Stop the Destruction of the Environment in California

California, once a land of legendary beauty, is now easier to see as a concrete paved state, overrun with cars and absent of the old growth redwoods that once defined the coasts. As a state that leads the nation in environmental and political reform, California is failing to protect the natural environment from the hazards of clear cutting, diverted waterways, and toxic dumping. Each of the aforementioned issues are examples of how corporations, governments, and residents are trashing California. Through analysis of the ways that Native Americans once tended to the land, a solution might be found that can allow California's natural treasures to be conserved and enjoyed for generations.

The dwindling Coastal Redwoods serve as a prime example of how environmental degradation can occur even after public outcry. During the Gold Rush, profit driven timber companies from around the nation purchased land in California with the intention of harvesting lumber. The preferred sources of lumber were thousand-year-old redwoods, which made up the spectacular forests that lined California's coast. As shown in the film, “Redwoods,” private companies who own the majority of Coastal Redwood land have harvested 95% of the original old growth redwoods, even as protesters and public committees cried foul. The clear cutting practices that enable extensive profits for timber companies have horrible impacts on the land around them, including loss of wild habitats, extinction of species, and erosion of the land. However, these negative effects are not always experienced by the consumers of old growth redwood products. Local governments and populations, even if they are concerned by these problems, do not have mechanisms available to compel these comp...

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...rom the indigenous lifestyle how to remain in balance with the environment, by recognizing that what goes around, comes around.

California has been trashed in an attempt to extract resources, grow population, and discard waste beyond the land's capacity. Efforts to save resources have led to recycling and conservation programs, which are good steps in the right direction, but these programs do not prevent future environmental degradation. California acts as an example to the United States as we tackle the issues of private ownership of natural resources, overpopulation in arid areas, and exploitation of impoverished communities. Rather than looking to the future for solutions, corporations and governments could adopt circular concepts of time, and emulate the Native American successful cultivation of California, by caring for the land and taking only what we need.