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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2009 9:38:31 GMT
I thought this article from the New York Times showed that there is hope in what is referred to in France as "décroissance" (reverse growth). Cities of asphalt can slowly convert back to greener times, if people will take some initiatives. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2009 10:55:10 GMT
Interesting piece. Thanks. Always nice to read something hopeful about these places.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 19, 2009 18:57:03 GMT
It's almost as though this kind of city neighborhood had to go all the way down in order to become "green". It's so heartening to hear of citizen initiative that catches on and raises the consciousness and quality of living for everyone. What a contrast, though, to read of all that urban hardship and to contrast it with Kimby's bucolic views of Michigan. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2009 19:57:29 GMT
Michigan seems to have gotten the short end of the stick in terms of urban areas in the 21st century.
(Now where does THAT expression come from?)
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Post by fumobici on Oct 20, 2009 0:41:20 GMT
I remember giving a friend a ride from school in Ann Arbor to his parents' house in Flint in the mid '70s. It struck me as pretty grim even then, as did much of E Michigan. Much prime Midwestern alluvial farmland was developed, just because that's where people wanted to live.
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LouisXIV
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L'estat c'est moi.
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Post by LouisXIV on Nov 10, 2009 14:15:42 GMT
The Short end of the stick:
Candles were expensive to make, so often reeds were dipped in tallow and burned instead. When visitors came, it was the custom for guests to make their exit by the time the lights went out. Therefore, if your host didn't want you to stay very long, he would give you a "short stick."
George wrote: In the days of outhouses, often there were outhouses with multiple "holes" so that more than one person could relieve him(her)self at a time. Before the time of toilet paper, Sears catalogs and corn cobs, a stick shaped like a shoe horn was used for "hygienic cleaning." It was rather a short spatula device with a longer handle. Well, if one person was done, he could request that the person using the adjoining hole pass the stick. Of course the person with the stick would pass it holding onto the other person by holding the long end of the stick. The recipient would therefore receive it holding the "short end of the stick."
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2009 14:53:22 GMT
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