According to a UN report, a city the size of Vancouver is built every week- and about half of the world’s population lives in cities. Even though the city provides us with ease and opportunity, the environment feels anything but comfortable when humanity stretches its arms out and lays back. Urbanization is destroying habitats and upsetting ecosystems- our natural areas are becoming increasingly crushed by the developments expanding around them. As towns become cities, animal and plant life leave, or worse- cease to exist. The development of new roads introduces problems to environments that were previously untraversed by humans. Road-kill and exhaust pollution issues are introduced to the area. In addition, ground may have been deforested in the creation of the road, taking away the nesting places of birds and squirrels and a valuable source of the shade that some plants need to grow. Deforestation not only destroys habitat and biodiversity, but also negatively impacts the environment because trees are responsible for producing oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide. Fragmenting a habitat by adding a road or removing trees separates species populations, some of which may not survive the split- possibly severing a link in the world’s already fragile and intricate food webs. Society is not aware of the repercussions of its actions; the effects of urban growth are devastating on our natural environments and ecosystems.
~JK
Novel topic, and a good source in the UN. Major urban centers, rural, and suburban areas all function very differently, for sure.
You are right, I do not think people realize what building new houses, and buildings in these rural areas are doing to our environment. I am guilty of this also, I think we focus too much on the aesthetic value of what is being built instead of thinking about the effects in the long run.