Environmental | Reiss Engineering

Preservation of Land

In chapter two, “Hetch Hetchy Valley” by John Muir, he explains the beauty in both the Yosemite and the Hetch Hetchy Valley. John Muir’s accounts of the area played a major role in the establishment of the Yosemite National Park in 1890. John Muir focuses on the beauty in the parks including the wildlife and the waterfalls. The feelings that nature evokes in ones person is like no other feeling. Being one with the Earth requires seeing nature in its natural habitat and in its unmodified state. The goal of preserving national and state parks is to allow future generations to experience the same feeling as John Muir originally did.

In chapter 3, “Principles of Conservation,” by Gifford Pinchot explains the misconceptions and his beliefs on conservation. Conservation in Pinchot’s words means the greatest good to the greatest number for the longest time. I feel that this must always be a balance for if this is followed strictly to the book, then there won’t be any use of the resources. If there is too much fear of destroying the resource then it won’t be utilized for it value. Conservation can be applied to just about every part of life and anything on Earth.

-September 6, 2014

Storm of the Century

After reading chapter 30, “Storm of the Century”, the author brings up the point about the government becoming engaged in the relocation of citizens away from the rising shoreline. As Mark FIschetti points out that “buyouts epitomize the ultimate solution to storm protection: retreat from the shore”. The current option is to use federal subsidize programs to motivate people to move to higher locations. Both of these options are monetary motivation to move enforced by the governments. THe problem with these solutions is that they only work in places with enough money to subsidize such things and have a government to actually enforce them.

Alternate solutions can include leaving it up to the people themselves to make the decisions on where they want to live. If the facts are placed in front of future homeowners they can make individual decisions and leave the government out of it. Maybe the family isn’t planning on living there very long so having a home on the beach front makes sense. Higher insurance will obviously be a part of the decision making processes, but I do not think that the government should be subsidizing and funding relocation policies.

-September 5, 2014

Usufruct of Earth

After reading chapter one, “Man and Nature”, I began to wonder what is truly meant by “usufruct” and if it is even possible. The definition of usufruct given by the book is to use the fruit of the Earth, not for consumption or waste. Resources should remain for future generations. Given the fact that the Earth is a balanced ecosystem and as the human population increases, the balance of the Earth becomes more and more off balance. In order to fully become a usufruct society, humans would have to replace ever plant, animal, and living organism on the planet back to its original state after it was altered by the humans.

The quantity of matter on the planet is constant. The matter is merely changing shape. When humans cut down trees and burn the wood, the particles of matter and different elements are all still there just in different combinations. The question then becomes, what is using the resource if the matter on Earth will not change. Is cutting down and burning the tree changing the way it would have eventually happened in nature? For example, if the tree were to be struck by lighting and a forest fire burns the forest to the ground. Although humans play an important role in the destruction of nature resources, not all of the effects of man are unavoidable.

-September 5, 2014