The view
19/02/23 02:04
A couple of blocks from our home there is a trail that leads towards the beach. On one side, the trail is right next to the backyard fences of homes, but for most of the way there are thick shrubs that hide the fences and homes. On the other side the trail goes past a 1/4 acre settling pond that is part of the storm sewer system. The pond is a gathering place for ducks and sometimes geese and the reeds around the pond are summer homes to red winged blackbirds. Beyond the pond there are 2 or 3 acres of birch forest - the trees that have given our community their name.
As we walk down the path, the view ahead used to be a glimpse of the bay - a great vantage place to see whether or not there are waves, what boats may be out on the bay, the color of the water, whether or not the clouds are hiding the islands, and much more. However, in the past couple of months a house has been being constructed on what was an empty lot and now what we see when we walk down the path is the as yet unfinished home. Bare particle board just isn’t as scenic as a view of the Salish Sea.
I don’t fault the homeowner for their choice of lots. If I had the means and if I had happened to be able to purchase that lot, I probably would be eager to build a great home with a great view in that spot. It is possible that the homeowner is not even aware of how their dream home has affected the view from the footpath. At any rate, they have the right to build in that location and the inspectors will make sure that they build responsibly and to code.
Moreover, there is a housing shortage in our entire region. Each year approximately 2,600 new residents move into Whatcom County. And the area to our immediate north, Vancouver, British Columbia is adding over 26,000 new residents each year. That is a lot of people who are needing places to live.
I can’t complain. We chose to move here. We found a comfortable and safe home for ourselves. We are recent immigrants to the area who could have chosen to remain in South Dakota.
Still, I miss the view as we walk down the pathway.
With over 8 billion people on the planet and already nearly 18 million babies born this year, things are bound to be crowded. Add to that the fact that nearly three quarters of the world’s population lives within 30 miles of an ocean and views of the ocean are bound to get scarce. I don’t know how long it will take, but it seems likely that our little community will see more and more large condominium and apartment buildings that replace single and two story houses with much larger buildings. We can still see the ocean between the houses when we walk along the street where the new house is being built. It isn’t hard to imagine a day when those view properties become too expensive for single families and are bought up by large corporations and occupied by very large buildings. For now, while I grieve a bit over the loss of the view, I need to be grateful that our community is still relatively rural and not a large city like the one to our north. We live between Seattle, Washington, with its metro area population of 4,018,762 and Vancouver, British Columbia with an additional 2,657,000 people. Fortunately for us, we are just far away from those places to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet and on most days to avoid their air pollution. On the other hand, on any given day in the summer at least some of those 6,675,762 people have decided to get out of the city and are looking for a nice, quiet beach community to get a break from the city. When too many of them come at once, we start looking and feeling like the city.
It is unrealistic and selfish to think that we can keep this place to ourselves. It will be ours to live in for a little while, but our time in this place is short compared to the millennia of human occupation of the coast of the Salish Sea. The day will come when others will occupy our house and walk the paths we now enjoy. So, for now, we will try to take good care of this place and to appreciate its beauty. We try to get out doors and walk every day to experience all that this place has to offer. We try to be welcoming of newcomers and to be generous with our sharing.
Perhaps one of the advantages of the timing of our lives is that we still have places where we can go and be alone. We can get away from the sound of the Interstate highway. Often we walk along the beach and have it to ourselves, especially when the weather is a bit cold, windy, or rainy. We know quiet places in the woods where we can listen to the birds and hear the water drop from the ferns. It is a relatively short drive up into the mountains where there are fewer people and more space. We have been privileged to live in places where the human neighbors aren’t too close and the animals and birds are not too disrupted by our presence.
It is hard to tell what the future of this planet holds. There must be a limit of the capacity of the planet to support human population. At some point it should stop growing and at least stabilize. We hope this doesn’t occur through mass starvation, global war, pandemic, or environmental catastrophe, but we don’t know the future. So we will hold dear the beauty and peace that we have been given and try not to be jealous when others want a bit of it as well.
As we walk down the path, the view ahead used to be a glimpse of the bay - a great vantage place to see whether or not there are waves, what boats may be out on the bay, the color of the water, whether or not the clouds are hiding the islands, and much more. However, in the past couple of months a house has been being constructed on what was an empty lot and now what we see when we walk down the path is the as yet unfinished home. Bare particle board just isn’t as scenic as a view of the Salish Sea.
I don’t fault the homeowner for their choice of lots. If I had the means and if I had happened to be able to purchase that lot, I probably would be eager to build a great home with a great view in that spot. It is possible that the homeowner is not even aware of how their dream home has affected the view from the footpath. At any rate, they have the right to build in that location and the inspectors will make sure that they build responsibly and to code.
Moreover, there is a housing shortage in our entire region. Each year approximately 2,600 new residents move into Whatcom County. And the area to our immediate north, Vancouver, British Columbia is adding over 26,000 new residents each year. That is a lot of people who are needing places to live.
I can’t complain. We chose to move here. We found a comfortable and safe home for ourselves. We are recent immigrants to the area who could have chosen to remain in South Dakota.
Still, I miss the view as we walk down the pathway.
With over 8 billion people on the planet and already nearly 18 million babies born this year, things are bound to be crowded. Add to that the fact that nearly three quarters of the world’s population lives within 30 miles of an ocean and views of the ocean are bound to get scarce. I don’t know how long it will take, but it seems likely that our little community will see more and more large condominium and apartment buildings that replace single and two story houses with much larger buildings. We can still see the ocean between the houses when we walk along the street where the new house is being built. It isn’t hard to imagine a day when those view properties become too expensive for single families and are bought up by large corporations and occupied by very large buildings. For now, while I grieve a bit over the loss of the view, I need to be grateful that our community is still relatively rural and not a large city like the one to our north. We live between Seattle, Washington, with its metro area population of 4,018,762 and Vancouver, British Columbia with an additional 2,657,000 people. Fortunately for us, we are just far away from those places to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet and on most days to avoid their air pollution. On the other hand, on any given day in the summer at least some of those 6,675,762 people have decided to get out of the city and are looking for a nice, quiet beach community to get a break from the city. When too many of them come at once, we start looking and feeling like the city.
It is unrealistic and selfish to think that we can keep this place to ourselves. It will be ours to live in for a little while, but our time in this place is short compared to the millennia of human occupation of the coast of the Salish Sea. The day will come when others will occupy our house and walk the paths we now enjoy. So, for now, we will try to take good care of this place and to appreciate its beauty. We try to get out doors and walk every day to experience all that this place has to offer. We try to be welcoming of newcomers and to be generous with our sharing.
Perhaps one of the advantages of the timing of our lives is that we still have places where we can go and be alone. We can get away from the sound of the Interstate highway. Often we walk along the beach and have it to ourselves, especially when the weather is a bit cold, windy, or rainy. We know quiet places in the woods where we can listen to the birds and hear the water drop from the ferns. It is a relatively short drive up into the mountains where there are fewer people and more space. We have been privileged to live in places where the human neighbors aren’t too close and the animals and birds are not too disrupted by our presence.
It is hard to tell what the future of this planet holds. There must be a limit of the capacity of the planet to support human population. At some point it should stop growing and at least stabilize. We hope this doesn’t occur through mass starvation, global war, pandemic, or environmental catastrophe, but we don’t know the future. So we will hold dear the beauty and peace that we have been given and try not to be jealous when others want a bit of it as well.
