In recent years there has been a great deal of concern in regard to a dwindling population of bees and other insects necessary for pollination. Some of this concern centers around the expanding use of GMOs which are intended to kill pests in food crops, but as a result, are also killing off insects necessary to the cycle of life. While you are reading articles published in online magazines for home improvement and maintenance, magazines like verellenhc also keep in mind that sometimes we over improve to the detriment of the ecology.
Always seek a healthy balance between aesthetics and nature when caring for your landscaping. In other words, go for those landscaping articles that encourage you to grow flowering plants in your gardens so that bees are encouraged to stop by for some of your plenteous pollen. Here are some thoughts on a recently published study conducted by UMass Amherst.
Sometimes It’s Okay to Be Lazy!
While GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) are the focal points of many ecologists, to the homeowner, they are not really an issue. However, mowing your lawn weekly may very well be adding to the problem of dwindling numbers of bees, butterflies and other insects needed for pollination. What would our planet be like if suddenly there were no more bees?
Wouldn’t you miss your honey? However, the problem is much greater than that. What Susannah Lehrman, ecologist with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst says is that by mowing your lawn less frequently, you encourage these insects to stop by your house for a quick meal. If you religiously mow your lawn weekly, give yourself a break. Mow your lawn every other week. This is a trend quickly spreading and is known as the “Lazy Lawnmower Approach.”
How Does Being Lazy Help the Environment?
When you first think about the environment and subscribing to the “Lazy Lawnmower” approach, you may be led to believe that you are saving energy. You are cutting back on fossil fuel in an effort to reduce the release of carbon into the atmosphere, thereby reducing damage to the ozone layer. That is actually true! Whether you use a gas operated mower or an electric mower, you will almost always be relying on fossil fuels at some point from the production of electricity to the operation of that mower.
However, that is only half the concern. Little flowers that grow on your lawn if left to reach a certain stage in their development are thought of merely as weeds. That, too, is true. Yet those weeds are helping to keep the population of bees intact and by so doing, you are helping to keep nature alive as well. Most of the plants on earth sustain life in some way and without pollination, each species will soon decline – someday to extinction. From food for people and animals to the production of lifegiving oxygen, those plants are vital to your survival.
There are other ways to spend a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and they are not exactly an excuse for being lazy. Spend the day at the beach or golf course. Isn’t that a fun way to save the environment? “No, honey, I’m not making excuses! The environment needs me and I’m just doing my part!”
