Sailboats and City Planning- a metaphor
When people think about development and about natural spaces, we seem to jump to the thought that all development and human influence on a location other- than leaving it as natural as possible- is terrible. This is simply not true. While it is true that larger fauna (like elk, moose) will often pull away from humans, oftentimes they can be welcomed back, and also, oftentimes there are places that did not have large fauna to begin with.
By ‘begin with’ I mean currently, not ever. There were likely far more animals in all corners of America long ago, of course. But that does not mean that humans cannot provide vast benefits to animals and even bring them into locations that they wouldn’t have been because the places wouldn’t have naturally benefited them.
Just the sound of roads or the occasional habitation by humans of a natural space is enough for the most skittish of wildlife to leave. I hike and camp a lot and often times even with no homes, only a few roads, and a very low number of very quiet people, larger animals are still rare to find. This may be due to many factors but the fact is even in the most natural environments certain areas simply have a lack of these large species that we often fear displacing the most.
But think of moose and deer who roam quiet neighborhoods, think of songbirds who adore peaceful outdoor patios, raptors who enjoy safe, ready-made platforms for their nests, lizards who enjoy hunting and living in rocks unearthed by humans, and cliff swallows who make their mud-structure nests on the side of bridges and small buildings near water where there would otherwise be no place for them in the middle of tree-less and cliff-less plains.
In addition, I think we often underestimate the damage that our current building model is doing. Now, the damage I am referring to is very much REVERSIBLE. I am not talking about things like climate change here. I am talking about the things that we can change literally today to increase the beauty and liveability of a place for humans AND animals. (We also vastly over-estimate the noise pollution of human beings and under-estimate the noise pollution of car tires, but that is a topic for another post)
Loud traffic is terrible for peaceful places and shy animals, extremely fast-moving multi-ton vehicles and the extreme fences put around highways to stop animals from interfering, are not only murdering the wildlife but the fences to supposedly save wildlife are also severing animal habitats in a big way.
Why do I mention this? Because we talk about stopping development to save animals but humans will never not-exist on Earth and the human population will never-not be increasing. That is a fact, we can stop pretending that that is not our reality. My point, however, is that smart growth and development can have massive benefits on the natural environment. FAR more than just designating certain segregated areas for nature to exist, simple changes to our human habitat will allow animals to exist safely alongside us so that we can enjoy them daily, and they get far more places to live, eat, and much higher safety when cars are moving more slowly.
So much for being able to enjoy connecting to that water at all with that highway right there.
Take sailboats for example. While yes, this lake pictured below would look beautiful if it were void of human development, and there is absolutely a place for that. I don’t think that someone could say that these sailboats are ruining the view, or even ruining the environment. It is important to realize that there are shoresides of lakes every day that are getting overrun with single-family home development, loud cars, and loud motor boats. If you want to chase after developers with pitchforks, go after those developers, and I’ll join you. But these are in a sense, one type of human habitation. The other type is one that is conscious of decreasing negative influence on the environment in every way that we can. For example, some of the ways humans have influence is in noise, in air quality, in bringing along their murder-machines (their over-use and speed is very important and very fixable), and in the vegetation that they remove. If humans would slow down, regulate the machines that are creating so much unnecessary noise and pollution, reduce as well as slow down local car traffic, leave as many trees standing as possible, encourage well-suited water-wise plantings and the use of local building materials, Americans would feel incredibly different about how development impacts nature.
I have found so much inspiration for water-side towns from Swedish archipelagos. I highly recommend a deep dive on them.
Animals will absolutely come back to live alongside us when there are bushes and trees and parks to live in, when they do not have a near guarantee of getting run over, and when there are quiet boats or bicycles going by. While maybe, yes, total human absence would be best for all living things other than us, it is simply not possible and I refuse to just give up and say ‘what’s the point?’ just because we can’t reach that strange anti-human goal and continue to believe that building anything is bad and, therefore, that our mere existence is bad. Humans are a part of nature too and we have so much capability for benefitting the environment beyond what it could do on its own in many cases. We can forest the desert, protect against drought, plant strategically to prevent erosion and floods, have controlled burns to prevent wildfires, and create massive ecological value in a smaller footprint than could ever be achieved naturally.
If you think humans are all bad and nature is the ultimate in purity then consider all of the animals in the world who kill and sometimes torture their prey, who go after the weak and the young, who are wasteful in what they take. Just because there is some unpleasantness in the world that does not mean we should throw in the towel, or that it must be stopped at all costs, OR that it is inherently evil. Nothing is without flaws and side effects. What we are striving for is a balance, and right now the scale in America is tipped very much in one direction. As humans, we are the only animals who can see what is disproportionately unbalanced in the world AND has the ability to fix them. No other creature has those incredible abilities.
And now, while unfortunately, this imbalance in America has gone on for far too long without being steered back on the right path, we as humans have the incredible ability to bring back a balance to the human and natural environments. That is what I am choosing to be an active part of.
While sailboats are made by humans, they do not have to be ugly, they do not have to pollute, they do not have to be loud, and they do not have to be a natural health hazard.
P.S. Because this post was inspired by thoughts I had after looking at sailboats, I wanted to also mention, how fun would it be to watch these kids learn how to captain these little sailboats? While sitting the back deck of a small restaurant, yes, please.
