ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL

1) MLA CITATION
For my news report, I chose an article from the BBC website about ‘A high-rise tower for animals in the industrial heartland of Leeds is offering a unique solution to the decline of urban wildlife. Can it work?” I chose this topic because I am interested in animal and architecture. Here is the article’s MLA citation:
“A high-rise tower for animals in the industrial heartland of Leeds is offering a unique solution to the decline of urban wildlife. Can it work?” Peter Jackson/ BBC NEWS /Sunday 7 June 2009


2) ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A high-rise tower for animals in the industrial heartland of Leeds is offering a unique solution to the decline of urban wildlife. Can it work?
Rising 40 feet (12 metres) above canals once lined with textile mills and factory chimneys could soon be another kind of tower – a high-rise for all creatures great and (mainly) small.
If the plans come to fruition, the structure aims to encourage a variety of species to “reclaim their urban landscape”. It is the vision of a small team of architects, a vertical solution to a horizontal desire to offer shelter to creatures in urban areas where space on the ground is tight.
The man behind the project, 26-year-old Neil Oxlee, hopes his “man-made tree” will provide a habitat for bats, birds, butterflies, insects and even foxes. He says the different species would thrive off each other like they would in a woodland environment, with minimal human involvement. “I’m not an animal expert, if it goes further we’d need to get a wildlife expert on board… to see exactly which ones eat the other ones. There’s a food chain there. “It would evolve from there… there may be a few extra design factors to take into account. This is a concept.” Mr Oxlee’s towers – to be built from recycled materials – draw inspiration from three nearby Italianate towers which are 200 years old and stand 80 feet (25m) tall.
The design, by Garnett Netherwood Architects, beat more than 30 entries in a competition run by Holbeck Urban Village, a business community backed by Leeds City Council. Organisers say they launched the competition because bird song has all but vanished from many cities and towns and wildlife generally is in decline. Marketing officer Leanne Buchan says the “village” community wanted to respect the bio-diversity of the area during its regeneration. Otters have returned to the area for the first time in 30 years and she hopes to see butterflies, bats and bees plus swifts, house martins and other nesting birds, attracted by raised beds. “We went on tour with a conservation officer to see what wildlife to invite in and sustain once here, and what was needed from the habitat,” she says. “Part of it is for people to enjoy the wildlife around them, but it’s more about taking responsibility for things… to safeguard it for future generations.” The winning tower design would be “striking”, she says, and could well become an iconic piece of architecture.

3) SUMMARY
Some architects are planning to change the industrial factory into good environmental building which is made from recycled materials in the city, because there is not enough space to live wild animal in urban areas. Therefore, they want to make a space for wild animals between big and small to live together. However, scientist points out some problems. They wonder wild animal can live in such an artificially environment, so the plan is needs to reconsider among not only architects but also animal experts and the discussion is important.
4) OPINION
The consideration for the wild animals is really important and now, environmental pollution and environmental destroy are one of the most serious issue we faced. However, I do not think that living animals and human being in the same space is significantly solution for both of creatures. Too much protection causes the probabilities of dangerous to destroy the ecosystem. In addition, even using the recycled materials, maybe it cost them the large amount of money. I think the cost should be used other activity which save the earth such as planting tree. In conclusion, wild animal should live in wild areas and human being should consider how to save their wild area rather than planning to construct building.