One of the largest benefits that
“island civilization” could have on our environment would be the preservation
of land. If we could limit ourselves into a much smaller portion of land by
decreasing the population, issues like deforestation would fade away. In terms
of the United States, our population requires a vast amount of urbanized
cities, roads, and transportation. This urbanized lifestyle is taking away from
the “wild” land that once was so plentiful. Deforestation is an issue that has
been growing along side our population count. The more people that occupy our
country and world, the more homes, cities, and accommodations we will need to
sustain the growth factor. We have seen a trend that deforestation increases at
the rate of population. We have no other choices but to clear out forests in
order to make room for these greater amounts of people.
Deforestation has been linked to
causing several other problems in addition to destroying our forests. In
Oregon, the logging of the Douglas fir has led to a significant decrease in
biodiversity of plants and animals in the state of Oregon. The major
deforestation of the Douglas fir trees left the few groups of tress that
remained highly vulnerable to disease and predatory insects. A tree that was
once so plentiful could be at serious risk of disappearing because of this
severe issue.
Accommodating the influx of
population may seem like the most important issue we need to resolve now,
however once all of our land and resources are used up we will be faced with a
much larger issue that will affect us in the long run. Cutting down population sizes is truly
important. Nash represents “island civilization” as one approach to a problem
that is drawing closer and closer.
Learn
more about the issue of deforestation from this documentary by the University
of Michigan:
Source for the
Deforestation in Oregon:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mblowers/def.html
The topic discussed above is very common environmental issue and one i almost wrote about! i thought it was very interesting how you tied in population as another issue and possible an effect of land preservation. The information was laid out very well and correctly explain the effects and causes of deforestation. I also liked that your "place" was a specific location (Oregon) which made the example more relatable and understandable. In addition to the article, the pictures of the deforestation was a great addition to help explain and prove your point. Next time, it would be great to expand on ways to help preserve land and how an "island civilization" would change the earth. Great job though!
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