Look! It's a Squirrel!

Let's be honest! Not many people pay attention to squirrels when they are living in sprawl. Most of the time people are in their cars, going 50 mph, and not noticing the landscape around them. The least of their worries is a squirrel. The design of sprawl doesn't enable people to walk to places and enjoy nature's beauty. This is the total opposite of the Georgia Tech campus.


The Tech campus is completely, pedestrian friendly. The design of the campus actually encourages students to walk. The Stinger, the campus bus system, is not very reliable; especially when a student is running late for class. Part of the reason is because the stop times are very inconsistent. It only takes 20 minutes to walk from one end of campus to the other end. So, it is a better choice to walk to places. While walking on campus you will notice many, many squirrels.

My friend and I were talking about how there are so many squirrels on campus. He suggested that all of them moved to Tech when Atlanta developed into a major city. That could be true, because if I were a squirrel I wouldn't want to get run over by Atlanta traffic either. I'm glad that these cute, little fur-balls moved to Tech because they are an integral part of my life now. One day I was walking to Math class, and as I walked by a trash can, a squirrel popped out of it. I was scared and so was the squirrel, but the squirrel just froze. Then I slowly walked toward the squirrel to see how close I could get towards its face. People around me probably thought I was weird, but who cares. I almost got within two feet, and then the squirrel bolted out away from me.

As you walk around campus you will see many occasions when someone just had an encounter with a squirrel. How many times does someone living in sprawl have an encounter with a squirrel? Not that many. Sprawl takes away these little, fun moments in life that people need to experience to get away from their busy lives. A kid growing up in a traditional neighborhood will know more about his surroundings than a kid growing up in sprawl, simply because the kid in the traditional neighborhood is more engaged in his community. Get out, and look around! You don't know what you might find.

Posted by: Rajeev Atluri