So, we recently discovered a new species of frog native to, apparently, Yankee Stadium. So, yeah, go figure. However, I came to realize something: Cities aren't unnatural. Well, they are in the same way that things like prairie dog towns and beaver dams are unnatural. These things don't just happen, they are made to happen. It destroys one environment and creates a different one. The difference has, historically, been the lack of animals and plants (other than ourselves, our pets, and rats) that benefit from cities as a natural environment. This has been changing over time.
Between the falcons, coyote, foxes, sea gulls, pigeons, and other animals now beginning to thrive in urban and suburban settings there are robust wild communities beginning to grow in and around our modern cities in ways that we haven't seen before. And the important thing to note is that these things might not be as new as we seem to think, but simply more visible now that we aren't just shooting those wild animals we find.
I, personally, believe that we manage to keep our cities going for many years to come we will see more and more animals and plants unique and dependant upon our cities. I find the notion of cities being anti-nature to be, well, wrong. A different kind of of nature, to be sure. One that is currently less valuable from an ecological perspective, definitely. But that looks like it is changing, doesn't it? It looks to me like cities in the future could be as valuable to wildlife as forests are today, or not. The future will surprise us all, as it always does.
I'm just looking forward to the days that we incorporate living things into our architecture, where cities bustle with life in general and not just the business of humans living, and when the environmental impact of tearing buildings down are as important to consider as putting one up.
No comments:
Post a Comment