June - Yes, In Your Backyard!

NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) is an acronym coined in the late 70's, referring to the attitude of those residents opposing new developments or changes in their immediate area, even if those changes are beneficial for the wider community or necessary for public good. This colloquialism came to mind when our Monday Eco-Discussion Group viewed Homegrown National Park (available online by clicking the title) presented by Doug Tallamy, professor of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware.

Showing a photo of a typical residential landscape dominated by weedless lawn, Tallamy said, "Very little can live there, and we have 135 million acres of this in the US, and we are still developing 800,000 acres of natural areas every year. This is why we are seeing an insect decline and why we've lost 3 billion birds in the last 50 years".

So much loss!!!! Tallamy also noted that our response to such massive biodiversity loss is similar to the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. However, he emphasized that the SIXTH stage must be action because acceptance is giving up, and this is not an option since biodiversity is essential to the survival of the entire Earth community.

What is needed is the exact opposite of NIMBY. Tallamy summarized his project this was: "Our National Parks, no matter how grand in scale, are too small and separated from one another to preserve (native) species to the levels needed. Thus, the concept for Homegrown National Park, a bottom-up call-to-action to restore habitat where we live and work...extending national parks to our yards and communities".

Tallamy left us with an important challenge: plant at least one keystone species (a native plant that supports a significant number of insects) in your back yard this year. To help us find keystone species for our area, he offers the chart "North American Keystone Plants "on his web site. This is a challenge each of us can do or get someone else to do for us, depending on our situation.

In an earlier book, Tallamy reminded us that each of us is Nature's Best Hope! We can turn our yards into conservation corridors that provide essential wildlife habitats, and there is a significant bonus: this practice is immune from the whims of government policy, becoming one practical way to resist destruction of our rare and precious planet.

As nature's best hope, we can also advocate for the National Park System which is under threat by the current administration. Even though Homegrown National Park may be the best way to save and increase biodiversity, our National Park System remains an unparalleled treasure culturally and environmentally, deserving of our advocacy efforts; for we are nature's best hope in the spirit of Pope Francis who wrote, "May our struggles and concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope".

Photo credit: Giorgio Trevato on Unsplash