Water and McHarg readings

Water
In the readings on water, I found a great amount of similarities in topics among authors.  For example, all the authors stressed the anthropogenic effects on water resources and how this goes on to effect other systems, including our own one.

Jackson focused on how important it is to have fresh water systems, that maintain different lifeforms (including shellfish, freshwater fish, and water fowl).  This is a very important aspect of the changing water table and the pollution that is getting emitted into the atmosphere and water systems daily.   These impacts do harm other organisms that are important to the overall ecosystem.  We need to look out for these other organisms, and not think just about our selfish desires.  Jackson further addressed how humans have modified natural water sources, erecting dams and building reservoirs.  These anthropogenic changes have impacted natural systems and the organisms that have used them for millennia.  This summer, I helped survey natural areas around the state.  Because of the droughts, farmers have repeatedly encroached on native habitats, and have even destroyed wetlands that were there not 5 years ago to plant crops that will be gone in one season.

Gleick focused on how water management and planning could help the current water situation, insisting that basic water needs (for both ecosystems and all humans) in addition to institutional recommendations could help turn things around.  He used backcasting to aid his case.  Finally, Vanderwarker addressed social justice issues of water rights, highlighting the fact that those who use and abuse water resources are frequently those with the most monetary resources.  This piece highlighted not only the need for water, but also the communal desire to observe and enjoy access and views of water.  The recent spring of high-rises surrounding lakes and oceans inhibits the view of others.


McHarg
He began by pointing out that life is a superorganism, and man is only one part of that.  He documented how man, over time, changed his environment via fire, domestication, agriculture, settlement and eventually sprawling cities.  McHarg appears to have a very minimalist or deep ecology approach to mans place in the world, insisting that man needs to construct a world just to meet his minimum requirements and survival.  We fulfill our role in a specific niche, and, through technology and other means, we have subdued nature and are living in areas that are not suited to us.

Nature in cities is often romanticized, resulting in sprawling gardens and green grass in areas more suited to cacti and sand dunes.  However, the real waste is not creating an Eden in a desolate place, but rather destroying the Eden that was there before we bulldozed it.  Forests are being destroyed, wetlands and marshes are filled in, and the land is sterilized and water-proofed.  The organisms that used to call that land home are cast aside and new ones are brought in.  McHarg feels that man cannot maintain his current use of the environment and needs to return to a more simplistic life, complete with a man-nature symbiotic relationship.

McHarg concludes with a solution to the problems presented in previous chapters.  He feels that we need: an ecosystem inventory, a description of natural processes, identification of limiting factors, attribution of value, determination of prohibitions and permissiveness to change, and identification of indicators of stability or instability. These returns to our roots will help solve the crisis we are facing today.