It is tempting to think that excavation is one of those activities that come with no moral obligation to be ecologically aware. Like there is nothing sensitive about earthmoving, no way of doing it in an ecofriendly way, even if you wanted to.
That is simply not true. In terms of environmental impact earthmoving can be carried out in a responsible manner. Perhaps you can’t make the process itself gentle and non-invasive – that would defeat the object – but there are ways of lessening the impact, and these concern both the equipment used and the general attitude that is taken.
Let’s start by looking at the attitude. In this field we are far from the realms of “leave nothing but footprints”, but even footprints come in degrees: they can be heavy or light. They are visible proof of a job being done, the process of walking, but they can be light, shallow and unremarkable or they can be heavy, deep and jagged.
What Is Your Intention?
When it comes to excavation, there is a simple overall aim: to bring this patch of earth to a suitable condition for its next purpose. This may be virgin earth, untouched by mankind apart from being walked on, hunted on, camped on or otherwise lightly used. But it hasn’t been seriously dug up or manhandled in any way. The plants and trees that are there today are pretty much the same as you would have found thousands of years ago.
Does This Place Have History?
Alternatively, this patch of land may have been lived on in the distant or the relatively recent past, so a certain amount of clearing would have taken place, and some shallow foundations may have been dug. There may still be physical evidence of such things, and archaeologists might be interested in seeing what’s there. Property developers are not known for their tendency to invite such interest, but if it is well known locally that something historically interesting happened there, a dig might be very much on the cards. But that is a rare scenario. In the vast majority of cases, you’ve bought the land with a certain intention, and it is your prerogative to get on with it.
How Careful Can a Digger Be?
If this is your excavation project, it may not be you driving the machinery, but it is your instructions being followed. If there is nothing obvious that needs protecting – neighbouring properties, trees etc. or pipes that were laid across your patch when there was nothing to stop that – it may be safe for the excavators to go steaming in, but these operators will have done this many times before and their attitude will depend on the individual. It could be “you never know what fascinating stuff might be down there” or “there’s never anything interesting or valuable there, so who cares?”
Whichever of the two it is, this is a practical project, a job that you want done quickly, because time is money, so the tone of the project is down to you. If there are, say, a lot of roots down there that would get in the way of construction work and therefore have to be removed, they will have to go. Just bear in mind that unless something solid is going to take their place, removing them will affect the soil’s stability. If you’re putting concrete foundations over the whole area, that’s one thing, but if there are parts that will be left unprotected, they could be vulnerable to erosion by rainstorms.
The Carbon Footprint
The carbon footprint is an imaginative concept that refers to the impact of exhaust emissions, and while the advent of electric vehicles on top of the increasingly “clean” nature of internal combustion engines has made a big difference on the roads, the sort of beasts that are found on excavation and construction sites are by their very nature not delicate, bashful things.
However, there is a new generation of these vehicles that are not only quieter and therefore less disruptive to the local atmosphere but also emit fewer toxins. Try to find a contractor that has an eye on this, and as a bonus, they might give a thought to recycling too, in the form of turning all that ripped-up vegetation into mulch which can be used everywhere from public parks to private residences.
So, there you have it: there is more to his excavation business than meets the eye, and with the right help, you can get your project completed successfully while minimising the collateral damage. The environmental impact of earthmoving can be reduced if you just give it some thought and employ the right people.
