Urban Biodiversity

Frog

Yesterday I was walking up Dean Path and this little guy jumped out in front of me. I managed to sneak a picture, assuming that I had stumbled upon a rare frog sighting, but a few minutes later I saw a another one.

I am lucky enough to live in a part of the city that has trees. Many city residents see only dogs and pigeons (and cats and seagulls) in the course of their day, but the Water of Leith and the conservation area around it gives rise to a much higher level of biodiversity. A pair of wood pigeons are nesting across the street; I watch them out the bedroom window in the mornings. The river is constantly covered in ducks, and even the odd heron. One evening a few weeks ago I watched a fox chase Charlie the cat out the gate of the footpath. It looked very smug and territorial, until it saw me and darted back into the wood.

I suppose this is primarily an exercise in wildlife appreciation, but I also take these brief encounters with our amphibious friends as a reminder that the city is not just for people. We have a responsibility to keep it clean for their sake as well as ours.

Filed under  //  community  
Posted

Earth Day Launch

"Going green" is often regarded as a burden, a series of sacrifices, that cut your quality of life more than they cut your carbon footprint. It doesn't have to be that way! This blog is meant as an example of positive behaviours that not only sit lighter on the earth, but make everyday life more enjoyable and rewarding.

I plan to undertake at least these projects this year:

1. Zero-waste Christmas
  in which I eliminate packaging, single-use decoration, and unwanted gifts from our Christmas tradition.
2. Small Craft Mornings
  in which I teach people how to make useful and awesome items out of waste materials.
3. Biscuit Offenders
  in which I rate popular biscuits on the proportion and recyclability of their packaging.
4. Tidy City
  in which I write an iPhone App to allow community monitoring of the condition of public property.
5. Frequent Flyers
  in which I sponsor a prize for turning discarded promotional flyers into art.

Wish me luck!

Posted