Octavia Hill's Vision: Saving Natural Beauty for All

A century ago, Octavia Hill launched the National Trust not to rescue stylish houses but to save 'the beauty of natural places for everyone forever.' It was specifically to provide city dwellers with spaces for leisure where they could experience 'a refreshing air.' Hill's pressure later led to the creation of national parks and green belts. They don't make countryside any more, and every year concrete consumes more of it. It needs constant guardianship.

The sentence 'They don't make countryside any more, and every year concrete consumes more of it' can be translated into the present tense because it expresses a universal truth: the amount of countryside is finite, and every year more concrete development projects encroach on rural land. This situation exists in the past, present, and future. While the original text mentions the past ('A century ago Octavia Hill launched...'), the subsequent statement is about the present ('They don't make countryside any more, and every year concrete consumes more of it'), implying that a similar situation will prevail in the present and future. Therefore, to convey this universal present reality, it can be translated into the present tense.