Environmental Science: Urban Sprawl Urban Term Paper

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Just sitting there, stop-and-go, slow-and-go, wasted two full weeks of work time per year; and the "excess fuel consumption due to congestion" added up to $1,055 for each resident of the Washington, D.C. area a year.

But wait - is the money spent on wasted fuel all the harm that is done? No, in fact, "vehicle exhaust remains a serious problem" in the D.C. area. Vehicles are the "main source of air pollution in the Washington region," according to the article in Environment. And there are other environmental impacts from urban sprawl in the D.C. area: a) floods happen more frequently because "a large portion of the land in the Washington area has been paved over," causing rapid run-off of rainfall instead of absorption in the ground; b) the rapidly expanding development of homes means more pesticides on lawns and "more pollutants are washed into the region's waterways"; c) wildlife habitat "has been eliminated or degraded"; d) "aquifers are under pressure"; e) Chesapeake Bay's water quality is not up to the standards the public expects.

Urban sprawl contributes to "forest fragmentation," according to an article in "forest fragmentation occurs when large, continuous forests are divided into smaller blocks, either by roads, clearing for agriculture, urbanization, or other human development," said Chet Arnold, associate director of the Center for Land-use Education and Research at the University of Connecticut.

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And the fragmentation of forests, in particular by urban sprawl ("urbanization"), "poses a threat to biodiversity primarily in animal populations, as their habitats are chopped up into smaller and smaller pieces."

What do voters have to say about controlling urban sprawl? In Oregon, Arizona and Colorado during the 2000 election, "voters rejected...initiatives that would have given citizens a say in limiting urban sprawl" (National Wildlife Magazine, 2001). In Oregon, voters approved a constitutional amendment "strongly opposed by the National Wildlife Federation that could force governments to compensate landowners whenever regulations reduce the value of their properties." Basically, that is saying that when urban sprawl creeps out to farmland, the farms are worth more because their land is in demand for condos, shopping malls, etc.; and growth limits mean reducing the value of some land.

According to a book called Once There Were Greenfields (knap, 2000), reviewed in the Journal of the American Planning Association, "sprawl increases vehicle miles, and more vehicle miles means more ambient emissions"; sprawl "means more pavement, more pavement means more runoff, and more runoff means more degraded rivers and lakes.".....

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