Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
tasks, ultimately becoming not only the tool but also the building material. A
few simple concepts of structure evolved over centuries into complex building
systems that allowed the development of monumental temples and palaces that
we still admire and honor as great works of design, thousands of years later. The
methods and materials evolved as the need increased, but other than location, the
land served only as a convenient palate on which to craft our structures.
As hamlets evolved into villages and then into towns and cities, the land was
a convenient surface on which to shape and mold our building systems, and
served no major function, except perhaps as earthwork barriers for protection
to complement or reinforce structural walls or to support our roadways as our
transportation systems evolved. The value of the land for cultivation, however,
was recognized over 10,000 years ago, and communities were situated convenient
to fertile soils or as market locations. In fact, during the agrarian history of
our species, the location of cities was driven to protect these food production
resources, and to collect and barter them for other goods and materials. The use of
land was centered on optimization of productivity for most of our recent history.
The first land use law enacted in English law, which provides the foundation
for U.S. law, was passed in 1562 by Queen Elizabeth I and dealt with both land
use and water. The problem was the frequent flooding of the Thames River and
the use of lands within the floodplain held by various barons and dukes. The
solution was to build a barrier or berm along the river, not unlike our system of
dikes along the major rivers throughout the United States. To give the crown the
power to enter into and build the dike on private lands, the Queen passed the
“Law of Sewers” (
sewer
is derived from a Saxon word for seawall), and thus
the first environmental law was created to protect the public interest from water
impacts, based on the restriction of land use.
Until very recently, the concept of a system of laws to protect our natural
resources was unheard of, and all land and water was to be exploited by the
powers that controlled them. In fact, the distinction between the people who
worked the land and those who owned or controlled it formed the basis of many,
if not most cultures, over the past 3,000 years. The concept of serf and master
that defined this system of land use has vanished from modern society, although
some might argue that the economic disparity has not.
In the evolving United States, that distinction was no longer preserved, except
in the southern states until the Civil War and the end of slavery. The idea that
every person could own (and use) land as he or she chose was firmly rooted
in this young culture. The American frontier was a seemingly vast and rich
land with abundant natural wealth, or so it seemed to the earliest European
settlers, who arrived, primarily on the eastern Atlantic coast of North Amer-
ica, some 380 years ago. Migrating from a set of cultures that had used the
land and water intensely for centuries, they were largely interested in the wood-
lands and the potential of clearing the land for cultivation. As the government
changed from colony to independent union, the loosely united “states” looked to
their immediate western borders and considered more opportunities for resource
exploitation.
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