Uploaded on 2017-03-04 by Rhianne Fiolka

This photo is taken in Calgary, Canada. As I step outside I am surrounded by cement and steel. These, along with other cheap resources, went into building the strip mall I am in. While Calgary is close to the Canadian Rockies, as well as surrounded by prairies, the numerous natural resources are rarely, if ever, used for local construction. Instead, natural resources like timbre, rock and straw are clear cut to make room for unsustainable products. Martellozzo et al. point out the irony of this Calgary context - local prairie land is being covered over by urbanization and cheap resources, while other natural vegetation is being cleared to make room for new farm land; farm land that was lost due to the increasing urbanization of Calgary. Urbanization and the loss of prime farmland: a case study in the Calgary-Edmonton corridor of Alberta. 2014. Martellozzo, F.; Ramankutty, N.; Hall, R.J.; Price, D.T.; Purdy, B.; Friedl, M.A. Regional Environmental Change 15(5):881-893.