Finding Nature In Los Angeles And Urban America

The author of this Believer (literary) Magazine article claims that the city's treatment of the Los Angeles River "has profoundly exacerbated nearly all of L.A.'s notorious troubles -- environmental chaos, social inequities, community fragmentation, water shortages, water imperialism, and erasure of civic memory." After describing nature in Los Angeles -- including hawks, dolphins, and coyotes -- she describes plans to resurrect the Los Angeles River: "You have to green the banks. You have to clean the water. And you have to dynamite out some of the concrete." The confluence of the Los Angeles River is "one of the best places to think about L.A., and L.A. historically has been one of the most powerful places to tell stories about America."

[Editor's note: The original article was published in two parts, which are linked to below.]