Preserving and Recreating Natural Places
It
seems to me that our only hope to inspire future generations to want to
preserve and recreate natural spaces is to show them so they can
experience it first-hand. We cannot expect people to care about things
they only see on National Geographic. There is no 'business case' for
renaturalization, for wild places (although some organizations have
tried valiantly to make the case). Appreciation of the value of natural
space is intrinsic -- you either feel it or you don't. And you can't
feel it if you haven't experienced it.
Recreating natural places
requires us to do two things: Top down, we need programs and
regulations to conserve such places and recreate and reconnect those
that have been lost. And bottom up, we need knowledge, local knowledge,
of what was and is natural to the places where we live, and then we
need to replant and recreate those natural places, a quarter acre at a
time.
Take Southern Ontario as an example. The map above shows what might be saved. Ontario Nature has a plan, a Greenway Strategy, to save it. Biologist Natalie Helferty, whose work I wrote about before,
is now working there to develop policies and lobby governments to make
it happen. If she fails, with the ferocious pressure of population
growth in the area from today's 12 million to a projected 24 million by
2050, the green areas on the map above will all be gone by then. Each
of us needs to find the programs like this for our own area, and
support them.
For those of us ready to renaturalize our own places, you can pick up how-to books like Sara Stein's. The North American Native Plant Society can help you identify and find native plants. You can create edible forest gardens. You can eat local better if you eat seasonally. You can encourage and support farms that practice humane, organic, bioregional, sustainable agriculture, and hear and read and read more
about the challenges such farms face from the Big Agriculture oligopoly
and its handmaiden, the government bureaucracy, and about the struggles of people to renaturalize their own land when their neighbours (and local bureaucrats) don't understand. (Thanks to Dale Asberry, Ed Diril and Chris Brainard for the links.)
If you're ready to work with others in a natural community you can read Diana Leafe Christian's books on creating and finding intentional communities. (Thanks to Martha at Earthaven for the link.)
And artist Andrew Campbell puts our longing for natural places in the context of our search to establish and create human identity.
In Other News
Thought for the Week:
On the theme of natural places, a poem by Richard ("what will become of
those who cannot learn / the terrible knowledge of cities... / oh, my
desert / yours is the only death I cannot bear") Shelton (thanks to Aleah for reminding me of his work):
Desert
Sometimes the sun is still trying
to get to the horizon
when a daylight moon comes up,
fragile and almost transparent,
the ghost of a white bird
with damaged wings,
blown from its course and lost
in the huge desert sky.
It is the least protected
of all unprotected things.
A little wind goes by
through the greasewood
heading home to its nest
among blue-veined stones
where it will circle three times
and curl up to sleep
before darkness falls
straight down
like a tile from the roof of a tall building.
There are families of stones
under the ground.
As the young stones grow
they rise slowly like moons.
When they reach the surface
they are old and holy
and when they break open
they give off a rich odor,
each blooming once in the light
after centuries of waiting.
Those who have lived here longest
and know best
are least conspicuous.
The oldest mountains are lowest
and the scorpion sleeps all day
beneath a broken stone.
If I stay here long enough
I will learn the art of silence.
When I have given up words
I will become what I have to say. |
1:57:40 PM 
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MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
