Major Environmental Problems Due to Overdevelopment

Overdevelopment and sprawl go hand in hand. They both result from too much development for the area and conditions. Overdevelopment causes many problems: congestion, jarring visual landscapes, noise and traffic gridlock. However, while humans suffer consequences from overdevelopment, so do the environment and the creatures that share it.

Size

• Habitat loss is the single largest negative effect on our environment from overdevelopment. As humans pull down trees, clear fields and pave over ground, they destroy homes, breeding grounds and food sources for a vast array of plants, animals and insects. Loss of habitat due to human destruction and development is the leading cause of species endangerment, according to the American Natural History Museum. It causes a larger number of animals to fight for existence on smaller parcels of land and affects the food chain and reproductive cycles for these creatures. The rate of human development has sped up so quickly that other species have not had time to adapt evolutionarily, so they begin to die out. Since all life is dependent on other life, the loss of species affects humans directly or indirectly.

Features

• Overdevelopment overwhelms the natural resources of an area. Water table rocks are porous, with water filling the holes as it flows through the rock layer. This is part of the filtering process for groundwater. Groundwater replenishes itself over time through absorption of rainwater and from the bottoms of lakes, rivers and streams. However, overdevelopment can tax this water supply at a faster rate than it can replenish itself. This causes the water to be taken out of the rocks and the porous rock to become unable to hold the weight of the developed land above it. Sinkholes have occurred in many parts of the Southwest and in Florida due to groundwater pumping, according to the United States Geological Survey. Also, the heavy drain on groundwater supplies reduces or eliminates the water supply for other areas connected to the groundwater system.

Significance

• Paving does not absorb water the same way that trees, plants and soil do. Most water rolls off pavement. Overdevelopment promotes flooding, because excess water is not soaked up. Even if stormwater is adequately channeled to prevent flooding as it enters storm drains, which are typically tied to freshwater bodies, they sweep all of the trash, chemicals and pollution off roads and sidewalks and whisk it away into local lakes, streams and rivers. This pollutes the local waters, which damages ecosystems dependent on those bodies of water. It also harms or kills aquatic animals and plant life.

Effects

• Gridlock and congestion, as well as the electrical needs of a large amount of development, require the burning of significant amounts of fossil fuels in a concentrated area. This burning of fossil fuels such as gasoline, coal, natural gas and oil releases greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. They also create smog and air pollution, which is harmful to the environment and to human health. These pollution particles also mix with precipitation and enter the water system.

Considerations

• Overdevelopment uproots the very plants and trees that can clean and purify the air from the pollution spewed into it by overdevelopment. Carbon dioxide, produced by the burning of fossil fuels, is used as fuel by plant life. Plant life also soaks up airborne toxic chemicals such as benzene, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide, all of which are found in air-polluting substances such as cigarette smoke, car exhaust and industrial emissions. Aquatic plant life, particularly that found in wetlands, removes heavy metals, phosphorus and nitrates from water. Reserving large green areas and planting trees can help blunt the negative impact of man-made pollution.