A Plus to Nash's "Island Civilization"

One of the great problems that would be solved by a creation of an “island civilization” is the habitat fragmentation caused by the paving of roads and highways in the world. As humanity drives from location to location many forget the place they are driving through is, or was, the home of dozens of species that would interact with each other but cannot because a highway full of cars threatens to kill them.  Sure this might be bearable to individual animals initially but over decades the species as a whole begins to falter because of food depletion, the lack of genetic diversity may leave them susceptible to disease, and further encroachment. Many migrating animals that follow their prey will find themselves trapped (either with their food or without) and can’t move to new feeding grounds, essentially starving themselves. Also the problem for animals with an adequate food supply in the long run will be genetic variation, or in this case a lack thereof. Because no genetically different animals will be entering the closed off ecosystem the species within will be forced to mate with genetically similar individuals which can lead to weakened immune systems and mutations that are detrimental to the species. And finally all humans, as Nash said, are in a war against the wilderness and with rising populations they will expand further into the habitat they’ve cut off putting an even greater strain on the environment there as a result. America as a country, with its vast urban sprawl and individual’s desire for land ownership, has become one of the worst violators in this issue and it can be tracked by municipality. Cities and towns usually place taxes upon those within their jurisdiction, and no one likes taxes. To avoid these taxes many choose to live outside of the city and town’s jurisdiction (my family included). Since the U.S. doesn’t have many restrictions that require people to live in concentrated areas, like Germany, we subject our environment to municipalities that wish to forever increase to gain more revenues, pushing people farther away. You may say, “So What?” to all of this but just think. The further we expand the more roads we build to make our lives easier. The more roads we build the more segregated the ecosystem becomes. The more roads we build the more people are tempted to move and take away from our ecosystem’s resources. Nash’s “island” system would forever solve this problem and protect all of the species and their various niches in the environment.

An Additional Source: http://www.eoearth.org/article/Habitat_fragmentation?topic=58074