Machine vs. Nature

This morning I was awakened by bulldozers tearing down a brake of trees behind my house. Obviously they are making way for some sort of new housing development. The sound of the wood cracking and splitting was gruesome. It was like the soundtrack of a horror movie. Thankfully, they seem to be leaving a small row of trees between my property and the tract behind it, but I wonder what happened to all the deer and racoons and other creatures that lived in that little wooded oasis here in the big city? I wonder if the contractor who is behind this development EVER stops to think about the life forms he displaces by his industry? I think that some people must justify that by saying "Oh, people are more important and we have to keep housing costs low enough to be affordable and so we have to continue to expand". I agree with that theory, but not the practice. Because why do we have to expand out? Why not up? Instead of all of these POS 2 and 3 floor apartment complexes why not have a 20 floor building with parking beneath and the housing above? They would of course need to be positioned and spaced so as to avoid the canyon effect. But then again maybe there's something I don't know about this type of housing...after all, I'm no expert on the subject and know very little about architecture and city planning in general. I'm glad they're starting to build these structures downtown but as yet they are not affordable housing. Hopefully if those are successful they will begin to copy the idea in other neighborhoods.