About camping according to Cookie mouse

From his blog : http://leightoncookie.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-is-better-trees-or-asbestos.html

What is better, trees or asbestos?


This seems a strange question to ask, which is why I was so saddened yesterday when I visited the village of Durgerdam, which is a part of Amsterdam North. The village is very picturesque, with lots of small houses and plenty of boats on the water. This is an area that is full of wildlife, especially birds. A couple of years ago I visited a small campsite near the vilage, where some friends of mine used to spend their weekends. Yesterday we went there on our bikes to take these pictures. It was so windy that sometimes we had to get off the bikes and walk.

There used to be over fifty trees on this piece of land, which was a refuge for many of the birds. Now all the trees are gone. Everyone staying at the campsite was evicted and all the trees were cut down. That was two years ago. While the buildings were being demolished asbestos was released onto the land, which is why the sign "gevaarlijk asbest" or "danger, asbestos" is on the fence. The demolition work was done illegally without permits and this Monday the appeal court of Amsterdam will be hearing the case against one of the protesters arrested during the eviction. He wanted to try to stop the trees from being cut down. All that is now left behind is this poisoned wasteland, which is why I ask the question: what is better trees or asbestos?

When will those in power learn to respect nature and not just destroy it? In this case two years later nothing has been done with the land, which was cleared and evicted on May 2, 2006.
On a more positive note, Earth Day celebrates the environment on April 22, and for the past ten years the part of Amsterdam known as "de Pijp" has held a gardening day to commemorate the occasion, so this Sunday we will all be digging up small parts of the streets and putting some plants in place of the concrete. Our young nine year old is very keen to take part, and she's been busy making lots of preparations today. It should be a pleasant Sunday afternoon's urban gardening.
Today I got lots of tomatoes and peppers at the organic market and plan to cook something colourful this evening. The sprouting mission has been postponed a few days as I'm waiting to see a friend of mine, who does it all the time, to get some tips before I start. In particular I want to know which seeds are the best to start with. The weather is getting a little warmer so I hope to be out and about more, and to take more trips to the country around Amsterdam, and do some foraging for food plants. There are lots of nettles and dandelion that are fresh this time of year. With food prices rising it seems to make sense to try to be as self-sufficient as possible.