Establishing, Restoring, and Protecting a Nature Friendly Biophilic City and Region
WNYEA Decade of Biodiversity
The Great Lakes of North America
Great Lakes Watersheds
The Niagara River Corridor Globally Significant Bird and Biodiversity Area
We are all connected by nature
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Location, Location, Location
Western New York, and the city of Buffalo, are located in the Great Lakes, one of the most important natural areas in North America if not the whole earth. The Great Lakes contain over 20% of the earth's fresh surface water (84% of North America's Fresh surface water) and host over 40 million people that directly rely on the Great Lakes as a water source. Water is Life Life on planet Earth, including human life, depend on these clean and abundant waters. Complex evolutionary relationships between ecosystems, wildlife (including fish, amphibians, mammals, birds, benthic organisms, and insects, etc), plants, weather, and other partners including and especially human activities drive ecological services that provide health, breathable air, food, a stable atmosphere, and quality of life for the residents of our region and of the earths human population. Climate Change Human activity, including inappropriate development, impacts the health of the planet and the potential for quality of life for future generations. Human activity is the primary cause of climate change. Stewardship The Western New York Environmental Alliance is committed to helping our region develop strategies and policies that will promote the best possible scenarios to help protect, conserve, promote, and uplift the state of the environment and the quality of life for the people that live and work here, and for future generations. Connectivity Our region, our bioregion, is connected across the globe by a wide variety of nature driven contexts. Birds, insects, fish, atmospheric conditions, and human activity impact the health of the planet For example, the Niagara River Corridor is a Globally Important Bird and Biodiversity Area that many species of migrating birds and insects, some of which are critically endangered, use and depend upon. Monarch Butterflies use this area as a breeding area flyway on their long journey from the north to the wintering area in the mountins of central Mexico. Birds that breed in, or migrate through the Niagara River Corridor help keep the Arctic, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Caribbean, and Central and South America (including the Amazon basin), ecologically productive and healthy. The Globally Significant status of the Niagara River Corridor is shared with a few other regions including the Florida Everglades, Yellowstone National Park, and the Galapagos. We are a really important ecological region that the world's ecological health depends upon. What is a Biophilic City According to Timothy Beatley, Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities at the University of Virginia, founder of the Biophilic Cities Network, and author of several books including Biophilic Cities, The Bird Friendly City, and Planning for Coastal Resilience and Resilient Cities: "A biophilic city is at its heart a biodiverse city, full of nature, a place where in the normal course of work and play and life, residents feel see and experience rich nature-plants, trees, animals." The WNYEA promotes the adoption of programs, strategies, and policies, including urban design and planning that will enrich our capacity to protect, restore and repair our ecological footprint so that we can be the best stewards of our place, our bioregion, and our earth. In 2021 the Western New York Environmental Alliance sponsored a presentation by Timothy Beatley at the Birds on the Niagara Winter Festival. Watch this wonderful video talk by Tim Beatley, introduced by Lynda Schneekloth.
Resources: Books by Timothy Beatley
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