Humans have been committed to their own survival throughout history and have had a large impact on the environment and other living species. Humankind have breeded plants and animals to meet their needs and desires. Wild animals are also hugely affected by humankind in particular by the intrusion of our built environment which are now developing into urban landscapes. Due to their high levels of pollution and toxins these environments are known to be dangerous and harming to animals.
Animals have for long been a part of the urban environment. Cats, dogs, rats and pigeons are examples of animals that have learnt to thrive in the built environment and withstands bacteria and the rough urban life. Many of them have become dependent on human activity. Research indicate that urbanization often increases the population of non-native species while reducing that of native species. This results in an overall reduction in biodiversity.
In the process of constructing cities one can argue that cities have been acting in self interest by ignoring the needs of its former inhabitants and thereby decreasing the biodiversity. In short, this will make for a exhausted predator in a ‘deserted landscape’, instead of a specialist mastering its niche in a ‘lush jungle’ .
“Now that the human species faces its own annihilation, and does so precisely because it has remained committed absolutely to its own survival as uniquely human and blessed with a duty to live that distinguishes it from other species, quite different questions from that of self-maintenance, normative consistency and the necessity of living on need to be addressed.”
– Claire Colebrook
Rikke Henriksen Winther
Readings
Colebrook, Claire. ‘Introduction’ in Claire Colebrook, Death of the PostHuman: Essays on Extinction, vol. 1. Ann Arbor: Open Humanities Press, University of Michigan Library, 2014. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/o/ohp/12329362.0001.001
Colebrook, Claire. ‘Feminist Extinction’ in Claire Colebrook, Sex After Life: Essays on Extinction, vol. 2. Ann Arbor: Open Humanities Press, University of Michigan Library, 2014. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/o/ohp/12329363.0001.001
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_wildlife
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_ecology#Urban_environment_as_an_anthropogenic_biome
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