Throughout Rambunctious Garden, Marris has already made her case that creating a “pristine wilderness” is near impossible. She has stated many times that there are other ways to help nature. In Chapter 8 and 9, she offers solutions to help nature and ways for humans to coexist with nature. Marris suggests designer ecosystems and conservation everywhere as two ways to help nature.
Designer ecosystems functions mainly to make the original ecosystem even better. In the past, many ecologists have assumed that before humans arrived, “ecosystems were always maximally efficient at such functions as purifying water, supporting diverse life, keeping sediment from washing away, and so on” (126). However, there is currently some desire to engineer a possibly new ecosystem such as adding additional features to aid the species living there. For example, there are rats eating the chicks of flightless bird in an ecosystem. Instead of getting rid of the rats, scientists “are drilling more nesting holes into the rocks for the birds” (127). This does not reset the ecosystem to the original baseline, but it does give the birds are greater chance to survive. In other words, these designer ecosystems are made to make the habitat better for the species.
Marris also expands her idea of a “rambunctious garden” by telling the reader that conservation can happen everywhere. She states that the “project of conservation is not just defending what we have, but adding lands to our portfolio and deepening value of the lands in play” (135). Since most of the land is already being used on the planet, there should be a greater focus on deepening the use of the land. Corridors can be use to connect small areas together. This will prevent species from leaking and “gene pools can stay large and vital” (137). Connectivity appears to be one key aspect for conservation.
In addition, Marris focuses on how regular people can help connect with nature. Many state conservation agencies have urged people to let nature take over their garden. It may not look pleasing to the eye, but this type of garden creates a more diverse and rambunctious feel to it. Marris states that “If New Yorkers planted more fertile plants and loosened up their gardening standards, bees zooming across the five boroughs could tie isolated specimens together into a metapopulation” (146). Of course, this would create a place with more insects and possible pests such as mosquitoes. In the end, “individuals and communities will have to gauge their own level of tolerance for such threat” (149).
Marris’s idea of a “rambunctious garden” definitely makes much more sense now. Since reverting nature back to a “pristine wilderness” is impossible, people should live in coexistence with nature. After all, “plants and animals are all around us, in our backyards, along roadsides, in city parks” (150). The cities are diverse places for this reason. Marris hopes to grow nature larger than it currently is. However, this will require everyone to change their view on nature. In addition, it will also require a change to the current method of conserving nature. Convincing everyone to agree on the same vision as Marris may be a challenging task in the future.
