One of the best things about Edmonton is that is has still managed to maintain some of the possibilities of a natural world in the face of constantly expanding infrastructure. We have conserved the river valley, the mill creek ravine, and many more places that appear as they have for hundreds of years. Unlike other major cities where places like these are auctioned off to building companies and for the purpose of "expanding", Edmonton has managed to sidetrack. With that said, Edmonton has been expanding westward, eastward, north and south at an alarming rate, replacing the outlying farmers fields with new communities like Ellerslie. In this way Edmonton is destroying another kind of natural world.
To me nature in Edmonton consists mostly of whatever you can come upon on the bike trails and along the river and trees and bushes that line the neighbourhood streets. It is especially the continuity of trees along sidewalks all throughout the city that shows how this city pays homage to its natural beginning. This is what nature in the city means to me. Nature in the city is an attempt to pay homage to the past. So whenever I walk past a tree I try and remind myself, or at least imagine that the city looked a little more like this before its began its relentless expansion.
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