We need to IDK bribe? Intimidate? Somehow stop suburban people from all hiring lawn and “terminex” care because there are whole deserts without insects for miles. Not a grasshopper, bee or ant in sight. Nothing but crabgrass. There has to be a better way! There are no fireflies at night… no crickets singing.
And worst of all no ants. A yard without ants is a place of sadness.
It’s just this kind of default thing people do— not thinking about the implications.
@floatybirb
I've been in suburbia just long enough to start spotting HOA Karens who force this poison and monoculture on the rest of the neighborhood for 35 dollars a month.
There's legally no way to remove your home from an HOA either. The best you can do is make the meetings uncomfortable enough that no one wants to attend and the organization slowly becomes defunct.
My point is that few individuals are actively making that decision
@futurebird
I have been horrified on multiple occasions when at some party in a yard I pick up an ant or other insect and the homeowner assures me that they “have this place sprayed” in response.
Um I was going to compliment you on the cute little ecosystem you have next to this flower bed.
Likewise there are the times when I have pointed at an insect to show it to everyone and some kills it in response. This has given me a kind of PTSD.
“if you see a bug that’s a problem”
This mentality needs to go. I try to be patient and not to “weird” about it. I talk about the insect and it’s role in the ecosystem, highlighting how it’s a part of something delightful and just ignore the stuff about “spraying”
I’m not asking anyone to live in a pile of bugs— just IDK learn their names first maybe?
@futurebird @dnavinci @floatybirb
What the heck? I'll leave the area if it's a spider, but my back yard is currently home to ants and what I think are miner bees. It makes it more interesting to watch them scurrying around when we are sat out there.
@floatybirb #GrowNative #KillYourLawn!
Happy to help point you to resouces!
Including the stories of how people beat HOAs.
(In Maryland, you can't use an. HOA to prevent native gardening... think there's others too!)
myrmepropagandist
Floaty Birb
Ian K Tindale
DNAvinci
DuvetGecko
Gabriel N
Alec Perkins
Stumpy The Mutt
excited for the mastodon rise