Mothering Earth-135-Homegrown National Park

Whether your outdoor space is a large garden or a tiny apartment balcony, you can plant plants that are native to your part of the world. For those with lawns, you can reduce or eliminate the lawn and replace those areas with native plants. The result would be a greater sequestration of carbon by those plants, and increased support for all forms of life, including birds, insects, pollinators and other animals. Another benefit is we would use less water, and our water would be protected from pollution from fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides which are widely used to maintain lawns and non-native plants. Doug Tallamy is co-founder of the Homegrown National Park, a nationwide project that encourages everyone to plant natives and eliminate, or at least reduce, lawn areas. You can be part of this project and in the process become a conservationist, and part of the solution to climate change.