Think about the places you visit daily: your job, house, school, park, etc. What comes to mind? No matter what you are imagining I guarantee that they have one thing in common—human disturbance. Man-made structures, mowed grass, and invasive species are all examples of how man has affected the world around us. So how do you see these places? Are they a disgusting disruption of a pristine natural ecosystem or are they a beautiful adaptation of the world to benefit mankind?
According to an editorial in the scientific journal Nature*, approximately 77% of the earth’s ice-free ecosystems have been changed in some fashion by urbanization. Through the development of the land, humans have drastically changed the ecosystems and when the land is abandoned, the ecosystems cannot return to their original pristine condition. Conservationists** strive for the restoration of these areas; however some believe that instead of using resources to restore land, we should embrace the ecosystem at hand.
The recycling of current modified ecosystems can increase recourse available to humans as well as help with preservation. The preservation of untouched ecosystems is highly important to conservationists since these few areas help give us a better understanding of the Earth. By reusing old land, we can help protect these areas since there will be less of a need to develop elsewhere. This would cause us to be able to relocate the funds from prevention of primary lands to secondary lands, which might in turn help the economy since the money would not be spent on a dead end.
Though some may say that money should be spent on preserving virgin lands and other believe that this money should go towards restoring disturbed lands to their original condition, it makes more sense to take the lands we have as they are. All ecosystems have something useful to offer so all we need to do is to figure out how we can utilize them.
* Beyond the Prestine Nature 460, 435-436 (23 July 2009) | doi:10.1038/460435b; Published online 22 July 2009
** Earth's Boundaries? Nature 461, 447-448 (24 September 2009) | doi:10.1038/461447b; Published online 23 September 2009
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