Alta Plaza Park

July 16, 2026

I’m sitting in a tree. It’s perfectly notched to hug my thighs together as I lean back against a thick trunk and stare out to the North, where a large palm and a lovely brick house frame my view of the bay.  Behind me, I hear children playing, as someone pushing a child on a swing asks ‘faster?’ and the kid squeals with delight. Most of the trees here are conifers, but they are a variety I am not familiar with. They seem to grow many sprouts from the same truck - all shooting straight up skywards. 

I find somewhat surprising how much of this park is grass. The slopes of grass between the switchbacks are so steep that they are no good for sitting or laying a blanket on. Yet, they are still planted with grass which is burnt brown from the sun. It would be so beautiful if this hill were planted with succulents or other botanicals more suited for the space, that might bring some ecological diversity to the park, or even provide food for pollinators. 

I read that one of the challenges for bees now is that they have so much space between their flower fields that they can’t travel far enough to migrate, as they used to, across the country. The ecological diversity that used to exist is diminishing, and the mobility of the bees, and ergo also their freedom, is under threat. 

I’ve told Nick that if he gets a big payout from his startup I want to create a pollinator path for the bees. I can make a path across the country by offering rebates for people replanting their yards with wildflowers, or by buying up little plots of land and turning them into flower fields. If we Americans collectively replaced our grassy lawns with flowers, we could replace over 40-50 million acres of ecologically dead land (lawns). Even just at the scale of one property, you can make a big difference. 

I love learning about little changes you can make that cost very little but have potentially very large effects on the environment. Another funny thing I learned recently is that light pollution is the only kind of pollution that is entirely reversible. It has a huge impact on bird migration, and ecosystems ranging from cities to beaches can be repaired by dark sky practices. Controlling light pollution also means a greater possibility of seeing the stars at night. Wouldn’t that be amazing, if we could see the milky way from the top of Alta Plaza Park, for instance? 

Anyway, I hope someone replaces this lawn with wildflowers or something. Otherwise, this park is remarkably beautiful. I’ve moved off my tree and am sitting on a bench in the sun now, listening to the leaves, facing the city to the south. 

It’s quiet here. Quieter than it was by the playground. I could listen to the rustle of this willow tree all day. It sounds like ocean waves.