Letters: Do something for our species by doing less to your lawn

Appleton, Wis., has spearheaded a movement to save bees and other pollinators by encouraging its citizens simply not to mow their lawns during the month of May. The New York Times reported the town's initiative (with glorious pictures of overgrown lawns) in its April 4 New York edition, on page 16. Other towns in Wisconsin are following suit.

The idea? By letting lawns go with no mowing, what we call "weeds," such as dandelions and other early flowering "unwanted" plants, provide food to early emerging pollinators. Pollinators are life forms that we humans might seldom consider but are essential to our own survival. Much of our food supply depends on them and we are busily killing them off with pesticides and habitat destruction.

How about the city and county announcing a "No Mow May" and encourage homeowners to do their part for our species' continued existence — by doing less?

John Hamilton

South Bend

Suicides underreported

It has been two years now since the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the United States and countries all over the world. Although COVID-19 is a physical illness, it has also impacted the minds of millions of Americans due to the lockdown, the illnesses and deaths it has caused and the isolation that people are still recovering from.

Many people have turned to drugs in order to cope with the struggles that the pandemic has brought, and this has led to higher rates of overdosing throughout the United States. In St. Joseph County, there were 83 fatal drug overdoses in 2020, the most in recent history and more than double the number of accidental drug deaths the previous year.

In order to prevent drug overdoses from occurring at such high rates, mental health and substance abuse facilities need funding. But in our state, mental health and substance abuse facilities cannot receive funding when suicide and drug overdoses are going underreported in counties across the state.

This is why it is important that Indiana Senate Bill 84, suicide and drug overdose reporting, passed in the Indiana Senate and was signed into law by the governor.

This bill requires counties to give monthly reports on suicide and drug overdose fatalities, which will help the government to know which counties are struggling the most and give funding to mental health and substance abuse facilities to combat the issue.

Appreciation

Many thanks to the kind visitor at the Potawatomi Zoo who recently who found my purse left on a bench and turned it in. You turned my devastation into deep appreciation!

Janet Fahey

Mishawaka

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: "No mow May" helps our species' continued existence