For many years I have been interested in the wilderness, mountains and the solitude of my surroundings in them. Specifically, I have a real passion for Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. Whenever I get a chance, I drive over and visit friends, go hiking, or seek out large and historic trees (a personal hobby of mine).  The distinct mountain culture is very appealing to me.

It would be nice to live in the wilderness, but the world is not structured in a way for all of us to live among such delights; it's just not big enough. Imagine if all of the six billion or so people in the world each wanted to take up an acre right now; there would be no wilderness.

According to Timothy W. Luke, a professor at Virginia Tech, "cities currently occupy only two percent of the Earth's land mass, but they house 50 percent of its population, consume 75 percent of all resources, and create 75 percent of its waste." It is projected that the world's human population will reach 10 billion by 2050; most of whom will be living in cities. 

Why do we settle in cities rather than naturally beautiful places like the beach or the mountains?  Is it jobs? Family? Convenience? Personal choice?

For me, it's a compromise. Some of the major environmental issues that affect the world are based in urban areas of development where population is the greatest. I want to be involved in the environmental issues of urban areas.

Everyone in Richmond contributes an individual impact on the environment. It is important for us all to understand the resources we have and what the environmental consequences are of our actions. Recent scientific studies on specific populations and areas are telling us that we may not be as safe and secure as we thought.

I have assessed many different definitions of 'ecosystem' through numerous publications over the years. In its basic form, an ecosystem is a group of living and non-living organisms that interact with one another in a specific area. Originally, studies in ecology ignored humans as integral parts of ecosystems. However, today, in a world where most land areas show clear signs of human intervention, ecology (and environmental studies in general) must be applied to conditions brought about by human activity.

I want you to consider something very important: Richmond is a living, breathing ecological system. Our ecosystem maintains humans as the dominant species. Everything that happens in this city and the species that inhabit it are a result of human actions since Richmond's founding in 1737. Humans are the keystone species defining Richmond's ecological conditions.

Richmond has inputs (food, materials, fossil fuels), outputs (emissions, storm water runoff, municipal waste), and internal processes that can manipulate or contribute to the Earth's health. Cities may seem like environmental nightmares because the 'outputs' are so enormous, but this is untrue. Cities are environmentally friendly in many ways.

I hope you can appreciate this column as Richmond's Urban Ecology Guide. I want to facilitate specific environmental initiatives and take on important issues that are occurring right here within our own little ecosystem so we can learn and appreciate Richmond's urban ecology together.  

We are a finite globe. Our consumptive patterns will be of utmost importance over the next 100 years. Within this time period our Earth will change – in many ways for the good, in many ways for the bad. We've all heard about Global Warming, but there are many other factors that need to be considered (and prepared for) such as population, invasive species, storm water runoff, land use, poverty and disease. These are all connected to the ways in which we consume the Earth's renewable and non-renewable resources.

I would like to use the word resilience when speaking of Richmond. This is the ability of a system to adjust in the face of changing internal and external conditions. Resilience should be the learning objective in this continually changing urban ecosystem. You will see that people, slowly but surely, are taking it upon themselves to renew Richmond into a sustainable ecosystem that will hopefully thrive for generations to come. 

As we uncover Richmond's environmental issues, I look forward to your comments and suggestions on how we can develop together in our own ecosystem.

David Martin is an environmental consultant in Richmond. He has maintained a devoted study in environmental issues since his early teens, when his sister would kidnap him from home and take him to Blacksburg to appreciate Geology, go hiking and tube the New River. David recently fled the country of Ghana because he received too many marriage proposals.