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Nature in the city? YES! Here’s why… Positive civic focus on the environment Projects that feature nature in the city are significant for positive civic focus and spirit at a time when cities are looking for urban solutions to major problems of the environment. Creeks celebrated in design and placed in the center of attention bring nature’s importance to the forefront. If designed to do so, cities can help prevent global warming, lower energy demand, and help restore natural systems—within their borders and beyond. By making Strawberry Creek the centerpiece of a green downtown project, Berkeley can take its traditional environmental lead while bolstering cultural and economic vitality in its downtown. According to the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation, less than one percent of the general public knows what a watershed is. Only fourteen percent of the public is familiar with the term “nonpoint source pollution.” And only twenty three percent of Americans know that run-off is the number one cause of water pollution in the U.S. We are polluting our waters without knowing it. Ignorance (about watersheds, storm drains and street pollution) is big problem. And yet not every storm drain inlet is marked; not every watershed has a neighborhood group to take care of it; hardly any storm drains have filters; hardly anyone is penalized for dumping or littering. Clearly more needs to be done. If it isn’t, our growing population and urbanization will overwhelm our water resources. Berkeley has gone a long way to educate its citizens about the importance of nature in the city. Creek groups work with schools, sponsor workshops, and educate the public at festivals like Earth Day and the Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival. A downtown Strawberry Creek daylighting project has the potential of involving thousands more, including Cal students and Berkeley High School students, just blocks away from Center Street in Downtown. Additionally, school groups visiting the proposed museums from all over the Bay Area will be able to incorporate environmental education into their field trip just by their proximity to an urban stream project in the city.
Nature seems to flourish in places we expect it to, but also in places we don't. Although we don't often realize it, cities are excellent sports to explore nature. They support a variety of habitats and house some incredibly adapted plants and animals. It is essential that urban areas protect and restore habitat, to provide some level of refuge and passage for birds and other wildlife.
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