Let’s face it.  The world is not always the most aesthetically pleasing, especially once humans get involved.   Certainly we can build beautiful cathedrals, futuristic hi-rises and all sorts of man-made wonders.  Truth be told though, those things are rare.   Beauty is little more than an occasional blip in most of our communities.

More often than not our buildings are square, ugly and in desperate need of repair. Even new box stores, strip malls and roadways that imaginative designers envisioned laced with brickwork, grass and trees, soon become broken and trash covered with time and neglect.  The grass goes brown without really ever getting a foothold. The trees planted in road way medians die of starvation if not hit by a snowplow.  Baraboo’s Highway 12 section from Wal-Mart through West Baraboo is a perfect example of a great design left uncared for and turning to shambles. Who notices when flying by at  55 mph anyway?

Today’s picture is from the city of Racine in the South-East corner of Wisconsin but it could be any larger urban area. Large cities simply magnify the issues by their size.  Back in the 70s the term “Urban Blight” was passed around a lot.  Now, it’s just the way it is.  Some things have gotten better, some worse.  Those who can afford it of course have cookie-cutter, latte laden, mini-malls &  upscale renovations to seek refuge in.  Even so, mass-produced artwork, inoffensive indi-rock and window blinds offer only limited protection from the dirty snow and fast food containers drifting down the roadsides outdoors.

Certainly some things have improved.  Chicago is really looking nice compared to the 70s for instance.  And yet we have to admit that “nice” is relative to what a large urban area can hope for.  In large population areas “nice” will always be limited to little islands among the sprawl.

This is why we must protect our natural areas, places like Baxter’s Hollow, Parfrey’s Glen or Pewitt’s nest.  It’s not in the hope that the world will become a better place one day and that such preservation will lead the way. Odds are pretty long, that we shall ever find a way to create a Jetson-like utopia. (We can’t even manage a flying car!!). No, preservation is an acknowledgment that as our population continues to grow these little islands of trees, lakes and scenic trails will be all that’s left.  We are simply too voracious a species and as a society we are better at creating ugly and neglect, than beauty. As voices rise and fall, as lobbyists, advocates and governments wrestle with acceptable talking points, while gray trucks haul new washing machines, and people buy burgers laden with special sauce,  the expansion and the neglect continue unfettered. The actions of the few who take notice are simply too small.  The needs of the few are paving over the needs of the many, and the needs of the future (to riff on Star Trek…).

Someday these little islands that we are saving today will be all that is left.  They will be green patches imprisoned by grids of garbage and neglect. I know it’s hard to accept.  We want to believe that we can change the world.  We want to think our conservation efforts will not just stand but expand.  They will for a time. I’ll give it that, but it simply can’t last.  It’s in the math. We’re not really in control. Humanity is expanding without limit and we simply can’t even begin come to grips with what that will mean in the days not to far off.  Will we stop having children? Will we stop building housing?  We will stop paving the lands? No.  Of course not. It’s can’t be stopped.  And this is the real reason why we must fight and scratch to save whatever we can. One day, everything left to save will be, what’s left won’t be worth saving.

Mark my words.

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Please comment and tell me why I’m totally off base!

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