For the past two decades Emerald View Park has been carved out of neglected and trashed woodlands and slopes above the Monongahela River in the Heart of Pittsburgh. It was a project started by a citizen’s initiative and my students and I helped by researching best practices and facilitating community processes. Over the years Emerald View has evolved into a beautiful, 257-acre wooded landscape, accessible at the end of most streets in the Mt. Washington neighborhood via 19 miles of hiking trails and some of the most beautiful vistas of the city and the three rivers below. When I was asked to contribute to the Global EarthExchange project I felt at a loss.

Emerald View Park is a success story of how urban wasteland can become a place that is loved, restored, and used by so many people. It is close to my home and my heart, and I walk my dog Josie there all the time. I kept thinking of doing an earth friendship activity in other degraded places, but I always felt the call back to “my woods”.

One morning on our hike Josie ran into the small creek that bubbles out of the ground and runs along the path. She plopped into the middle of the muddy water, a big smile on her dog face. Behind her was the sign that we had placed there years ago: “Abandoned Mine Drainage” with an explanation that this and all other springs run through the abandoned coal mines under our neighborhood, picking up residues from last century’s industrial activities. This one didn’t seem to be so bad after it was tested (acid, yes, but no heavy metals), so I have allowed my active dog to play in it. But it made me think that not all degradation is visible. Places can be hurt in invisible ways due to the consequences of our technological practices: coal mining, steel making, fracking…. I decided that I wanted to honor this little creek which gives so much joy to my dog.

A year ago, my artist friend Denise McMorrow did a “Love the Land” art activity with children from the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh, and she had given me a set of sign boards that the kids had painted. They were sitting in my greenhouse, waiting to find their place. On June 15, the Earth Exchange Day, Josie and I went into the woods early in the morning with 2 of the beautiful signs in tow.

When we reached the creek, she milled about and went after some squirrels. I crossed through water and mud and pounded the sign boards into the ground right next to the sign about Mine Drainage. One sign said: “Keep me beautiful—The Land”; the other one said: “Your love for me matters—The Land”. I found some sticks and made a RadJoy bird figure across from the signs and quietly sat down on a log and looked at the creek and the trees and the signs made by children.

Suddenly this great and unexpected wave of love from this place came over me. It still echoes in my heart when I think about the place from my desk in my study a mile away. The heart is the organ of perception for the spirits of nature, and sometimes it is given a gift: radical joy.