Outside Cultural Event- Human Interaction with the Landscape

                Taxonomy of a Landscape is an exhibition held in the UMBC library; it shows photos from Victoria Sambunaris’ traveling across the landscapes of America over the years. The photos show the unique landscapes of America and the human interactions with the landscapes. The exhibition is very meaningful because the photos demonstrate human actions on the landscapes; we modify and change the landscape for our industrial needs and personal wants, and neglect it when we no longer use the landscape. Sambunaris wants to bring out the point that we have beautiful landscapes all around us, and yet, we are not preserving these nice places, but instead we use them and change them to accommodate our wants and needs, which could possibly ruin the natural beauty of our landscapes.
                I feel that this exhibition can really make us reflect on what we have done to our landscape. Humans are using the landscapes for their own benefits when possibly bringing negative effects to the environment. One example I remember is that because of the insufficient spaces in Hong Kong, they do land reclamation, which is to create new land from oceans or lakes. Land reclamation creates more land for human use; therefore, many other countries have also done land reclamation to expand spaces. However, these human activities to the landscape bring negative impacts to our environment and other living organisms. For example, when constructions are in progress, the chemicals can contaminate the surrounding water, which affects the living condition of water dependent species. Also, when reclamation is occurring, the living space and living environment will be affected, which can cause extinction of certain species. We should appreciate our unique landscapes and preserve the natural beauty of them to reserve a natural living environment for all organisms.

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