“Green Places Not Green Spaces” by Jane Garthson

 The IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services¹ 2024, compiled by 145 expert authors from 50 countries over the past three years, finds that around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades, more than ever before in human history.

The report’s chair states: “The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.”

“Ecosystems, species, wild populations, local varieties and breeds of domesticated plants and animals are shrinking, deteriorating or vanishing. The essential, interconnected web of life on Earth is getting smaller and increasingly frayed,” said Prof. Settele, one of the authors. “This loss is a direct result of human activity and constitutes a direct threat to human well-being in all regions of the world.”

Joe Brewer² is a regenerative designer who works on large-scale biosphere system change by bringing deep knowledge and experience from complexity, cultural evolution, the cognitive sciences, and Earth Systems. He speaks about The Spectrum of Collapse: “Collapse isn’t a single event – it’s an unfolding process, a spectrum of change that signals not the end but a transition to a new beginning. While the future will look different from the past, it holds immense potential for transformation. What we choose in this time of change will shape what’s to come.”

I have met Joe several times, and he backs up his opinions with exhaustive scientific research and knowledge. He does not mince words – if we choose wrong, the human race could be one of the million species that go extinct. More likely, small bands of hunter-gathers would survive, but nothing remotely resembling today’s civilizations. Did you know that among the Wet’suwet’en people there is a prophecy that when the glaciers melt, the world will catch fire?

Joe and many others believe it is not too late to take actions to regenerate a healthy Earth, but time is running out. There are many good news stories, such as the increasing emphasis on regenerative agriculture by farmers, the falling cost and fast-expanding use of solar power, fragmented habitat being reconnected, native meadow and grasslands recovering, blocked streams (such as the Don)reopening, stabilized riverbanks, reduced shipping noises in whale areas – the list could go on and on.

Unfortunately, there is an even longer list of challenges to biodiversity, like microplastics, warming oceans, declining soil health, extreme weather and increasing mismatches of animals with their food sources as different species adapt to a hotter, dryer planet at different rates.

Most of SCAN!’s members are urban. They recognize the tree canopy as critical to human health and climate change mitigation – but if those trees aren’t native and varied, they don’t support much biodiversity. Similarly, they talk of green spaces – but too often seem to be thinking of parks with manicured lawns, pretty flower beds and sometimes non-native trees.

Most annual flowers aren’t native and some carry diseases. We have far too few pollinator gardens to support native bees, butterflies and moths, and not enough incentives to convert lawns to pollinator and pesticide-free food gardens.

Lawn grass is 99% non-native, and sod is worse than seed. It does not support biodiversity. If diesel equipment, pesticides and chemical fertilizers are used for maintenance, lawns work AGAINST climate change and aren’t even safe for kids and dogs to play on. Letting the grass grow long between cuttings and leaving “weeds” in place does help but not as much as deliberately planting for biodiversity and protecting the biodiversity we still have.

I believe SCAN! chose correctly when it described its mission as fighting climate change. But all too often, I hear climate advocates, in multiple climate organizations, focusing on short term supports to humans rather than the existential threat to life on Earth as we know it. That is inconsistent with both our mission – if it is to fight climate change, as I was told when I joined – and with the Indigenous thinking around “all our relations”, in which humans are part of nature and no more important than any other part of nature.

As a species, our survival depends on how we treat and protect those relatives. I highly recommend an article just published in late April, called the Dangerous Illusion of Climate Reslience⁴

I’m not arguing against climate resilience work, since many of the needed changes, like cooling centres, are critical for low-income families with few options and added risks. But if we promote cooling by adding air conditioners to gas furnaces, instead of conversions to electric heat pumps, we must recognize we are not serving SCAN!’s mission. We are ONLY protecting humans and maybe some house pets. That’s a fully acceptable role for other climate organizations to choose.

SCAN! can and should support the work of organizations whose resilience measures have the smallest possible energy and pollution footprint on our ecosystem and every living thing in it.

So please remember that we need green places of native plants, clean water and sometimes protection from human activity. I love nature trails but putting them through wetlands or critical nesting areas is counter-productive. Many species need habitats and ecosystems undisturbed by us.

SCAN! is an all-volunteer organization in which many members are active in multiple climate organizations and where many are close to burn-out. I recommend we focus on our mission of fighting climate change, so we can have the maximum impact, rather than spreading our energy ever thinner. There are hundreds of organizations in Canada dealing with climate. We will all accomplish more together if we all remember our mission and work to our strengths.

1. Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
2. Design School for Regenerating Earth
3. Of salmon and ice: Honouring the bond between glaciers and sockeye
4. The Dangerous Illusion of Climate Resilience

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Jane Garthson is a member of SCAN! Toronto’s Steering Committee and active in the Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign and Amnesty International Canada. By day, she is an independent governance consultant to the not-for-profit sector and an executive coach for new and interim NFP leaders. She served seven years on the board of the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust and has provided governance and planning services to a number of environmental organizations.