• Grass@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    going outside for fresh air also hasn’t been a thing in a long time. I went to abandoned farmland in europe before and there were still butterflies and grasshoppers but you dont see that in north america any more, just powdered cancer blowing around the tarmac.

    • innermachine@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      U must be a city boy. Out here in the mountains of New England we have nothing but fresh air (at least since the smoke from Canada has blown away …) I have butterflies and fireflies and crickets and grasshoppers and frogs singing all the time

      • Grass@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        My hometown was literally 14 houses in the woods with one road. 6 of them still exist in a renovated state but now there are apartment towers and paved townhouse complexes everywhere, invasive weeds at every roadside, dirt lots unused that used to be wild native plants but are just dandelions and moss. All the parks used to be connected by trail but now its streets without sidewalks on all but one side of the smallest park. If you go down the residential streets you will see enough cybertrucks that I want to cry.

        So yeah its a city now but it wasn’t before.

        • innermachine@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Damn that unfortunate. I live in a “city” for this state, and one of the bigger ones at that with 15k population. The “small town” in mass I moved from had 20k population. At least up here where the city ends, there is nothing but trees and mountains. Back in mass there was no distinguishable like as near the whole state is just sprawling suburbs and towns. I think some of what makes us glorify Europe in ways is they have harder lines where cities end, so you can still get to nature. Also, there’s still some nature to get to instead of just suburbs till the next city limits

      • Null User Object@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        You don’t even need to be in the mountains of New England. We’re right outside one of America’s bigger cities and within an hour drive of two more, and we have butterflies, frogs, raccoons, foxes, etc.

    • Sculptus Poe@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Only 5% of the land in America is developed according to a 2015 Bloomburg report. That leaves a lot of space for grasshoppers. By comparison, 80% of European land is developed. Fortunately a lot of that is farm and pastures or else they would be in trouble. We do have a lot of ugly cities though.

    • Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Yeah you definitely do see that in North America. Just because you live in the middle of urban sprawl and suburb hell doesn’t mean everyone does.

      Can we stop glamorizing Europe? For fuck sake Frankfurt Germany looks like Detriot’s heroin addict cousin and there’s villages that look like Gary Indiana threw up in a liter box.

      • Grass@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        where I grew up and some select cities from my childhood throughout canada there were all sorts of flying and jumpy grass critters. These days in the same areas there are rats, flies, and mosquitos, if anything at all. Maybe the odd sickly owl that the outsiders that took over the region dont care about. If you do see any desirable creatures they are sparse and nowhere near the look anywhere see twelve populations of the old days.

        and I’m not trying to glamourize europe but when I go visit family it’s been the same year after year trying not to step on grasshoppers, bees, and butterflies while my home becomes more and more empty apart from eroded concrete and car bits.