Hey there, Mulchers! Let’s just dig right in today.

First up, the Mulch team is very excited to partner with The Big Reuse and District 38 to host a sidewalk tree bed cleanup and mulching this weekend. Make sure to join us on Saturday!

Thanks to all who showed up last week at our very first Mulch social! It was so wonderful getting to meet you all in real life. I’m so inspired by all of our conversations - this is an incredible community full of driven, knowledgable people!

Also, shoutout to everyone who made it out to Prospect Park for our second acorn scavenging event! If you couldn’t make it, don’t worry, we have one more coming up. Check the event section below for more info.

Case Study: Barcelona - The City That Chose to be Green

On an autumn afternoon in Barcelona, you can walk down a street that—twenty years ago—was choked with cars. Now, vines trail over trellises, pollinator gardens hum at intersections, and rows of insect hotels line the greenways.

The transformation isn’t accidental. It’s deliberate, and democratic.

Barcelona’s Nature Plan 2030 is a gleaming example in how a dense, bustling city can coexist with nature. It’s less about creating parks at the edges, and more about stitching wildness back into the fabric of daily life.

So what is in the nature plan?

• Plans to install hundreds of insect hotels, bird and bat boxes, and native plantings to boost pollinator and wildlife populations.

• Focus to create green corridors and “superblocks” — car-light zones that prioritize humans and habitat.

• Ambitious goals to increase canopy cover and build climate resilience through biodiversity rather than just hard infrastructure.

• Guidance for community support through participatory design, so residents helped shape and maintain the new green spaces.

Here in New York, we often talk about how green infrastructure could maybe help — Barcelona shows what happens when it does.

Rewilding isn’t just an environmental act; it’s a political choice. Policies like more green corridors, native planting incentives, or rethinking how streets are used don’t just appear out of nowhere. They’re voted in, fought for, and funded.

You don’t need to build an insect hotel in your backyard (though you can, and you should!). You can vote for the leaders and policies that make more wild spaces possible.

Did a friend send you this email? I’d love to have you join us! I send an email each week full of rewilding inspo and community highlights, so that you can be rooted in the fact that we are real people making a real difference in this city.