Childhood in a rural environment

As a boy growing up in rural Co.Down engagement with and a love of the natural world was quite simply part of everyday life. Our days were spent playing in the fields and streams near our home. We grew to know the names of the plants and animals around us.
Forty years later and this engagement as a child has given me a deep, almost spiritual connection, with the world around me.
Over those forty short years I have seen the human population in my home town land to increase dramatically from a few scattered farms to people living in purpose built family homes. Many of those green fields have since gone and with the people have come shops and associated services to provide for them. Heavy traffic on still small country roads has transformed the area into a mini concrete jungle.
Of course much of the flora and fauna has been destroyed to make way for the built environment.
This is just a small example of a phenomenon that has been occurring over those years on a global scale. We are now beginning to see the devastation it is causing across our planet.
So how do we balance out human hunger for resources with the sustainability of the planet that provides it.
There is only one option and that is to THINK about what we as individuals are doing to reduce the footprint we produce. It is amazing how little we actually need to do to make this happen but sadly so few of us can even be bothered unless we are forced to e.g recycling to conform to EU requirements on landfill.
Our engagement with the natural world has diminished as our lifestyles take us further and further away from the pastures and forests that provide the very air we breath and the food we eat.
I will be exploring the various ideas, tips and changes to lifestyle that can and do have financial, physical and psychological benefits to us all whether child or adult.