It’s very well known scientifically, and increasing more so across city governance and citizens, that the presence of more nature in cities offers many benefits. Tree cover moderates heat islands and extreme heat, offers psychological benefits, and of course parks and urban forests are essential for socializing and cultural events.

It’s probably not very common to find an article about a library on a nature magazine’s site but this is about a quite unusual combination. The largest oil spill in US history was in the Greenpoint neighbourhood of Brooklyn, NYC, and happened in the mid-19th century. 140 years, a lawsuit, and one community environmental fund later, the Greenpoint Library re-opened following a very green and thoughtful renovation.

An important idea and angle to a very real challenge, one that will be of growing importance: how do nonprofits and CBOs (Community-Based Organization) maintain and, when needed, scale their infrastructure to keep vital services going and respond to growing demand?

Sometimes, to discover opportunities to change our surroundings for the better, it’s just a question of reassessing what we are used to, looking at the defaults, and then finding what’s actually needed and appropriate to the current context and needs. The Nouveaux voisins / New Neighbors project does exactly that, by looking at something we barely notice, private yards, and finding ways of re-inventing them. They want to facilitate socio-ecological transitions and community-based climate action with a platform that brings together functions that are “pedagogical, actionable, evaluational, financial, and regulatory.”

Sometimes, making a difference doesn’t require a huge budget, new technology, or incredible innovation. Sometimes you just need to notice a need and look at existing services and equipment. This is what happened and is still being perfected in suburbs of Seattle, with the creation of specific bus routes to get people from various neighbourhoods to mountain trails, where they can enjoy nature and get some exercise. When you think about it, it’s pretty obvious that it’s a kind of service that should exist elsewhere, and that “transit agencies need to ensure that whatever their limitations, people can access public lands with public resources like transit.”