Kathy, it does make me cry. Why are we so hungry for "things" that we do anything to make money? Doesn't make any sense, does it? I am always busy planting more trees, not cutting them down. The sad part about this is that we all have to suffer from their selfishness.

The price we pay for progress, yea! It sucks! You should see what they are doing to Aransas County. It is just as bad. They went into a field and bulldozed everything down, including the trees with nesting birds. It makes me sick. Developers DON'T care about anything except the almighty $$$$!

Oh that is so so sad. Why do they have to clear the ground?

Houses and condos are faster to build if they don't have to contend with trees. Then they plant thumb size Arizona ash trees and St. Augustine grass.

Don't they know the value trees add to a development.

My brother used to be a land developer and he was always able to save the trees and make a park like addition. Those idiots!!!!

There are vacancies in and around my older ,but just fine neighborhood.There are some Colonial and Cape Cod style houses that were built by craftsmen. Not lazy people that don't care for lowest wages.We have 50yr old trees everywhere. Meanwhile, they are razing down areas just like this one(Red Oaks who knows how old) and putting up POS houses with a damn twig for a tree in the front yard and a stupid looking "mustache" around the foudation. NO color,style or food for the wildlife they just displaced permenatly.I hate this.PJ

Ok.....now why do we have all that development? What is the one thing that would would reduce all that destruction?

Thinking cap time.

This is going on everywhere, including across the road from where we live (Kerr county). They also razed the trees during nesting season and killed God knows how many baby birds. And they've turned the outskirts of San Antonio into a moon scape, they've scraped soil and trees and shrubs and critters away and left bare limestone. All of that area used to be habitat for the endangered Golden Cheeked Warbler, but the developers found and used some loophole left by the city to develop anyway. I am starting to feel very supportive of environmental terrorists!!

For those of you that have been to Rockport, you know about our bent oak trees. Well there are fewer and fewer of them everyday. We do have a Tree Committee here in Rockport and there are city ordnances regarding the cutting down of certain trees with fines attached.

However, one of the biggest problems is that the developers find it easier to go ahead and cut down the trees, and even with paying the fines, they still come out ahead.

And I know a developer in Houston that told me they always clear the land totally before building because it is cheaper that way, i.e. more money in his pockets!

And my sister lives in a beautiful neighborhood in Friendswood that had lots of old growth trees on the lots. Well what happened is that the subcontractors went in and gashed up the trees, raised the grade of the yard, ran over and compacted the roots, and as a result most all of the trees in her neighborhood are having to be removed at the homeowner's expense which can get very expensive.

I said it before and I'll say it again, The Almighty $$$ Rule! It makes me so mad!

That really is tragic.

Petra, these pictures are north of San Antonio, about 3 miles west of hwy 281.
I know the people that owned the ranch and they are just ill.

And then, and then, the (%(&^%^&% people that buy the McMansions they're going to build there will do all they can to kill the wildlife that used to live there. They'll complain about those pesky raccoons, armadillos, coyotes, squirrels, deer, scorpions, and rabbits that manage to adapt to the horrors of development and try to take advantage. They'll spray their poisons to get rid of the insects (how dare nasty bugs try to enter their domain?) and kill snakes, then wonder why the rats are so bad.

Kathy, I join you in cursing those developers, and anyone that buys one of their houses. That same thing is going on here in my town, too.

Rick, I'm sure you're getting at the over population problem. It's true, that's definately a problem, but over consumption and greed and the whole "I'm entitled because I'm special" attitude that contributes more to this problem. It's so called progress. It's greed for bigger houses, newer houses, and monochrom neighborhoods. It's all kinds of things that are causing this. Basically, what everyone else has said, it's greed. But remember, folks, they wouldn't build it if they couldn't sell it. I say again, a pox on those developers, but an even worse and nastier pox on the people that buy what they're building.

I'm to angry just thinking about it to cry. My sympathies go out to you, Kathy, for the destruction of your world.

Sally

At the risk of being slaughtered....

I would just like to say that, here in Austin, it is very hard to buy an already existing house. I am one of those awful people who have bought a house from a developer. And, we built it new. However, we do not live in a "development". We live outside of Austin in a small town. And believe me, I did every thing I could to save every d**m cedar tree on my property.

In the Austin city limits, about the only thing you can find in a "decent" neighborhood is 250,000 or more. No, I am not exagerating. You can buy a crappy, 80 year old, 800 square foot home, with drug dealers for neighbors and prostitutes on the streets for 120,000. You can find a few fixers in Terrytown (near downtown Austin) for 300,000. And if you want to be smack dab by downtown (I keep mentioning downtown because that is where many people work including my husband and myself) you will pay 800,000 or more for an 80 year old home that has already been fixed up.

Even if they tried to rejuvinate the inner city areas, it would just turn out to be an area for wealthy people to buy real estate. Once you got the crime out, the rich people would like to be near where they work, of course, and that would drive the prices up. Now, we work near there too, but we are not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. But, Austin is full of politicians, lobbyists, and lawyers. These people can potentially draw huge salaries...

One thing that I think would help, if corporations could develop a conscience or morals or ethics, is if instead of building strip mall after strip mall - one story, why not build a 4 story strip mall with parking garages? Would that not help urban sprawl? All I see, here anyway, is one strip mall after another, one story with huge flat parking lots, and I often wonder how on earth our economy supports all of this anyway.

I'm sorry if I'm sounding argumentative. A lot of people in this state, and the U.S., just have to buy what they can. And sometimes it comes at a cost to the environment. I disagree with this, of course, and wish the builders could be more conscientious (sp?). But you know they don't care... They just want to make as much money as they can, and the masses just want to have a home of their own. Not an apartment... Catch 22.

trsinc, We built new also in 1996. But like you we saved all we could. It is the ones that scalp the ground and save no trees that I am upset with.

We used to build houses and the day we bought the lots I would personally draw the plan out to save as many trees as possible. The lots with the most trees always brought the most money.

I know it's faster to just do away with all the trees but I think quality is better than quantity.

The same thing goes on here in Florida. Cypress trees are razed for more townhomes built side by side with zero lot lines. Fill goes in place of wetlands. Mangroves are cut down, despite fines. And gopher tortoises, a species of special conern here, their holes are just filled in and they are left to suffocate. Just have to get a permit from DEP to do it. Disgusting.

I've been away from Texas for four years and everytime I go home I see more movement away from the area I lived in (NE Tarrant) and more spreading out to the country that was country 10 years ago or less. Places that I used to see two lane roads and farms are now filled with big box stores and mega mansions that would cost half a million or more here, but are dirt cheap there.

:( It's just sad. Too many damn people and not enough good use of space already built. Let's just keep building those strip malls please.

I think my nephew is right when he said we would "build" ourselves out of food. We build cities and developments on prime farm land, and then try to grow food in the deserts with irrigation. And we call it PROGRESS.

Sally, the crux of it is.....if there weren't sooooo many people, there wouldn't be anyone to sell it to, and the developers wouldn't be there. Pure and simple.

Now, we are bringing in refugees from Burma. Just what we need. Very poor people, with no assets, resources, or anything else, except possibly a willingness to work.

We are goona ask them to move here, to escape their plight, and place them in a foreign land, where they don't speak the language, and where they have little to survive with, and ask them to succeed.

Makes perfect sense to me.

I think we need to stop all people from other countries from entering the US. They've lost the privilege when so many abused it.
They allowed several men to come into the US from the middle east because they said they all wanted to go to college in Montana but none of the men showed up for school and now they can't locate them.

I know it sounds harsh but until we can deal with our own issues, we need to put a stop to it.

We also need to fine workers for hiring the illegal immigrants and making it so easy for them to break the law.

Some schools are only hiring bi-lingual teachers now at a higher salary and it makes me mad to have to cater to people who live here in our country.

The people you need to cry to are you elected government officials. Find out if there is a local coalition in your county against destruction of nature. Get involved. It doesn't do any good to complain here other than the brief relief from venting that you get.

Don't get me started on the schools with a Spanish-only class so the illegals will feel at home while they take advantage of the free education we're providing them.

I believe that we should look to our own people first. There are so many citizens that need our help. This includes an incredible amount of homeless children. Our foster care system needs to be fixed as well. On a personal level I wouldn't take in a family to support if we were not making it ourselves! That would be making the problem worse for everyone. There are 46 million families that cannot afford healthcare. There are 30 million "working poor". These people are working 40 hrs a week or more and are living under the poverty line. I really think it is foolish to try and clean up someone else's mess while ignoring our own. I also believe that people that come here should be required to have a working knowledge of the language. Also, they need to start teaching Americans to be biligual in the early grades while their brain is still in a language learning stage. Throwing in Spanish in High school as an elective while requiring teachers to be bilingual is ridiculous.PJ

Times change people. It's time to realize that immigration is never going to change here. Once it was hatred of the Irish, then the Italians, then who knows what other group...give it up. People will ALWAYS be coming in here. Sure, we have our own problems, which is why we shouldn't go starting wars and trying to fix other people's problems if we can't fix our own.

That said, it isn't immigrants or illegals, it is in general over population of the entire planet. Destruction of our natural resources isn't just occuring here. India has beautiful wetlands and those are being destroyed to fill the rapidly growing needs of their country. China? Same thing. Damming of rivers and other important natural resources. We're coming full circle here with our abilities to defeat diseases that a century ago would wipe out entire populations. AIDS so far seems to be the one we can't defeat and Africa is by far the most affected and its population is seeing those effects now and for generations.

So, put the blame where the blame is due, not to a specific group of people, but to the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE.

"I think we need to stop all people from other countries from entering the US." I think that's probably what the Native Americans felt before our European forefathers and mothers slaughtered them. Our ancestors came here as refugees, criminals, and thoroughly desperate people, and none of them spoke the native languages. I guess what was good enough for them is too good for the refugees of today.

It looks like it's time to take the Statue of Liberty down.

Sally

Maybe keeping all immigrants from the US is too harsh but we do need to screen them better.

It's not the moving here. It's the special programs that cost too much money and keeping teachers/workers out of jobs because they don't speak a foreign language! My grandparents (Czechslovakia) Worked their booties off and learned to speak English. Believe me they didn't offer ESL classes to my dad who spoke Czech until he was 6. My father's family didn't demand special treatment and didn't start a gang when they didn't think they got enough! My grandparents got involved with civic and religious communities,learned the language and worked hard. No welfare for them. My grandma wasn't wisked off to the ER to have her children. She used a Czech midwife in her own bedroom. Still, if Spanish is going to be a requirement for jobs why aren't they teaching it when children are in the language development stage? They need to start teaching the American children who pay the taxes to have the teachers, having Spanish as a second language requirement,not the other way around! If you live here picking up English should be easy enough.The people I knew that didn't speak English either REFUSED to speak it or pretended they couldn't when they could.PJ

I agree that immigrants, whether legal or illegal, need to learn to speak English. I agree that requiring people to speak Spanish for their jobs, especially teachers (unless they teach Spanish, of course) is going too far. It's smart to learn Spanish, but I have difficulty with it because I have difficulty remembering the words. Heck, I have difficulty remembering anything, these days, lol. I have no problem with ESL programs. I bet the people that came over here before ESL was developed would have benefitted from similar classes. There are not enough classes for all the demand. It's not necessarily laziness or stubborness that's preventing people from learning English. Yes, they can learn it on their own, and should be trying, but the classes do help. There are long waiting lists to get into the classes because there are not enough available.

Okay, this has wondered a long way away from the original topic, although I guess the developers use the immigrants to help build their developements, then the people that buy the McMansions hire the immigrants to mow their lawns for them and keep their McMansions clean.

Sally

Ok, what started as a comment on the burgeoning population of the world, evolved into who does or doesn't belong in the US, which isn't really the issue.

The only people that belong in the US, are the native peoples, who originally populated the country, and of those who weren't killed, imprisoned, or otherwise abused by the Europeans who came to settle here, in the early days of this country, the current populations are still being abused by the US government everyday.

Still, the issue is more about the destruction of the environment, by too many animals of the human variety. Along the way, those animals became the most viscious predators on the planet, with a total disregard for all life around them, including their own, animal, plant or otherwise.

Everyday, you hear on the news, about "too many deer" destroying the yards of people, or too many armadillos digging up yards, or too many bears coming out of the woods, or too many cougars out in the wilds around towns. Yet no one on the planet ever wants to face the issue of too many people, everywhere, destroying the habitat of all creatures, large and small.

The reality is.....we are leaving nothing for other creatures. We want it all for the human animal. That simply doesn't work, and until the general population gets the message, and acts accordingly, nothing is going to get better. It is only going to get worse. We have to encourage population control, everywhere on the planet, NOW!

The truth is, there are few places where there really are too many of anything, except people.

Yet, in reality, no one wants to make those choices. Everyone wants children.....not only do they want children, but here we are once again, with large families, where 30 somethings are having 3-5 kids, or more. That simply is STUPID! No one should be having more than 2 children, and most people should only have 1.

The current population boom started in the late '80's, and has gotten progressively worse ever since.

Think about it.....the populations of all Islamic countries, are expected to more than double by 2050. Just think about the implications of that fact.

The Pope still demonstrates a total disregard for the health and well being of this planet, by continuing to deny the religious faithful the option of birth control. How irresponsible is that!!

Come on folks....the science and the facts are right in front of us, and we have our heads in the sand!

If you want green anywhere.....instead of concrete and glass....then we have to start taking action now, and become responsible to mother earth. Otherwise we will all die, in what I believe is the true armageddon.....destruction of the entire planet, by the human animal.

Ok, off the soap box for now.

My russian grandmother-in-law went to night school at age 74 to learn english. This was about the same time someone was giving airplane rides to the kids. We are talking early 1940's. Some one jokingly said, "you go for a ride grandma". She said if it was safe enough for her grandchildren, it was safe enough for her. And she did.
I never met her, but she sounded like a neat lady.
Their first child died in Russia in 1888 and the next year she and her husband came to America. Here in the USA, she had 3 chidren with a midwife. At age 80, she rode the train from NYC to Tucson, by herself. She lived to be 92 years old.
Her daughter, my MIL, lived to be 100 +60 days.

Kudos to your grandma, natvtxn! What a neat lady. I wish you could have met her. You should pry every story out of your MIL, if you haven't already... lol

Very good points, imo, rick. I wish more people agreed with you. I have 0 children by the way. Although, I would have liked to have 1.

Rick, check out this email sent to our local freecycle group:

I have just found out that I am expecting again (I have 5 kids and was told
I could not have anymore so I got rid of all my baby items!) and am in
need of EVERYTHING baby! Crib and mattress, car seat, clothes,
bottles(drop in kind preferably), blankets, diapers, toys, etc. If you
can help, please email(preferred) or call ------- and leave
message. We live ---------------- and have only 1 vehicle
between me and my boyfriend who works during week so we could pick up
in evenings or weekend only.Thank you so much in advance!

Yeah Petra.....sigh. We are expected to be sympathetic to those kinds of pleas?

Not me. I don't have any.....and glad of it. I couldn't have afforded to raise them properly, anyway. I am a product of such fiscal irresponsibility, and I had no intention of raising any children of my own in that way.

Children should not have to start working at the age of 12 to put food on the table. Not the right way to do things.

Overpopulation is a problem. However, I don't think it's going to stay one. Nature has a way of balancing things out in overpopulated areas. We are just starting to get into the "superbug" antibiotic resistant arena. They still can't control TB in 3rd world countries. It's the "white plaque". I believe it's the leading cause of death in 3rd world countries too. There is aids,west nile,hanta virus and a lot of other diseases that will cut down on population. Then there is homicide,drugs and alcohol. Most bangers only live to be 25 or so.
The organic and vegetarian movements are coming into full swing. So is being self sufficient (raising eggs,milk,fruits and vegies at home). Even in my dad's shiny,new suburb 1/2 the people have cut back on sod and have xeric/native beds. It still would've been a whole lot better if they'd used a building envelope and saved all those trees. However, it is a start.
I see what you are saying about that family petra and rick. It's pretty obvious that lady is an irrisponsible person. I really doubt she was told she was infertile. She has 5 kids,is unmarried, and they obviously can't afford the children they now have. It's easy to get birth control.
However, there is little hope that she'll learn anytime soon. It's hard to remember birth control when you're high all the time. I'll bet alchohol had more to do with her pregancy than a bad DX on her fertility.Her kids will be severely disadvantaged and probably follow a predictable path to self destruction. How tragic. I wish these women would get married. Children are cruel. Even in my old neighborhood,in this day and age, being born out of wedlock is STILL a stigma. Having a mom that has kids by several fathers was worse. They'd taunt eachother with what a wh*r* the other kid's mother's were. The whole thing is so predicably bad and so tragic.PJ

I agree with you 99% Rick. I can't agree 100% because I had 1 too many children for zero population growth, and I'm not about to send any of them back. ;-)

There are ways, though, to compensate for over population, but few are willing to make the sacrifices. I try to consume as little as possible, but I know I could do better. We raised our 3 children in an older, mixed neighborhood, in an 1100 sf house. The boys shared a room the entire time they lived here. My daughter was lucky, since she was the only girl she got a room to herself. It was crowded, noisy, especially since 2 of the 3 were musicians, and lots of fun. We work minutes from where we live. It used to be that I had the longest commute, at 3 miles, but recently my DH was transfered, and has to drive 6 miles to work now. He hates that commute. My point being that yes, over population is definately the biggest problem, but if we would just cut back on what we consume, settle for smaller houses, and then there'd be less need for clearcutting.

Carol, I commend you and your company for sparing the trees the way you did. I should remember that not all builders are the same.

Sally

PJ, what bugged me about the freecycle mail is the woman's careless, casual attitude about having that many children. Sort of, oops, no big deal. I think she'd probably be that way if she were married too. I read some place that the government has it backwards, people should be taxed extra per child, not given tax breaks. I really agree with that. Particularly when it comes to the outrageous school taxes in TX, but that's another issue.

Rick, I also wish the Pope would take a huge step and condone birth control. It's terrible how many children are born into misery because their parents are told birth control is a no-no.

Don't breed em if ya can't feed em.

Always been my motto.
Tally Ho!

clear-cutting land for residential use should be outlawed, period. where i lived in fla. they actually had someone that came out and measured/marked trees...if a tree was of a certain age it could not be cut down to build single dwelling houses. made sense to me. i built a home in a subdivision and it had over 30 established trees on the lot. this wont cure all the world's ills but it is a step in the right direction.

I second sjv78736! I really like that. No clear cutting! No more strip malls while we're at it!PJ

I have 1 biolgical child, George has 2 and I have a 15 year younger sister and a 21 yr younger brother that I mostly raised, giving me 5 children and 10 grandchildren with 2 more on the way.
These kids are all educated with good jobs and will see that their kids are educated with strong moral backgrunds. We need this......too many uneducated unmoral people are having HUGE families to follow in their footsteps. (my brother & his kids are one family like that) Have babies, live on welfare, don't want to work or pay taxes and are anti government and all that is good & stable. They do believe God wants them to keep having babies they can't afford or take care of properly.
Pretty scarey.

What happened to your photos Kathy?

I don't know. I cleaned out unwanted pics from photobucket. Maybe that did it.