A 140-Acre Forest Is About to Materialize in the Middle of Detroit

[Vitalux]

I found this story and thought it was interesting.
I wondered what would happen to a great deal of the houses that were being repossessed by the banks. In some areas some of the plans might help to build society again.

I am not for or against this action of the creation of the forest, I just thought it would be interesting for Avalon readers to view and perhaps discuss.

I see this happening all over America if this is an indication of a new trend to fix the slums of America. :sad:


http://cdn.theatlanticcities.com/img/upload/2013/10/25/Screen_Shot_2013-10-25_at_3.45.47_PM/largest.png

After nearly five years of planning, a large-scale attempt to turn a big chunk of Detroit blight into an urban forest is now underway. The purchase of more than 1,500 vacant city-owned lots on the city's lower east side – a total of more than 140 acres – got final approval from Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder earlier in October.

A wealthy resident, John Hantz, has committed in phase 1 to clearing 50 derelict structures, cleaning up years of trash and overgrown brush, planting 15,000 trees, and maintaining regular mowing. Future plans include a farm growing local food.

Hartz Farms president Mike Score, who is leading the for-profit enterprise, says the residents were scared to walk home alone.

"The thought of a company willing to come invest in that neighborhood, remove the blight and plant trees in rows…They can't believe that could actually happen, said Score. "They thought they were stuck there."

"Ten years from now you're going to look and say, 'Wow, what a nice place to live. I think I would like to live there.'"

(WATCH the video below, or READ the story from the Atlantic - or Detroit Free Press (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/10/140-acre-forest-about-materialize-middle-detroit/7371/#.Um_Heen1bJo.email))


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B36rrj1zc0#t=156

[Robin]

Very interesting. I've been thinking about clever ideas of revitalizing nature for a while now.

One idea of mine is such that in the future, hopefully, people will remove themselves from the ritual of burying dead people in caskets. To me, graveyards are a bit of a waste of space and take too many resources (stone for grave-marker, wood for casket) to make and keep. I know that people are very attached to the ritual of burying dead in caskets--religiously or not--and graveyards usually contain many trees, but I think we need to break away from that tradition.

Instead, I think that it would be nice for us to bury our dead without a casket, and to plant a tree above the body. That way, the sapling will get a boost of immense nutrients and energy as it develops into a healthy tree. Conservation speaking, this will give people incentive to plant trees and help to restore the natural world.

Spiritually, the person who died in a sense becomes one with the tree. The tree, as it develops, will serve as a reminder to the friends and family of the one they lost. Essentially, this would replace a cumbersome gravestone and replace it with a natural, living entity that provides oxygen and life to the rest of the world.

Imagine how quickly forests will develop!!

In South Holland, they are following this idea but instead of planting a tree over a dead body, they pour the ashes of a cremated person into the pot of a developing tree for natural fertilizer:

http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/back-nature-using-dead-people-grow-trees

I don't mean to take away from your thread, Vitalux, but I hope that this adds to it. :biggrin:

[eaglespirit]

Hi Vitalux, Wishing You Well!
Thank You for bringing this here!

This is just the 'tip' of the Cosmic Spiritual Mountain that is about to be exposed more and more and more and grow and grow and grow.
IMHO!
The Conscious Thoughts that We Each put out there will help this Higher Entrainment come to BE now more than ever!
Simply repeating to Ourselves things like Light, Love, Peace, Healing, Abundance, Mother Earth Re-birth, Harmony, Balance, Trees and Flowers and Plants, Nature Newness, etc. etc. etc. ...over and over and over when We are not in the middle of other matters helps these things along in ever increasing tendencies...Yes, we need to take action in front of Us in Our Own Ways also...but every spare moment We give to these Higher Matters helps them come to Fruition, no kidding, it really does...BIG time! : ) : ) : )

[Bubu]

Great ideas. I remember telling my children that when I die I do not want vigils and rituals just roll me on my sleeping mat and drop in the hole. I think I might ask them to plant a favorite tree.

[pyrangello]

The Land in the city of Detroit is 60% vacant, 70,000 abandoned or foreclosed homes . The downtown hub area is nice and coming back, I spent new years down there but the neighborhoods in between the hub and the city limits (8 mile rd.) are tough. 700,000 or less than now live in the city, I think 63% work for a government entity, sound familiar.

Now when you talk about metro Detroit and the surrounding communities, property values are up 20 percent and things are very busy, it's such a stark contrast like night and day. 4.5 million people live around the city of Detroit. What everyone should know is that every major geographical area needs a major city to thrive, it fuels a state here in the U.S. , that's why it's so important to get this restructured and move forward, this journey will be a long one for sure.

[Snowflower]

I am wondering why every geographical area needs a major city to thrive? A city exists solely due to support from the country: food, water, resources for energy. Seems to me, the opposite is true: city cannot survive without country, but country does just fine without city.

[Robin]

I am wondering why every geographical area needs a major city to thrive? A city exists solely due to support from the country: food, water, resources for energy. Seems to me, the opposite is true: city cannot survive without country, but country does just fine without city.

It's true! Cities were cleverly formulated to keep people enslaved to the system. They are nothing more than huge garbage pits remnant of concentration camps.

I think we should bulldoze all cities and move everyone out to the country. Let's go back to the 18th century where people actually knew how to take care of themselves.

[Carmody]

I think we should use technology to our advantage and not retreat to times of more glorious serfdom -with a side order of romanticism.

But the point remains that the public must break free of a slave and serf mentality. To be rid of the blankness and psychological inertia that possesses so many, and causes them to be ripe for being blocked from peace and prosperity. The price of getting rid of the mental inertia and also purposeful blocking, is a time of extreme stress, and will be fought tooth and nail, both internally in the individual and externally in the group. People are like that.

Things are getting rough. Think if it as an intelligence and awareness test -one with very strongly demarcated pass/fail conditions. Conditions of the self, not external walls and fires, but internal ones reflected in the reality that one ends up living.

[Ki's]

It is my understanding that it is to be used as an experimental test spot for GMO tree's for the logging industry.