INCREASING BIODIVERSITY OF OUR GREEN SPACES 2020

 

 INCREASING BIODIVERSITY OF  OUR  GREEN SPACES 

In 2019 when I went on a 2000 km road  trip exploring and enjoying the great variety of vistas in Ontario and Quebec, I noticed the majority of  homeowners and  municipalities  continue to focus on creating static monocultures of clean- cut Kentucky lawns.

In many places in the country, I observed acres and acres of mown lawns with no spaces left to growing  according to the whims of Mother Nature,  thus providing food sources for our precious pollinators.

 Maybe, just maybe, Mother Nature knows best!

 

Why we need to make bold changes to our landscaping practices

 

v  our precious pollinators, for their continued survival,  need  a variety native and non-native flora growing in meadows-like areas- the greater the variety the healthier and more robust the pollinators

v  there is a dire need to  increase nectar-brimming flora as the UN ( 2020)  announced a decline of 90 % in our bumblebee population- with their fat and furry bodies bumble bees are master pollinators - we rely on pollinators  for one third mouthful of all the food we eat

v  we have seen a decline of over 50% of grassland birds since  the 1970’s, grassland birds greatly benefit from naturalized meadows –  virtually no food can be found in static, manicured heavily- loaded with chemical fertilizers lawns

v   recent research  reveals that  grassland meadows are a more reliable carbon sink than trees - during forest fires trees release carbon back into the atmosphere, whereas,  in grassland fires the carbon stays in the roots and soil, making naturalized area more adaptive to climate change than trees

v  we are living under the fear of a climate chaos, whose perils cannot be  exaggerated- reducing  mowing means fewer green  house gases,  as well as,  disease producing pollutants  contaminating the air we breathe - global overheating is happening at twice the rate here in Canada than elsewhere in the world

v  the mowing of naturalized patches decreases biodiversity and increase the creation of static mono-cultures

v  a greener, biologically diversified, and flora- friendly city vastly contributes to the health and well-being of all of us - we are all connected  in the web of life and the decline and elimination of any organisms , like the ones found in naturalized areas will impact all of us