Dr. Amy Karpati's seminar at Teatown Lake Reservation, on October 6th, 2017, in Ossining, New York, covered the significance of biodiversity and how we all depend on land for our survival. Biodiversity is the study of different types of land and life in different habitats. The largest threat to biodiversity is human consumption of food, property and resources. Karpati’s methods of conservation were adapted to ideas of urban wilderness and is composed of restoration, conservation, and most importantly incorporating the environment into our everyday life through new techniques.
Biodiversity is necessary for our survival and our culture. We depend on biodiversity for the sustainability of our future. Environmental landscapes such as forests and wetlands filter and give us water, food, and even protection from the elements. One could use the dust bowl as an example of this. During the great depression, a lack of trees and other biodiversity contributed to massive dust storms that destroyed roads, farms, and homes. Biodiversity secures our farming by allowing an array of foods to grow in many areas. Farmers markets and public gardens allow the community to come together and help to provide financial stability.
Our civilization is reliant on natural ecosystems. This delicate balance has many components that are intertwined. An example of this connection is bee pollination. Bee’s depend on the soil and flowers and crops to pollinate. The population of bees has a value to our society that is more then just economic. Bees help conserve the flora and fauna which thus impacts the quality of water. “84% of species we cultivate depend on pollinators. These species give us raw materials, medicines, food for humans, foodstuffs for livestock, biofuels.... The global value of the services pollinators provide amounts to approximately 153 billion euro a year.” These are just a few of the examples of how bees can positively affect our environment. Other animals and insects also have an extensive impact on our environment that can affect us economically, physically and even emotionally through the mental benefits of forest bathing and time spent in nature.
http://www.beeodiversity.com/en/issue/issue-pollination-biodiversity-and-our-well-being
Dr. Karpati gave an example of the importance of some local water sheds in our area. New York City, depends on these water sheds to deliver clean water to all the different boroughs of the city. It was cheaper for New York to buy and preserve land than to build a water plant that would have cost New Yorkers billions of dollars. While acquiring land is veritably cheaper, the act of preservation of the land contributes to our society by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and protecting vegetation, animals, and landscapes.
The conservation of our land and protection of biodiversities can be achieved by practicing these three methods. First, reservation or preservation, which is the act of setting aside land and protecting it. Second, restoration as the process of attempting to bring land back to its original vegetation. This can be achieved by removing invasive plants, or even introducing apex predators. Lastly, the third method of conserving land is reconciliation, or bringing the wilderness into the suburbs. Examples of Reconciliation can be seen in the creation of parks, man made ponds or even grass roofs.
According to Greenroofs.com “It’s now mandatory in the City of Copenhagen that all new flat roofs at or under a 30 degree-pitch, both private and public, have to be vegetated.”
The Teatown Reservation has been doing their own work in creating biodiversity. They have achieved this by sectioning off areas of the one thousand acre reserve to give certain rare plants the chance to survive rather than be accidentally trampled on by hikers. They have also created programs where volunteers can help remove invasive plants. Programs like these, help reach the community and educate the public on the different biodiversities of New York.
