Love Thy Environment

At a time when climate scientists, environmentalists, crop specialists, politicians and governments appear to agree that we're in a time of global climate change, and people are being encouraged to be more environmentally responsible, it presents as an enigma that people remain wedded to old conventions inimical to the environment. Householders, for example, who were accustomed to retaining the services of lawn management companies for whom lawn care was represented by spreading pesticides regularly in neighbourhoods.

A concoction of deadly chemicals that would, in the case of herbicides, kill off unwanted 'weeds' in peoples' perfect turf lawns, or in the case of pesticides, kill invasive grubs that spoiled the grass. In the process not only causing spill-off of these chemicals into area waterways, but killing useful insects, and birds consuming affected insects and worms. Pets would become ill from exposure to the chemicals, and so would children and pregnant women. It took the loud denunciation of those inimically affected, along with their physicians to finally have municipalities declare themselves to be cosmetic-pesticide-free zones.

While some thoughtful and responsible people seek to diminish the damage that humans do to our immediate environment, others remain unconvinced that they have any responsibility to help ameliorate environmental degradation. It has long been recognized that the cossetting of a monoculture has deleterious effects, and in the case of a manicured lawn in which householders take great pride, this is a case in point. Aside from resisting the popularity of lawn-care companies with their pesticide spraying, some people resist lawns.

Choosing instead to allow their properties to reflect more accurately what nature intended it to. So that all living things can be nurtured. Many people plant bushes and shrubs known to be attractive to butterflies and useful insects, in the recognition that a healthy environment stimulates the presence of insects. And the very presence of insects is an indication of a healthy environment; healthy for the insects, for birds, small mammals and humans as well.

Currently, in the Ottawa area, in Constance Bay, a couple own a half-acre property which they carefully tend, naturalizing it with native plants. Vera and Henry Jones, newly located to Constance Bay, planned a garden that would reflect nature's plan, not fussy humankind's. They named their plot of land the Allbirch Pollinator Garden, permitting grass to grow with one cutting only. They planted fruit trees and insect- and butterfly-welcoming plants. This is their meadow, consonant with nature.

They have been given hundreds of native-plant cuttings from the Fletcher Wildlife Garden, located close by the Experimental Farm, itself operated by the National Capital Commission close to the centre of Ottawa. Friends of the Central Experimental Farm and the Ottawa chapter of Landscape Ontario are co-partners with the Fletcher Wildlife Garden. And they enthusiastically advertise their purpose in this way:

"With habitat loss a major factor in the decline of many plant and animal species, our goal is to encourage as many people as possible to create or restore natural landscapes on their urban or rural property. Our Interpretive Centre disseminates information on conservation issues and regional natural history. Behind the centre is our Backyard Garden designed to show how anyone can transform their own garden into one that is wildlife friendly."

And this is precisely what Vera and Henry Jones are doing with their pollinator garden. Yet a neighbour has complained to the municipality about what they say is a neglected garden, that runs afoul of the municipality's by-laws. These neighbours insist that there has been an increase in insects on their property as a result of the wildlife garden, and claim also that skunks have been nesting there.

"It looks just awful", the complaining neighbour moans, worrying about the drop in property value because of his proximity to his new neighbours' environmentally friendly initiative. The Jones deny there are skunks on their property, and they should know, since they're always in there, cultivating and planting and making improvements on their environmental showpiece. As for the proliferation of insects, they indicate a healthy environment.

People are wary of the presence of bees, yet without bees pollinating plants we would be in a sorry place with respect to the growing of our foodstuffs. My brother is an environmentalist, a biologist, a botanist and a professor of botany at an east coast university. His large spacious home is located in downtown Halifax. He has proudly transformed what had been a lawn into a wildlife garden hosting only natural botanical specimens.

The City of Ottawa has warned the Joneses that if they fall afoul of the bylaw with respect to neglect of property they will come in and mow down their painstakingly-created pollinator garden. We need a reality check here. People should be anxious to keep up with the Joneses in this particular instance.