Unintended Consequences of Environmental Intervention
In ecology, deliberate changes to an ecosystem can have unintended consequences, when these effects escape the control of those who introduced them. Examples include:
- The introduction of DDT as a pesticide, which led to the accumulation of the chemical in birds, interfering with their reproduction or killing them (cite sources).
- The introduction of rabbits to Australia by Europeans, which became economically and environmentally damaging, as the rabbits had no natural predators.
- The draining of American wetlands since colonial times, resulting in flash-flooding and seasonal droughts.
- The installation of smokestacks to decrease pollution in local areas, resulting in spread of pollution at a higher altitude, and acid rain on an international scale.
- After about 1900, public demand led the federal government to fight forest fires in the American West, and set aside land as national forests and parks to protect them from fires. This policy led to fewer fires, but led to growth conditions that made what fires did occur much larger and more damaging. Modern research suggests that this policy was misguided, and that a certain level of wildfires is a natural and important part of forest ecology.
Read more about this topic: Unintended Consequences
Famous quotes containing the words unintended, consequences and/or intervention:
“I thank heaven that the 4th. of July is over. It is always a day of great fatigue to me, and of some embarrassments from improper intrusions and some from unintended exclusions.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“There is a delicate balance of putting yourself last and not being a doormat and thinking of yourself first and not coming off as selfish, arrogant, or bossy. We spend the majority of our lives attempting to perfect this balance. When we are successful, we have many close, healthy relationships. When we are unsuccessful, we suffer the natural consequences of damaged and sometimes broken relationships. Children are just beginning their journey on this important life lesson.”
—Cindy L. Teachey. “Building Lifelong Relationships—School Age Programs at Work,” Child Care Exchange (January 1994)
“I was curious, I was avid to know only what I found more real than myself, that which allowed me to glimpse the thoughts of a great genius, or the force or grace of nature left to its own devices, without the intervention of man.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)