I recently attended a parks&recreation public input session for one reason only: to firmly state my conviction that mowing large swaths of grass down to a stub is a wasted opportunity to restore a fragment of much-needed habitat to insect populations. I allowed myself to feel free to utter such phrases as “at this late date, let’s decide to prioritize a rebounding of life rather than a constant marking of loss,” and “the more biodiversity, the better for all of us.”

It is notable that in this era of plummeting insect populations worldwide, this particular meeting of humans was unanimously receptive to a positive vision of increasing wildflowers and wildlife, as matters of moral, aesthetic, and educational benefit. We’ve often heard about the importance of local actions regarding both policy influence and environmental action. These few hours rather nicely presented a real example of those possibilities. Suppose enough people and municipalities decided to give up on shorn lawns, and instead allow non-pesticide and herbicide-free enclaves of pollen and nectar to grow? Could that help turn around the collapse of life-sustaining insect populations, and stave off the starvation of birds, and the myriad other losses already occurring as s consequence of the deeply troubled food chain/web of life?

I suspect it to be so. And, wouldn’t it be better to try?