I just spent a few days in New York City with my family - we had a wonderful trip. While there, I had a great conversation with a New Yorker about 'being in touch with nature'. Something struck me during the conversation that made me realize something about the challenges humanity faces as more people migrate to large cities around the world.

It is generally accepted that well planned and clean urban areas are 'green' for a couple of big picture reasons - 1) millions of people travel shorter distances between work, home and play, and 2) less infrastructure is needed per capita. However, for as much as those benefits are apparent, the benefits of human contact with nature dwindles - a connection that is necessary for us to collectively remind us that we are stewards of this planet.

Enter Central Park, and all of the other parks of New York City. Trees are a plenty, and it is even possible in some areas to almost forget you are in a city of 8.6 million people (except for the noise of course). There, in the midst of one of the largest and most vibrant cities in the world, you can remember the value of nature, of a tree, of a garden.

So, I say to the people of New York of who had the in insight to open the 843 acre park in 1859 - good on 'ya. May it stay there forever as a constant reminder of how connected we must be with nature.