Friday, 8 February 2013

Pity George Doesn't Have a Tree to Swing From (Concrete Jungle)

The Croisee in San Juan


George, George 
George of the Jungle, 
Strong as he can be. 
(Ahhhhhhhh) 
Watch out for that tree. 

George, George, 
George of the Jungle, 
Lives a life that's free. 
(Ahhhhhhhh) 
Watch out for that tree. 


source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/georgeofthejunglelyrics.html

This picture depicts what occurs in areas when it begins to become "urban". Green spaces are removed and replaced with concrete buildings. I chose this specific picture because it is disturbing that people refer to the destruction of our environment as development. How can something that ruins or have the potential to ruin the quality of life be viewed as being progress and development? I understand needing to use more space to build homes and businesses to meet the needs of growing populations but planting a couple trees between each building will make a world of difference.

I chose the song George of the Jungle to show that with the destruction of plants to facilitate the development of urban areas ecosystems are destroyed and concrete jungles are created. This destruction of ecosystems pose problems for the environment including resource depletion ( Hall and Barrett, 2012) and also increases global warming due to the destruction of trees which act as a carbon sink (Kircher, 2011). Also, with this destruction of ecosystems species diversity is decreased and it will affect life in some way since everything in the environment is interconnected. 

Hall and Barrett, Urban Geography. London and New York, Routledge Publishing. 2012 (pages 305 to 324)

Kircher, J.C, Tropical Ecology. Princeton University Press. 2011



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