“If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed 10,000 years ago. If insects were to vanish (our own extinction would not be far behind as) the environment would collapse into chaos.” E.O. Wilson, 1987.

E.O. Wilson, a famous biologist, wrote 29 books and won the Pulitzer Prize twice. Here are some of the lessons we could/should, have learned from him, with the help of Doug Tallamy.

Plants turn energy from the sun into the food we eat. Insects pollinate 87.5% of plants and 90% of all flowering plants. Insects need native plants to survive. Most people prefer alien plants so that they will not be eaten by these “pesky insects” upon whom our lives ultimately depend. We have lost three billion birds in 50 years.

A major reason is that the birds need the larvae of native moths and butterflies to feed their babies. Only a few species, such as the finches, can feed seeds to babies. There are native plants around that will support insects, pollinators like bees and butterflies, if we just allow them to grow.

Now that we understand this problem there are things each of us can do to help solve it. If you did not mow your lawn in May, the violets would come up in it and they support the fritillaries in particular. These are lovely butterflies. Then you can leave a 1-2 foot border around your shrubs that you do not mow at all.

Wonderful native plants like blue and white asters and goldenrods will appear and they will support many pollinators. And those pollinators will support our crops, so we can eat them. There are more than 40 million acres of lawn in the United States alone. And we add more every year!

Lawn irrigation consumes an average of more than 8 billion gallons of water daily. This is unsustainable. The major function of a large lawn is to show our wealth. Wouldn’t we be better off showing our humanity?

Jane Moosbruker has a Ph.D. in Social Psychology, GSAS Harvard Univ., worked as an Organization Development Consultant 1970-2006; Taught at Boston College Dept. of Psychology; 1966-70 Taught at Harvard School of Dental Medicine for 12 years as an Adjunct (all non-technical aspects); Taught at American University’s MSOD program 2003-2006; was a member of NTL 1968- now an emeritus member