rural | Page 2 | Andy Arthur.org

Why I’m Thinking Of Going Back to College Eventually

Andy | May 2, 2012

For the past couple of months I have been looking at going back to school eventually to some formal training in geographic information systems, or computers more generally. I have a bachelors of arts degree in Political Science, and what I view to be a pretty good liberal arts education. I read a lot, and are always looking for new information and facts.

But what I lack is any kind of technical training or knowledge. I am a generalist at everything I do. I understand big picture things, and have a vast knowledge of how political systems work, but no specific technical knowledge. I would like to be an expert as something fo ronce, have soe real skills, and not just be a generalist at everything I do.

I like my job and it pays really quite well. I like having the money and a very nice truck for getitng out of town on the weekends. I like having the ability to travel and experience things. It sure is nice to able to catch the bus in on snow and icy and days, and keep my truck nice. And hell, I like my run down apartment.W In many ways I sould be happy about things.

But I really aren’t that happy. I don’t really like living that much in the city, not having much place of my own. I may live on te outskirts of urbanized area in Delmar, but it’s nothing like a rural community. Albany is nothing like a small city, it’s problems seem greater and impossibly difficult to address. Politics and policy are so much more complex in the big city…

I really want to escape the city, move out to rural hinderlands, in a state with a lot more freedom then NY State. I don’t want to work my whole life to pay taxes, and have restrictions on everything I do. I want to be able to shoot guns off my porch, burn stuff in my backyard. I want land, I also want to be able to get to similiarly great public lands to hunt, fish, and camp.

Albany is fine for now. I need to save a lot more money up for college. I probably can’t seriously think about going back to school, and moving to a more rural community until I have $20,000 or $30,000 in the bank. But then I want to have the freedom to disassociate myself from the big city, live out in the country, and live only in the sphere of a small city where people are far more connected to the land, and not dominated by clueless urban folks.

Does the US Senate or US House Represent Rural Folks More?

Andy | March 18, 2012

That’s an interesting thought. The United States Senate has two senators for each state, while the US House is propotionally represented. While an urban state like New York State recieves 29 representives, we only get two senators, a rural state like Vermont recieves only 1 representive and 2 senators.

In theory, that would mean a rural state like Vermont, Wyoming, North Dakota, or even Iowa would have have a disproptionate impact on the legislation through the US Senate. While it’s true that such states have more of a voice in the US Senate, it’s not clear rural residents get more representation in the US Senate.

Why not? For one thing, US Senate districts are larger. Much larger, typically covering whole states. The problem is that by representing complete states, every senator represents both urban and rural areas, and in most states, urban populations outnumber rural portions of states.

If any thing, urban consituencies have more power in the US Senate then the US House. There are representives in US House Districts that are predominately rural, in contrast to even rural states, where population is dominated by urban centers — such as Burlington, Vermont.

Residents of Adirondack and Catskill Park Are Older

Andy | November 18, 2011

It’s interesting to map the median age of New Yorkers by Census Blocks. While certain census blocks show a median age that is noticeably younger then some, e.g. juvenile institutions and colleges, a broader trend can be seen in Catskill and Adirondack Parks — residents there tend to be older.

Looking at this map, one can conclude residents of the Southern Tier, Tug Hill Regions, and North Country tend to be younger compared other portions of state, while in surburban areas people tend to be somewhat younger. Cities tend to have youngest populations, especially in neighborhoods touched by poverty and blight.

Despite what you might think, residents of Mohawk Valley are not particularly older then the rest of state. If anything, they are slightly younger. The idea that all of the young people are moving away from the Mohawk Valley isn’t supported by data, or at least new young people are coming back to replace the lost people.

Bachelors Degrees Are a Wealthy Suburban Thing

Andy | November 15, 2011

If you ask many people today, the assumption would be almost everybody has a Bachelors Degree, if not more education then that. Yet, except in the most suburban (and wealthy) portions of state, Bachelors Degrees are relatively uncommon — often held by fewer then 1 in 10 people over 25 years of age.

It turns out there is a close connection between suburban lifestyles and having a bachelors degree. Zoomed into closer into a map of the Capital District, you will note how closely link suburbanization is to number of people with a bachelors degree.

That said, obtaining that Bachelors Degree might be worth your while — if you avoid college debts, and land a good job after college. Indeed, the wealthiest portions of state tend to have the highest percentage of those with Bachelors Degree, e.g. the suburbs.

It’s probably wrong to assume one is wealthy or well off with a Bachelors Degree, or that all rural folks are backwards hicks leaving in poverty. It’s more that the more affluent (in money terms) suburban life tends to require more schooling then more rural or urban occupations.

Does Living in a Rural Area Mean a Longer Commute in NY State?

Andy | October 16, 2011

Commuting is a big consumer of time in people’s lives. For every ten minutes added to a person’s daily commute, each way, takes 43 hours per year out of a person’s life, that could be spent doing other activities. Moreover, as most people commute by private automobile, time spent in cars, is time not doing physical exercise or getting outdoors, promoting obesity and poor health.

From this map of Albany County, you would think rural people all have long commutes to work. Indeed, people who live in Renselearville, where there are few jobs, often commute to downtown Albany, leading to a very long commutes, that are particularly challenging in the winter.

However, that is not the norm in NY State. Indeed, the Adirondack Mountains, have some of the shortest commutes in the state. Residents of the North Country and Southern Tier also have very short commutes. Many work in the small towns they reside in, or farm the land they live on.

Also of interest is that commutes, in general are much shorter upstate then downstate. In some areas — like Albany — commutes from suburban areas to jobs are shorter then in more urban areas, due to the use of private automobiles over mass transit.

2010 New York Census Population Maps

Andy | June 18, 2011

From the 2010 Census we get a good look at what the population looks like in Upstate NY. Upstate cities’ population was intentionally “bunched” together in reds to emphasize the difference in population, in the more suburban and rural communities surrounding the cities. If I had used absolute population coloring state wide, the rural countryside would be solidly blue, while upstate cities and largest suburbs would be orange, with only New York City being pink.

As towns across the state vary some what in size, looking at population density is more accurate. That said, be aware how I “grouped” colors together to emphasize the difference in rural population, at the cost of merging vast differences in urban populations to shades of red and pink.

Notice the dark blues in the Adirondack and Catskill Parks, some representing large areas of state lands, others representing a lack of economic opporunity. Large areas of the upland Central Letherstocking Region, and Allegheny Plateau are also sparsely populated due to a lack of jobs, little agriculture due to poor upland soils, and large parcels of state land due to abandoned upslope farm land.

Indeed, a much of the modestly populated area in Mohawk Valley through the Buffalo-Niagara region, is called the state’s “Farm Belt”, with large amounts of agricultural activity — aka CAFOs and other large and highly productive dairy farms — on going due to large flat lands, with rich soil. Farming helps keep populations higher in those areas, as does reminence of the former industrial economy and connection the major upstate cities. Modern dairy farming is unproductive in other regions of state, except in alluvial valleys. Dairy farming regions of state, are typically have populations between 75-150 persons per square mile.

The New York State Towns and Cities, ordered by size, then graphed on a population curve. It’s a pure J curve.

A few years back I happened to visit the Citizens Environmental Coalition headquarters when they where pushing to ban burning of household garbage and other farm waste in rural areas in towns with populations less then 20,000, which was legal in many communities prior to 2009 action taken by administrative fiat by Governor Paterson on the urging of a certain NYPIRG lobbyist. They had something similiar to this map (they also excluded small cities and villages which I did not), showing that over 80% of the state it was legal — at least unless their was local laws prohibiting it. Most of Upstate NY could participate in this proud and smelly hick tradition!

Most of Upstate NY is included in this map as being in municipalities less 20,000. It’s quite remarkable to think how few towns in Upstate are actually larger then 20,000 and how directly representive many local governments are to their people — at least if the public chooses to get involved. It’s over 80% of the area in Upstate has populations less then 20,000.

And if we drop that number down to 5,000, you’ll find still 74.08% of state’s landmass is covered by towns less then 5,000 persons. That’s pretty remarkable. There are 1.3 million people who live in those 639 little hick towns in NY State, covered by forest lands and farms. While I don’t have block-sized population data for entire state, you can imagine most of that population probably lives in small towns and villages, and only a smaller minority lives spread out in the countryside.

Still, raw population of mucipalities is not a very good predictor of the rural nature of a town. It might mean consituents of a small town have access to their local government officials, but it does not neccessarly mean that town is spread out. In contrast, if you look only at towns with average land per capita, exceeding 10 acres, you get a good view of truly rural communities. Now, people in rural towns with 10 acres a piece do not all have to own 10 acres individually, but it does mean such towns have a lot of farming or forest activites going on, and many people are very well spread out. It’s a lot of Upstate NY, outside of cities and Mohawk-Niagara farm belt.

And for the Capital Region, showing except for the city, there is a lot of open forest and farm land.

… Upstate New York is very rural.

The Lights of the City from Wakely Dam

Andy | October 15, 2010

The other night around quarter to midnight, I walked out across Wakely Dam at the Cedar River Flow in the Moose River Plains of Adirondack Mountains. With a new moon, I expected to see very dark skies with good views of the stars, and little light pollution in the distance.

While the stars were clear compared to any place around Albany, their was in the distance, across the Moose River Plains and mountains of the West Canada Wilderness, a very distinct warm color light, from the street lights along the hamlets that dot the Fulton Chain of Lakes — Old Forge, Eagle Bay, Inlet, etc. All of these hamlets are 30 to 50 miles away, and due to Wilderness and Forest Preserve, it’s unlikely to be from any source nearer.

Most of the light I saw in the sky probably was from street lights, parking lot lights, exterior building lights on lodges and businesses alike along the Fulton Chain of Lakes. It probably would not have been noticable in a more urbanized area, but due to the fact I was in wilderness and almost complete darkness, it shown brightly across the sky.

It’s unfortunate that it disturbs the views of the stars, despite my remoteness. It is much more unfortunate to think of the energy waste it represents. All those lights are supposed to be lighting a section of street, parking lots, deck, or some specific other purpose. They are not intended to be lighting sky or sending light 50 miles away to an observer standing on the Wakely Dam.

That light did not come from some free source. It came from a power plant that fed electricity in our state-wide electrical grid and sent a small fraction all the way up to the hamelts along the Fulton Chain of Lakes.

While some will argue that their is excess electricity in grid at night or that most of the power locally is generated by hydropower, the reality is electricity on the grid is fungiable, and one unit of hydropower here could be used elsewheres to offset the use of coal or natural gas. Even in low energy use times, the grid still relies on a lot of dirty and polluting fossil fuels.

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So I ask myself, why is a hamlet 50 miles away, sending energy in the form of light into wilderness? A lot has to do with technological inefficency that wastes energy, even more has to do with energy being so cheap, that it’s affordable to light up lands 50 miles away with wasted energy. Yet, it seems like such a waste.