Page 367 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

Greenways are strips of land that connect parks or neigh-
borhoods, often run along rivers, streams, or canals, and pro- Lake
vide access to networks of walking trails. They can protect Michigan
water quality, boost property values, and serve as corridors for
the movement of wildlife and people alike. The Rails-to-Trails
Conservancy has spearheaded the conversion of abandoned
railroad rights-of-way into greenways for walking, jogging,
and biking. To date, 32,000 km (20,000 mi) of 1600 rail lines
have been converted across North America.
A newly developed and instantly popular linear park
along an old rail line is The High Line Park on Manhattan’s
West Side in New York City (FIGURE 13.15). An elevated freight
line running above the city’s streets was going to be demol- Chicago
ished, but a group of citizens saw its potential for a park, and Forest
they pushed the idea until city leaders came to share their preserves
vision. Today thousands of people use the 23-block-long High
Line for recreation or on their commute to work.
The concept of the corridor is sometimes implemented on
a large scale. Greenbelts are long and wide corridors of park-
lands, often encircling an entire urban area. One example is
the system of forest preserves that stretches through Chicago’s 0 5 km
suburbs like a necklace (FIGURE 13.16). In Canada, cities 0 5 miles
including Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver employ greenbelts
as urban growth boundaries, containing sprawl and preserving FIGURE 13.16 Forest preserves wind through the suburbs
of Chicago. This regional greenbelt system features 40,000 ha
open space for city residents. (100,000 acres) of woodlands, fields, marshes, and prairies, com-
Within urban parklands, many cities are working to enhance prising the largest holding of locally owned public conservation land
these areas through ecological restoration (pp. 110–111, 317), in the United States.

the practice of restoring native communities. In Portland’s
FIGURE 13.15 Manhattan’s new High Line Park was created
thanks to a visionary group of citizens. They pushed to make a parks, volunteer teams plant native vegetation and remove
park out of an abandoned elevated rail line. invasive non-native plants. At some Chicago-area forest
preserves, scientists and volunteers use prescribed burns
(pp. 338–339) to restore prairie native to the region. In San
Francisco’s Presidio, areas are being restored to the native
dune communities that were displaced by urban development.

Green buildings bring benefits

Although we need parks and open space, we spend most of our
time indoors, so our health is affected by the buildings in which
we live and work. Moreover, buildings consume 40% of our
energy and 70% of our electricity, contributing to the green-
house gas emissions that drive climate change. As a result,
there is a thriving movement in architecture and construction
to design and build green buildings, structures that use tech-
nologies and approaches to minimize the ecological footprint
(pp. 22–23) of the building’s construction and operation.
Green buildings are built from sustainable materials, limit
their use of energy and water, minimize health impacts on their
occupants, control pollution, and recycle waste (FIGURE 13.17).
Constructing or renovating buildings using new efficient tech-
nologies is probably the most effective way that cities can
reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.S. Green Building Council promotes these efforts
by running the Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) certification program. Buildings (new buildings
or renovation projects) apply for certification and, depending
on their performance, may be granted silver, gold, or platinum
366 status (TABLE 13.3).

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