Trampled Plants & Stressed-Out Wildlife — What Have We Done To The Great Outdoors?
Refinery29
3 hrs ago
Angela Lashbrook
I live within a block of a small but beautiful park in New York City. The place has been a refuge during the pandemic: groups of friends hosted cold-weather picnics, kids attended bundled-up birthday parties, and I took many very long, very necessary walks with my dog through the park and beyond. We all needed to get out of our homes; the outdoors felt like the only other place that was safe.
Now, the weather’s getting warmer, and those sporadic, chilly park get-togethers are transforming into bustling crowds; even if vaccinated, many people are not yet comfortable doing indoor activities, taking over outdoor recreation areas instead. It’s beautiful to see everyone so happy, emerging like butterflies from their wintery cocoons, as they gather in the sunny park and cherish the patches of nature we’re so lucky to have access to amid the densely packed city streets. But it’s troubling, as well: NYC parks were crushed by budget cuts this year, making it more difficult to battle the wear and tear inflicted by the happy hordes. After a particularly beautiful spring weekend, it’s typical to see garbage cans overflowing the following Monday morning, the understandable but unfortunate detritus of a weekend’s worth of outdoor partying.