What is important to remember about China is the massive spate of urbanization and industrial development that has contributed to the immense loss of biodiversity and the homogenization of flora and fauna species within major urban areas. Nonetheless, I would argue there is a strong biocultural relationship that exists between humans and nature that is reflected in urban Chinese architecture and park construction. This aligns with both Gifford Pinchot’s utilitarian and John Muir’s conservationist vision that forms a “balanced” strategy for preserving declining green spaces. Article 1: Conservation Hou, Wei, Liang Zhai, and Ulrich Waiz. “Identification of Spatial Conservation and…

Course Connection to Conservation Conversation refers to preventing wasteful uses of natural resources that are available and often is mentioned in terms of wildlife, water, or exploitation. All three terms can be examined when researching Canada’s conversation movements, but I will talk about forest exploitation that we experience here. Forest exploitation in Canada can be described as destruction of forests for accrual of financial gain. Canada’s boreal forests represent the largest carbon storehouses and habitats for migration bird populations [1]. “Forests are an integral part of Canada’s geography, identity, and economy, [however], forests in southern Canada have experienced significant loss…

Urbanization Before automobiles, horses were a primary method of transportation. Over 500 tons of horse manure was collected in the streets of New York every day in the early 1890s. Horse manure was the CO2 emissions that we face today, though since it is organic matter, it was recycled and repurposed into fertilizer. In our modern world, our transportation methods mainly burn fossil fuels producing an excessive amount of CO2 emissions. Since the CO2 emissions we create aren’t organic there is no way to dispose of them naturally. Therefore, we are stuck with this off-gas for hundreds of years to…

Exercise #3: Connecting Past and Present   Article 1 – Course Connection to Conservation   The word conservation is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the careful preservation and protection of something [1]. This could mean planned management of a natural resource to prevent exploitation, destruction, or neglect. Popular phrases associated with conservation are water conservation and wildlife conservation. After reading the course’s unit three section about conservation I immediately thought about my own community and the threats that are occurring with the ongoing communication of a new port expansion. I live in a small town called Ladner and the…

Link 1: https://www.businessinsider.com/paris-suburban-forest-central-park-2018-2 Paris will create five times as many suburban forest parks as central parks. The project is one of the city’s latest efforts to reduce air pollution in and around Paris. It marks the growing urban movement towards the greening of the world’s cities. The resources in Unit 3 highlight the importance of green spaces in urban areas, both for the well-being of residents and for the conservation of biodiversity. This news story demonstrates the potential for cities to integrate large green infrastructure projects as a means of addressing the environmental and social challenges posed by urbanisation. Link…