So I feel like if you ask most people to like describe what nature is in Los Angeles, right?

They will say something like the beach or palm trees.

You and I both live in Los Angeles and of course we know that it's more than that.

So what in your opinion is wrong with that answer?

The first error that I go to is palm trees. I mean, yes, palm trees are up and down Los Angeles, but let's,

bear in mind, palm trees don't belong here. Palm trees are an invasive species. Palm trees were

brought here to make, you know, some Olympic games in the 1930s seem

like an exotic Mediterranean experience versus the swamp land that became the cow factory

that became the orange groves, that is Los Angeles.

And so now we are just like dotted by all these trees that provide zero shade that are charming on a postcard, but truthfully often have rats that climb up into them and then defecate on your car.

The infamous palm rat.

The infamous palm rat.

I'm not anti-palm, but it is

a wild thing for us to be associated with

when on the biodiversity level,

on the nature level,

we actually have true wilderness here.

This is my friend Rosecrans Baldwin.

He's the author of a book called Everything Now, Lessons from the City State of Los Angeles.

And while he was doing reporting for that book, Rosecrans explored the city from a million different angles.

Everything from urban hikes to shadowing actors during award seasons, to sitting through strange, culty self-help

seminars. In other words, he knows a lot about L.A. And even though L.A. is a city often associated

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