Invite world of pollinators into open spaces

Modern suburbia has long been a paean to our European forefathers, with lush green lawns, perfectly manicured boxwood hedges, and a variety of other bushes and plantings imported from someplace else, as homeowners mowed and planted their way into their own versions of “castles on a hill.”

But there is a dangerous and enduring result of our preoccupation with perfect lush lawns: the rapid decline of insects, such as honeybees and butterflies, which nurture our environment – and are the canaries in the coal mine for what has been done to our ecosystems.

In a longform piece we did in a recent issue we learn that there is a staggering decline in nearly 4,000 species of wild native bees, and these losses form part of a larger across-the-board trend that has been considered an insect apocalypse. Since the mid-2010s, monarch butterfly populations shrunk up to 72 percent and several native bumblebee species declined nearly 96 percent.

The key reasons for the massive declines, according to researchers? Habitat loss, climate change and the overuse of pesticides.

A study by Michigan State University published in 2024 explained that the main culprit of butterfly, bee, and insect decline are pesticides that are broadly applied in agriculture.

Needless to say, if they are harmful to butterflies and bumblebees, they're likely just as deadly to our children, our pets, our elderly, and ourselves.

There are no regulations in the United States as to how we chemically treat our lawns, and there are no measurements or data sets on how chemically treated lawns and gardens impact pollinators. But we know we should wear masks to apply insecticides to plants and lawns, and to keep young children and pets inside. That is a definite flashing warning that they are unsafe – and we should all take heed.

There are options – and opportunities – we can each take. While front yards in our communities must be mowed so they do not get higher than eight inches high, many communities, including neighboring Royal Oak and Ferndale, and Ann Arbor in Washtenaw County, have adopted 'No Mow May,' an annual initiative that discourages residents in Michigan and around the globe from mowing their lawns to promote a diverse habitat for bees, butterflies and other pollinators. The initiative, which began in parts of Great Britain in 2019 as a way to “provide a feast for pollinators, tackle pollution, reduce urban heat extremes and lock away atmospheric carbon below ground.”

Landscaping sustainability can be encouraged in local communities, according to Michigan State University Professor of Ecology Nick Haddad, by shrinking the square footage of their lawns and increasing the size of gardens to host native grasses, plants, and flowers.

“It can start with a patch of garden that contains milkweed, black-eyed Susans, and Echinacea (purple coneflower),” he said. “You can pick up simple pollinator mixes at any hardware store.”

The city of Birmingham moved forward with some of these initiatives with the redevelopment of Barnum Park, an eight-acre park on the site of the former Barnum School which was redeveloped utilizing naturalized landscaping, including wild grasses, and storm drainage. There are other parks, medians and other areas where naturalized plantings have been planted, adding both beauty and inviting birds, bees and butterflies to repopulate.

It would be a welcome addition to have the city's sustainability committee, as well as Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills, create ordinances that would allow homeowners to have full landscapes without lawns – certainly in the rear, if not both in their front and back – which are environmentally sustainable and create a new definition of beautiful. And an increased sensitivity about this issue should be an overriding concern when it comes to how we handle open public spaces in all communities.