APPRECIATING AUTHENTIC NATURE AND ARTIFICIAL NATURE.

APPRECIATING AUTHENTIC NATURE AND ARTIFICIAL NATURE. Continuing my reaction to Robert Sullivan’s article about New York City as an ecological paradise: Appreciating the urban landscape requires a change in aesthetics. That is, nature does not have to be pristine or unspoiled. One required change is learning to tolerate “invasive species” which survive in the changed environment. After reading the article, I am more prepared to enjoy the (arguably) invasive phragmites near the marsh on Farm Creek that we visit often. Robert Sullivan quotes Peter Del Tredici, the author of WILD URBAN PLANTS OF THE NORTHEAST: A FIELD GUIDE: “[Europeans] just consider it nature, and this whole question of ‘natural or not natural’ is just a moot point.” Sullivan says that a profound change of thinking is required: “There is no difference between urban nature and rural nature. It is all one ecology….”