Migration pathways

Something that I've been thinking about lately--but haven't really been able to sus out my thoughts is how people pick the places they live and how that's affecting our communities and the way we look at our environment.

In my parent's generation, the sense of place that people felt in their hometowns came mostly from the people around them. People stayed close to their families and their neighbors were all their friends. I think a little later I think people chose where to live based on work. So the sense of place came more from work relationships --and in place of family came the niceties that one could buy from having a good job.

People of my age (early-mid 30s) seem to place more value in the physical environment of a place when choosing where to settle (or maybe this is just my friends). The "feel" of a town and the recreational opportunities seem to have as much to do with where we live as whether we have friends or family. I think my generation more than any before or after, places a much lower value on income (than probably we should). Again, maybe this is just the granola hippie freaks with whom I associate, but I'd like to think not. I think we watched the baby-boomers retire early and move to places with good climates and other benefits, and we said, "hey wait, why should I wait until retirement?" In my opinion, with that, came a greater sense of awareness of the natural environment. Because we made so many choices based on physical environment--we also have a greater interest in protecting that environment. We've replaced family with trees and mountains--we get our human companionship from the internet. Although on the other hand, I would think that if we still all lived where are family had lived for generations, then we'd have a vested interest in not polluting the physical environment.

I don't know, the more I read myself think, the more I think I'm full of shit.