A Lander Remembered

Since I do not life in Southwest Florida I am going to discuss to areas. One, North Carolina, where I live now, and two, Northwest Florida, where I am from. The reason I want to write about both is because I do not know that much about North Carolina and I feel I can not give adequate examples, but I spent 21 years living in Northwest Florida So I can give first hand examples

Richlands, North Carolina has grown a lot just over the past two years that I have been here. There are constantly houses going up and farm land and forest being torn down. I live in a rural area, around my home there is about 150 acres of woods, these woods are home to many animals which I have had close encounters with. I assume these encounters are because of the destruction of their homes. The first year we lived here there were quite a few issues with alligators in places they do not belong such as beaches, private residences, and swimming areas. This year, we are the third highest in the United States for shark attacks. Lovely.

Anyways, about my home. Over the past twenty years there has been a clear build up. It is easy to see the changes while just driving through. Many of the roads have been updated or completely upgraded. There has been a complete build up of all the surrounding areas including, Destin, Sand Destin, Fort Walton Beach, and Navarre. Although these are great for the tourism, I hate it during the summer. I hate that for 6 months my home is infiltrated by multiple tourists, who drive like idiots and think they own the world because they are tourists. haha.

The houses being built here in Richlands, North Carolina directly impact me because of traffic. All of these new homes and families are expected to use the same roads but with an increased population. The hardest thing is school buses, in my area school buses do not have bus stops but instead stop on the main roads at almost every house, which makes driving very tedious.

Back home, they are finally updated roads, which helps alleviate a good percent of the traffic. Along with the roads the shopping has improved.

My fear is that there will be no habitat for the wildlife. I love animals and would have to see their future destroyed by humans naivety and greed.

I believe some of these changes are beneficial or would be beneficial with certain changes or adaptions, but the purpose of all to many of these large changes are solely for financial benefits to the creator rather than of ecological standpoints.

The world is constantly changing and whether the changes are good or bad is up to us and our education measures. What I mean by this, is we must make sure the future generations both admire and love our natural assets because once they are gone, they are gone for good without human advocates for nature nothing will last.

I am not sure how to support my argument with resources other than to use how different places have changed in just the time taught about. For example, the everglades... They are not what they were, and yet they are still ever changing because of loss of environment, care, and financial assets.

Honestly, I am sure there are things I could do that would make a small impact, but I feel most of the things I can do to greatly impact the future are out of my price range. Currently, there is no way for me to utilize public transportation, or any means of "green" traveling, so that is out of the question. I try to use locally grown produce, along with produce that I grow myself, but that can only be done to a point I am learning. Currently, I supply my own eggs, tomatoes, peppers, and a few other veggies.

I would love to utilize a wind or solar power source, but the cost is not effective for us, especially since we are military and never know where we are going to be the following year. We did by a more economical vehicle than we were previously driving and it is now my primary driver.

I know there are some things I can do, and I am sure over time I will get better about the other things I miss on, but all and all I think I do well. I admire the environment and do my best to learn about it and learn how to preserve it.

Smith, Patrick D. A Land Remembered. Englewood, FL: Pineapple, 1984. Print.