I live in a suburban area. I know that I should be grateful to live here–one of the the safest cities in the country, maybe the world–but yet I can’t help but feel dead and lifeless here. The concrete and planned communities and shopping districts with fountains and green grass lawns drain me, tire me. I hate the artificiality of everything, the way I have no connection here with the earth, the way I have no idea what the landscape would look like if there were no buildings. I hate the fact that people keep green grass lawns and never use them, keep green grass parks and never walk in them. And the fact that the green grass lawns and parks are an affront to the nature of things, they shouldn’t even exist–we live in a desert climate where it rains only about a week out of the year. I like going out into Arizona and New Mexico, out into wide open spaces where people’s homes blend into the landscape, cohere into a bigger picture. Here, everything is constructed and artificial and disjointed–nothing really makes sense. It’s sick and grotesque. It fills me with a sense of sorrow and hopelessness. A sense of loss.

How many of you live in a place like this? Please describe to me where you live. Do you feel that when you look around you, you can see a natural landscape? Or is it planned and artificial? Keep in mind, just because you see plants and trees does not make it natural. For instance, where I live, there are many green parks and lawns, but these are completely unnatural, considering that I live in a desert climate. In light of our state’s current water shortage, it seems excessive to use so much water keeping our lawns green (especially when it seems that so few people these days even enjoy them; people maintain their lawns using timed sprinklers, and rarely go outside - parents are at work all the time, and kids spend their time on video games or the computer).

There are many positive things about the place I live: it is safe. It is clean. For the most part, people are kind and respectful of each other. It is racially diverse. But nevertheless, I think the artificiality of the area contributes to a sense of artificiality in our lives. There is a lot of waste here that goes on - consumerism is very much in vogue.

I’d like to hear about the environment you live in. What does it look like? Where do you go when you feel like connecting with nature? Can you describe what the natural landscape is like? What kind of ecosystem do you live in (do you know, or does the concrete cover everything up)? What are the positive and negative things?