I live in a country that earns quite a sizeable portion of its living out of being breathtakingly beautiful.
It is true that these days human impacts on land and water are beginning to show, and we’re increasingly like a hung-over media celeb, relying on Photoshop to pixel over the cracks. But it’s still relatively easy to turn a corner or crest a hill and find a vista so beautiful you can be forgiven if you forget to breathe.
I wouldn’t say I’ve become inured to such beauty, but if I’m honest, what really takes my breath away these days is the appalling ease with which my fellow New Zealanders (and some of the paid guests we’re taking in to help pay the bills) feel it’s ok to desecrate our environment. Apart from the terrible damage inflicted on landscapes, waterways, eco-systems and wildlife, it’s biting the hand that feeds.
This is death by a thousand cuts; dumping litter, over-fishing, clearing forests to create dairy farms, freedom campers who (literally) leave their shit behind, people who turn every available patch of grass on a beach reserve into a de facto car park because someone else did it first, a national mindset that says dairy farming and tourism are GOOD FOR GROWTH and let’s not look too closely at the negative impacts … the list goes on.
As always, the prescribed treatment for my chronic environmental grump is to get out the door and connect with the little miracles of nature that also take my breath away.
Posted to the Ragtag Dail Prompt | breathtaking
Breath taking pics 😊
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Thank you 😀
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Pleasure Su
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Plants are quite resilient and flexible in great contrast to our species which is still growing. Human overpopulation is the principal problem of today, but nothig happens to stop it.
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Exquisite photo creations, Su – each one a star in its own right. But as for the humans, it’s astonishing how crass and mindless too many people have become. In Much Wenlock it’s the locals who drop the litter and allow their dogs to foul pavements and well used footpaths, and local landowners who root up ancient hedges with protection orders on them or sell off good farmland for over-priced housing with multiple bathrooms, whose effluent and storm run-off are likely to threaten the homes of existing residents downstream of them. Austerity and greed are a toxic cocktail. Our local authorities can’t afford to protect communities as they once did and the selfish and opportunistic move in on all the gaps. Hmph. Grumpy old woman mode surfacing AGAIN. And so yes – I feel your anger. And just to cap it, here on the stupidity front – today we get to vote in the elections for the European Parliament – a Europe we may soon be leaving. And I wonder how many will be bothered to vote.
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Thanks Tish. It amazes me how people can find such anti-social behaviour possible. It’s just so incredibly stupid. It feels as though there’s this whole bunch of people who are perhaps actually unable to consider the consequences of their actions.
It will be really interesting to see what the election outcome is. I can’t get my head around the mess that the whole Brexit thing seems to be causing.
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I love the photos and dislike human apathy towards it
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Thank you 🙏
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Those photos are quite exquisite, Su. I especially like the last two images. They give the impression of felt. I also really like the colour combo of the fern frond. Those colours would look nice in a mosaic, don’t you think?
Sounds like the numbers of tourists are getting overwhelming. It really puts me off traveling. Such a conundrum.
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I think the fern would make a fabulous mosaic!!
I know what you mean about travel. It’s such a juggling act, balancing the benefits of tourism against the potential for damage. 😬
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Truth be told, humans need to understand the importance of stewardship!
Wonderful photo’s
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I agree. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
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Amen, Su.
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Thanks Lois 🙏
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I share your concerns for the environment 100%. Greed is the terrible engine that drives the destruction of all things beautiful. Enjoy the beauty (what is left) and let it take your breath away, Su. Best wishes!
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Thanks so much Peter.
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Su, you think that’s bad, Canada has been shipping its garbage to China and the Philippines. China no longer wants it and the Philippines is so mad at us they are shipping our garbage back to us. Who in their right mind would ever think of sending their garbage off shore? We are a disgrace.
Leslie
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NZ did exactly the same thing, and China said ‘no’ to ours as well. ☹️
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We have to stop over packaging and a return to glass and paper bags would be a big step forward.
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I agree. It is beginning to happen, but very slowly.
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They better hurry up our oceans are dying…
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Lovely photos. Ahhhh. Thanks
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Hey, desecrating beauty seems to be what we do. From the utter pollution of every major river in Europe and the British Isles to the pollution of water and air in Asia … it just took a little while to get to you. Peter Jackson’s movies were great — and they also suddenly made your country a really attractive vacation venue. And those visitors don’t seem to get that they aren’t in a theme park where the attendant come to pick up all the trash. The human animal, overall, is kind of a pig, except pigs only get themselves dirty, not the rest of the world.
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The massive visitor numbers are certainly new for us, but farming has been causing damage for a bit longer.
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Beautiful photos! Sadly, it’s how the world works today. People have no regard for other people let alone the environment.
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☹️
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I hear you 😟. Totally justified rant (happens here too).
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Scotland is another country that is professionally beautiful, and I imagine you experience all the problems we do — and more, because you’re so much more accessible. ☹️
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True. And they unleash marketing strategies to promote that beauty, such as the North Coast 500, and the infrastructure can’t cope with the increased tourism they generate. But the genie won’t go back into the bottle.
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☹️
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We will not outlive the dinosaurs…
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That’s for real.
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Preaching to the choir, Su. I find solace in the same types of places. Found some this morning. Enchanting photos.
janet
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Thanks Janet. I know I bang on a bit; guess I need to get it out of my system. And those in power don’t seem interested.
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We all have to rant sometimes. 😉
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all of these are breathtaking! And I think there is nowhere nowadays where human beings haven’t destroyed the ‘larger’ part of natural beauty. I only pity the children, future custodians of this world….
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I hear you, Su. It drives me up the walls as well. There are so many stupid people all around the world and our governments actually support their stupidity because it makes us easier to manage. I watch the children in my pottery class with no interest whatsoever in nature and animals. Who don’t care about seeing some spring lambs in the nearby park, who throw away litter on the streets because it’s not their job to look after it… the list goes on and on. And these are only the children in my class! I feel so sad, disappointed and even angry at all this. And to think that children almost always reflect the behaviour of their parents makes it even worse. 😯
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Talking to my teacher friends, it sounds like this is so widespread. And the tales they tell about the parents …. aaagh. ☹️
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I can relate only too well. 😦
A group of five-year olds made horrible rude remarks to me today when I was on my way home from grocery shopping today (won’t repeat what they called me) – I couldn’t believe my ears at first, and even though I did respond, I lacked the wits at the moment to hit the right tone, I’m afraid. It was just awful. I truly pity their teachers, their parents, and actually themselves – nothing good will come out of them I fear. 😦
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That’s utterly appalling.
I would have been speechless, or incoherent. I’ve never been good at thinking of the right thing to say under pressure.
I can’t imagine what home life must be like for children to have so little self-control. I pity their teachers too — and the kids. What turmoil must those little minds be in? ☹️
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I rather not think too much about it – I know, a cowardly reaction, but what could I do about it anyway? I will concentrate on the kids in my pottery class instead, some of those also need a bit of manner teaching sadly.
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You’re right. We have to pick our battles.
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