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There seems to be a worldwide movement to allow wild meadow to replace short-clipped turf lawns.

Here are links to just a few of many articles I’ve seen recently about what I’m calling the “Back-to-Meadow Movement.”

People are being encouraged to allow lawns to revert to meadow to save bees and other pollinators. To help its declining population of essential pollinators, the state of Minnesota is even looking at paying homeowners to replace lawns with bee-friendly wildflowers and native grasses.

Note, if I were to be allowed to try this on the empty lot next to me (I have just emailed my idea to the relevant departments of my city government), the grass would spontaneously revert to meadow just by easing up on mowing. There’s no need to go to the expense of ripping out the grass and planting flowers. The wildflowers and grasses emerge of their own accord over time. Think how much money we could save, as well as helping the environment and reducing the use of noisy mechanized equipment in neighborhoods!

Below the article links you can read the letter I sent. I hope it’ll help others who would want to do similar things in their own cities.

In London, UK, “The London borough of Brent is creating a ‘bee corridor’ of meadowland to boost the population of vital pollinators.” (from inews)

Gardeners urged to let lawns run wild and count flowers to help save bees: “While many gardeners prize a well-maintained lawn, conservationists are urging people to leave their mowers in the shed and count wildflowers instead,” reports the Independent.

In the U.S. state of Minnesota, MNN reports, “lawmakers have approved a new spending program … to pay homeowners who replace traditional lawns with bee-friendly wildflowers, clover and native grasses.”

Farmers are getting in on it too: Farmers using flowers instead of chemicals to beat back pests: “It’s been a common practice to grow flowers around the perimeter of farmland acres, because it encourages biodiversity. But agriculturalists are experimenting with strips of flowers within their crops, creating a highway for bugs to travel farther and cover more ground for pest control.” (from GreenMatters)

And finally, my letter to city officials (some details omitted for privacy and conciseness):

Hope you find these resources helpful in restoring quiet, beauty, and pollinators to your neighborhood.

Dear <City Officials of relevant departments>,

As you know, I live on xxx Avenue at the intersection of xxx and xxx. Immediately adjacent to me on xxx is an empty lot owned by the City. Currently is is being kept mowed extremely short by a contractor.

I would like permission to try an experiment on all or part of this lot. I would like to try managing it as a “managed meadow,” allowing the grass to grow a few inches high and selectively encouraging the emergence of native wildflowers and dune grasses. I would create mowed borders or other features to ensure a neat and deliberate appearance. 

The benefits to the City would be multi-fold:

— Reduced runoff, improved stormwater percolation, improved soil quality, improved erosion control (there is considerable erosion on the slope right now, as frequent mowing with large machinery has created many bare patches where there used to be grass and small shrubs)

— Improved microclimate (cooler; better hydration; reduced heat-island effect)

— Habitat for butterflies and other pollinators

— Neighborhood beautification: softer, greener vegetation; flowers

— Potential increase in property values; attract more fulltime residents through a unique natural amenity

— Potential for community garden feature, by introducing a small patch of edible greens and herbs (at one corner of the meadow next to the sidewalk, inviting residents to pick fresh greens)

— Reduction in noise and air pollution by reducing/eliminating need for large gas-powered equipment

— Test-bed for “Managed Meadow” concept that could potentially be implemented citywide, freeing up for other tasks the resources currently being used for mowing

— Since I’d be volunteering, there would be potential money savings for the City (though I am not setting out to deprive the contractors of income by reducing their hours, so might have to put some more thought into this aspect) <Comment thought of after sending letter: while not seeking to deprive anyone of a livelihood, I cannot condone practices that are unhealthy to the land, creatures, and people.>

I propose to try the Managed Meadow experiment for six months, subject to monitoring by the City. Assuming it goes well, I would continue (possibly enlisting neighbors’ help via community workdays).

It seems to me that the City could benefit greatly by not having to use so many resources for close-cropped mowing. Also, there is great potential for improved stormwater absorption, which obviously is a hot-button item for us as it is for many cities.

And the residents could benefit greatly from the beautification and noise reduction.

With this plan I would create attractive signage to inform the public of the intent and benefits of the Managed Meadow.

Before starting, I would approach the other homeowners whose lots are ajacent to this one, and get their approval by explaining the intent and answering questions to satisfy any possible concerns.

In the future, if someone wants to build a house on this lot, the meadowscape would be no barrier — and likely would even be seen as a desirable feature of the lot.

What are your thoughts on this? I’ve been thinking about this for a very long time and would love to make it happen.

All the best to you,

 

Talks/Presentations

“Naturally Cool: Beat the Heat, Help the Environment, and Cut Your Utility Bill.” Did you know that home cooling accounts for about 46 percent of your energy bill in summertime? In this presentation I’ll talk about a variety of simple DIY adjustments you can make to keep your home and yourself cooler, while also helping the environment and of course reducing your utility bill! (This talk is part of my “Healthy Living with the Environment” series of talks, which I do on the first Friday each month at Breakers Oceanfront Park Environmental Learning Center, 13 S. Atlantic Avenue, Daytona Beach.) Friday June 7, 12 noon – 1:30pm.

Previous talks in the series so far: 1) “Healthy Living with the Environment: An Introduction to Permaculture Design”; 2) “Rainwater Harvesting & Waterwise Landscaping.”

Radio Shows

“Green Infrastructure” radio show. This is part of my “Green Daytona” series, which airs on the second Wednesday of the month. It’s during the City of Daytona Beach Government radio show, which you can hear every Wednesday from noon to 1pm Eastern Standard Time (U.S.) on WJOY 106.3 FM. (By the way, WJOY is a gospel station, so when the CODB radio show isn’t on, you can hear gospel music and related content.) The “Green Infrastructure” show will be on Wednesday June 12, from 12 noon – 1pm on WJOY.

Previous installments in the series so far: 1) “Permaculture, Sustainability, and Low-Footprint Living”; 2) “Natural Capital.”

Workshops

Rainwater Harvesting & Waterwise Landscaping (upcoming workshop at a residence – not open to the public)

All of these talks and presentations are available by request. I will tailor the content to address your group’s concerns, needs, and goals.

Journalist Tik Root tested the energy-efficiency of the typical approaches to boiling water, and wrote up his findings in the New York Times. Turns out the electric kettle is quite a bit more energy-efficient than either the stovetop or the microwave.

I like my electric kettle. It takes just over a minute to heat up the 0.6 liter of water (20 ounces) that I heat up on a typical day. When heating water for coffee, I do not let it reach the boiling point. My ideal temperature for water to pour over coffee in my reusable filter is considerably less than the boiling point. I think it might be about 180. I have learned to hear when the kettle water reaches the temperature I like. There’s a certain set of ticking sounds and whooshing noises that comes well before actual boiling. And I’ve read that the differential represents a considerable energy savings.

Now, if you really want to be an eco-ninja, you could boil water with a Rocket Stove or Kelly Kettle. All it takes is a handful of dead twigs or other small fuel readily available from the natural environment.

Here’s a handy calculator by PhD candidate Hanna Pamula for computing your plastic footprint. Thanks for your work Hanna! (And her site also offers links to 10 other eco calculators, such as Car vs. Bike.)

According to the calculator, my plastic consumption comes in at about 5% of the U.S. average. But that is still over 700 pounds in my lifetime! I got rated an “ecological ninja” but still have plenty of room for improvement.

One of my latest areas of focus is trying to remember more consistently, when I go out to eat or drink, to ask in advance for a non-plastic drinking glass and no straw, etc. I just don’t think of it sometimes because I never buy that stuff or use it at home. But I’m getting better at remembering!

For your enjoyment today, I offer this article from Vox.com on why walkable cities are good for people and the economy.

I particularly like this quote from the article: “The most common condition is the poor person who can afford a car but it totally disrupts their finances … The unfortunate circumstance is that most Americans live in places where car ownership is mandatory.” (On this subject, AAA reports that the average cost of owning a car in 2016 was $8,500. And I’ve heard significantly higher figures from other sources.)

I get so mad when I see people of limited financial means getting eaten alive by automobile ownership!

It is challenging but not impossible to retrofit places that have become unwalkable due to the suburbanization and “automobilization” of street planning and development.

Easier, though, if we can get proactive about preserving existing historic streetscapes and town layouts, which were based on walking as the main way for people to get around. Here are some thoughts from Strong Towns on the benefits of walkability. Strong Towns is a powerful grassroots movement for addressing, at the root level, common woes of cities and towns (from fiscal to social).

Another walkability article for you: AARP on the “20-minute village” (a new (old) concept that is gaining popularity). “Although we tend to think of walking to work, shopping, cafés and parks as big city amenities, traveling by foot was the foundation of community life in small towns, suburbs and villages before the dominance of cars, parking lots and malls.”

The article talks about a walkable village that rose out of the ruins of a defunct shopping mall: “Belmar — a wholly new community rising from the ruins of the Villa Italia Mall in suburban Lakewood, Colorado — features a town center complete with stores and eateries of every description as well as an Irish pub, bowling alley, ice skating rink and flourishing street life, all conveniently surrounded by townhomes and apartments.”

And from Citylab, 10 Techniques for Making Cities More Walkable.

And finally, from @JeffSpeckAICP on Twitter:

Small brain: How many cars can we move?

Big brain: How many people can we move?

Galactic brain: Why do we need to move people? Put their daily needs close at hand. #Walkability

That’s all for now! I have some other work to do, and then I’m going to meet a friend for lunch at a place that’s a nice 15-minute walk from my house.

PS. In this blog I explore at leisurely length, and in no particular order, a variety of threads related to sustainable living. If you also want a handy, compact, ordered guide that contains in condensed form the basic principles for designing your own low-footprint lifestyle, get yourself a copy of my book Deep Green! It’s available on Amazon or direct through me.

1) Cottage industries (garage-based welding shops, repair shops, cabinetmaking operations, etc.) have been almost completely zoned out of residential neighborhoods because people don’t want the noise and traffic of commerce. But it occurred to me that our “quiet, non-industrial” residential neighborhoods nowadays are filled with the noise and fumes of leafblowers, weed-whackers, ride-on mowers, and landscaping company trucks! The noise level in our quiet neighborhoods has become rather deafening.

2) Until fairly recently in U.S. history, a large percentage of us were farmers, or somehow employed in agriculture. But farming as an occupation came to be seen as laborious drudgery. So we fled the farm for the cubicle. But it occurred to me that we are still farmers! Only difference is, we no longer grow food or wildlife habitat. We are farmers of vanity landscaping, chained to the lawn-treadmill. Oh, and actual food-growing agriculture has been zoned out of most residential neighborhoods. <Cue the theme song to “Green Acres” here.>

Just a couple of unintended ironies that crossed my mind recently. One lesson I see here is that taking some action purely to get rid of or get away from something often produces just a slightly different-flavored version of the situation we had labeled undesirable.

How about you, what would you add to this list?

The City of Atlanta is getting ready to create what will be the largest public food forest in the USA to date. It will be on a 7-acre parcel of land that currently sits vacant.

Atlanta’s move is part of the city’s plan to “strengthen local food economy to ensure 85 percent of the city residents are within one-half mile of fresh food access by 2021.”

Many towns and cities have created food forests in parks, on vacant land, or along public right-of-way.

In my city, Daytona Beach, I can envision a food forest corridor extending along Martin Luther King Blvd (it could be incorporated into the upcoming landscape improvement plan for that street), and continuing along Mary McLeod Bethune Avenue.

Besides providing residents with access to fresh food, the plantings of fruit trees, vines, and vegetables would have several more benefits including:

– improve stormwater mitigation, flood control

– increase urban shade canopy

– reduce crime by creating an attractive amenity that draws people out of their houses to spend time in the public space

– increase property values, make our urban core more attractive to both residents and visitors

– products of the forest-garden would create potential income opportunities for local residents

– shady, walkable corridor would boost local businesses by increasing foot traffic

– “Trojan horse” for the movement to eliminate use of herbicides & pesticides in public spaces

Besides urban rights-of-way, another potential site for food forests is in golf-course residential developments where the golf course has become financially insolvent due to residents’ declining interest in golf (and declining willingness to pay the mandatory club membership fees). This is a growing issue nationwide. We could transform such golf courses into food forest/fitness parks with walking trails. Residents unwilling or unable to pay golf-course membership fees might be happy to pay the fee if it were buying them fresh produce and a walking trail.

Residential developments offering a food forest (or a community-focused farm) as an amenity are called “agri-hoods” and are becoming very popular. The presence of fresh food has been shown to significantly increase property values.

Where in your city or neighborhood would you like to put a food forest(s)?