Replying to LO27788
Dear LO'ers,
At invited me to write something on geodiversity:
> Anyway, my version is but one version. Tell us how it was with
> you at times when you were actively studying "geodiversity"?
I will try, but one of the first thoughts that formed in my mind was: I
will not restrict the subject to only geodiversity.
Have you, dear readers any idea why some nations are very great, while
others are small? Europe is shows a patchwork pattern of countries,
whereas Africa shows a complete other pattern. So with the Americas and
Asia. This is part of geodiversity.
Why are some areas densly populated, wheras others are nearly empty?
How is it to live in a low country, beneath sealevel like here in the
Netherlands? And how is it to live in the mountains of New Zealand, or
Rocky Mountains?
One of the first things one may observe are the buildings in these
different areas. Lack of hard rocks in Netherland resulted in making rocks
by baking clay. The houses are mainly built of bricks. In mountaineous
areas the houses look different and are made of natural rock. The variety
of the ground we live on results in a variety of houses, street plans and
cities. This is also part of geodiversity.
How is it in central Canada and how is it in Alaska? How is it to live in
a stable world or in a world of earthquakes and volcanoes? This is part of
geodiversity.
How are the people, dialect, music, the houses, the cities, the
vegetation, the birds, the landscape on the Isle of Wight and how are all
these things in Cornwall, both in the south of England.
Geodiversity, the variety of the ground underneath us. Different rocks,
different soils. Rocks different in chemical composition, different in
mineralogical composition, different in internal stucture, different in
age. Vast areas with the same rocks, or rocks with great variety on short
distances in a patchwork of countries and regions.
It is a pity that so much organisations and people think exclusively in
geodiversity, or in biodiversity, or in antropodiversity, or in
citydiversity, or in ....diversity. It sounds like UNIdiversity - an
oxymoron.
I see it with growing irritation in my own country, where all kinds of
societies in nature conservation have only eyes for the biotic world and
not for the abiotic world underneath us. But also the city planners, and
planners of infrastructure. They have no idea of the close relationships
between the earth and its inhabitants. Not the slightest idea of seven
golden aspects (7 E's).
----I wrote this yesterday and saved it in my computer, before sending. Now I have read it again, I sense a lot of angryness in my writings. Dear readers, this irritation is only superficial; there is a great bodydiversity insight me that gives me a mild feeling :-))
dr. Leo D. Minnigh l.d.minnigh@library.tudelft.nl Library Technical University Delft PO BOX 98, 2600 MG Delft, The Netherlands Tel.: 31 15 2782226 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Let your thoughts meander towards a sea of ideas. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --
Leo Minnigh <l.d.minnigh@library.tudelft.nl>
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