Benefits for Conservation

“The winters are bitterly cold, the summers feature spectacular afternoon thunderstorms and occasional tornadoes, and throughout the year we get days when the wind is very strong. Underground it’s always quiet and peaceful, and no matter how cold it gets outside, the interior never freezes, even though we don’t have any heating yet.”

Tony Crossley, Swords into Plowshares: At Home in a Missile Silo

1. Resistance To Extreme Weather:

The ground maintains a relatively constant temperature regardless of the climate above ground due to the insulating properties of the surrounding earth. Hence, any development constructed partially or completely underground holds the potential of being more energy-efficient than one on land. During the winter season, the ground is warmer than the air but during summer, it is cooler.

Such is the case for Coober Pedy, a town in South Australia which houses 80% of its population in subterranean dwellings carved from rock. With the climate being extremely inhospitable, reaching a high of 50 degrees Celsius, residents enjoy much cooler temperatures in their subterranean homes at approximately 23 degrees Celsius.

Image Credit: Robert Astley, Flickr

Image Credit: Robert Astley, Flickr

 

Image Credit: Benjamin Jakabeck, Flickr

Image Credit: Benjamin Jakabeck, Flickr

 

Image Credit: Michael Hopsinkii, Flickr

Image Credit: Michael Hopsinkii, Flickr

  Connection to Conservation?

As mentioned, going subterranean when the climate above ground is extreme can be more environmentally-friendly. This is true as people would no longer require the application of cooling or heating devices, devices which are powered by electricity and  by extension, the burning of  fossil fuels such as coal. It is known that most fossil fuels are non-renewable, strictly one-use only, hence deeming the safeguarding of them an issue of paramount importance.

 

2.  Solution to Land Constraints: 

For land-scarce countries facing a trend of growing populations, expanding downwards is not so much an option as a necessity. This is especially so for Singapore, the Southeast Asian city state that crams its estimated 5.5 million resident population into just 710 sq km of land. To provide some perspective, that’s a cool 8000 people per square kilometer.

Image Credit: Wall Street Journal

Image Credit: Wall Street Journal

With a population that is progressively expanding, Singapore’s city planners have near exhausted all viable solutions for creating more space to accommodate said population and the corresponding needs that arise:

-Build 70 stories high buildings? Check!

– Reclaim underused properties? Been there, done that . . .

– Nudge our coastlines outward further by reclaiming land? Ditto!

Ergo, it is crucial that Singapore explores and fully maximizes its subterranean space given the limitations imposed by our land mass, or rather the lack thereof. This is compounded by the fact that firstly, some developments such as air bases cap the height at which buildings may be constructed, thereby resulting in the inefficient use of land. Additionally, urban re-developers’ tearing down and building up approach has given rise to much discussion with regard to the developmental paradigm underscoring land usage. More often than not, it is a trade-off between development and heritage conservation. Is it worth it though? I would say its a toss-up. Lastly, there is a restriction the amount of land Singapore is able to reclaim due to territorial boundaries. Since 1965, the country has expanded by 22%, from 58,000 hectares to 71,000 hectares, with land reclamation for another 5,600 hectares in the pipelines  due 2030. ( The Economist. 2015, February 28. Such Quantities of Land. Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/news/asia)

  Connection to Conservation?

Digging in deep is advantageous to conservation as it presents an alternative solution to expansion for small states like Singapore. Instead of growing in heft by reclaiming land, the same end may be achieved by means of going subterranean. A natural question would then be, why is land reclamation a bane of conservation? In order to answer this, we have to consider first how land gets reclaimed. The reclamation of land is achieved by dumping sand – harvested from hills and dredged from seas – into water bodies and leveling or walling it off around the new shoreline to prevent erosion.

In a nutshell, the effect of dumping sand into waters  is to obliterate the fragile ecosystems like inlets, mangroves and shoals that once ringed Singapore, and with them, gone too are the rich diversity of shallow marine life as well as birds.

“When you reclaim land, you destroy things permanently,” said Margie Hall, who is trying to protect one of Singapore’s last natural beaches on the northern tip of the island from a planned land reclamation project in the area. ( Koh G.Q. 2005, April 14. Singapore finds it hard to expand without sand. Reuters. Retrieved from: http://www.singapore-window.org/)

Hence, delving into subterranean developments might be a boon for conservation as it circumvents the destruction of the living systems should land reclamation persist.

 

 

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