as a child, this was my space. the orchards were my playground. i would spend afternoons with my great grandma at the fruit stand. we would count the cars by color as they passed by. i grew up in a house situated between my grandfather and my great-grandparents. they built the orchards i found refuge in and cultivated the land i called home.

place attachment is fundamental to developing environmental attitudes. connection to place is the emotional connection an individual feels toward their surroundings. this is often developed through childhood interactions and life experiences. the deeper the place attachment, the more likely a person is to be concerned about their local environments.

it can be easy to imagine place connections in rural areas where you are “closer” to nature. but not everyone grew up on an orchard (like me), in the woods, or on a farm. everyone experiences place connections in different ways regardless of where they live.

even though cities may seem vastly different from the countryside, there are some key similarities in how we relate to our surroundings. our inherent affinity toward the natural world can extend beyond cultural reservations. though many may be hesitant at first, good environmental education programs and citizen science initiatives can help people feel connected to their natural communities no matter where they are. a better understanding of local ecology will give people the confidence to stand up for environmental protection in their communities. 

currently, most citizen science programs are directed at studies of local ecology. these are beneficial on their own, but they also create possibilities for new types of engagement. we can adapt citizen science to environmental justice projects. programs that teach people how environmental issues personally affect their communities can help people get a broader understanding of the importance of these issues in their neighborhoods and can help them make connections with other people who want to make their community a safer, healthier, and more enjoyable place to live. if we nurture our place connections and learn how they relate to our local ecologies and environmental issues, we can all become powerful advocates for the environment.

once we understand our own connections, we can connect with our neighbors. the people we live near often have a similar sense of attachment to place. we often share many of the same values and concerns regarding our local environments. personal actions to save the environment are great. reducing our own carbon footprint with eco-friendly methods is a good practice to keep, but we know it will not end climate change. additionally, governments change rapidly and bend to the whim of money and politics. they have consistently proven themselves unwilling to meet the demands of climate change mitigation.

so, what can we do? we can heal our environment through community efforts. collective place attachment and community empowerment can uplift people to take direct action in helping their local environments. citizen science initiatives can be used to increase place attachment and build community efforts. a system of community-lead organizations to support local environments that interact with and learn from one another can develop a grassroots initiative uniquely tailored to regions with a disregard for political borders. we have the potential to create a global matrix of communities working to protect the environment. 

unlike a dense forest where there are layers of understory and continuous cycles of new growth from saplings, urban trees are often surrounded by impervious pavement and need human intervention just to survive. urban trees don’t naturally regenerate when they are confined to small spaces and are more susceptible to human interference. for these reasons, our urban tree population is aging and suffering the impacts of land development across the city.

an innovator, by the name of betty brown casey, read of the decline of d.c.’s tree canopy — 35% in 2011 compared to 50% tree canopy in 1950 — and decided to act on it. in 2002, she founded the organization casey trees to “restore, enhance and protect the tree canopy of the nation’s capital.”

since then, casey trees has planted more than 23,000 trees — 4,003 trees in 2016 alone — and is committed to partnering with other stakeholders to achieve a 40% tree canopy by the year 2032, as outlined in sustainable dc. aside from advocating for better tree policies in the district and offering classes to the public to enhance urban forestry education, casey trees mobilizes hundreds of volunteers each year to plant in public spaces and schools. additionally, casey trees has recognized the power of banning together; they have partnered with the urban forestry administration to increase the number of d.c. street trees and with the dc department of environment, through the riversmart homes program, to plant trees on residential property.

thanks to the dedication from everyone at casey trees, and all their partners, d.c. has made significant progress towards the 40% canopy goal in the past decade. though it hasn’t been a straight path to success, casey trees is well-regarded for their partnerships, commitment to tree care, enriching educational classes, and on-going advocacy for our urban forest.

based on calculations from casey trees, the city needs to add 2,031 acres of canopy to reach the goal, which translates to 216,300 total new trees to be planted over the next 20 years — that means 8,600 trees per year split among all partners. and you can be a valued partner as well, sign up to volunteer, grab a shovel, and help plant a tree in the nation’s capital.

you can’t have a sustainable world without sustainable cities” -lisa benton-short.

upon entering dr. lisa benton-short’s office i am first drawn to the bookshelves lined with starbucks’ “city mugs” from upwards of 30 cities worldwide that she has collected during her travels as an urban geographer. they illustrate her background and her continued work in urban geography as she delves deeper into creating more sustainable urban spaces.

growing up in a rural community in montana, the thought of city life was always something we had to imagine. whenever we heard the word “city,” we would think of the stereotypical hustle and bustle of people surrounded by tall buildings mixed with unappealing scenes filled with traffic jams, smoggy horizons, and overflowing landfills. we often missed what benton-short points out: the green parks, diverse wildlife, and the sustainable transportation opportunities that cities have to offer.

benton-short has researched the dynamics of the urban environment from many angles, including planning and public space, urban sustainability, globalization, and immigration. i was able to sit down and talk to her about the emergence of more sustainable cities in the u.s. and around the world. she is still so passionate about her work, and seems to continue to love every aspect of it, even after years of research and work in the field.

she highlights the fact that 54% of the world’s population currently lives in cities with numbers trending higher for the future. by 2050 the world’s population is expected to exceed 9 billion people, with continuing trends an estimated 6.2 billion of those people will be living in urban areas – roughly the same number as the world’s total population in 2002.

one of the things she said that i found most interesting was that there is a demographic shift where young people are staying in cities longer, more people are choosing to raise a family in urban environments, and elderly people are making the move back to cities once their kids have settled down. benton-short attributes this shift to cultural influences such as tv shows like seinfeld and sex & the city that made living in an urban environment seem “cool” again.

i had always dreamed of living in a city when i got older, partially because of the glamorization of big cities in television and popular culture. when i was looking at college options, washington, dc seemed like a dream come true. but after spending three years living in dc, and getting the chance to spend some time in other large east coast cities, dc doesn’t seem nearly big enough!

when it comes to the “american dream” many people are abandoning the vision of white picket fences and two car garages in favor of city life, and i fit right into that. i imagine raising kids in a large city, or at least close to one. looking at all of the opportunities and experiences that are available in a large city makes me almost envious that i wasn’t raised closer to one. benton-short talked about how more and more children are being raised in cities and families are demanding services and amenities that not only translate into a higher quality of life for everybody but also make for more sustainable cities with expanded parks, outdoor recreational opportunities, and improved public transportation and urban walkability.

just traveling out to cities on the west coast, i can see the walkability is distinctly different, and the cities have much less public transportation, but many of these cities still have plans to become more sustainable. many communities already have sustainability plans looking toward the future; austin and san francisco plan to be carbon neutral by 2020, new york city is requiring buildings to use less energy and waives city sales tax on efficient vehicles, and portland has already installed over 200 miles of designated bike lanes.

there is no doubt the world of our future will be urban. the challenge confronting us today is whether we can make that world an efficient and sustainable one. 

this past semester, about two dozen macalester college urban ecology students divided out into teams to create short video documentaries exploring concepts of urban design, environmental stewardship, and the role of public policy.
here’s a look at one of those projects.