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Never has Mother Nature been so verbally maligned as in post-diluvian New Orleans.

It started with the green belts of the Urban Land Institute’s proposal and the legendary green dots of the Bring New Orleans Back plan last winter. Some New Orleanians came to see green space as a menacing blob doing the bidding of evil, scheming developers bent on violating average folks’ property rights and turning neighborhoods into golf courses for the rich.

At any rate, through a mixture of inept communication and political demagoguery, “green” has become mean. So much so that Bill Jefferson’s campaign maligned a top opponent in the House race as being part of the “green space crowd”—i. e., the Evil Others.

But relief from such foolishness—the negative burlesque of politics and the media, or the pathological anxiety of humanity — is precisely the benediction green space offers us. Green spaces don’t kill neighborhoods. They make neighborhoods more alive.

Take the oaks of City Park. Some are ancient, having presided over their surroundings since the days before the French arrived. They have witnessed tribal Indian wars, duels, and suicides. But to sit beneath their branches is to be in the presence of a nobility that transcends the small-minded grudges or petty dramas that led to those events. It is to be in the presence of a grandeur that turns worries into trifles. It is to be in the presence of a stillness that quiets the noise in our heads if we let it, that allows for a cessation of the constant doing, so that, for a change, there is just being. That is especially important for New Orleanians in this time of crisis.

A century and more ago, the people of New Orleans planted oak trees up and down the streets and avenues to provide shade from the heat and to infuse the city with life. Today, groups like the City Park “Mow-Rons” have filled the void left by Katrina and are volunteering to maintain the park on their own time. Parts of the park have never looked better. The tree planters a century ago left us a legacy. The Mow-Rons today give us a gift of encouragement.

But the greatest gift is from the green spaces themselves. The grass, waters and trees, as well as the birds they attract, speak to us at a depth beyond words. What they ask in return is that we recognize their beauty and do a bit of maintenance. As we rebuild neighborhoods we should not forget the inestimable return on that comparatively meager investment.

Filed under: Editorials