Monthly Archives: June 2013

The Rain Falls on Both Sides of the Border

This morning in my Green Communities class, we discussed how nature does not respect the borders that humankind tries to impose upon it. The case study was an ecosystem that straddles the border between Israel and Jordan and the resulting difficulty of trying to formulate a plan, when there are multiple jurisdictions with differing goals. But the falling rain drops have no clue what side of the border they’re destined for, and the birds have no concept of what the fence represents.

This reminded me of a scripture from the New Testament:

…for he [Heavenly Father, God, Yahweh, Allah, Mother nature, etc.] maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)

This wisdom is from the Sermon on the Mount almost two thousand years ago. The verses that precede it just happen to provide great insights on how to diffuse differing points of view:

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. (Matthew 5:43-44)

Sprawl Madness in Utah

Back in March, I stumbled upon a Streetsblog article showing two homes in Florida both of which have adjoining backyards, yet they are separated by 7 miles of road!

I’ve been trying to find a similar “sprawl madness” example here in Utah and stumbled upon a pretty good one in April. Two homes–one in Sandy and one in Draper–which have adjoining backyards, yet are separated by 5.1 miles of road!

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If anyone knows of other examples here in Utah, please let me know.

Thoughts on CNU 21

My life is now complete! I have been featured in a StreetFilms production. You can get a glimpse of me at 1:02 in the above video. StreetFilms did a great write up of their visit to Salt Lake City titled “Salt Lake City: Some Observations on Bicycling, Transit & Open Space.”

I thoroughly enjoyed CNU 21. One of my favorite quotes was from Bradford Houston, Urban and Architectural Design Manager of the Temple Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who said “Let us not confuse the ethic of work with the ethic of plunder!” The most profound CNU 21 experience for me was a tour of The Gateway, which I detailed in my post titled “The Fountain is My Heart.

The closing party at Granary Row was also a fun experience. I spoke with an undergrad student from Spokane. She’s about to graduate and is considering moving to Salt Lake City and said, “Salt Lake City is what Spokane aspires to be.”