© Adam Frazier, courtesy of unsplash.com
Council encourages residents to take part in ‘No Mow May’
In a bid to help tackle climate change Hastings Borough Council is encouraging residents to do their part by not doing anything at all! Though many have time on their hands and the weather currently on their side, the council has issued a release hoping that residents will neglect their lawns for this month in order to support pollinating insects and do their part for the environment.
This week Hastings Borough Council announced it wouldn’t be proceeding with putting solar arrays in the Country Park after investigating the feasibility of this. This was just one part of the council’s efforts to tackle climate change, as laid out in our Climate Change Strategy. The council will continue to look at every opportunity it can to tackle this crisis.
There are things that everyone can do every day to help tackle climate change, one of these being taking part in ‘No Mow May’ by not mowing your lawn throughout May to help support the pollinating insects which are key to human survival.
Councillor Maya Evans, cabinet lead on climate change and biodiversity said,
“Although we have made the decision not to put solar arrays in country park, we are still dedicated to our climate change strategy and striving for a greener Hastings.
“Even though the COVID-19 pandemic is at the forefront of everyone’s minds at the moment, it is still incredibly important to continue addressing the climate crisis and looking at how we can all help contribute to reducing the impacts of climate change in Hastings.
“This is why we are encouraging residents to take part in ‘No Mow May’ to support bees and other pollinating insects which are an essential part of the ecosystem that keeps us alive.
“I’m planning to let my lawn grow during May, after which I’m then going for a ‘Mohican’ lawn cut – the two grass lengths will enable me to get the highest production of flowers and nectar with short grass, and a wider range of flowers with un-mown grass.
“Small actions like this make a huge difference to help tackle climate change, and by taking part in No Mow May, you’re doing nature a massive favour.”
In the last week of May, join Every Flower Counts – the largest ever survey of the humble lawn. Last year it was calculated that lawns which took part in the survey produced a colossal 23kg of nectar sugar per day, enough to support 2.1 million honeybees.
Get involved by counting the number of flowers in a random square meter of your garden, and send results into Plantlife between 25 and 31 May.
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3 Comments
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Of course the Council owns lots of land where more action would be appropriate such as increased tree planting and building much needed local housing on small infill plots (rather than on flood plains) which could have planted roofs.
Comment by ken davis — Monday, May 25, 2020 @ 07:35
A message for Maya Evans from a SEG member.
Many thanks for seeing sense regarding the pointless Solar Arrays proposal. It would neither have been truly green, nor a good use of council taxpayers money.
I agree that, often, the greenest thing to do for Nature is nothing. ‘No May Mow’ is a good idea and involves no effort for the council – another good idea, which should be repeated.
The only ‘but’ is regarding your use of the word “massive” in the sentence ending: “… by taking part in No Mow May, you’re doing nature a massive favour.”
It will do a “tiny” amount of good. Could I suggest that you read the great scientist James lovelock’s Gaia trilogy? Lovelock discovered that the Earth self-regulates conditions to maximise the benefits for the biosphere – i.e. conditions ideal for plant life, animals, ourselves etc. Here is a quote from an interview in the New York Times (sorry – no date): “I believe we’ve pushed Gaia (the Earth) beyond the point where self-regulation is possible. We’ve added half a million tons of carbon dioxide to our atmosphere and, despite warnings, we carry on destroying the Earth while worrying about trivial risks, from power lines to pesticides.”
He meant they were trivial in comparison with what’s really needed – an end to the petrol economy, an end to eating cows and other livestock because they release so much methane from burping and farting, and the end of deforestation.”
We are living within a disaster that we cannot control and is already out of control. People who are in positions of local or national politics have a responsibility to try and do whatever they can to bring about these massive changes that are needed to try and mitigate the worst effects of an unfolding disaster.
I hope you will read Lovelock to get a better picture of the real situation. Regardless of this, thanks again for not implementing the Solar Arrays project.
Doing nothing is certainly better than doing harm.
Comment by Michael Madden — Thursday, May 21, 2020 @ 15:18
Why has the East Hill been mown in May then ? Were the sub contractors not informed of the policy? Has cutting taken place in any other areas owned by HBC?
Time for some coordinated policy making?
Comment by Christopher Hurrell — Thursday, May 21, 2020 @ 14:35