Almost daily I think about this old Joni Mitchel song:
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot (Big Yellow Taxi, Ladies of the Canyon, 1970)
I love our quality of life here in Southwest Utah. And every day I feel as if pieces of it is are slipping away. This is why I am dedicated to working with Conserve Southwest Utah (CSU).
We talk a lot about the quality of life that brought us and keeps us here - newcomers and old timers alike. We at CSU see it as our mission to work to protect and enhance our quality of life in Southwest Utah.
But what is this thing we call “quality of life”? What are we really protecting when we protect our quality of life?
Here is the best definition I found:
Quality of life is the general well-being of individuals and societies, outlining negative and positive features of life. It observes life satisfaction, including everything from physical health, family, education, employment, health, safety, security to freedom, religious beliefs, and the environment. (Wikipedia – emphasis added.)
Within this broad definition, CSU’s primary mission is focused on the part “environment” contributes to quality of life. While this narrows things down considerably, it does not answer the questions I posed above.
We are interested in hearing your answers to these questions!:
In what ways is our Southwest Utah environment important to your quality of life? And what exactly are we protecting when we protect our quality of life?
Please take a few minutes to write down your thoughts about quality of life and send them in an email to email@conserveswu.org. In a future email we will report back to you on what we learned from you about our quality of life in Southwest Utah and how that knowledge it will affect our future strategies.
