Island Press and Audubon are sponsoring a free webinar with Alison Sant author of From the Ground Up and other experts in science, community organizing, and design. Ms. Sant will be leading a discussion about nature-based adaptation solutions.
An Inside Look: Nature-Based Efforts to Create Resilient Cities
Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Time: 1:00 to 4:00 pm Pacific Time
Cities are experimenting with ways of reintroducing nature to be resilient to the rising tides, floods, and extreme weather events caused by climate change – from restoring wetlands to constructing oyster reefs, and expanding the floodplains of creeks, streams, and rivers.
Reintroducing nature in the city?
Just for the record, cities generally are places where nature has been for the most part obliterated and in its’ place a mono culture of densely packed humans has been created. Nature by contrast is filled with variety and a multitude of sentient beings from the tiny insect to the gigantic whale and all that slithers, crawls, walks, swims, climbs and flies in between those extremes. All these living things are reliant on the living things with roots, the plant world. All of this is called nature and it is known to us through our senses. We do not experience nature in the city, but rather we experience the hard surfaces of asphalt, concrete and steel, the glitter of mirrors and glass, and so we rightly deploy soft landscaping, street trees, storm water swales to green things up. But it’s not nature. Nature is not something that you can go and get and put some where in order to hold back the rising seas. Nature once destroyed is truly gone. That is why so many people are alarmed at the rising temperature of our planet. That is why we need to improve our biological literacy.