Abstract
From an economic stand point, as the
Kuznets (Stern 2014) curve points out, the poorer a society is the less concerned it is with
its environment. As incomes rise the concern for the environment rises The
hypothesis coincides with Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Basically stating that as a human’s basic needs are fulfilled
a hirer mental and emotional evolution occurs and one becomes more
existentially aware of needs outside of one’s self. Therefore, as society in the United States has evolved a
deep compassion and recognition for the value of the environment has occurred.
It is the roll of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to regulate urban growth
and expansion with the environment in mind.
Urban sprawl is often
demonized by environmentalist, social scientists, and in some cases
economists. They often use the
excuse of environmental contamination to exploit, advance, and perpetuate their
ideas of social control. Arthur C. Nelson, Ph.D. put it this way in the article
Reducing Sprawl Has Advantages over Conventional Planning, that the large
expanse and scattered development
manifest a host of environmental and social challenges. For example,
Nelson claims that urban sprawl is responsible for traffic congestion
environmental contamination income and racial segregation, job and housing
mismatch, local fiscal disparities, and premature conversion of farm land to
urban use (Nelson 2014, p.1).
It is true for
example that those who live in the out skirts of the inner city do create
traffic congestion, and I’ll call it social segregation rather than racial
segregation, because racial segregation is just not accurate. So if everyone is
clumped into small areas and we all live in apartments owned by powerful land
owners, and pay rent, and never own land of our own, if all we need for
transportation is a bike a public train or bus and an elevator for our entire
existence then we are then controlled entirely by some governing source that
dictates what is best for everyone and everything within their estimated
control.
While the social
utopia that theses groups would like to aspire to might seem grand there are
many reasons why the suburban knights, (Those who prefer to live outside of the inner city), like
myself, are dedicated to social and economic autonomy. First we like to go where we
want to go when we want to go. We don’t want to wait for a bus or a train and we
don’t want anyone telling us what we can and can’t do and when we can and can’t
do it. Another thing is a lot of people who live inside the city gates have
poor hygiene, and horrible social habits. Frankly there are certain types of
people suburban knights would rather not be around and those are the primary
reasons we stay away from living inside the city gates.
Now as far as the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is concerned, and conservation efforts in that
respect it is much easier to discuss.
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, mandates
that they manage public land and resources, which includes 221 Wilderness Areas totaling
8.7 million acres, as well as 16 National Monuments comprising 4.8 million
acres (BLM 2014, p1). In the out skirts of Portland Oregon there is a creek
that runs from East Clackamas to the Columbia River named Johnson creek. In the early 1970’s the creek had
become so polluted that the fish that had thrived there but only a decade
before were gone. The creek was filled with muck from land erosion. It was used
for dumping and there were tires and refrigerators in the creek. One could only
wonder why folks would do such a thing.
Fortunately, the BLM got involved and awareness for the
environment started to take place. Conservation efforts included cleaning the
creek and restoring fish habitat.
By re installing the proper foliage at the creek’s bank the erosion
problems were addressed and the creeks ecosystem and fish habitat have
returned. By working with man and nature the Jonson creek area now flourishes
with wild life and recreation. It
is filled with parks and scenic trails along the Spring Water Corridor, which
is a long paved trail that runs from Boring Oregon to down town Portland (Springwater,
2014 p.1).
The Spring Water corridor exemplifies urban sprawl at its
best. It is the way money should be spent. It allows man to enjoy nature to the
fullest, while protecting the environment (Stern,
2014 p. 1). Clustering us all into to a
nice neat little package is insulting. It is not the way that we were all
intended to be. However, for many people the inner city living is ideal. Many
people like the close connection of the inner city, shopping within walking
distance, and multi-family dwelling.
Works Cited
BLM,
(2014) The Bureau of Land Management: Who We Are, What We Do. Webb
Retrieved Aug1, 2014 http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/About_BLM.html
Nelson Arthur, C (2014). Sprawl
Webb Retrieved Aug 1, 2014 http://media.pearsoncmg.com/bc/bc_masteringenvironmentalscience/Withgott4/ViewPoints/PDFs/VP_Chapter13_essay.pdf
Springwater, (2014) Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Web,
Retrieved Aug 1, 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springwater_Corridor
Stern David, (2014) International Society for Ecological
Economics Internet Encyclopedia of Ecological Economics, The Environmental Kuznets Curve. Web Retrieved Aug 1, 2014 http://isecoeco.org/pdf/stern.pdf
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