Researcher(s):
Justin Ketzler
ENVS course(s): 400 Initiated: September 2014 Completed: May 2015 Go to project site
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Deserts are characteristically low in resources, and due to this, the environment itself does not allow for widespread habitation. The most lacking, essential resource in this case is water. Nevertheless, humans inhabit deserts, and in some cases they contain huge, rapidly growing cities such as Phoenix, Arizona and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. These cities defy classic environmental thought, especially Limits to Growth, which emphasizes the limits that finite resources supposedly place on growth. They far surpass perceived carrying capacities with the aid of technologies and massive financial inputs. In the United States, military spending during WWII brought industry to Phoenix, which had previously been a remote farming and tourism community. It created an image of economic opportunity which, sustained by the military industrial complex, attracted citizen and businesses in a growth trend that continues to this day. Limits to Growth underestimates the ability for human ingenuity and financial investment, in response to overwhelming demand, to contrive development in even the most inhospitable environments.