A New Idea

Humans by nature are destructive; we must be in order to survive. We are not given any real means of defense other than the brain capacity to protect ourselves through other various resources such as a building or sheltered environment. Much like ants or rodents, we take what we can from the earth and envision our own plans and uses for our surroundings. We tear down trees to manufacture paper, fire wood, and building materials in our lumber mills. We take water from the very rivers and oceans that brought us to the land we expand today. All of these resources have survived for centuries without our aid or interference. However we have given very little back to these resources that have provided and sustained our way of life.
The land shapes to the earth, forming mountains where tectonic plates have collided, lakes where glaciers have melted, and shores where oceans have receded. All of these formations have adapted through time, evolving and acclimatizing to the different temperature changes and natural disasters that are apart of Mother Nature; all of the land formations except those build buy humans. While we have the brain capacity to build the beautiful Louisiana coast we seem to lack the foresight to see the possible environmental hazard brought upon us by a city along the ocean, inviting flooding and hurricanes. These torments of weather and landscape cannot be tamed; the earth is forever changing in minuet ways but perhaps humans can look beyond a “quick fix” and learn to coexist with these natural forces, even “sustain” and improve these conditions.
While human awareness of the environment has only just begun to make an appearance, poking its ugly head into our beautiful expansion schemes, government action and organizations are speaking out against the “taming” of mother earth. “The U.S. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 declared as its goal a national policy to "create and maintain conditions under which [humans] and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans."” The Environmental Policy Act is pouring its funds into correcting the human error built into our cities by aiding “smart growth projects, green building and infrastructure, and energy efficiency” The waste brought upon our residence by our very own neighbors and ourselves is deplorable. The amount of trash generated by an average human household is 4.5 pounds a day, not even bothering to include car exhaust released into the environment. “Every year we fill enough garbage trucks to form a line that would stretch from the earth, halfway to the moon.” Yes, pollution is a problem, the use of non renewable resources, and the disposal of these products are issues but more over the ability to realize humans can cut certain loses, shave off unnecessary luxuries that can be replaced by better habits will be more valuable than any “renewplan” because this way of thought can be sustained through not only communities but within humanity.

http://www.epa.gov/Sustainability/index.htm
http://www.co.cass.in.us/ccswd/trivia.htm