What did you purchase when you last went grocery shopping? Chocolate? Apples? Watermelons? Onions? More? Imagine it was all gone. Imagine it was not possible to have any of these foods. That is the world without bees. It is believed that if bees disappeared we would lose 52% of our product mix. This would be detrimental for our population and would greatly impact so many other species as well. Minnesota is one government that is taking a stand. It will now pay residents to alter their gardens to bee more (see what I did there) friendly. Interested? Read on. If not, buzz off.
The concept called Lawns to Legumes has budgeted almost $1 million to give to residents if they make their gardens more hospitable to bees. Ok sounds good but does making it more hospitable to bees means that humans can´t go there or some other downside that explains why everyone is not doing this? Not at all.
The idea simply means introducing more wildflowers instead of the standard grass lawns we are used to. So you get paid to make your lawn look a lot nicer. Too easy. The government will cover on average 75% of the cost of converting your lawn, maybe more if you are in a spot that is in real need of some bee magic.
The fact is that bees are important to our lives today and some bee populations are dying out. If we can do something to help the bees and have a nicer garden at the same time. Why not?
So what are you waiting for? Talk to your Minnesota representative today. For those of you not in Minnesota why not use this example to talk to your local council, or if you prefer just go sow some wildflowers. They are not too expensive, will make your garden look incredible and maybe, just maybe, save the world.
