Reconnecting to the Natural World in Urban Environments
14th and Wisconsin: before and after
We must move beyond the mentality of appearing to be concerned but not having the courage needed to produce substantial changes.
Pope Francis, Laudate Deum
We are mindful of our responsibility to practice good relations with the land and water as elders and ancestors past, present and emerging have done.
Marquette University, Land and Water Acknowledgement
As much as we have separated ourselves from it, humanity is dependent on the natural world not only for our survival, but also for our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
Yet, the natural world is being erased by over-development, pollution, and human-driven climate change, especially in cities where native habitats have been actively destroyed and, in many cases, eliminated.
Complex interwoven networks of plant and animal species have been replaced with streets, parking lots, or monocultures of grass. Many city dwellers grow up with minimal relationship to the natural world.
The overarching goal of this project is to rebuild these lost connections to the natural world in a project of environmental restoration, education, spiritual renewal, and hope.
To this end, we are pursuing the following aims:
- Restoring native prairie spaces to Marquette University’s Milwaukee campus.
- Understanding the cultural and historical connections of Indigenous peoples, past and present, to prairie ecosystems and the effects of removal.
- Studying the ecological roles of prairie plants and the effects of prairie restoration on water use, carbon sequestration, pollinator and other animal diversity, and human well-being.
- Creating spaces for contemplation – of creation and its beauty, of the web of interactions that form the ecosystems on which we depend, of our connection to the natural world and the impact we have upon it, and of the necessity of nature to the survival of humankind.
- Building collaborative relationships with Indigenous peoples, with local organizations, with the City of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin, and with each other, in the name of building connections and healing.