, but it’s not nature.

Most towns and suburbs don't have acres of wild forest in them. That's not exactly a unique "flaw" of cities.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#77

Post by throwaway894345 »

jawarner wrote: post #66
throwaway894345 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t have any problems with people building up, but I’m very skeptical that the space between tall buildings will be made into parks, and anyway a city park is not what I would consider “nature”. For folks who want density and can content themselves with urban green spaces, I wish you well on your quest to build taller and denser, just please don’t impose that on everyone! :)

Not all urban parks are created equally. I live close to a park 100s of acres in size in a city (Austin, TX).

We just have different standards for “nature”. If it’s hundreds of acres of undisturbed forest and you can’t see or hear the city, then it’ll probably scratch the itch, but most large urban parks are mostly grass, gardens, sports fields, playgrounds, etc with a few acres of feel-good wetlands or prairie or bird sanctuary sprinkled around. “Acres” does not nature make.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#78

Post by Grimburger »

tjr225 wrote: post #11
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…

You’re presenting a false dichotomy. There are plenty of dense places with incredible nature within just an hours drive. In the USA, Maybe not so much outside of the West Coast of the USA however. Personally, living in a city close to nature(seattle area) has been the best thing for me so far in my life; I have spent a stupid amount of money making it happen but wouldn’t trade it for anything. On the flip side it’s n…

> within just an hours drive

Wow that's depressing, I live in a very high density area by western standards and there's 50,000 acres of pristine rainforest literally on my doorstep while the mall is 5 minutes drive away and the city centre is 15 mins. During covid even the rare and endangered gibbons would come out hang out in the street.

Everytime I go back to Australia it seems like a suburban dystopia with 8 lane roads 60kms from the actual city. People commuting 2+ hours a day is the norm there.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#80

Post by throwaway894345 »

sg47 wrote: post #75
throwaway894345 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I remember being a proud NPR listener back before they went off the deep end. I’m still hoping it’s a phase they grow out of.

Maybe it's because the right wing has gone off the deep end trying to do coups because they can't win elections legally.

I think you ventured into the wrong thread. I’m not sure how your comment could possibly relate to mine, anyway.
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