Look to Nature, Right in Town
By Caitlin Marshall
When it comes to talking about impacts on the environment, cities can get a bad rap.
It is true that cities put a heavy strain on the ecosystem: pollution from businesses, houses and cars; high demand for resources and energy; so much land paved over. But, they’re also here to stay, and if we can imagine better ways to be a city, we can imagine a sustainable future for generations to come.
Fortunately, there are many, many ways to imagine our way forward. Higher density, increased rapid transit, more equitable access to housing, rooftop solar, walkable neighborhoods, and dozens more are outlined in the One Climate Future plan. One I’d like to highlight today starts simply when you walk out your door: notice the nature that is already around you.
Welcoming Nature into our Cities
If we stop to look, we can find lots of life tucked into the city. Just this morning, I heard cardinals, chickadees, red wing hawks, blue jays, mourning doves, sparrows. I’ve started to see bees of different shapes and sizes this spring and chipmunks scuttling under the watchful eye of hawks circling overhead.
And from that noticing, we can think about ways to welcome more life. As a student at Unity College, I am studying ecology and the ways we can adapt to climate change. Cities can actually offer unique advantages to wildlife. For some, they are a refuge from predators, or especially rich in food resources, or a key migratory stopover. Of course, some creatures will never find a good home in the city. Moose and bears come to mind.
But some of our smaller neighbors – like essential pollinators that are facing precipitous decline – can feel very welcome in a city with just a few changes. Leaves left on garden beds and under trees are home to overwintering lightning bugs and bees. The patches of longer grass and flowers we’re seeing in more Portland parks contribute enormously to habitat and food for bees and butterflies. A dead tree – so long as it’s not close enough to fall on a house – is a welcome home for dozens of kinds of birds and small mammals.
Part of this shift is also rethinking our place as people in the landscape. For too long, the major story has been that people are over here and nature is out there. But we are nature, too! We are creatures in this environment, and when we start to see ourselves as one of many sharing this place, we can imagine all the wonderful ways to inhabit this corner of the world… together.
Bright Ideas by PCAT
Bright Ideas is brought to you by PCAT, which meets the fourth Tuesday of the Month, 6 to7:30 p.m. All are welcome. FMI: email portlandclimateaction@gmail.comfacebook.com/PortlandClimateActionTeam.
