Building the Dam
At first, building the Hoover Dam seemed to be an innocent project. It was to prevent flooding, provide jobs for workers while it was being built, and provide hydroelectric power. What they didn't expect was the impact it would have on the environment; four species that were indigenous to the Colorado river before the dam was built are now endangered.
On top of the species endangerment, the building of the Hoover Dam set a precedence to the entire nation. At the time, building this dam was going to help irrigation and thereby promote farming success. However, it sent a message that building dams and diverting the natural paths of rivers was acceptable so long as it was for a purpose. The meaning of "purpose" has changed a lot since then. We are no longer building dams to benefit something; we are disturbing the environment because it is what is convenient for us. This school of thought is exactly what is going to cause us to self-destruct.
I liked this video of the Hoover Dam and how it showed exactly what took place during the building process. This is a good example of how a lot of effort had been put forth to help the environment but some of the efforts proved to be just as dangerous. For example, when building the dam, several species went endangered. If the dam had not been built, the species would probably still be living prominently. There's obviously a fine line between building something in order to help the environment and building something to help humans out. In this case, the dam seemed to be built for the sole purpose of helping humans and the environment now has to suffer those consequences.
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