Re: Rural Life

["Dylan W.H. Sung" <mabr12@dial.pipex.com>]

Hi Yoon Ngan,

I listened to a radio broadcast here about the convenience of food bought
in shops. It is still in living memory that homegrown produce was eaten at
home, and to a large extent it still goes on outside of the cities and
towns. As we move towards a more town based living, skills of farming are
also being forgotten. 

Some relatives and people I know still continue to till the land because
they can trust in what they have grown. True rural life uses all the
resources at hand, recycling as much of their by-products as they can, so
can be considered as an experience based traditional knowledge. It is part
of the heritage of all people of a rural stock, and so a detached account
would relate to those who have either experienced it or heard about it
through relatives or other sources. It well deserves preserving, if only in
written form. That is not to say no one farms that way anymore, but its
information which can be hard to come by, outside.

If town people go back enough generations, they will all have links to
farming at one time. The growing of food it seems, is getting more remote
from people, and so the bonds to the land are not as strong as they were.
Consequently good farming land is being sold for profit, and new civilian
populations come to occupy them, and this process continues the world over.
As the world population grows, the infringement onto farmland will continue
and though this is a doomed outlook, the world could starve itself because
of the loss of an essential and limited commodity - farmland.

We also store up many new problems because of the tarmacing and covering up
of the natural earth. This prevents the absortion of water into the ground.
The ultimate effects of this is that natural acquifers and the water table
become depleted around and under the towns. If water is not transported
from outside, townspeople who use wells will experience the drying up of
them. By transporting water from A to B, the source also begins to dry up
and the problem is shifted there. Drying of the ground causes shrinkage,
and hence subsidence. Housing and properties will see cracks appearing and
so forth. If the ground does replenish, the reverse occurs, the soil
expands due to the water content and the properties experiences the
opposite of subsidence, hence a flexing of the ground has occured under the
houses.

We all know about deforestation and the effect on the global climate that
it can do. It is nothing compared to the suffering that will occur with the
lack of drinking water in the future. Lets face it, the population is
growing, and with each new mouth, water resources will become stretched. We
may have to tap into the Southern polar vault of fresh water, but
disturbing the heat sinks of the world may bring further climatic
disturbances. Without the cooling effect of the polar regions, global
warming will increase. 

It makes you think, but don't worry, its not a problem for us yet. Perhaps
we can do something to unburden our future generation to think and avert
the consequences of our actions today.

Well, from the micro to the macro, we've covered it all. 
Enough rambling...

Dylan.

: Hello Dylan,
: 
: 
: You are, as if, telling the story of my grandparents.
: My grandma used to tell me about her life in Dongguan.
: My children used to cry every time I told them the story
: of my grandparents. Nowadays I wouldn't upset them anymore
: but I am writing down every thing I know about my grandprents,
: parents and my generation so that in future they will read
: about their ancestors.
: 
: 
: Sincerely
: Yoon-Ngan