tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post7727216130283133334..comments2024-03-28T21:50:12.349-04:00Comments on Face to Face: Suburban woods reverting to overgrown jungles -- an effect of cocooning?agnostichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-37108135353568121782014-07-28T18:43:07.825-04:002014-07-28T18:43:07.825-04:00I like your "Friday the 13th" approach t...I like your "Friday the 13th" approach to verifying this trend. Another approach would be to Google scientific papers on the biomass of North American forests. It has been significantly rising for decades, especially in the north-east.Stevenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-41474095189006596622014-07-13T13:26:25.380-04:002014-07-13T13:26:25.380-04:00"people prefer low crime to high crime"
..."people prefer low crime to high crime"<br /><br />Of course they will say that if you ask them, but most older people would also say they would prefer the 60s, 70s, and 80s to modern times. In fact, most older seem to think that right now times are more dangerous than they've ever been, or at least the ones I've talked to, and that the 80s were safer.Curtisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-27291363835777537502014-07-13T11:40:17.852-04:002014-07-13T11:40:17.852-04:00In terms of trying to calculate net benefits, I wo...In terms of trying to calculate net benefits, I would try to see if there are places on different crime cycles and look at the "foot vote" between them. It seems obvious to me that people prefer low crime to high crime, but agnostic has emphasized he's more interested in the slope than the level.TGGPhttp://entitledtoanopinion.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-27659590640377091662014-07-12T18:02:25.343-04:002014-07-12T18:02:25.343-04:00All these factors from cocooning, to rising temper...All these factors from cocooning, to rising temperatures, to shrinkage of public sphere have a role. Also need to take into account baby boom population numbers. Suburban forest spaces were jammed with tramping boomer boys in the adventurous 8-14 year old age group for three decades. Those areas might only now be recovering. Also -- my personal than-and-now studies of particular patches of suburban and exurban land show a cycle of clear-cutting for fields in the early 20th century, followed by building in the second half of the 20th century, and the regrowth of forest at the beginning of the 21st.Fazenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-13968962138487179692014-07-12T16:28:51.249-04:002014-07-12T16:28:51.249-04:00Most people exist in a state of anxiety during coc...Most people exist in a state of anxiety during cocooning times. People were probably a lot more relaxed and happier in outgoing periods. The proof is the huge rise of prescription meds over the past 20 years - which also happened during the midcentury cocooning.Curtisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-68528573019387109282014-07-12T10:31:58.825-04:002014-07-12T10:31:58.825-04:00The same goes for activities and rituals that turn...The same goes for activities and rituals that turn the private residential areas into more public, communal bonding spaces. Trick-or-treating, Christmas carolers, neighborhood children visiting each other's homes and playing out in the yard, etc. Those are down way more than 45-50% -- you hardly see them at all anymore, when it used to be commonplace.agnostichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-58320742086561648762014-07-12T10:27:27.847-04:002014-07-12T10:27:27.847-04:00To calculate a trade-off, we need quantitative est...To calculate a trade-off, we need quantitative estimates of what has gotten better and what has gotten worse. Not simple up vs. down that hides the magnitude of the changes.<br /><br />Violent crime rate is down 49% since '91-'92, property crime rate is down 44% from the same peak.<br /><br />Meanwhile, attendance rates have fallen to nearly 0 for many types of public spaces where "strangers" (community members) were milling around and feeling part of a thriving larger community. Mini-golf, roller rinks, video game arcades, playgrounds, malls... just to name some examples that are fresh in my mind, based on having nowhere to take my little nephew last weekend for a day of fun.<br /><br />And, nothing has taken their place. It's not as though mini-golf and roller rinks have been replaced by a new exciting public space -- the public sphere has more or less dried up.agnostichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-28917193711057445952014-07-12T01:45:39.203-04:002014-07-12T01:45:39.203-04:00Against all the downsides you mention we have lowe...Against all the downsides you mention we have lower crime rates, much less vandalism of nature and manmade structures, and more intact ecosystems.<br /><br />It seems like a reasonable tradeoff.Cahokianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-2009905029104731352014-07-12T00:16:21.516-04:002014-07-12T00:16:21.516-04:00Schlitz has been out of the picture since the earl...Schlitz has been out of the picture since the early-mid 1980s. If its only existence is in the form of an attempted revival by hipsters 25 years later, under another company, it is defunct.<br /><br />"Rising carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere means that plants are having a ball"<br /><br />Yeah but where are the people to tramp on those annoying crummy plants? It's not as though there was no global warming in the '80s.agnostichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-12934842505066195962014-07-11T21:18:32.668-04:002014-07-11T21:18:32.668-04:00Schlitz still exists. Haymarket in Chicago has an ...Schlitz still exists. Haymarket in Chicago has an awful special consisting of a Schlitz and shot of Malört.TGGPhttp://entitledtoanopinion.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-86324416041622847472014-07-11T17:02:07.051-04:002014-07-11T17:02:07.051-04:00Rising carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosph...Rising carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere means that plants are having a ball... forests are getting more dense and expanding.brnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-54229040817096675022014-07-11T14:34:05.470-04:002014-07-11T14:34:05.470-04:00The Blair Witch Project, shows the height of paran...The Blair Witch Project, shows the height of paranoia about woods - most of the movie is about a group of filmmakers getting lost in the woods. That was released in 1999, so it was the height of cocooning, before the trend reversed briefly in the early-to-mid 2000s. <br /><br />Wildlife has also become overgrown. I remember reading an article about wolves roaming around abandoned towns in Europe, and wild dogs in Russian cities, who apparently have become so sophisticated they are able to ride subway cars to different locations in Moscow. In America, coyotes have become an urban pest. I see all these trends are related to cocooning.Curtisnoreply@blogger.com