Shifting standards of beauty
There is a conversation happening in this community and many others about pollinator gardens that, dare we say, isn’t only about flowers and bugs. It’s about eco-health, fossil fuel consumption and a desire to do something good for the planet, no matter how small. At the root of the topic is a citizen-led movement to shift the standard of beauty away from traditional lawns.
There is a prejudice that exists in all communities. The public perception is that good citizens keep their lawns neat and tidy. It’s probably fair to say that many of us spend our entire weekends trying to whip nature into submission with lawn mowers and weed-wackers less for our own enjoyment and more because we are terrified of what the neighbours might think. (When my lawnmower broke down a few years ago and my weedy lawn bolted up, a former coworker asked me if my house had been abandoned. True story.)
One has to wonder what is it all for? If the ecosystem would benefit from a naturalized lawn populated with native wildflowers – some of which are medicinal and/or edible – and it could be tended without a costly lawnmower powered by costly fuel, then what are we doing?
The design and gardening magazines that line the shelves at The Echo’s Newsstand are featuring no-grass landscaping more and more frequently. There is a trend toward meadows and naturalized garden beds.
According to the David Suzuki Foundation, invertebrate species have declined 45 per cent over the past four decades due to pesticide use, monocultures, climate change and loss of natural habitat due to sprawling human-built landscapes.
There is a growing grassroots effort to naturalize both urban and rural areas in order to create habitat and pollinator corridors.
During a recent presentation to the Clearview Sustainability Network in Creemore, author and activist Lorraine Johnson outlined a case in Toronto in the 2000s when a resident took the city to court over their threat to mow down his native plant garden and won. She reports, “the judge ruled that the grass and weeds bylaw violated his constitutionally protected right to a natural garden. The court decision also affirmed the right to create a “natural garden” on the public right of way of the boulevard, subject only to health and safety restrictions.”
Johnson outlines a number of cases where municipalities were taking certain steps to educate residents about biodiversity while other departments, usually bylaw, was going to great lengths to fight people who were maintaining boulevards in non-conventional manners.
Creemore resident Brenna Lattimore has said that there is a feeling of hopelessness in the world when it comes to fighting climate change. So many of the causes are out of our control, regardless of who we vote for. That’s why citizens are fighting so hard for any little bit of change they can make.
Clearview Township must realize that there is symbolism in small acts of opposition, and mowing it all down should never be the answer.