3 ms·

There isn't much beauty left in lots of people's day to day lives that isn't gate kept behind a dollar requirement. I can't blame people for wanting beauty in t

There isn't much beauty left in lots of people's day to day lives that isn't gate kept behind a dollar requirement. I can't blame people for wanting beauty in their lives.

bell-cot 2y ago
I'm a regular volunteer in natural areas, in SE Michigan. Unless it's right next to a big university campus, and their friends are there, it's amazing and sad how few people show any interest in adding some free, open-to-the-public natural beauty to their lives. From the article's description (of #superbloom), I'd say that nobody actually wanted beauty in their lives. But everybody wanted to visit a trending-now location ASAP.
- steve_adams_86 2y ago
  I do this as well where I live. We have some beautiful spots right in the city. When I go and help do ecological restoration, very few people are around. Some paths go by these areas, but no one stops. They're going somewhere. I don't blame them; my days are packed too. My local subreddit is FULL of people wondering where these places are. They hate living in the city because it's ugly or they miss rural life. Some even ask how to help. No new volunteers show up, though. No uptick in people visiting these areas. We've got this one beautiful ravine that needs so much work done, and we can't really get funding or a go-ahead at all until it's clear we'll have the resources. This means volunteers who have stuck around for a few jobs and expressed an intent to return. We've got around 10 people, but would need more like 20. I'm not sure it's possible. We put up signs, put out social media, get people in the group to reach into their network. No luck. If people won't visit the beautiful places, what are the chances they'll help restore the parts that need our help? It's rough. Oh well, just have to keep at it. It makes a real difference.
  - bell-cot 2y ago
    > My local subreddit is FULL of people wondering [...] Some even ask how to help. No new volunteers show up, though. Oh, yes. I'm in a local volunteer group here. We have just under 1,800 "members" on Meetup - supposedly interested in regularly doing Good Deeds with us. But there are less than 18 members who ever show up and do things. Evidently the other ~1,782 had Good Intentions...that mysteriously vanished when they clicked "Join". Or only care about polishing their online images. Or something. A great many things were different back in the early '90's. One of which was that branding yourself as a volunteer do-gooder required you to actually show up and do some work. Somehow, our group had far more actual workers back then.
    - steve_adams_86 2y ago
      Oh, nice. You’ve been at it for a while now. I’d love to have some of the insights you have. Though, I guess they don’t help you grow the group much if you’re only 18. Yet, I have no idea how we’d get to 18. The most successful group around here has about that many volunteers (I’m one of them), but they’re focused on a huge range of land trusts outside of the city. Given the city is small, it still seems insane that so few people want to contribute. My kids have no interest. Friends have no interest. But it’s literally the only way things get better… For example. A creek nearby smells awful and is full of drug paraphernalia and garbage. The city has expressed with clarity that they aren’t touching it. The only solution is people like you and I taking a Saturday to clean it. Yet we’re not actually allowed to unless the city approves it (more specifically the Parks branch), which requires meeting their criteria such as number of people involved, short enough time frames, available expertise, etc. Sometimes I think I might just go guerilla and pull a bunch of crap out on my own, take it to the dump on my own, whatever. Okay, I got that out of my system. If you have any advice on making groups like this more effective, I’m all ears. Bringing coffee and muffins to the work events certainly helps.
      - sriacha 2y ago
        Really seems like the best route is to go guerilla, no?
        steve_adams_86 2y ago
        I guess so. The dump fee would likely be several hundred dollars, but there’s a real psychological cost to sitting around and letting it fester too. I go by this place almost every single day of my life.
- _DeadFred_ 2y ago
  You sure it's not the equivalent of the local 'what to do this weekend' section of the newspaper? I know people from the bay area would see my posts get all excited then sad when they learned where I live now and too far away, and none of them were trending or made to look cool by boring old me.
- asdff 2y ago
  It really depends on the natural area in question. Not everyone is really motivated to build up the skills required to do things like navigate via map and compass to actually tackle natural terrain safely. People die every year in the Angeles National Forest and its almost always because they didn't prepare for the conditions and didn't let anyone know that they were hiking that weekend and therefore where to aid search and rescue when the missing persons report is filed. However I think smaller urban/suburban trails have probably never been more popular. You know the sort of 1-3 mile loop in the hills or woods trails with a convenient parking lot. Those are filled with trail runners, dog walkers, people pushing strollers, etc.

There isn't much beauty left in lots of people's day to day lives that isn't gate kept behind a dollar requirement. I can't blame people for wanting beauty in their lives.

bell-cot 2y ago

I'm a regular volunteer in natural areas, in SE Michigan. Unless it's right next to a big university campus, and their friends are there, it's amazing and sad how few people show any interest in adding some free, open-to-the-public natural beauty to their lives. From the article's description (of #superbloom), I'd say that nobody actually wanted beauty in their lives. But everybody wanted to visit a trending-now location ASAP.

steve_adams_86 2y ago
I do this as well where I live. We have some beautiful spots right in the city. When I go and help do ecological restoration, very few people are around. Some paths go by these areas, but no one stops. They're going somewhere. I don't blame them; my days are packed too. My local subreddit is FULL of people wondering where these places are. They hate living in the city because it's ugly or they miss rural life. Some even ask how to help. No new volunteers show up, though. No uptick in people visiting these areas. We've got this one beautiful ravine that needs so much work done, and we can't really get funding or a go-ahead at all until it's clear we'll have the resources. This means volunteers who have stuck around for a few jobs and expressed an intent to return. We've got around 10 people, but would need more like 20. I'm not sure it's possible. We put up signs, put out social media, get people in the group to reach into their network. No luck. If people won't visit the beautiful places, what are the chances they'll help restore the parts that need our help? It's rough. Oh well, just have to keep at it. It makes a real difference.
- bell-cot 2y ago
  > My local subreddit is FULL of people wondering [...] Some even ask how to help. No new volunteers show up, though. Oh, yes. I'm in a local volunteer group here. We have just under 1,800 "members" on Meetup - supposedly interested in regularly doing Good Deeds with us. But there are less than 18 members who ever show up and do things. Evidently the other ~1,782 had Good Intentions...that mysteriously vanished when they clicked "Join". Or only care about polishing their online images. Or something. A great many things were different back in the early '90's. One of which was that branding yourself as a volunteer do-gooder required you to actually show up and do some work. Somehow, our group had far more actual workers back then.
  - steve_adams_86 2y ago
    Oh, nice. You’ve been at it for a while now. I’d love to have some of the insights you have. Though, I guess they don’t help you grow the group much if you’re only 18. Yet, I have no idea how we’d get to 18. The most successful group around here has about that many volunteers (I’m one of them), but they’re focused on a huge range of land trusts outside of the city. Given the city is small, it still seems insane that so few people want to contribute. My kids have no interest. Friends have no interest. But it’s literally the only way things get better… For example. A creek nearby smells awful and is full of drug paraphernalia and garbage. The city has expressed with clarity that they aren’t touching it. The only solution is people like you and I taking a Saturday to clean it. Yet we’re not actually allowed to unless the city approves it (more specifically the Parks branch), which requires meeting their criteria such as number of people involved, short enough time frames, available expertise, etc. Sometimes I think I might just go guerilla and pull a bunch of crap out on my own, take it to the dump on my own, whatever. Okay, I got that out of my system. If you have any advice on making groups like this more effective, I’m all ears. Bringing coffee and muffins to the work events certainly helps.
    - sriacha 2y ago
      Really seems like the best route is to go guerilla, no?
      - steve_adams_86 2y ago
        I guess so. The dump fee would likely be several hundred dollars, but there’s a real psychological cost to sitting around and letting it fester too. I go by this place almost every single day of my life.
_DeadFred_ 2y ago
You sure it's not the equivalent of the local 'what to do this weekend' section of the newspaper? I know people from the bay area would see my posts get all excited then sad when they learned where I live now and too far away, and none of them were trending or made to look cool by boring old me.
asdff 2y ago
It really depends on the natural area in question. Not everyone is really motivated to build up the skills required to do things like navigate via map and compass to actually tackle natural terrain safely. People die every year in the Angeles National Forest and its almost always because they didn't prepare for the conditions and didn't let anyone know that they were hiking that weekend and therefore where to aid search and rescue when the missing persons report is filed. However I think smaller urban/suburban trails have probably never been more popular. You know the sort of 1-3 mile loop in the hills or woods trails with a convenient parking lot. Those are filled with trail runners, dog walkers, people pushing strollers, etc.