Argument Essay 7
An extract from an environmental protection group's memo against Smith Corporation's building a small hotel within Youngtown Wildlife Preserve, which has 300 species of birds within it.
The given extract of the environmental protection group's petition to the residents of Youngtown has one main agenda. The group does not, under any circumstances, want Smith Corporation to build a hotel in the vicinity of the Youngtown Wildlife Preserve as it will cause, in their opinion, serious environmental damage.
On inital assessment, the argument seems very vociferous, and yet, on closer analysis, the claims made seem unjustified. One such claim indicated is that even though the amount of land developed is admittedly small, it will have ""disastrous consequences for the area"". This statement is a little ambiguous, in that the author of the petition does not indicate the specifics of these ""disastrous consequences"". Such a statement would be more justified if we were given a reason for this belief - for example, if a similar construction activity in a nearby wildlife preserve led to a decline in the fauna of that preserve, we could perhaps extrapolate from that example some relevance to the Youngtown preserve also.
Another issue regards the extent of influence Smith Corporation will actually have on the preserve. The petition itself admits that Smith Corporation is being sold only a small, perhaps negligibly small, percentage of the land in the preserve. It also admits that Smith Corp. has promised to ensure the sanctuary has been preserved. Given these two pieces of information, a conclusion can be made that Smith Corp. is genuinely interested in detachment from the wildlife preserve. It would also be detrimental to them if they harmed the environment, as the purpose of the hotel is to give a place for visitors to enjoy the sights of the preserve.
This leads to a further question - is all of the sanctuary really essential for the species of birds to thrive, or do they coexist in a limited geographical area? This question is not addressed in the argument. If we were given information on the layout of the wildlife preserve and the proposed relative location of Smith Corp.'s land, we could make educated judgements on how the hotel really would disturb the land. If Smith Corp.'s proposed hotel were located in an area near the Preserve that played absolutely did not affect the birds in the preserve, then the hotel would not be a problem.
In fact, it is very possible that the hotel would be beneficial, rather than a hindrance, to the wildlife preserve. The petition mentions tourists who flock in droves to see the extensive bird population. A well-located hotel would only serve to increase the inflow of such tourists, and would consequently boost the economy of Youngtown as a whole, while still allowing for the clean coexistence of the sanctuary.
Of course, we need to have more data available on the specifics of such a hotel. Resources such as a road, water and electric supply, etc. need to be considered if such a hotel is to be built. Such resources must not interfere with the ecology in any manner whatsoever; only if we were sure of the hotel's extremely minimal non-interference in its environment would its construction be justified.