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Dr. Nadina Galle • #InternetofNature

@internetofnature_

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ecological engineer • @natgeo explorer • podcaster • award-winning author of ‘The Nature of Our Cities’ @harpercollins @wmebooks • at home in 🇨🇦🇳🇱🇨🇼

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IT'S PAPERBACK RELEASE DAY FOR THE NATURE OF OUR CITIES!

Not every hardcover makes it to paperback.....I didn't really know that until I was in it — and now that this moment is here, I feel so lucky.

Because this only exists because of YOU.

The people who bought it, read it, passed it on, sent voice notes at strange hours, brought it to talks, left it in little free libraries.

You kept this book alive.... for two whole freaking years!!!

I am so grateful. Thank you! Now go get another copy for a friend (under $20!!) and make me and @harpercollins @marinerbooks very happy 😊

#thenatureofourcities #paperback #urbanature #internetofnature #urbanecology by @internetofnature_

🎥 Over the past few months, @katjanacabenda and I have been crisscrossing Curaçao—from Bandabou to Bandariba, and everywhere in between—documenting “Curaçao’s Nature Pioneers.” The people who’ve dedicated themselves, often quietly and without recognition, to protecting the wild heart of this island. 🌵🐚🌊

I got to do this as part of my work as @natgeo Explorer, and honestly? It’s been one of the most meaningful projects I’ve ever worked on.

We met so many incredible people: folks restoring mangroves by hand, rewilding schoolyards, protecting coral reefs and sea turtles, teaching kids to fall in love with the mondi. Some were scientists, others just passionate community members who refuse to give up on nature.

Together with @femimeaux and @cindymneman, this has been such a labor of love—and now it’s almost time to share it with you.

The very first @citynaturechallengecuracao starts in 5 (!!!) days: April 25–28!

What is it? It’s a global event organized by @calacademy and @nhmla, where nearly 1,000 cities come together to do a simple but powerful thing: document their local biodiversity.

Joining is easy:
1️⃣ Download the free @inaturalistorg app
2️⃣ Between April 25–28, head outside—anywhere. The mondi, the beach, the water, your backyard, even the sidewalk
3️⃣ Snap pics of any wild plant or animal you see (yes, bugs and weeds count!)
4️⃣ Upload them to the app—you just contributed to global biodiversity research

This island has so much more nature than people think. But it’s under threat—and a lot of it still hasn’t even been documented. The CNC gives us a way to change that.

Even if you only have 15 minutes, your photos matter. Your curiosity matters. Your love for this place matters.

Let’s do this together. Let’s show the world what Curaçao is made of. Let’s put our island on the biodiversity map. 🗺️💚 by @internetofnature_

A special moment from last week’s Dutch launch of DE NATUUR VAN ONZE STEDEN at @pakhuisdezwijger with moderator @milouska__meulens: a live reading of one of my favorite parts—the last three pages.

These pages hold so much meaning for me, capturing the heart of both the book and my career. Writing them was a challenge in itself, but sharing them with a room full of family, friends, and colleagues? That was something else entirely.

Exciting news! @at5.nl will be airing a segment from the book launch as a special episode on October 17th. Stay tuned for updates.

And to everyone who grabbed a copy this weekend—thank you! 🙏 The response has been incredible, and we’re seeing the momentum.

Let’s keep it going! 💚 For anyone still looking to get theirs, head to nadinagalle.com/book for all the details.

If you spot it in stores, don’t forget to tag me! #DeNatuurVanOnzeSteden

📸 cover photo by the talented @alaaaia 😍 by @internetofnature_

Two beautiful weeks in Colombia 🇨🇴

A keynote at @smartcityexpocali on building bio-intelligent cities, then a serendipitous few days at the Urban Tree Diversity conference in Medellín, sharing a session with people whose work fills my book. All with a very special plus one 💚

¿The Nature of Our Cities en español? 👀 stay tuuuuned!

¡Hasta pronto, Colombia!

#smartcityexpocali #urbanforestry #internetofnature #colombia #medellin by @internetofnature_

Colombia, here we come!! 🇨🇴

Next week I'm kicking things off at @smartcityexpocali with a keynote on the Internet of Nature, and I can't wait!

Our cities are packed with sensors tracking traffic, energy, parking… but the trees, soils and species that actually keep us alive? Mostly invisible.

So I'll be sharing what it looks like when we flip that. Forests mapped with LiDAR, cameras that count insects, microphones that listen for birds coming back, and neighbours turned into nature detectives through the City Nature Challenge.

📍 Cali · Wednesday, Sept. 30 · 9:30 AM

Then it's on to Medellín, where I'll be talking tree monitoring at the Urban Tree Diversity conference on Oct. 9 🌳 urbantreediversity.org

📚 And a little bonus: I'm bringing signed copies of THE NATURE OF OUR CITIES, and giving one away at each talk. Come say hi and it could be yours!

If you know people doing cool urban nature work in Colombia, please send them my way 🙏

#internetofnature #smartcityexpocali #urbannature #smartcities #urbanforestry by @internetofnature_

Here’s a number that should bother more people than it does: 50 mm 🌳

That’s the minimum tree size most Ontario cities require for street planting. We pay a premium for it because we want the canopy now.

But big trees lose more roots when they’re dug up, and they spend years catching up with themselves. Smaller trees often settle in faster, grow faster, and cost less at almost every step.

It’s not “plant tiny everywhere.” Too small and the mowers and deer 🦌 win. The better question is: what’s the smallest tree that will actually thrive on this site?

Honestly, it’s impatience dressed up as ambition. The small tree asks for patience up front and pays it back.

Ground Truth #5 is live, link in bio 🔗

Who should read this 👇
- City foresters and planners who write the specs.
- Developers and landscape architects working to them.
- Nurseries and contractors who grow and plant the stock.
- Councillors who approve the budgets.
- And anyone who’s ever asked why their new street tree looks so sad.

Audio inspired by @wesleylincolnr 💚

#UrbanForest #UrbanForestry #StreetTrees #UrbanTrees by @internetofnature_

I grew up in the patches the developers forgot.

Not parks but those little strips left between subdivisions, the scrubby corners too awkward to build on, the ditch behind the last row of houses. Nobody designed them. Nobody maintained them. That was the point...they were small enough to be "ours".

You learn a lot in a hundred square metres nobody is watching. Where the frogs are. Which log to turn over. How a place changes between April and August.

I was a guest on a new podcast, 'Birth of a Parent', hosted by @mfeigelson and produced by the @vanleerfoundation.

My episode is called "Is a Blade of Grass Enough?" and it turns on a question I've been chewing on since we recorded: what's big enough nature to matter?

In the episode, @mfeigelson and I discuss:

🐞 Toddlers as park rangers — a birch, a ladybug and a blade of grass all have the same weight when you haven't learned "hierarchy" yet
📍 Why the question was never how many hectares of green, but how far away
🪲 The emerald ash borer, and the closest thing we have to proof that when trees die, people die
🌾 What $1,500 and some grass seed did to gun violence in Philadelphia
🤱 Five weeks outdoors with postnatal mothers and their babies — and why nature wasn't the only therapist in the room
🐻 A bear, my father, and my little sister on his shoulders

🎧 Link in the comments or via my @substack (link in bio!)

#matrescence #motherhood #naturekids #greenkids #outdoorkids by @internetofnature_

Before children, a city is something you move through. After children, it’s something you start to see. And suddenly, the most meaningful spaces are nearby nature.

The neighbourhood park minutes from home. The tree-lined street where you stop for a breath. The small patch of grass where a toddler can spend ten minutes completely captivated by a ladybug.🐞

And if you really pay attention and see the world through their eyes, something remarkable happens: life becomes full of awe again.

In this week's episode of Birth of a Parent, environmental engineer, author and mother Dr Nadina Galle @internetofnature_ explores how parenthood changes our relationship with the natural world, and why the nature within a few hundred metres of home matters more than we realise.

💭 Has becoming a parent changed how you see your neighbourhood?

🎧 Listen now via the link in our bio.

#BirthOfAParent #Parenthood #Nature #EarlyChildhood #ChildDevelopment #MentalHealth #ParentWellbeing #UrbanNature #GreenSpaces by @internetofnature_

Next Tuesday, September 1, I'm joining @dr.owenwiseman for a @lafoundation webinar called "Measuring Nature and Its Benefits: New Tools and Tech".

Over two years ago, @dr.owenwiseman was kind enough to MC the hometown launch of THE NATURE OF OUR CITIES, the book that continues to open doors to opportunities like this one.

Owen will introduce @naturequant tools like #NatureScore and #NatureDose — how data and machine learning can quantify people's exposure to nature and its links to health and well-being.

I'll take the #InternetofNature up the scale of urban biodiversity monitoring: #CityNatureChallenge participants documenting species on their phones, AI-powered insect cameras and bioacoustic sensors listening to a site around the clock, soil and tree health sensors underground.

What each one makes measurable (think: species richness, habitat quality, canopy structure) and the question running through all of it....did the habitat the design promised actually arrive?

Catch it on Sept 1st from 2 to 3 pm ET. Sponsored by @vectorworks!

Registration link in the first comment 👇 by @internetofnature_

Upcoming Webinar!! How can emerging technologies help landscape architects better understand, measure, and communicate the performance of landscapes and natural systems?

Join us Tuesday, September 1 at 2pm ET to learn about new approaches to measuring the relationships between nature, people, and the built environment— and how these approaches can inform landscape design, ongoing management, and advocacy efforts. Presenters Dr. Owen Wiseman, ND and Dr. Nadina Galle will examine how emerging tools and approaches can expand our ability to evaluate landscape performance, demonstrate the benefits of landscape interventions, and use data to inform the design of healthier, more resilient, and nature-rich communities.

Visit the link in our bio, or visit LAFoundation.org/resources for details and to register! by @internetofnature_

A tree goes in. Right species, right staking, watered all season. Two years later it’s dead, or it’s exactly the size it was on planting day…

We blame the tree. We almost never look down.

Most urban soil is a construction byproduct with some dirt in it: roadside soils across Ontario and Alberta came back packed tight enough that roots can’t push through and water can’t drain out.

So we amend. Compost, mulch, biochar, fertilizer, inoculants. Decades of it, often without much evidence for which one, at what rate, in what soil.

@vinelandresearch’s team went through 200+ sources.

The findings?
- Nothing works universally
- Compost and mulch have the strongest evidence by far
- Biochar can be excellent or it can kill your tree, depending entirely on the feedstock (RIP blue spruce and balsam fir)

Issue #4 of Ground Truth is live — my monthly series following the Greening the Landscape Research Consortium’s research, produced in collaboration with @vinelandresearch

💌 Link in bio to my @substack.

#urbanforestry #urbannature #internetofnature #urbantrees by @internetofnature_

I’ve watched a lot of people make the case for trees. Shade, stormwater, cooling, carbon if they’re feeling ambitious. And the budget still gets cut.

So here’s the number I wish more of them led with: about one hundred trees in the ground works out to one life saved. That comes from Dr. Geoffrey Donovan’s work in Portland, where a nonprofit planted street trees for thirty years and kept records on every single one. More trees, fewer deaths from heart disease.

You can see it in reverse too, and it’s grim. When the emerald ash borer ripped through the US Midwest and Canada, all those dead ash trees were linked to something like 21,000 extra deaths from heart and lung disease. It never looked like a crisis. Just emptier sidewalks and a health problem with no single moment you could point to.

This is the part that gets me. We’ve had this evidence for two decades and it still isn’t making it into the right meetings, because we keep filing trees under “benefits.” And benefits are the nice-to-haves, the stuff that gets cut first when money’s tight. But a kid born at a healthy weight isn’t a nice-to-have. Someone not dying of heart disease isn’t a nice-to-have. Donovan puts it better than I can: trees aren’t livable infrastructure, they’re survivable infrastructure.

There’s even a version of this for the people who only speak 📈 spreadsheet. Kaiser Permanente looked at five million members and found the ones in the greenest neighbourhoods spent $374 less per person, per year, on healthcare. That belongs in front of a finance committee, not a parks department.

This is issue #3 of Ground Truth, my monthly series translating @vinelandresearch’s Greening the Landscape Research Consortium’s work for the people who plant and manage trees for a living. Because the right tree in the right place sounds small. Across a whole city, it really isn’t.

📬 Subscribe to my @substack (link in bio!!) to get every issue straight to your inbox.

#urbanforestry #urbannature #internetofnature #urbantrees by @internetofnature_