Thursday 18 February 2010

Ugliness

It appears that the people of Whitley Bay and indeed most of Western Europe now accept a level of ugliness in their daily lives which is almost without precedent in history. Our rivers, lakes, trees, hedgerows, road side verges, and streets have become swamped with rubbish; plastics of every kind. Noise is everywhere, almost unavoidable — but it does not uplift, nor even tranquillise - it claws at the ears. The night sky which for millennia inspired philosophers and scientists is now hidden by light pollution.

When shown the ideas and proven technologies that can solve these problems, most people retreat into implacable passivity. Have we become not only ugly, but impotent?

The ugliness of 'the patch'
(Where the Brierdene meets Whitley Beach was
 last cleaned 3 years ago according to a council employee)



It's time to act.....and here are a couple of web sites that have helped me take some positive actions:

Litter Heroes
Needless Light Pollution

2 comments:

  1. I'm with you on this. Knew things were getting a bit depressing when the bird directions at Musselburgh started including:-"it's next to the righthand shopping trolley but just before the traffic cone".
    Will check out your links - thanks.

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