Sick to my stomach

Well.

It turns out that we didn't move to paradise after all. We bought a house across the street from the ~100 acre school campus. We were very excited about the open space and the potential for wildlife and birds.

However, the school proposed and the community voted to build a new auditorium/arena, which you would think would be a good thing. Unfortunately, some city engineer pointed out that water drainage would be an issue. Since it does rain a lot here in the winter and spring... what that means is that about 5 acres of timber/creek are basicly being clearcut one block away from where we bought our house.

I drove by this morning and watched machinery drag 100 year old oak trees with trunks 5-6 ft across out of the creek.

It made me sick to my stomach. I HATE progress. Sure, a new auditorium/arena will be good for the community and the schools. But that building will be long gone before we have trees like those again.

There HAS to be a way that we can have both. Unfortunately, I live in an area that has long embraced the clearcutting of forests for community (and business) profit. And since this is essentially a done deal... paradise, for me, was short-lived. :-(