Environmental History

             Environmental history is said to be “earth’s eye-view of the past.” The environmental history is the study in which one can observe human interaction with the environment over a period of time. As many already know, population has certainly risen throughout time. The United States had only 179 million people close to the end of the “baby boom” in 1960. Today, approximately 50 years later, there are over 300 million people in the U.S.  Population is growing at such a rapid pace as a result of people living longer, lack of family planning and growing industries and cities. Charlotte is an example of a city that has undergone these changes over time.

            Charlotte is one of the largest cities in the United States as well as the largest city in North Carolina. Currently, the population in Charlotte is plus or minus 731,500 residents. Charlotte started growing proceeding the Civil War when the cotton processing center and railroad hub were developed. During the time, the population census showed how population was at about 7,000. Furthermore, population grew again during World War I.  Population went from 7,000 to 731,500; it is almost unthinkable to see how much the city's population has changed.

            The banking industry is by far a great success of Charlotte today. Charlotte is the “second largest banking center in the United States.” Many people consider moving to charlotte with justification of finding a job within one of the 500 companies that are headquarters. Also, if not residents, charlotte has a great amount of travelers who come to watch the NASCAR or the see the NASCAR hall of fame. “Almost 75% of the NASCAR industry’s employees and drivers are based nearby.” Not to mention, motorsports is always growing and drag racers are deciding to move to Charlotte also.

            The fact that Charlotte has an extreme amount of neighborhoods, approximately 200, and the availability of jobs are results of how the population increase. Thus, through environmental history a person can see the actuality of just how rapid the increase was, and over what period of time were the highest  peaks. Overpopulation is a growing problem in today’s world, but by looking back and becoming educated of the ways overpopulation has increased, one would assume that we, as humans, could prevent more environmental issues to come.