Restoring the Earth with Keith Bowers: Where Do Your Priorities Lie?
Due to carbon emissions in the present, the world has seen species extinction rates increase. We can, as humans, control our carbon emissions to reverse the adverse effects on the environment, but once a species is gone it’s gone. The complexity of Nature far outweighs the complexity of carbon, as a molecule that is quantified. Losing species is directly correlated to the loss of biodiversity, which aids in the decline of the human species. This can be a rabbit hole to go down, pun intended, but simply put: we are killing ourselves for a cheap thrill. We need to seriously think about, as builders of our own ecosystem, each time we take the easy or inexpensive route to pour some asphalt to comply with code minimums because it saves a little money now, as opposed to explaining the long-term benefits of implementing a garden full of native plants to attract pollinators.
Last year, world leaders met at the Convention of Biological Diversity and committed to achieving 23 targets by 2030, including the protection and restoration of 30% of terrestrial, coastal, and ocean ecosystems. It is important to note that all of these global targets are connected to each other. Keith Bowers, a restoration ecologist and landscape architect, is the founder of Biohabitats. Biohabitats’ mission is to restore the earth and inspire ecological stewardship. They aim to inspire communities to “rediscover a sense of place through preserving indigenous ecosystems, restoring biological diversity, and embracing ecological stewardship”. Of these multiple targets, Biohabitats is focused on on-the-ground actions, which means restoring ecosystems, conserving habitats and species, managing invasive species, and mitigating climate change.
If this seems overwhelming, Keith offers great advice, “First, protect and conserve the biodiversity within your sphere of influence. Second, restore biodiversity, which can take many forms. Look at how the site is connected to the rest of the landscape from a landscape ecology perspective. Seek to understand how nutrients cycle and flow through the site, how water interacts with the site, how species move across the site or inhabit the site, and how that’s all connected to the regional landscape. It’s really hard to increase biodiversity on a site if we don’t understand these connections and relationships. Third, once you have an idea of what you’re going to protect and conserve, develop ideas and ways to restore and enhance biodiversity.
This can take the form of many different strategies and measures. Landscape architects have a tremendous influence and impact on the way biodiversity is protected, conserved, restored, and enhanced” (Keith Bowers, The Dirt Blog, 2024). Biohabitats works on restoration projects that blend back into the existing landscape focusing on food webs, hydrolic and nutrient cycles, ecological successions, and Firewise tactics. There is inherent beauty in natural systems, and landscape architects can regenerate these processes.
So, where do your priorities lie?
Sources: https://dirt.asla.org/2024/04/17/earth-day-interview-with-Keith-bowers-how-to-take-action-on-the-biodiversity-crisis/
All Graphics Provided by Biohabitats
