Our urban landscape is dotted with abandoned lots. We’ve all noticed them—or not noticed them. These seemingly derelict spaces are often filled with left-behind concrete slabs and littered with old tires, broken-down and rusting washing machines, and other detritus of our throwaway culture. If you stop and look past the trash, you’ll notice grass and vines are slowly reclaiming these marginal spaces. In that reclaiming, wildlife is eking out a healthful existence outside the human realm. These abandoned places where wild nature collides with the rubble of human domination hosts a surprising number of species. Here Brown explores his experiences of urban nature and helps to illuminate the ways that social and economic justice are inextricably intertwined with environmental justice as we explore these urban edgelands.
