Future of Man(hattan)

I finished reading a remarkable book called Mannahatta: A natural history of New York City this week, a coffee table-style book about Manhattan island when first discovered by Henry Hudson in 1609. I picked it up because I wanted an innovative history of the city and had recently traveled there. I realized why so many call greatest city on the planet. What I enjoyed most were the people – the fact that there are so many characters, and fashion and social statements are created just because people see a combination that interests them and they go for it. The lack of self-consciousness about the city and her people is perhaps why the rest of the world has to take them seriously. Many of the people you see walking on the streets of New York, perhaps with an odd outfit or shoes that for now are out of style, nevertheless exude confidence (which is also true of the book, in fact). This is precisely the reason that they pull it off, and the reason that the rest of the less-confident consumer public follows their innovation. The noise and vibrancy of the peopled city is perhaps what makes numerous pages of facing maps from 1609 and 2009 so compelling: they exhibit contrast between the tranquility and cacophony of the two eras, yet of course the pages make no noise.

I have long believed that my “drop in the ocean” makes a difference in terms of conserving resources. The last chapter of the book supports the idea, and presages the sea change in our mindset regarding the environment. Thinking of Manhattan in 2409, when we will undoubtedly have a more ecological mindset, it put a face on the long view of the conservation movement. It's always so difficult to explain in conversations about changing our habits and being more conscious of how we eat, construct our buildings, use transportation, and create waste. We can see this consciousness blossoming today, as more people install solar panels atop their homes and buy hybrid vehicles, as state governments enact taxes on overly-dispensable plastic bags, and technologies such as lightbulbs and refrigerators are manufactured to operate more efficiently.

In writing about the Lenape, the people who lived on the island when it was Mannahatta, Sanderson wrote of their hospitality and ignorance of wealth as we know it. I had never recognized these well-known characteristics in the same way as when he wrote about it. Native Americans took stock in the wealth of the community and people around them, rather than what they owned or their savings in a bank account. Money does, for the most part, correspond with happiness in our society. Not owning things that we don’t need and being sure that we use the goods we keep–minimalism–is something that appeals to me, and a principle that does make us happier. An acquaintance from South America dropped me a line about dia del amigo, a holiday which is unfortunately overlooked in the States. As we think of it in relation to the social customs of the Lenape, perhaps our culture (and this writer, I admit) does not celebrate it because our culture doesn’t accommodate such simple things as good advice and lunchtime company because we’re too concerned with wealth and progress.

The great thing is, Sanderson doesn’t take anything away from the people of Manhattan (or humankind, for that matter) for fouling up the once-immaculate ecology of the island, but instead gives them credit for making it such an innovative and unique place. He leaves us with an understanding of the city as it once was, and how some of the natural elements once banished are returning, with an idea of the role of nature in the modern city. The author reminds us that the challenge to reintroduce nature to our modern surroundings will come as much by necessity as by desire. But, as the process continues over the next 400 years, we’ll return to an earth more enjoyable for all of us.

"Our ability to come together to stop or limit damage to the world's environment will be the greatest test of how far we came as a world community" – Margaret Thatcher