How often do we return to the city of our childhood only to see massive suburban sprawl, traffic congestion, and loss of natural habitat?
A recent analysis of satellite images for the Washington, DC/Baltimore, Maryland area suggests that urban areas expanded about 1% per year during the past 15 years. This translates into a loss of 4.25 square miles of nature every year. Some areas showed more growth than others, but no municipality showed any regain of natural area.
In the southeastern U.S., urban areas expanded about 2% over 7 years. Overall, 5% of the landscape is now covered by human habitation.
It is no wonder that cities are growing. Nearly 80% of the U.S. population now lives in metropolitan areas, and the U.S. population itself is growing by about 1% each year. If we are concerned about the loss of natural habitat, we should direct our attention to the rate of population growth.
Our growing population adds to the long list of problems associated with the loss of natural habitat, including air pollution, water shortages, and species extinctions. These problems are exacerbated by the desire of each and every citizen to have the highest standard of living.
There are not many examples of where human population growth did not result in environmental degradation, even when most of us live in cities.
Web Links
Remote Sensing of Environment
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425712004130
Photo, taken on December 25, 2006, courtesy of Payton Chung via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, with partial support from the Field Day Foundation.