Some of us need to pay more attention to creating more sustainable ecosystem
“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”
― Mary Oliver
Some of us are paying careful attention to the world around us. I see people driving hybrids, drinking from re-usable bottles, and not watering lawns during this summer’s severe drought.
In August of 2021, I wrote for the Times about the drought we were experiencing, saying that we should re-think large lawns with water-thirsty grass varieties in “Those brown lawns hold opportunity for the future.” Proof that we’re making changes is the support legislatively for the Lawns to Legumes program, which provides funds for native plantings and which seems to be quite popular.
However, some of us may need to pay a little more attention. On hot, dry days, I’ve seen brown lawns being sprayed with chemicals, most likely fertilizer, insecticides, or herbicides. Do dormant and stressed lawns benefit from this application? I know the lawn care companies are fulfilling their contractual duties, yet this short-term thinking has long-term consequences.
Two fellow Times writers, Patrick Henry and Derek Larson, wrote about climate change last Sunday. Henry included what state government is doing to help. Larson included statistics about our hot, dry weather. The June 29 drought monitor shows us continuing in a severe drought locally with most of the state at least abnormally dry.
Our environment is changing, and it’s affecting us humans with the high temps and drought as well as the animals and plants who live with us.
In a Minnesota Public Radio story by Dan Gunderson, “Birds, bugs and climate change,” we learn that the change in Minnesota’s weather pattern is affecting birds. Researchers Alexis Grinde and Annie Bracey are studying how tree swallows are struggling because their breeding cycle doesn’t match when the insects they eat appear. Sadly, they’re not able to study bluebirds in the same grassland area because the bluebirds haven’t appeared for two years.
It's not just Minnesota. A National Public Radio story by Alison Aubrey, “Honeybee deaths rose last year. Here's why farmers would go bust without bees,” reports that over one year, “beekeepers lost 48.2 percent of their colonies.” This is a big jump in the rate. One researcher calls it “a continuation of worrisome loss rates.” The causes may be the varroa mite as well as climate change and pesticides. The article also talks about bees losing wildflowers and other food sources due to urbanization. If bees those their food, we lose the bees, and then we lose bee-pollinated foods such as apples and blueberries.
Since I began with Mary Oliver, a poet famous for her observations of the natural world, I’ll end with her thoughts as well: “To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”
This nature nerd watches the insect party at the native flowers I planted — heavy bumbles that look too big to fly, tiny bees almost impossible to see, and shiny green bees. It’s not just native flowers that help bees. The hybrid Wave petunias not only attract bees but hummingbirds as well. I feel good that my yard is an ecosystem. Other ideas include a pot of flowers on a balcony or front step, volunteering to care for the flowers in a local park, and refraining from using pesticides or other lawn and garden chemicals. We’ll pay attention, giving new meaning to the phrase talking about the birds and the bees.
This is the opinion of Linda Larson, a St. Joseph resident. She is the author of "Grow It. Eat It," which won a national award, and "A Year In My Garden." Her column is published the second Sunday of the month.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Some need to pay more attention to creating more sustainable ecosystem
