Urban ecology

Sometimes the steps that we are able to take to protect the environment are far from obvious, and some opportunities are closer than we might think. Phoebe Weston published a Guardian article on 1 October 2021 in which she talks about "ten great city projects for nature". Here are a few excerpts from the article. (LINK)

One of the headlines is "Flower Meadows in Berlin". She writes: "Berlin is creating more than 50 wild gardens at a cost of €1.5m (£1.2m) as part of a bigger effort to save biodiversity in Germany. The country is home to 580 species of wild bee, 300 of which are found in Berlin, more than half of which are endangered or at risk of extinction. More than 100 wildflower meadows have been planted across Germany’s largest cities in the past three years..."

Another section talks about converting a lawn bowling club into an inner-city farm in order to grow local organic food and to "educate people about healthy eating". The farm also has a beehive.

The bees are leitmotif. Under the heading "Citizenship for bees in San José" she writes that a "suburb of Costa Rica’s capital, San José, has given citizenship to pollinators and native plants in an attempt to create a pioneering haven for wildlife." 

In a section about Wuhan (China) the Phoebe Weston talks about Wuhan being China’s first “'sponge city' based on its nature-based approach to flood defences. Permeable pavements, rain gardens, artificial ponds and wetlands were created throughout the city as ecologically friendly alternatives to traditional hard flood defences." 

The lead headline in the article was called "vertical forests in Milan" and described how "two plant-covered skyscrapers provide the same amount of vegetation as 30,000 sq metres of woodland...".

Not all of these are steps that we could take with the church grounds or building (though the flower meadows and the inner-city farm are a thought), but they provide evidence of what can be done in an urban setting if people are genuinely concerned about preserving God's creation.

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