Entomologist Doug Tallamy is on a crusade to reduce weeds in favor of native plants.
Native plants feed insects and wildlife that contribute to healthier food webs, which keep us alive.
Tallamy’s central message is: This problem is your problem. And anyone can be part of the solution.
This article is part of the “Making Net Zero Possible” series that exposes forward-thinking solutions that can make a net-zero future a reality.
Doug Tallamy doesn’t have to kill your lawn. He just wanted it to swell.
Tallamy is an entomologist and author who is alarmed about America’s decades-long fixation on the 4-inch-thick green carpets that our culture values and that some homeowner associations at home forced its members to continue.
He is concerned because lawns are disrupting the natural world on which all life depends and maintaining the largest of all US “crops” raises a huge environmental cost. Americans are deploying vast amounts of water, fertilizer, and pollution-emitting equipment to maintain some 40 million acres of what amounts to ecological dead zones.
To reduce the environmental cost of lawns, we need to reduce their footprint. The lawns should be reduced, and in their place, we should favor the local plants that were there before we started bringing weeds from Asia to tame the spaces around us, said Tallamy.
Tallamy, 71, added that we don’t need to tear the grass all night. “The message is, there is room for compromise,” he said. “I didn’t say, ‘Get off your lawn.’ I say, ‘Cut it out.'”
If we stop overcrowding the environment, we will help humanity better adapt to a world that is already undergoing rapid change due to the climate crisis.
Traditional lawns are less useful for bugs
A major concern for Tallamy, whose work includes studying insects, is that for bugs, lawns are like a buffet that has been stripped and has little left to offer. That’s important because most birds and mammals don’t eat plants directly – they eat insects that eat plants for breakfast.
If we only plant the exotic ornamentals that we once took from Asia to learn because of exclusivity, then the insects will not have much to eat.
Tallamy said that for bugs, lawns are like a buffet of choices with little left to offer.
Photo courtesy of Doug Tallamy
In a world separated from nature, in a species that sees itself as independent of nature, we may miss a fundamental truth: Plants are the source of life. They turn sunlight into energy and turn it into food.
Insect populations around the world are collapsing. If insect populations — “the little things that run the world,” as naturalist EO Wilson described it — continue to dwindle, so will everyone who eats them. This is bad news for the food web we rely on to feed us.
Native landscaping creates a healthier ecosystem
It is easy to ignore that there is always enough food and water coming from nature’s invisible vending machine. But, Tallamy said, there is no guarantee that nature’s bounty will continue in a way that best serves humanity.
Tallamy said that people should plant the plants that are in their area. Native plants create sustainable habitat for local wildlife, including pollinators.
Native plants create sustainable habitat for local wildlife.
Photo courtesy of Douglas Tallamy
Native plants have the added bonus of being easier to manage. They have adapted to the local climate, making them a good choice for novice to expert gardeners. There are drought-resistant plants for Denver and prairie plants that “thrive even in dry summers or cold, snowy winters,” says Bre Bauerly, a native landscapes outreach coordinator in Minneapolis.
For Tallamy, who receives many emails with pictures of hummingbirds and butterflies returning to new native gardens, rolling out weeds to make way for more plant species is a “selfish act” that is “not just for fun,” he said. . “It’s not because we want nature. It’s because we need it.”
It’s everyone’s responsibility — not just landowners
Tim Stout, who has spent nearly 50 years preserving 400 acres of forests and fields in Vermont, sees the need to protect nature. But he got tired of hearing about what needs to be done and decided to start.
Raising a significant amount will take time and comes with strings attached, Stout told Insider. He decided to spend his own money and applied for $5,000 to $10,000 grants to buy trees for anyone who wanted to plant them. “A sapling tree is $10,” he said. “Then what if I give 30 trees to the town?”
Stout, who planted 28 oak trees, partly credits Tallamy’s book, “The Nature of Oaks,” for the idea. (Oaks are the gold standard for carbon storage, a major contributor to the climate crisis. Over 500 species of caterpillars depend on oaks. Birds, in turn, depend on caterpillars.)
Lisa Sabitini, an editor who has planted more than 50 native trees and shrubs since 2021, told Insider that she joined a Facebook group “Native Plants of the Northeast” that welcomes those started. Being part of that discussion helped him learn what to plant in his garden.
Tallamy said everyone should plant plants that are meant for their area.
Minnesota Native Landscapes
Tallamy, who teaches wildlife and entomology courses at the University of Delaware, said everyone can do their part. Getting a bigger lawn can make a bigger impact, but, he says, sometimes “making a difference” can look like adding a flowerpot of milkweed to a balcony. apartment for endangered monarch butterflies to dip and use as a nectar pit stop during migration. .
Sometimes, Stout said, it looks like the work of Tom Estill, a science teacher who planted more than 200 American chestnut trees on school and church grounds across his hometown of Rutland, Vermont, in last decade. One estimate puts the number of remaining chestnut trees in America at fewer than 1,000 due to a fungal pathogen.
It doesn’t take much to get started
For a large seedling project, people should start with bare soil, Bauerly said. If you already have a garden, you can start by simply introducing native plants to it.
Native landscaping is inherently regional, but those interested can type their ZIP code into the National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder for suggestions. Tallamy’s organization, Homegrown National Park, has resources on its website such as where native landscapers can buy plants and seeds in a dozen states.
Tallamy wants people to understand the stakes. “We have more people on the planet than it can sustain, which means we have to be very careful about how we treat them,” he said. “We don’t do that now. That makes it everyone’s responsibility.”
Our ancestors have been at war with nature for millennia, but in order to survive, we must give it back. Fortunately, Tallamy reports that interest is growing, and the gospel of native plants seems to be spreading almost as fast as the invasive Oriental bittersweet plant.
“Environment is not optional,” Tallamy said. Everything depends on a healthy ecosystem, “not just tree-huggers.”
