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The Right to Preserve Land
In Provence, France, thousands of miles away from the little town of Chandler,
Arizona, there are stretching fields of lavender and sunflowers that ignite the senses. The
smell is described as heavenly, as the aroma is picked up and carried playfully in the
wind, and the sight... breathtaking. Imagine it gone. Imagine the fields didn’t exist and
the land was bought to be urbanized/industrialized, but that would mean the destruction
of Provence’s lavender perfume companies, and the disappearance of key characteristic
traits for this little region of France. The loss of land in this case has much more of an
impact then expected. Preserving land is a moral right: Putting up a business on an area
that was once admired or had natural beauty is taking away from the authenticity of the
land. Land should be preserved for its beauty and for the effect it has on the economy.
Land can be useful to grow more crops that are needed for the city and spare the expense
of importing naturally grown items. I grew up with many farms and open fields in my
community, and it always made me feel like I wasn’t in Arizona at all, but somewhere
with a lot of greenery and where it wasn’t hot enough where you could melt. The fields
always had sheep, grazing on a hot summers day and my mother and I would always get
excited driving by. But, little did I know, I was growing up in an expanding city, so one
by one, the fields and the farms disappeared. Just recently, the little farm down the street
had been destroyed. I remember driving by it the day before, and driving by it the next,
completely not recognizing the dirt that was left. The land is being taken by major
corporations, but I think that this little city could do without a fifth Starbucks café
(literally, there are more than five Starbucks cafes in Chandler). Who needs the extra
Starbucks? Not only is land from the government being used, but local farm lands are
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being bought up. Sometimes, most the families have no choice to sell, but I’d rather see
farmlands more than unnecessary businesses. Preservation groups such as Arizona State
Land Department and Bureau of Land Management do set aside parcels of land to
preserve outside of urban areas. What the organizations are doing is helpful, but they
have been protecting land since 1997 and land has still been urbanized since then. I
support my community and hope to see more land being preserved. An action that can be
taken to preserve land in my community is local fundraisers to preserve the beauty. Some
fund raisers that could go to support local farmlands is the sale of those farm lands
products or just donating money to preserve these praised lands. I know many think that
Arizona is just dirt and cacti, but they haven’t seen all of it. There is more to it than the
appearance. I think people would enjoy the vast amount of lands than the usual built up
areas, especially in Arizona where it is closely related to desert. Things we can do in the
future are creating a bank account with locally raised money and to support the local
farmers. This could do a lot to save land. Arizona’s land is more than what meets the eye,
and preserving it would create a more beautiful community like the one I was able to
grow up in. I think everyone should deserve to see the beauty I saw, and preserving land
will continue to keep Chandlers reputation of a beautiful city.