Nature is not a place to visit, it is home. (Gary Snyder)
Life is stressful and uses up lots of emotional energy. To be healthy we need to get away from the traffic, devices, and timelines. Our city is growing and changing, and it becomes even more important that we protect and nurture our personal and public natural spaces. We in Beaumont-Wilshire are very lucky to still have space for our own gardens, spaces that are crucial to our emotional health. Our garden is a place for me to create and restore my balance. I can set aside the deadlines and the news and be with plants, weather, and the birds and insects that visit our garden. Here I exercise a positive part of my psyche. Our garden also allows me to use my analytical tendencies. I think about why a plant is doing well or why it isn’t. I study the plant: where did it originate? What soil, light and weather does it need? What can I do to create conditions best for the plant? I am thinking about positive things and can lay aside the stress of the world for a while. It is said that gardeners are optimistic by nature.
Sitting in the garden—just looking—is something I have done since childhood. I sit on the back steps observing and soaking up the peace. This time of the year I look closely, observing bulbs emerging, counting the seedlings from my older plants, potting up some of those young plants to share with friends. This gives me hope.
A growing body of research shows the restorative power of nature, the connection to nature that is basic to human health. Human capacity is increased by the power of nature. The more high-tech our lives become, the more we need gardens, parks, and wild space to achieve a physical and emotional balance. As Richard Louv writes, “In relationship with nature the high-performance human will conserve and create natural habitat—and new economic potential—where we live, learn, work, and play.”
Planning for the future of our city must include as a priority the preservation of older, smaller homes and their garden space so that those privileged to live in a single-family home have some green space in which to dream and create. For those people who do not have personal natural space, it is crucial for the health of our city to preserve and create natural infrastructure such as parks, community gardens, and wild space.
Environmental stewardship goes hand-in-hand with building for future populations.
Resources: Richard Louv, The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. 2012. (An enjoyable and interesting read.) and The Intertwine Alliance—a coalition of 150+ public, private, and nonprofit organizations working to integrate nature more deeply into the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region. For details, go to http://www.theintertwine.org/