Urbanization and Landslides
Climate change impacts our daily lives, from rising temperatures to droughts to unusually large amounts of rain, its presence permeates both the news cycle and the air. Personal responsibility and cars often come up in conversations regarding climate change, however even just the infrastructure that we’ve deemed necessary in our car-centric society, can cause damage.
Climate change’s unprecedented effects on the weather, specifically around rainfall, spell disaster for tropical locations. Heavy rainfall is one of the biggest triggers for landslides, and not only is this trigger becoming more common, but urbanization has increased the amount of damage a landslide can do. The process of building roads in mountainous regions, hilly areas, or just uneven terrain is incredibly damaging to the environment and heightens the risks that are already there. Trees and foliage are removed to make way for construction vehicles and asphalt. Already, the risk of landslides has increased; the roots of such plants act as support for the soil, helping keep it in place. Next, construction crews must create a flat area for the road to be. This involves digging away at the soil, creating an even steeper slope, once again increasing the chances of landslides.
Alex Culley
