Wednesday, February 09, 2011

2011 Streak 40/365: a heedless consumer

2011 Streak 40/365: Cycle 15.5 miles, Time - 1hr 11min, Weather - pale light
Time for some more animal pictures. 
On my rides horses are the easiest animals to find. This probably says a lot about the area I live in. There are not huge numbers of farm animals - a few cattle, some flocks of sheep - but of an animal of conspicuous consumption there are plenty. It is a genteel countryside a cycle through.
I don't know about the health of local agriculture. I know I pass some rather grand farm houses, but that means little - they may or may not be owned by farmers, they may or may not be grand only from the outside. I also know the land seems well maintained - the hedges a cut, the fields tended. It all looks very neat. So perhaps things are OK - I just don't know. However a number of farm yards have been turned into mini business parks, which is quite an interesting development that indicates  farms might need to diversify. 
Thinking about this made me realise how selfish  (perhaps limited might be a more accurate word) my viewpoint is. I do not think about how all the wonderful green space is maintained, or about the sustainability of the economic model. I am only interested in what it looks or feels like when I ride through it. I want the pleasure of  pleasing vistas and a sense of space; the sensation of the sun, the wind, or the rain.

In other words I am a heedless consumer of the open air.

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