Environment & Sustainable Development Blog Area

By: Marikay Shellman, BPW Colorado Virtual Past Chair, NFBPWC Environment and Sustainable Development Committee (2022-2024) 

It has been my great pleasure to write articles for my fellow BPW members about the perils

 of pollinators and the actions (or non-actions) that we can take to give a helpful hand to our pollinators.  I have gained great knowledge in doing research for these articles which I will continue to use on my property.   

One of my many challenges has been to reduce my lawn from the large playground area I had when my children were young and had many friends over to run around.  Over the years I have slowly reduced the size of my huge lawn by taking out grass and adding raised garden beds and hedge rows.  This year I am taking it a step farther and leaving areas not mowed.  It actually looks pretty good.  I’ll see what happens as the summer progresses.  Just the other day my grandson and I noticed birds hanging out on some of the tall grass eating the seeds, a hopeful sight.  We also saw Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed last year. 

On another note, the Washington Post recently wrote an article on Fireflies, interviewing both Candice Fallon, Xerces Society, who presented to BPW ESD Earth Day 2023, and me.  Just this week Dr Schwarz, Fort Lewis College, has interest in studying the fireflies on my ranch. 

I greatly appreciate all the interest and support BPW has given me during my tenure as NFBPWC ESD Chair.  And for allowing me to write of my passion for pollinators.   

By: Marikay Shellman
NFBPWC Environment and Sustainable Development Committee Past Chair (2022-2024) 

The NFBPWC ESD Committee decided in our final meeting that as we pass the baton onto future Chair and committee members that it would be advantageous to repurpose other Environmental handouts for our newsletter articles.  For our August 2024 Newsletter article, I give the following example with excited permission from the Leave No Trace environmental group. 

It has been our great pleasure to share with our BPW members our many ideas on how to make a simple and meaningful act to have a positive impact on our Environment.  We are grateful to all of you for your continued support. 

 

NFBPWC is looking for the next Environment and Sustainable Development Chair.  If you are interested in joining this Committee, please email President Barbara Bozeman at president@nfbpwc.org. 

Marikay Shellman
BPW Colorado Virtual Chair
NFBPWC Environment and Sustainable Development 

In these hot summer months, the bugs start to bug us.  However, “If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago.   If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.”  E. O. Wilson. 

We know that insects pollinate about 90% of all flowering plants.  As these pollinated plants turn the energy of the sun into the food we eat, they are absorbing large amounts of carbon, sending it into their roots and then into the soil.  We need many interacting species of insects to sustain our complex food web.  Insects, in their many forms of predators and parasitoids, are also the earth’s pest control and in this way keep food webs in balance.    

Insects are essential for the rapid decomposition of plants, helping to create new plant life which provides vegetation for watersheds.  This activity keeps our water clean and provides protection from floods. Most vertebrates- freshwater fish, birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians- eat insects which additionally sustains the earth’s ecosystems.   

Rather than thinking of bugs as threatening and harmful, appreciate that humans would only last on this earth for a few months without insects.  We have killed many species of insects close to extinction, monarch butterflies, fireflies, species of bumblebees, moths, crickets, katydids and the list goes on.  Insects can coexist with humans.  We need to sustain them and to do that, we need plants to sustain them.  

Caterpillars are a keystone to food webs, pollinating a majority of plants and providing the most nutrition and edible food to vertebrates.  Native Plant Finder (http://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder) ranks plant according to their hosting ability for caterpillars.  Audubon also has a website, Plants for Birds (https://www.audubon.org/native-plants).  Oak, cherry and willow are the best hosts for many species of caterpillars.   

Rather than pulling out that insecticide, learn to appreciate all the benefits of insects. 

By: Marikay Shellman
BPW Colorado Virtual Chair, NFBPWC Environment and Sustainable Development Committee (2022-2024) Submission by Susan Oser 

 

 

 

By: Marikay Shellman,
BPW Colorado Virtual 
Chair, NFBPWC Environment and Sustainable Development Committee (2022-2024) 

Simple Acts:  Attracting Orioles and Hummingbirds to the “piece of Earth that you an influence” 

I set out Hummingbird feeders every year as soon as the first little guy comes winging by

 my window, some years as early as April.  Starting out years ago with one feeder, I now have 6 hummingbird feeders and one Oriole feeder.  It’s easy to make the mixture, one cup sugar to four cups of water, and challenging to keep up with filling those feeders, and so worth the cost of all that sugar!   

Three years ago, an Oriole showed up at one of the feeders, so I rushed out and bought an Oriole feeder.  Such pleasure!  Suggestions to attract Orioles (Baltimore and Orchard Orioles) include nectar feeders (recipe for nectar above), orange halves and jelly.  They also are attracted to yellow and white flowers and the bugs that are found in these flowers.  

Native plants with tubular-shaped flowers such as trumpet vine, honeysuckle (in which many of the hummingbirds nest), beebalm are a great source of nutrition for these birds as Native plants offer more nectar than other plants and attract insects that hummingbirds and Orioles eat.  Remember to plant in groups.  This type of mass planting is preferred by insects and birds alike. 

A suggested list of flowers to provide continual nectar (Rosann Kovalcik, Wild Birds Unlimited): Columbine, Phlox, Wild Geranium, Penstemon or Foxglove 

beardtongue, Blazing star, Beebalm, and Cardinal Flower.  

Trees and shrubs that provide dark fruits include: Serviceberry, Chokecherry, Cherry, Blueberry.  Caterpillars provide a much-needed protein source and they are attracted to all of the oak species, willows, cherries, prunes and birches. 

Another reason to leave your yard a bit untidy is that Orioles need long fiber strands to build their nests and hummingbirds use downy plant materials.   

Whether you have a yard or patio or balcony, creating a refuge for birds and insects with Native plants will create a good environment for not only wildlife, but also for you. 

By: Marikay Shellman, BPW Colorado Virtual Chair, NFBPWC Environment and Sustainable Development Committee (2022-2024) 

We all know that bugs are disappearing at an astounding rate.  We can all do something to help no matter how small your yard, even if it’s just a deck or balcony.  In that little “piece of Earth that you can influence” (Douglas Tallamy), you can create a microhabitat with small features including a rock, water source, leafy area.  This will provide bugs with shelter, food, water, and the ability to reproduce.  Hang up that rake and put away that leaf blower!  Leaving dead leaves, stems, brush piles (sticks in a flowerpot), you are providing not only nutrition for your soil, but also habitat for tiny insects. 

Don’t clean up the stems of perennial plants because seed heads provide feed for goldfinches and the stems provide shelter for overwintering insects and habitat for stem-nesting bees.  Plants will grow around them in the spring and many solitary native bees will nest in these stems yearround.  Notice as the weather warms that some stems have their

 ends blocked with mud or leaves or pebbles, possibly resin indicating that there is a nest inside.  Natural materials such as stems are a much healthier option than bee blocks and bee hotels.   

Creating habitat for Stem-Nesting bees is as easy as leaving dead flower stalks intact over the winter months.  When Spring arrives, cut back the dead flower stalks at varying heights from 8-24 inches and leaving the dead stumble to decompose naturally on the ground.  Female bees emerge and start nests in newly cut stems or stems laying on the ground.  As summer progresses, the new plant growth hides the dead flower stalk in which bee larvae are developing.  These native bees emerge in later summer months and repeat this cycle again.   

Stem-nesting bees frequently use Hyssop (Agastache), Echinacea, Sunflowers, Blazing Star (Liatris), Bee Balm 

(Monarda), Goldenrods (Solidago) Asters, Raspberries and other bramble bushes, Sumac (Rhus), and Elderberry. 

Bringing Back Pollinators is as easy as not tidying up your yard and garden so much.

By: Marikay Shellman, BPW Colorado Virtual Chair, NFBPWC Environment and Sustainable Development Committee (2022-2024) 

Simple Acts:  Lawn Culture vs Lawn Futures 

May is upon us and as the sound of lawn mowers echoes throughout the land (my neighbor starting mowing in early March), I wonder where the American obsession with the perfect lawn originated.   

A bit of lawn history:  From the Middle English word laude, the concept of the lawn originated in Europe, grasslands surrounding castles that were kept free of trees providing clear vision for guards.  These meadows were referred to as the village commons where villagers could graze their cattle and sheep, keeping the grass “mowed” and fertilized.  In the 16th Century, these meadows evolved into lawns, cultivated in France and England by the rich to display their wealth.  An important note, these lawns were often planted with chamomile and thyme rather than grass, a great alternative to modern grass.  In England in the 17^th Century, short trimmed grass lawns emerged as the symbol for rich landowners who could afford human labor to scythe and weed the grass.    

The American obsession with lawns didn’t exist until the late 18^th century.  Before then, front yards were a mix of flowers, vegetables, herbs, and chickens pecking at insects.  Suburbs began to grow after the Civil War bringing with them the lush, sprawling green lawn which became a mark of prosperity, the American Dream, and the trend of replicating grassy pastoralism of the Romantic era of landscape paintings. 

The first human-pushed lawn mower, the spiral-bladed mower, was designed in 1870.  By 1938, Toro had created a power mower that every American household could afford and would fit into a household garage, and most importantly, safe enough for teenagers to operate.  Now 54 million Americans mow their lawn every weekend spending about 70 hours per year on lawn care and emitting 5% of our total air pollution by burning 800 million gallons of gas.  Manicured turf grass lawns consume 3 trillion gallons of water a year.  

Approximately 20% of treated drinking water is used for outdoor lawns and landscaping.  Over 80% of Americans have lawns, covering 50 million acres of land.  Running a gas-powered lawn mower for 1 hour produces 11 times more emissions than the average new car in the same amount of time.   

The Lawn Future. 

It’s not necessary to remove every square inch of your lawn.  Lawns are nice.  However, think about spaces that you can replace lawn in your yard with ground covers or perennials or shrubs or with pollinator friendly flower gardens.   

Implement No Mow Spring or May.  Hold off mowing for as long as you can.  Mowing less equals less emissions which will decrease your carbon footprint while providing habitat for pollinators.  When you do mow, set your mower at the highest setting leaving your lawn at 3-4 inches in height.  You will use less water on your lawn and find that you need to mow less often.  I have experimented with this method the past 2 years and I have been amazed by how well this method works.   

Replace your gas-powered mower with a battery charged lawn mower.  Thanks to my daughter’s suggestion, I have used a battery powered mower the last 2 years.  These are very efficient, easy to use and little maintenance tools. 

Water deeply, only once per week, encouraging deeper more drought tolerant roots.  Use soaker or drip hoses which will deliver water to the root zone and prevent loss of water due to evaporation.  Where available, use rain barrels to collect water from downspouts rather than sending rainwater into drains and sewers. 

Do not use chemical fertilizers.   Not only are these pesticides killing our pollinators and polluting our waterways all the way to oceans, but chemical fertilizers cause grass lawns to burn in the heat thus needing watering more frequently.  By leaving the leaves in the Fall, as they decompose you have provided natural fertilizer-carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus- to your soil.  An additional light sprinkling of compost on your lawn in the Spring is all that is needed.  Plus, decomposed leaves add a layer of mulch to your grass, less weeds and lawns don’t dry out in the windy Spring weather. 

Las Vegas region offers us an inspiring approach.  Through voluntary action, education, pricing and enforcement, 170 million square feet of “non-functioning turf” has been removed from front yards, resorts, highway medians and golf courses.  This action has resulted in a 30% reduction in water consumption even though there has been an increase in population by half-million people. 

By: Marikay Shellman, BPW Colorado Virtual Chair, NFBPWC Environment and Sustainable Development Committee (2022-2024) 

Heather Holms, Biologist, conservationist, and Author presented an excellent discussion, Native bee specialists, plant hosts, threats and conservationfor the Best Practices for Pollinators Summit 2024.  I frantically took notes about the 6 bee families and the 20%-45% of native bees that are pollen and nectar specialists.  Many of these native bee specialists use only pollen and/or nectar from one species or genus of plants, Narrow Oligolecty.  Some, such as the bumblebee, are Polylecty, meaning they use pollen and /or nectar from more than 4 plant families.   Heather shared a list of native plants that serve specialists throughout the season. 

 Plants for Native Bee Specialist throughout the seasons: 

Spring 

Salix (Willow)- female uses nectar & male pollen 

Hydrophyllum (Waterleaf) 

Geranium maculation (Wild Geranium) 

Zizia (Golden Alexanders) carrot family 

Dogwood shrubs (Cornus, Coral Red, Red Osier, Artic Fire) 

Summer 

Physalis (Ground Cherry) tomatilla  

Dalea (Prairie Clover) 

Amorpha (Leadplant, False Indigo) 

Verbena, Vervain 

Lysimachia (Loosestrife) oil secreting glands attract Native Bees 

Monarda (Bergamot or Beebalm) stem nesting Native Bees 

Cirsuim (Thistle) 31 of oligolectic specialists need Native Thistle 

Rudbeckia (Gray-headed or Yellow Coneflower) 

Vernonia (ironweed) 

Cucurbita (Squash, pumpkin, melon) squash bee specialists nest 5” deep- NO TILL Helianthus (Sunflower) 

Autumn 

Bunch Grasses (Bluestem) Dianthiduim simile Native Bee nest at base  

Solidago and Euthamia (Golden rod) 3 species specific to nesting bees 

Symphyotrichum Eurybia (Aster) 3 species specific to nesting bees  Leave stem stubble of asters, bergamot, and beebalm. 

Plant micro-garden with native perennials inside of a container. 

Plant a shrubby hedgerow. 

Create a habitat to provide for birds by providing 2 trees.  This will give natural pest control by attracting barn swallows and red-winged blackbirds.

By: Marikay Shellman, BPW Colorado Virtual Chair, NFBPWC Environment and Sustainable Development Committee (2022-2024) 

Simple Acts:  Join us for Pulse of Earth Day April 22 at 5:30 MDT 

The Earth Day theme this year is Planet vs Plastic. The risk of microplastics to everyone’s health is alarming. This month’s ESD article will be sharing the extensive research byEARTHDAY.ORG. 

“Our reliance on plastics could be the biggest gamble in the story of human health, in history.  We are all ingesting and inhaling microplastics. They are everywhere. Are we just hoping they are safe, or is even the remotest possibility they might be toxic so terrifying, that we can’t contemplate it?” Kathleen Rogers, President, EARTHDAY.ORG 

Microplastics are a derivative of the combination of petroleum and over 10,000 chemical additives used to manufacture plastics. These tiny filaments of plastic- microplastics- are in our food (February BPW ESD newsletter article), the air we breathe, inside our homes, the water we drink, our clothes, in our soaps and toiletries, vitamin and medicine capsules, to name a few. There is a frightening in-depth study out, Babies vs Plastics, demonstrating that microplastics in babies’ feces is 10 times higher than that of adults. 90% of toys are made of plastic, and baby bottles, sippy cups, utensils, clothing are all made of plastic. 

Microplastics have been found to bioaccumulate in our major organs like the brain, kidney and liver, lung and heart tissue, urinary and gastrointestinal systems, and also in placentas and breast milk. Recent studies link diseases of the endocrine system and central nervous system including Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Type 2 diabetes, infertility, and Parkinson’s to microplastics. Microwave heating in plastic containers releases the highest level of microplastics and nano-plastics, more than 4 million microplastics into a small bowl after 3 minutes of heating. 

Oil-based plastics make up 69% of the fabrics we wear, such as polyurethane, nylon, spandex.  The convenience of these synthetic materials is that they dry quickly, don’t need to be ironed and are water resistant. Every time we wash these synthetic textiles, they release thousands of microplastics into our water depositing 500,000 tons of microplastics into our oceans annually.  Of all the plastics we hear about polluting our oceans, synthetic clothing is responsible for 35%. 

While extremely harmful leads are being globally phased out, plastic production is increasing with over 390 million tons of plastic produced in 2021, doubling in the past 20 years. 99% of plastic is derived from petroleum. As we work to phase out the use of gas, oil and coal, the fossil fuel companies are rapidly increasing the production of plastics. 

How do we solve this microplastic problem?“Global intervention against the plastic crisis is needed now because the costs of failure to act will be immense.” Commission on Plastics and Human Health. 

1. EARTHDAY.ORG is asking that the Global Plastics Treaty, draft completion due December 2024, to include a call for 60% reduction in plastic production by 2040.  Currently this Treaty is addressing only plastic pollution. 

2. Science and industry are developing biopolymers such as polyhydroxyalkanoates and myceliumcomposite materials (grown on a mixture of sawdust and wheat bran). 

3. Greenwashing is a term with which we are all familiar. Only 9% of plastic waste is recycled despite the plastic industry’s misleading campaign that mass-scale recycling is ongoing. Because of the many different types of plastic, it is impossible to recycle plastic in one process like paper. Sorting and melting down plastic is energy intensive, emitting hazardous chemicals, using large amounts of water, and releasing microplastics directly into waterways. Recycled plastic costs more to produce than virgin plastic making it not cost effective. 

4. Legislative action against the use of single-use plastics needs to be top of list.

By: Marikay Shellman

BPW Colorado Virtual  Chair, NFBPWC Environment and Sustainable Development Committee (2022-2024) 

Several articles are staring me in the face, “There’s a water crisis.  Why do we still have lawns?” and “You- yes, you!- can help the planet.  Start in your backyard.”  and “Lawmakers will push even harder to replace lawns” and “DurangoScape 2024 to focus on native plant benefits”.  An article on Douglas Tallamy’s book, “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Begins in Your Yard” caught my attention. 

The author believes that we everyday people can save the planet and support insects and birds by “ditching the pesticides and herbicides” and planting native species such as coneflowers, milkweed, and oaks.  78% of land in US is privately owned, therefore we must have buy-in from not just national and state parks, but also homeowner associations, homeowners, businesses, and public and school parks.  “Don’t worry about the whole Earth.  Worry about the piece of the Earth that you can influence.” Douglas W. Tallamy. 

We don’t need to rid of our lawns totally, just shrink them back by maybe reducing them in half.  Plan where you want to have a grassy area, for your dogs to roll in or for a sitting area.  Then transform the rest by planting native grasses, native bushes, and flowers.   

The largest irrigated crop in the United States is lawns devouring about 9 billion gallons of water per day, more than thirsty corn or soybeans.  Beyond the water lawns need, the millions of pounds of fertilizer and pesticides required to have that perfect lawn leach pollution not only into our neighbor’s yard but also into our waterways.   40 % of these chemicals use on American lawns are outlawed in other countries due to carcinogens.   

Do an online search for your local Botanical Garden, native plant societies or master gardeners.  The National Wildlife Federation has a native plant finder ( https://nativeplantfinder.nwf.org).  Audubon has a native plants database (https://www.audubon.org/native-plants).  Homegrown National Park (https://homegrownnationalpark.org) has a Keystone Species list.