Hyper-linked Task

Imagine if from Mike A's paper an author took the idea of the border war andicorporated it into a story of cows. The bulls would represent the mexican drug cartel, as they caused destruction. The U.S. government and army would be represented by the rancher trying to keep all the cows (citizens) and bulls fenced in so they don't lose any.

Or if from Nick's blog, if sasquatch was a metaphor for an I am legend, zombie apocalypse scene. If the sasquatch was the last person alive, but the zombies were invisible: like the people today who cannot find sasquatch!

What if, in Joey's blog an author took a spin on the evolution vs. creationism idea. What if there was an evolution army that was equally as strong as a creationism army and they ended up in a huge war to prove an idea..

Urban Sprawl Research Paper

Gunther Anderson
Doc Zerwin
SLCC - 4
11/17/10

Sprawl: Negative Affect on the World

   

Destruction is defined as, “a cause or means of destroying” (“Destruction”). The destruction of plants, animals, and the very planet we live on is imminent in our near future. How can this be?  It is because of urban sprawl in developed countries like America that is taking over the wilderness we have on our planet today. Building due to urban sprawl must be reduced or re-urbanized in order to save wilderness in developed countries around the globe.

What exactly is urban sprawl?  Urban sprawl is defined as, “a consequence of federal, state and local land-use policies that have resulted in an epidemic of unplanned growth, the voracious consumption of land and gross inequality among people in a region” (Bonfiglio).  In other words, urban sprawl happens because of people who plan inefficiently.  As population grows, people need places to live where other houses are not currently occupying land.  Houses are being built primarily on new land, which in turn slowly decreases the amount of “natural planet” we have left. The planning for this growth is most of the time done in a vacuum, without thought of global consequences.  It is population growth that was unplanned and is deteriorating our natural resources.  Where this is all headed in the future is clearly a runaway train on a collision course with failure:  The possible future of an over-populated, destroyed world due to poor planning by humans.

Urban (also known as suburban) sprawl is very real. In the You Tube video, “Suburban Sprawl - Sprawling From Grace; Driven To Madness”, the interviewees tell their opinion on urban sprawl, and what is happening with the issue today.  In all cases, the subjects clearly note that urban sprawl is a huge problem that is approaching the hands of every human being.  One man states, “We have ignored humanity in the building of our public places and spaces for the last 40 years” (“Suburban Sprawl”). It is made clear in this video that we are all lining ourselves up for failure in the future and no one will truly know the magnitude of the consequences that could take place until it happens.

 There are many reasons why sprawl is taking place globally.  Urban sprawl is human error that has an effect on much more than just people.  Sprawl happens primarily due to increasing global population.  It also happens because old buildings, roads, and bridges become outdated and ineffective, and it is easier and cheaper to abandon them and build new ones.  (Bonfiglio).  Globally, urban sprawl affects nature and the wild part of the world, such as endangered animal and plant species, because we people are consuming more and more wild land in the pursuit of new roads, bridges, and homes, and other buildings.  

In this post-industrial era, we humans know very well how to build new roads.  These new roads bring cars and people to new places which in turn entices people into building new homes, and the destruction of wildlife eventually becomes a common occurrence.  More houses bring more people to spread over previously undeveloped or wild tracts of land.  As supported through Kunstler’s article, he denotes, “all the people live in one place, all the shopping occurs in another place, the offices are in a third place, the industrial stuff is in the fourth place, and all of it can only be accessed by cars” (Kunstler).  This urban sprawl process feeds on itself as businesses thrive from the population and building explosion and thus attracts even more business and more people.  The growth becomes exponential.  There is a clear and distinct pattern to how we people are destroying the available land and natural resources we have remaining on this planet.

One positive that can be seen in the light of all of the excessive building is that new businesses require employees, and thus new jobs are created.  With additional jobs comes more disposable income in a community.  This translates into more money overall.  The world revolves around money without a doubt. The countries that have more money are more economically stable and therefore more powerful.  This is the conservative viewpoint on why we should build over some of the precious wilderness we have left.  Rick Bass is critical of, but highlights former president George W. Bush’s actions by saying, “Money matters more than integrity, or the desires of and opportunities for future generations.  I have observed, and believe I understand, the motives” (Bass).  Bass is speaking of Bush’s decision to expand building in wilderness areas during his presidency.  While Urban sprawl does destroy most everything in its path, one thing that cannot be argued is it keeps money flowing.

Even with the economic upside of job creation, urban sprawl has another downside that affects everyone in a sprawl area:  Decrease of property values.  While builders increase the size of an urban area by making more houses on top of undeveloped land, it actually lessens the value of your individual home since more houses become available.  In the book, Sprawl: A Compact History, Robert Bruegmann gives a great example of property that decreases in value due to urban sprawl in New York.  “House prices stagnated or fell as affluent middle-class residents left [for] newer houses in Long Island. [This left] poor and minority residents in the oldest, least desirable housing”. (Bruegmann 3).  The moral of the story here was the middle class residents were attracted to the newer homes in the sprawl area thereby leaving the older homes empty or for the poorer residents to inhabit.  This drives all housing prices down.  Plenty of supply with low demand.   This is a perfect example of why urban sprawl affects home values in a whole community.

While there are endless facts and examples about urban sprawl and why it needs to be reduced, some development is key to economic survival.   Combating urban sprawl must be done carefully.  If we stop growing and building too quickly, businesses will cease to grow, jobs will be lost, and the flow of money as we know it today will slow down or eventually cease to exist. This would trigger a recession or worse, a worldwide economic depression.  A smart compromise must be reached.  We, as Americans, and as people of the most powerful  developed country can reduce the amount of sprawl we are currently exerting on the world while simultaneously increasing the economy.  We can do this with smart planning, re-urbanization (i.e., re-building older, abandoned urban areas), and by going green.

We clearly still need to build in order to keep business alive and a nice cash flow circulating throughout our country. The way we need to build now is environmentally friendly.  Many urban areas are mandating re-urbanization by rehabilitating previously developed areas that have been abandoned.  Many of these new urbanized areas, like Lower Downtown Denver are now considered top tier places to live.  

Another environmentally friendly concept is “green sprawl”.  We need to create green sprawl in the sense that we make green houses and buildings. By this I mean recycled and eco friendly materials need to be the consistency of these new buildings. They need to contain facilities that are friendly to emissions and natural resources that we have left on our world. This is an excellent compromise because it provides the economic aspect of keeping money growing, but at the same time it will greatly reduce the amount of stress we put on the world as a whole from a natural aspect. Better yet, this compromise has already been adapted and is in process in productively green communities such as Boulder, Colorado with self sustaining energy made homes and buildings.

In order to save the ground we walk on today and the future ahead of us, we people need to reduce the current urban sprawl going on in the world today and make a real effort to plan more effectively. Urban sprawl affects much more than just human life.  The natural cycle of plant and animal life, which affects humans, is slowly being destroyed in ways that no one can predict today if we do not reduce our sprawl. This mission is clearly attainable and is creating positive impact in eco friendly communities today.  These communities need to be held up as shining examples to the rest of the world, and the question must be asked:  What do you want to do with your world?    

Works Cited

Bass, Rick. "The Right to Be Wild." Mother Jones 28.6 (2003): 38. Points of View Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.

Bonfiglio, Olga. "Addressing Urban Sprawl." America 187.14 (2002): 12. Points of View Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 12 Nov. 2010.

Bruegmann, Robert. Sprawl: a Compact History. London: University of Chicago, 2005.

"Destruction | Define Destruction at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Destruction>.

Kunstler, James Howard, and Duncan Crary. "Deconstructing the Human Habitat: A conversation about the tragicomedy of suburban sprawl, feeding the urban organism, and the diminishing return of the automobile." Humanist 68.5 (2008): 24. Points of View Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.

“Suburban Sprawl - Sprawling From Grace; Driven To Madness.” YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-zE1UE5pBI>.