michael slater

Urban Planning, Landscape Design & Arboriculture

Grounded

An occasional commentary on the built and natural environments of Salem, the Willamette Valley, and the Wider World.

I write about how we shape the places where we live—from Salem land-use policy and urban development to parks, trees, biodiversity and gardening in the Willamette Valley and the wider world. Drawing on my work in planning, landscape design, and arboriculture, I look at both public policy and the landscapes immediately around us.

Book cover of Simon Mustoe’s Wildlife in the Balance

Our Future Is Dependent on Wildlife

A Discussion of Simon Mustoe’s Wildlife in the Balance Abundant, diverse wildlife creates the conditions for human life on Earth. This thesis animates Simon Mustoe’s Wildlife in the Balance: Why Animals Are Humanity’s Best Hope, published in 2022. Mustoe builds his argument from established concepts in thermodynamics, mathematical biology and ecology, but combines them into a more provocative proposition: that abundant wildlife is a critical part of the planetary system. Wild

Michael Slater

6 hours ago

michael slater

Grounded

An occasional commentary on the built and natural environments of Salem, the Willamette Valley, and the Wider World.

Subscribe to Grounded

Our Future Is Dependent on Wildlife