If love is a verb (it is!), these are the actions that bring out LA’s best
February 2025. By Isara Ongwiseth: We are in long haul love with Los Angeles, and we are always looking for ways to up our game. Seeing how we manage the worst of times together only intensifies our passion for perfecting our union. As we review what we’ve experienced together in the past month, we’ve set intentions. We’ll:
Show Up
Our love is so much more than “LA Strong.” LA just modeled what it really means to love our neighbors. Angelenos risked their lives to ensure neighbors evacuated, to save one another’s pets and properties. Fire stations and shelters overflowed with material and monetary donations. Volunteer groups coalesced to lend an ear, clean up, and serve in all sorts of ways. When the chips are down, Angelenos show up.
What if we kept that love flowing into proactive preparation? This might look like collaborating as neighbors to create defensible space, prepare neighbors who cannot prepare themselves, and form California Fire Safe Councils or Fire Wise Communities.
Keep Up Appearances
Just as self-care also shows respect to a partner, consistent home and garden maintenance are among the best ways for us to show consideration for LA’s fiery temperament. Will this maintenance prevent confrontations with LA’s fire? No. However, it will prepare us get through the tough times with less damage.
To impress LA, we’ll want to prepare our homes, dress in her in heat- and drought-hearty native foliage, keep our gardens limbed-up throughout the year, and, of course, stay hydrated.
Dig Deeper
We may think we’ve reached the peak of our ability to give or absorb love. We find there is almost always room to dig a little deeper – at least a little bit! Hollowing out enough space to slow, spread and sink stormwater with features called bioswales helps us give LA more of what she needs to thrive without all the hustle involved in importing water.
It may feel like a heavy lift as we excavate old material and reshape our boundaries. The work really pays off as the rain supercharges foliage growth and kids delight in the hills and valleys they get to navigate with us.
Get Tough
While in most respects, giving is the better way to court LA’s affections, there are some places where we need to toughen up for our own good. We need to establish firm boundaries – LA is going to burn, and she needs to know where we draw the line before she does.
We are not saying we need to be come impermeable. Far from it! We do need wrap our homes and possibly other structures with clear, clutter free and ember resistant paths. In the good times, these boundaries can help us circumnavigate and maintain what we hold most dear. As we get comfortable with how it looks and feels to have these boundaries in place, we’ll likely come to wonder how we ever lived with LA without drawing tem.
Make Affection a Habit
Like a daily peck on a partner’s cheek as we head out the door, small, consistent actions can smooth out touch edges and build goodwill. These habits may seem a little superfluous when LA is well fed and sunny. When she’s overheated and hangry for water, they really pay off.
Here are the helpful habits that will keep us in good shape.
Stay Curious
When we adore and study someone’s needs, vicissitudes and charms over the course of years, it becomes easy to assume we know them. We see that lead to miscommunication between human actions and nature in LA all the time! We are committed to questioning what we think we know and staying in curiosity.
We are in the process of asking LA who she is now. This looks like questioning our priorities, our limits, and how we are showing up – even where our strategies have succeeded. It means examining the ins and outs of what we’ve just experienced together in search of ways to create a better conversation between our built and natural worlds.
Will you join us?
