can you grade my synthesis essay for 2023-urban rewilding prompt? i self study so i'm in need for someone to give me any kind of feedback.
prompt: Urban rewilding is an effort to restore natural ecological processes and habitats in city environments. Many cities around the world have embraced rewilding as part of larger movements to promote ecological conservation and environmentally friendly design. Now, a movement to promote urban rewilding is beginning to take shape in the United States as well. Carefully read the six sources, including the introductory information for each source. Write an essay that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on the extent to which rewilding initiatives are worthwhile for urban communities to pursue.
my essay:
Urban rewilding is a recent organizational attempt to prevent the detachment of modern societies from nature and reduce air pollution by implementing elements of wilderness into urbanized environments. Despite some controversies on its efficiency, it is an innovative approach that should be initiated for ideal human development and mental/physical health.
Urban rewilding is crucial to restore the connection between modern society and the wilderness. The method is explained in Source B, where a detailed guide was provided to teach how to approach the concept of urban rewilding. It is stated that the method particularly appeals to the "younger urban generation", the generation that is regarded as the least connected to nature. Reconnection of wilderness and modern establishments by rewilding serves as a method to meet this demand from increasingly urbanizing (and detaching) society. The importance of reconnection with nature and the threat of the lack of connection between individuals and the wilderness is explained through a pedagogical perspective by Dr. Scott in Source C, where the precious memories of childhood are claimed to be mostly associated with nature, and the younger generation lacks this opportunity because of their disconnection. They therefore lack the precious experience, which is a threat for the healthy development of the whole generation and challenges their wellbeing. Despite these arguments being made about positive effects of rewilding, the method itself faces skepticism, seen in Source D. The writer questions the efficiency possible outcomes of rewilding and brings up geographical challenges that United Kingdom faces, mainly limited lands that makes the process of implementing nature into urban dwellings more difficult. The writer then mentions multiple negative outcomes that could come with rewildering, such as concerns about safety, accessibility and soil degradation, all in which might end up making lives harder and threaten the population's wellbeing. As an alternative, they suggest focusing on better urban planning that aims to enhance wellbeing of residents by better infrastructure instead of synthesizing nature and cities. This argument is challenged by the graph in Source E, which is also of UK origin. The graph proves that more exposure to forest decreases depression and anxiety by around 50% compared to urban dwellers. This suggests that despite the claim made in Source D that argues wellbeing should be established by other means instead of rewilding, reconnection with nature—which is exactly what rewilidng aims for—is what statistically helps with increasing the wellbeing of the population.
Process of rewilding also seeks to improve lives of urban dwellers by reducing levels of air pollution. Air pollution is an important consequence of urbanization that poses a threat according to Source A, where it is stated that more than 80% of urban populations are exposed to polluted air that is considered unhealthy by WHO, which is the most globalized, extensive and credible health organization in the world. This proves air pollution in urban areas is a factor that challenges the wellbeing of the society, which makes methods that limit air pollution—such as rewilding—crucial for global health. In Source F, negative effects of urbanization on pollution is explained as well as multiple successful rewilding projects across the globe are given that seeks to fix such environmental problems. The source also includes a statistic that placement of vegetation in cities—which is what the projects that are given basically do—decreases air pollution by 30%, which points to reilding's efficiency. Despite the alternative method that focuses on ubran planning and unfavors rewilding for reducing carbon emmissions in Source D, presence of greenery (instead of better infrastructure) is what reduced air pollution.
Posted May 11, 2025, 4:52 PM UTC