this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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What sucks is that wild animals used to be everywhere! You could walk into a forest and easily see dozens of animals. But most of them have been killed off from over hunting in the 19th century and environment encroachment.
Also, in a lot of places it has become really hard to find the thing that was considered a forest a few hundred years ago. All we have now in Germany are spruce or pine plantations where the only animals you can find are ants.
You guys don't have forest land anymore? That is an absolute tragedy! I'm really sorry to hear that for you guys. I have to get to the wilderness at least once every couple of months or I lose my mind. I get super stressed out, claustrophobic, and depressed. Spending a weekend in the wilderness is a much needed reset. Thank goodness for Teddy Roosevelt's National Park programs and general land conservation efforts here in the US.
We have a few national parks, but they're not nearly as big or as old as the ones in the US. And there are no more native forests, every one of them has been man made at some point. Within national parks and some other areas, they're trying to let nature take over again but it's a slow process. In one national park (Harz) they've stopped trying to save the spruce trees that were never supposed to be there, and they're all dying from drought, climate change and bark beetles:
https://assets.deutschlandfunk.de/403b1645-9795-4a2c-ad31-43f00c903cb5/1920x1080.jpg
I'm sure something better adapted to the conditions will come in after the spruce is gone, but it's a work in progress.
Imagine the uproar if that was a new idea now. People would hate it as the most "socialist", anti-business, outlandish concept. You just conserve it? And you can't build strip mall parking lots and gas stations all over it?!?