Growing a greener future is a matter of making connections.
“Too often, folks think of nature as being out there, 50 miles away,” said urban naturalist and educator Mike Houck during his keynote address to a Parks Foundation of Clark County luncheon Thursday.
Decades ago, when Houck first got busy with environmental and conservation issues in the Portland area, conventional thinking about links between nature and cities was that there weren’t any; the urban growth boundary was there to keep density in and greenery out, period.
That can lead to a malady called “nature deficiency syndrome,” Houck said, with symptoms such as children who are incapable of play without electrical sockets nearby.
Such thinking has changed radically. Nowadays, a livable city means a green city, with easy access to nature in every neighborhood and plenty of provision for non-electrical, human-powered play. And Houck has gone on to work with the Audubon Society of Portland and OMSI and to found the Urban Greenspaces Institute and the Coalition for a Livable Future. He is the co-author of “Wild in the City: A Guide to Portland’s Natural Areas,” which includes a 50-page chunk about Vancouver and Clark County, he said.
