Over the weekend, I chose to travel to Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook as my area of research, since I have never been there despite living in northeast Los Angeles almost my entire life. Upon arriving at Baldwin Hills, the first topographic and natural elements I noticed was the area was covered in grassland, which contained numerous small shrubs and trees. This provided a stark contrast compared to the rest of the city below the hillside and overlook, which had minimal vegetation and consisted mainly of man-made buildings, roads, infrastructure, and cement. Immediately, I noticed the extremely high altitude in comparison to the large expanse of flat land that surrounded the mountain on all four sides. A large telephone or satellite pole protruded from one side of the hills, which appeared …show more content…
There were also people practicing dance moves and martial arts. People of various ages and ethnicities, from young children to elderly were present, mostly dressed in fitness style clothing. During the day, the area appeared very safe and inviting to people of all ages and not limited to only young adults in their 20’s and 30’s. At the top of the overlook, many people were also taking photos of the panoramic view of the city below. According to Hubbard, spaces can be divided into sanctioned and unsanctioned regions as part of the use of the city space and embodiment. In this sense, Baldwin Park is considered as a sanctioned space because it is a recognized community area by the city government, but the activities that people do in the space can be considered unsanctioned such as exercising, dancing, etc. Also, within this space, they are expressing their individual rights to the city by using the park for various experiences such as exercising, performing art such as dance, and visual art like photography. Baldwin Hills is extremely diverse as it serves a variety of purposes for numerous
Woop woop! Is the common sound heard in Beecher Terrace (housing apartments). There are 2.3 million people locked up in the United States. Kentucky spends about fifteen billion dollars per year incarcerating individuals from Beecher Terrace. Since the 1970’s the number of people locked up in the United States has grown from 300,000 to 2.3 million. Kentucky has been the center of this prison expansion. Charles McDuffie, Christel, Demetria, and Keith Huff all have something in common. Each of these individuals are repeat offenders, grew up or lived in Beech Terrace, and have some type of mental issue.
The emerald jewel of Brooklyn, Prospect Park is often called the borough’s backyard and has been a serene and idyllic retreat for Brooklynites for well over a century now. In fact, the park recently celebrated its 150th anniversary with great fanfare, attesting its historic importance and role it’s played in city life for generations. Few people, however, know the true history of the park, such as its connection to Central Park and the role it played in the development of Brooklyn real estate in the late 19th century. To that end, here’s a quick look at the hidden history of Prospect Park and the key role it’s played in the city’s history over the years.
When people see new construction or a recently paved road, they often do not realize the sacrifice that was made to create these luxuries. Most people pass some form of construction on the way to their jobs or school every day. This simple fact sparks questions regarding what this area looked like before it was inhabited by humans. Illinois forests have undergone drastic changes in the decades since European settlement. Only 31 % of the forest area present in 1820 exists today. (Iverson Pdf) Tearing down trees to build new structures isn’t bad if done in moderation, in some ways with time and good planning its wonderful. However, anyone that hunts or claims to be an outdoorsman will relate to the incomparable feeling experienced when alone in the woods and far from the hustle of the urbanized world.
The physical geography of the North Pacific Coast is not the greatest attraction to tourists in some cases, but the land itself is the winning prize that attracts many to its coast. Much of the North Pacific coast is covered in mountainous terrains that give the land its beauty. The land is very rugged when approaching the mountains and, “is a land of dramatic coastal mountains cut by glacially eroded fiords and islands,” (Birdsall). The rough terrain gives transportation in and around the region in the north difficulties resulting in the limitation of accessibility to only “air and water,” (Birdsall). “Brady Glacier is the largest glacier in the Fairweather Range of the St. Elias Mountain in southeast Alaska,” (Drendochology to the ...
Wilderness is a highly idealized concept in today’s society – we simply put it on a pedestal and choose to admire it as we see fit. Nature and wilderness are considered distant and remote concepts, separate from our everyday, civilized lives. By approaching the natural realm in this sense, we simply detach ourselves from our origin, which leaves us to fantasize about the great outdoors as an escape from the artificial creations of our everyday life. This desire to escape our artificial lives has lead to the construction of locations such as national parks, which merely appear to be the natural world, yet in reality they are simply just facets of the modernized world we have created.
One of the main issues that the book, “Ecology of Fear,” discussed about were the inherent dangers and problems that suburbanization imposed upon the landscape of Southern California. Although suburbanization in theory and in reality did create abundant benefits to a great mass of people, especially to those who wanted to avoid the daily nuisances of urban city life, its negative consequences were quite grave indeed. Suburbanization led to a complete eradication to the natural landscape of many areas in California. The book’s vivid accounts of how the lush, green landscape was bulldozed just to build tracts of homes were a painful reminder of the beauty that was lost due to suburbanization. “In 1958 sociologist William Whyte – author of The Organization Man – had a disturbing vision as he was leaving Southern California. ‘Flying from Los Angeles to San Bernardino – an unnerving lesson in man’s infinite capacity to mess up his environment – the traveler can see a legion of bulldozers gnawing into the last remaining tract of green between the two cities’.” (Davis, p. 77)...
The windshield survey of Black Hills discloses diverse aspects of living and ample different cultures within this area. The community is extremely diverse and places a large emphasis on religion. The physical environment of this area can be described as in a debilitating condition. The environment observed architecture of the houses was all similar. Most of the houses looked as though they were crumbling. The major differences in the houses was the siding, colors, and few of the houses looked to be well maintained. The housing units appeared to be detached from other units. The yards were simplistic, small, and gated. The lawns were overgrown and cluttered with old
Every year, over nine million hikers and adventure seekers travel to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park making it the most visited national park in the United States. There are abundant reasons for this, but many popular reasons include over 150 hiking trails extending over 850 miles, a large portion of the Appalachian Trail, sightseeing, fishing, horseback riding, and bicycling. The park houses roughly ten thousand species of plants and animals with an estimated 90,000 undocumented species likely possible to be present. It is clear why there was a pressing interest in making all this land into a national park. My research was started by asking the question; how did the transformation of tourism due to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park affect surrounding cities such as Gatlinburg and Sevier County, and in return, its effect on the popularity of the park?
I chose to map out the section of the Setauket Greenway Trail that I jog roundtrip numerous times a week. It is a 1.5 mile stretch from the middle of East Setauket to its endpoint in Port Jefferson Station. I am familiar with the trail now and, even after using it for the year since I moved into the community, it still intrigues me on various levels. What fascinates me is the varied topographies – both geographic and cultural – it cuts across. The landscape itself is surprising; after leaving the residential neighborhoods, the trail dips into an unexpected basin bordered on either side by sand dunes and powerlines before climbing back out through lush woodlands. The trail then emerges at the top of the hill next to a black chain-link fence that demarcates a lot of abandoned warehouses. The visual is striking: between the paved trail itself and the fencing is a patch of landscaped shrubbery and mowed lawn. On the other side of the fence is rusted graffiti-splashed corrugated metal, gaping black doorways and empty windows. There is something disturbingly post-apocalyptic about the setting; it speaks to man-made ruin and neglect, something one does not necessarily expect to find in the middle of the woods.
The 205-thousand-square-mile Appalachian Mountain range, which spans from Eastern Canada to northern Alabama, boasts North America’s oldest mountains (formed approximately 400 million years ago), the highest peak of the eastern United States (Mount Mitchell), industrial production opportunities and leisurely recreation. The range includes the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky mountains (NCSU, n.d.). A range of recreational activities such as fishing in freshwater streams, camping, biking the Blue Ridge Parkway, skiing and hiking are available in the region. One popular hiking location is the 2,184-mile Appalachian Natural Scenic Trail, which is the longest walking trail in the eastern United States (United States. National Park Service, 2014). Its rich natural capital offers a plethora of resources, allowing production to range from small-scale agricultural establishments to larger industrial outputs of metal and timber. Approximately 80 percent of land has been used for the coal and logging industry since the 90’s (Little, 1995). Though the commercial utilization of the mountains has boosted the economy of Appalachian towns and cities, it has also degraded the range aesthetically and commercially.
Canyonlands National Park, immense amounts of wilderness and rock, is located at the heart of the Colorado Plateau (Canyonlands National Park-Geology). Millions of years have formed specific features to the rock and surrounding wilderness that make it so special. Throughout the park, you will find that the sedimentary rock has formed many features such as hundreds of colorful canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches, and spires. The Green and Colorado rivers have played a major role in the formation of many of these features. These rivers cut through the park forming two massive canyons. This further splits the park into three distinct zones. “Island in the Sky” sits to the north while “The Maze” sits off to the west and “The Needles” to the east (Canyonlands National Park Information Guide). “Island in the Sky” serves as Canyonlands’ observation tower; it allows tourists to see overwhelming vistas of the rest of the land. “The Maze,” as hinted at by the name has been described as a “30 square mile puzzle in sandstone” (NPS: Nature & Science» Geology Resources Division). This section of the park often ranks as one of the most remote and inaccessible areas of the United States. Lastly, “The Needles” is known for its diversity in rock features. Throughout this land, features such as sculptured rock spires, arches, canyons, grabens, and potholes can be seen. The varying names hint at the diversity of the land as a whole. As said by The National Park Service’s Geology Resources Division, “Traces of the Anasazi can be found in almost every canyon in the Needles. Many of their stone and mud dwellings and storehouses are remarkably well-preserved. Tower Ruins, built high on a cliff ledge in a side canyon of Horse Canyon, is an outstanding ex...
Dani and I stand in the sun waiting for the “men” to catch up. The view was worth Quill’s whining and navigating through the snow. The breeze catches in the bright green and gold of new Aspen leaves whispering around the lake. The Pine trees scent the air and bask in the sun to steal its warmth from the forest below. The trees are a dark canopy along our path permitting only a few patches of the raised finely mulched trail to a beam or two of sun. Framed like a photo three pencil lead gray peaks rise above a lower sweeping curve of pines. They look close enough to walk over the ridge and touch them. Boulders precariously cling to the side of the mountains. The perfect deep blue early summer sky is the perfect backdrop.
This essay while very passionate is poorly done. The author, Edward Abbey, admits that he is a “butterfly chaser, googly eyed bleeding heart and wild conservative”(Abbey, 144). His constant appeals to nostalgia and tree hugging are repetitive and long-winded. However, as mentioned above, he is an expert in figurative language and connotation. Right from the beginning Abbey uses a great metaphor comparing Glen Canyon to the living heart of the canyon lands, and throws in another about the Colorado River being golden. He tries to form a beautiful picture of what Glen Canyon used to be like by sharing an experience that he and a buddy had almost 50 years ago. Although picturesque and ideal, we all understand that change is a natural part of both mankind and nature and that all things have an end.
Baldwin, A. Dwight., Judith De Luce, and Carl Pletsch. Beyond Preservation: Restoring and Inventing Landscapes. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 1994. Print.
The two neighborhoods that I chose to use for this assignment are vastly different. The main reason is because they are on opposite sides of the country. The first neighborhood that I visited is the one that I grew up in. This neighborhood is in Connecticut, on the East Coast, all the way across the country from the neighborhood that I currently live in here in West Hollywood. Most of my family lives in Connecticut and Massachusetts and I’m the only one who lives on the West Coast. A big difference is that the neighborhood in Connecticut has houses that are more spaced out, have larger lawns, and very many more trees. There are very few apartments there, unlike where I live now where my entire street is almost all apartment buildings.