Environmental Sustainability

Through my last posting I spoke of place, and how many people had lost connection with the hustle and bustle of life today. I think it is essential for people to be exposed to natural environments regularly, preferably close to home, to develop this connection with place. Being aware and connected with ones surrounding should lead to an individual to be aware of environmental sustainability and perhaps act to preserve natural spaces.

We had a speaker earlier this year who spoke of environmental development and design in urban communities. By simply engineering natural spaces, planting trees along a creek and building some walking paths for example, it increases the value of surrounding homes. Everyone wants to raise their family somewhere where the kids can go out and play in the trees, grass and creeks. Waking up and looking out your front window to see rabbits or even deer out in a beautiful, natural landscape is a refreshing experience and seems to make people happier and I would think more conscious of how their actions may effect the environment. This speaker said something even as simple as changing the design of a house 180 degrees to face the landscape instead of the front street increased value by a significant amount, proving that people do value green spaces.

I think that exposure to natural landscapes increases environmental consciousness and sustainability. I have noticed through my move from Saskatoon, SK to Victoria that people are much more conscious and passionate about environmental sustainability. I think this is largely due to the fact that the city is broken up by many natural spaces, rock, trees and ocean. Milder weather increases the amount of time people spend outside and the exposure to the beautiful landscape surrounding them.

Even within the city of Saskatoon one can see changes. The natural area down by the river is clean and well kept, where as the industrialized area's in the north end, without many natural spaces, are littered and dirty. One doesn't see many people walking down the sidewalk here, and if you do they are in a hurry and have their head down. On the other hand, people flock to the trails by the river, and many can be observed walking leisurely, looking around and smiling.