Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Ef ective regional planning faces many challenges, though it is far from
impossible to accomplish it. Thirteen of the i fty U.S. states, for example,
mandated some form of urban growth management. Many other local com-
munities also have a strong record in visioning and planning their future
growth. Boulder, Colorado; Oslo, Norway; and Barcelona, Spain, of er good
examples that might be put into practice for the animals that live within your
city. These places are moving toward what Professor Tim Beatley calls “bio-
philic cities,” where nature is explicitly considered in the design of buildings
and in the arrangement of built and more natural space. The result improves
the health of people and their ecosystem.
Like other ethical codes humans adopt, living a life that birds and other wild-
life might appreciate can be expressed as a “golden rule”:
Do unto your land, and the natural web of life it sustains, as you
would have the land do unto you.
Or more simply,
Love thy wild neighbor.
As Steve and Suzie Humphrey restore their cow pasture to cloud forest,
they experience the land's response. Almost immediately, a bounty of l ower-
ing plants cushions their view and attracts gorgeous birds and a symphony of
song to their doorstep. But the Humphreys are fully aware that they will not
live to experience the land's most grateful response. Earth's ability to absorb
our excessive emissions of carbon dioxide is increased with each tree restored.
This restoration in turn may eventually slow the rapidly changing climate
that scientii c consensus recognizes is seriously imperiling our coastal cities,
