Nature Is Telling Us What to Do
April is Landscape Architecture month and just so happens to include Earth Day (April 22) as well. I like to say, being a landscape architect, that we know just enough about a lot of stuff to get us into trouble. On any given day, you may catch me talking about a variety of topics, from town planning to coastal resiliency, to planting design, and then on to my favorite plants and their characteristics.
I was recently approached by someone asking my opinion on Delaware’s renewable energy efforts. Unsurprisingly, this veered into the subjects of climate change, sea-level rise, and of course politics. The truth of the matter is that all these topics are tied together, along with many other relevant issues.
I like to repeat the well-known phrase, ”The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second-best time is now.” The same holds true for implementing sustainable and green practices. Many current initiatives should have been implemented decades ago. However, money and politics got in the way…sound familiar?
So now we are faced with environmental challenges from numerous directions, and the second-best time to do something about them is now. Mother Nature is telling us what to do.
Let’s take a step back and view our place on this blue marble from a distance. We live on a peninsula. The Delaware River and Bay to the east, Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and the Chesapeake Bay to the south and west. Essentially, the Delmarva peninsula consists of sediments that deposited here for eons of time from these water bodies and through glacial and ice-sheet melt. This is one reason why our soils are so well suited for agriculture.
It is also why we are host to an abundance of diverse flora and fauna. Our tidal marshes and inland wetlands act like sponges during flooding events, while also sequestering huge amounts of carbon compounds (known as carbon-sinks). Uplands that are further inland provide different environmental roles, but all are important for sustaining healthy ecosystems.
Simple observations of our current situation will show us that something is off. Extreme storms and weather patterns that occur more frequently, increased flooding, saltwater intrusion into local aquifers or into coastal farmlands, increased rates of illnesses or chronic health issues—the list goes on. Many of these result from or are exacerbated by climate change.
I’m not here to debate climate change. The fact is, something is happening with greater rapidity near coastal regions, and with 90 percent of our country’s population living in coastal areas, something needs to be done.
Logic (as well as Mother Nature) tells us that we need to change how we interact with the environment. But it also tells us that we need to address how we will live in the future. This is where developing and promoting renewable resources comes into play.
If we are to truly wean ourselves off fossil fuels, increase and improve our electrical grids and their capabilities, reduce carbon emissions, and try bringing nature back into balance, then we need to take steps now so that we can reach those goals in the future. Yes, the transition will be difficult. Yes, it will change how we live. Yes, mistakes will be made along the way—from which lessons will be learned. But what is the price if we do nothing? What is the cost for upcoming generations if we continue to kick the can down the road?
Nothing in our country’s 250-year history has been easy. Indeed, we take pride in overcoming obstacles, solving problems, and upholding our freedoms. Moving into a more sustainable and greener future should be just one more great American ideal that we all strive towards.
Be inspired, and let’s garden together. ▼
Eric W. Wahl is Landscape Architect at Pennoni Associates, and President of the Delaware Native Plant Society.
Photo: Ray Hennessy on Unsplash.com