OK so week 2 of the Sustainability MOOC is now well underway. It's not even 10 am and the opinions of some of my course mates are really offending me.
Everyone's entitled to their opinions, and naturally I wouldn't do anything to stop that but some of the utter tosh being spouted by some people really does "extract the waste fluid".
Excerpt from my post on the course:
"I was lucky enough to be brought up in the Peak District, which became the Britain's first National Park...
...What this has meant for me, being born in 1985, I was able to grow up in a beautiful part of the UK, in a lovely, and thriving town not only busy through tourism but also through the nurturing of the community itself..."
The town I'm talking about is Bakewell, and on a side note:
If that sounds familiar it's because of its fame (or infamy) of the Bakewell Pudding, and NOT the Mr Kipling type rubbish. The proper Bakewell pudding is the ugly duckling of the cake world, but my gosh are they delicious warm with custard or cold with ice cream, and well worth a visit to Bakewell just for the taste!
But I digress... Bakewell is one of the busier towns in the Peaks (and a lot of this via tourism) and after reading comments on the course such as:
"The Lake and Peak Districts, the mountain of Scotland and Wales - they should all be covered in trees"
I can't help but be flabbergasted and the small mindedness of such comments.
Fine - let's demolish the entirety of the Peak District and plant trees over everyone's homes, businesses and parks etc. I'm pretty sure that a) the relocation of these communities would create a serious dent in the economy, carbon footprints and set back sustainability in general because b) the benefits would, I honestly believe be marginal.
Perhaps the person who stated the comment above should do a bit of reading up on the Peak District. For example did they know that 69% of the land within the Peak District is protected for natural wildlife and growth
I could go on, and mention the benefits brought to the National Park by having the non-tree covered bits...such as the 16-20 Million tonnes of carbon stored in the peatlands which are crucial for nature conservation and reducing the impacts of climate change.
I think I've made my point though, and I've calmed down now....What's the next topic of discussion?
(Data taken from: http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/79231/factsheet8-conservation.pdf )
It's great to have this inside outside view of the MOOC. I did not make the above comment, but I can see how easy it is to get things wrong in such global fora. I often tend to be pushy with my ideas, sometimes cynical, arrogant or just grumpy. One never really knows how posts will be understood. I wonder about the above comment, was the poster serious or trying to be ironic? I think it is an interesting course and I wonder what garbage week 3 will bring? Could be wasteful...
ReplyDeletePaul http://artlearn.net/lifeplace/