I joined a group of neighbors from diverse backgrounds in our urban (Columbus) neighborhood to plant an “urban arboretum” - or tree garden. It’s called the Lower Olentangy Urban Arboretum (after the nearby Olentangy River). I helped create the idea - using city-owned tree lawns to plant native tree species, enhancing the environment for birds, insects, and other animals and plants, while making the neighborhood more attractive and interesting. I helped conceptualize the project, co-wrote grants to pay for the native trees, helped plant them, created maps and informational web pages for the Arboretum, and helped maintain the Arboretum.

I'm inspired by interaction, pluralism, community, growth. Specifically, reconciling both nature and humans in an urban environment: making our shared space better for all, human and non-human.

I'm hoping to solve the false belief that urban areas are ecologically dead or unimportant. They are not, and it’s vital to integrate humans and the environment in a way that both can thrive. You start by developing this idea - reconciling humans and nature - at home, right outside your front door.

From contribution, I gain something positive, productive, creative, intelligent, and forward-looking in an era where environmental doom is dominant.

This is local: neighbors and school kids use the maps and tours of marked trees, learn about native species, and can learn why they are important and what they do. They think about trees as urban and ecological amenities, vital parts of life in the city. They think about how trees are connected to insects and birds and animals and neighborhood temperatures and soil and water. It’s a model of how we really should be thinking about humans and the environment.