Introduction
While driving on a highway, few people notice animals hit by cars, and a rare individual thinks of how automobiles affect wildlife. In his article on the history of roadkill, Gary Kroll presents an argument regarding the significance of protecting wayside fauna and the development of road ecology. While the public remains mostly unaware of numerous animals being murdered on motorways, such professionals as environmentalists and highway engineers have put substantial effort into preserving wildlife.
Discussion
Gary Kroll explains how several naturalists raised the previously overlooked issue of roadkill, encouraging highway planners to design safe paths for undomesticated creatures. The interpretive and historiographical questions concern the number of wayside animals being slain and the efforts to preserve their lives across the US since the beginning of the XX century (Kroll 2015). For instance, only in Michigan, there were 14,350 deer-vehicle collisions in 1976, but the total of accidents reached 56,000 in 2010 (Kroll 2015). Directly quoting various sources, the author interprets their findings by suggesting that such solutions as speed control are simply “fool’s errand” (Kroll 2015, 10). Organizing the argument around roadkill statistics, the writer explores the development of “permeable highways” and the emergence of road ecology (Kroll 2015, 18). The article highlights the important overlap between environmentalists and engineers in transportation infrastructure to design safe passages for animals (Kroll 2015). The US fauna has been damaged by roadkill, thus requiring changes in devising motorways.
Naturalists and highway engineers have collaborated on protecting animals from roadkill, an issue that many people overlook. Gary Kroll’s analysis has remarkable significance due to explaining how driving cars endangers wayside wildlife, like in the example of deer. Considering the article’s timeline and focus on the development of road ecology, the text can be useful for historians, environmentalists, and specialists in transportation and highway planning.
City in a Garden
While it appears to be a known phenomenon that racial minorities in the US are more likely than white people to live in ecologically poor areas, the reasons behind such segregation are quite surprising. City in a Garden examines the connection between the “extremely interdependent” natural and social environments, asking interpretive and historiographical questions about the exclusion of certain people from urban sustainability (Busch 2017, 2). Despite being developed in many areas, Austin, Texas, has not evolved enough to appreciate all of its residents.
Austin’s habitants have put considerable effort into its growth, yet some individuals have experienced more benefits of the city’s development than others. Organizing his arguments around multiple historical sources, the author interprets the findings by stating that “race was an important factor” in Austin’s geography since before World War I (Busch 2017, 42). For example, in addition to existing employment and housing gaps, the white population “demonized” minorities for living in environmentally hazardous neighborhoods, although white people were causing pollution in such areas (Busch 2017, 58). While Austin was maturing, its territory was divided into regions where the white population could advance and zones where other racial and ethnic classes had to survive (Busch 2017). Accordingly, “possessive investment in whiteness” has divided the environmental perceptions of white individuals and minority groups (Busch 2017, 187). Although many people contributed to Austin’s growth, only some could reap the rewards of the development.
Conclusion
Austin, Texas, has evolved enough to offer substantial benefits to its residents, yet some individuals have more access to the city’s advantages than others. The book’s significance is in demonstrating how Austin’s white population has taken control over its ecologically beneficial regions while minorities have been pushed to polluted areas. City in a Garden can be useful to historians and specialists in environmental and racial studies.
References
Busch, Andrew. 2017. City in a Garden: Environmental Transformations and Racial Justice in Twentieth-Century Austin, Texas. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Kroll, Gary. 2015. “An Environmental History of Roadkill: Road Ecology and the Making of the Permeable Highway.” Environmental History 20: 4-28. Web.