Nature's Services

With establishing connectivity as the ultimate goal of Green Links, we find ourselves dedicating much of our effort to the value of nature in cities as a whole. This involves diverse roles such as creating beautiful scenery, buffers against noise, encouraging wildlife, reducing energy costs and conserving water. We also draw attention to the restorative function of landscapes and the language of nature, speaking through large trees, birds, rustling leaves, cool shade and aromatic smells. Nature is a vital component of what defines “home” to residents in a neighbourhood and what speaks of “community” to an attentive visitor.

Nature’s Services is a project to highlight the benefits of small scale plantings – individual trees, planters, a square metre of grass, a backyard, a balcony... We draw parallels with recycling in Greater Vancouver where although, our individual blue box contributions may appear modest, collectively we prevent several hundred thousand tons of solid waste from being landfilled or incinerated. So, individual trees, balcony planters or yard plantings may appear modest as well but collectively we can create many thousands of hectares of valuable wildlife habitat. For example, one 30 year-old green ash tree annually removes about 50 kg of carbon dioxide and 1 kg of suspended particulates. In Greater Vancouver backyards collectively represent an area equal in size to 15 Stanley Parks, an incredible resource.

We use nature’s services as a theme in our existing workshops and we are in the process of researching and developing materials that elaborate on the benefits of small scale plantings.