Connecting Past and Present
January 16, 2025 By: Emmanuel Emmanuel
Connecting Past and Present
Media Item 1: “Vancouver’s Fight Against Invasive Species” (CBC News, 2024)
This article discusses Vancouver’s initiatives to control invasive plant species, linking to historical issues of ecological imperialism. Alfred Crosby’s concept explains how European settlers introduced non-native species that outcompeted local flora (Crosby, 1988). Vancouver’s current management efforts highlight the ongoing struggle to mitigate these historical ecological disruptions.
Media Item 2: “Urban Green Spaces: A Solution to Heatwaves” (The Globe and Mail, 2024)
The article emphasizes the role of urban parks in combating rising temperatures. This connects to conservation themes discussed in the course, illustrating how early conservation efforts have evolved into comprehensive urban planning strategies that prioritize ecological health and community well-being (Worster, 1990).
You make an interesting connection to ecological imperialism in this post. It got me thinking about urban/ecological decolonization and how efforts to reintroduce native flora and fauna have an important role to play in making urban spaces, and their human inhabitants, thrive. This topic leads nicely into your assessement of the second article as well by pointing to the role of comprehensive urban planning strategies in reducing the harmful effects of climate-change-induced heatwaves.
In response to “Urban Green Spaces: A Solution to Heatwaves”, efforts to include more urban green spaces evidently have become more relevant in recent planning strategies. I wonder how this impacts local perceptions of ecology and environmental conservation. Do you think that incorporating more green spaces has impacted public opinions on conservation, or that preexisting public values (and opinions) shaped this shift in planning strategies, or perhaps both?