Planting for the Future Embracing Native Flora for Ecosystem Health

How to help Mother Earth:
Could your own backyard hold the secret to healing the planet?

We're peeling back the grass to reveal just how much power lies within the soil of our seemingly innocuous lawns. Join us as we unearth the hidden impact of the traditional green yard on the delicate balance of our ecosystems.

In this enlightening conversation, we unravel the intricate web of life that starts with the plants converting sunlight into energy, the caterpillars feasting on this green bounty, and the vital role these small creatures play in the grand scheme of Nature's energy cycle. We're making a case for a paradigm shift in lawn care, one that champions biodiversity and sustainability, and we're inviting you to be a part of this green revolution.

Venture further into the wilderness of our discussion as we explore the symbiotic ballet between caterpillars and their native host plants. Discover how the fate of the majestic monarch butterfly hinges on the milkweed plant, and consider the far-reaching consequences of our choices on the broader food web.

This episode is not just a call to action—it's a blueprint for personal responsibility in the stewardship of our environment. We discuss the powerhouse plants that are native species, the unsung heroes of our ecosystem that provide nourishment for hundreds of caterpillar species.

Together, we'll learn about the keystone species that are essential to our ecological networks and how simple acts like planting native species can combat the adverse effects of pesticides and habitat fragmentation.

Tune in, as we set the stage for a cultural shift in landscaping and foster an understanding of the critical roles played by native species in our shared environment.

Resources:

• https://www.treehugger.com/how-to-save-nature-one-backyard-at-a-time-4861604
• https://xerces.org/pesticides/pesticides-your-garden
• https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2020/december/doug-tallamy-native-plants-food-web-insects-birds-survival-earth
• https://certifiedwildlifehabitat.nwf.org/
• https://www.audubon.org/news/what-difference-between-native-non-native-and-invasive-plants
• https://www.nps.gov/depo/learn/nature/invasives.htm
• https://www.thenatureofcit

Chapters

• 0:00 One Simple Change for Mother Earth
• 5:03 Importance of Native Plants in Ecosystem

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Curious about one simple change you can make to help care for Mother Earth. I've got the answer. Join me on Season 2, episode 3 of Give a Fuck, presented by Spark Consciousness, for all the deets. Welcome to Season 2, episode 3 of Give a Fuck, presented by Spark Consciousness. We're dropping knowledge bombs and answering your burning questions about nature, animals, spirituality, mental health, women's empowerment and other profound topics. This podcast probably won't change your life, but hopefully it will give you some food for thought, some guidance on this twisted path we call human existence. My role as an award-winning story keeper and catalyst for healing humanity and Mother Earth is to help you reawaken to your own connection with nature and, through this reconnection, reacquaint you with your intuition. What you do with it, how you incorporate that into your life, is up to you. I hope you'll make changes that benefit both you personally and Mother Earth as a whole, and I hope you'll share what you learn here with others and that they'll make different, more compassionate and enlightened choices too. Either way, take what works for you, leave the rest. Always work to be the best version of yourself and try to leave the world a little bit better than it was when you arrived. Again, we're just getting going for the season, so there are no questions from listeners to share for this week. I would love to encourage you to join my Patreon community for just $5 a month, and I think that's what it is it's small dollars anyways, less than a cup of coffee and submit a question to me, because I really want to answer your burning questions. I do my best to guess what you might be wondering about with each podcast. However, I'm not a mind reader. Crystal ball broke on my way out of the womb, so if you could submit questions to me, that would be fabulous. That being said, I'm going to jump right over to the seitan of the show and, like I said, this week, I am sharing one simple thing that anyone or at least, depending on your living circumstances, anyone can do to make a difference and help heal Mother Earth. Right now, anyone who's got their lawnmower out and they've got this green yard that's all manicured and you think it's beautiful. I got news for you. You're part of the problem, my you. You're part of the problem, my friend. You're part of the problem, not part of the solution. So let's flip that so you can be part of the solution, and here's why this matters.

Speaker 1: 3:16

You probably heard about food webs and such in school, but, as a quick review of that, what every being on earth eats is connected by a humongous web of relationships, and each creature, insect on up to humans, is vital to this entire web to ensure that the planet is healthy and that all living beings are appropriately balanced in their populations on the planet and that includes us, but that's a whole other podcast of our whole other day. And so it really all actually starts with plants, and you probably don't even think about that, but it actually does, and I'm not just saying this because I'm vegan. It literally all starts with plants because they turn energy from the sun into food. Yes, they convert carbon dioxide into breathable air, and we love that too, but they turn the sun into food and animals eat plants, and other animals eat animals and get that same energy from the sun in the plants through eating an animal. And so what animals are the best at this? Well, guess what? It starts actually with caterpillars. They eat plants and convert that into more energy and frequently are eaten by birds. Right Now, who doesn't love to have birds? Right? Maybe you don't want them flying around your house, you don't want them pooping on your car, but pretty much everyone loves birds, but without caterpillars we don't have birds, and without birds we don't have all the way up and around the food chain.

Speaker 1: 5:03

So many other things, up to and including humanity, people but the thing is most caterpillars have very, very specialized dietary needs. For example, monarch butterflies require native milkweed to whatever area they are in. Milkweed to whatever area they are in. Milkweed is what they call a host plant, and most caterpillars have a host plant that they cannot survive without. They have literally evolved together, their host plant and these caterpillars. This is a good thing for humans to know, because it means we can provide what they need right. There's actually what they call a few powerhouse plants that support the majority of caterpillars. Literally 90% of what caterpillars eat is created by 14% of native plant species, and only 5% of the powerhouse plants take credit for 75% of the food, and that's true across the country, across the US.

Speaker 1: 6:07

So we really need to pay attention to what we're putting in our yards. Are we planting garbage, exotic stuff like crepe myrtles that support nothing but are pretty, but they don't support the earth or the food web or any life other than that they're pretty? Or are we planning stuff like a keystone oak tree that is native an oak that's native to whatever part of the country you live in and one oak tree can support more than 500 types of caterpillars. Wow, talk about a much more stable food web. One tree, people, one. This is not like a hard switch to make, right. Native plants are so much better for the ecosystem and all of that. Now here's the other thing to keep in mind with all of this Not only is planting these native plants vital to maintaining the food web, and hence our own life on this planet and healing Mother Earth herself, but we also have to keep in mind what we do with the plants that are in the ground, because we have gotten very focused on pesticides.

Speaker 1: 7:20

Pesticides and our own expansion on the planet has created what they call species isolation, meaning that there's like pockets of them, but there's not enough to necessarily evolve together the way that they would. We have to really consider how are we like existing means? We impact the planet, but how are we impacting it, and are we keeping that in mind with the decisions that we make? And so one of the simplest things you can do in your own yard is to use more natural versions of pesticides. You don't have to go out there with roundup toxic that kills everything in sight. You can be much more targeted in that that kills everything in sight. You can be much more targeted in that. And you can also use things that are much more natural and allow the species to actually live outside but not actually come in your house. For example, ants. I don't like ants in my house, but if you spray around the edge of your house with cinnamon oil or with vinegar, that's like offense to them because they don't like the way it smells. They're like okay, yep, not going in there. Nobody gets hurt in that. Just an example.

Speaker 1: 8:34

Because here's the thing because of pesticides, because of human expansion, the really, really important flying insects like moths that are food for, like I said, for birds they have seen a 78% reduction over the past 40 years. Whether you love insects or not, this is a problem. Insects pollinate 90% of our flowering plants and without those plants, the entire food web collapses, which means you and I have nothing to eat when we go to the grocery store. This is a problem, and that even applies to people who are not vegan, because let's remember amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, fish they all rely on that same food web that starts with plants. So this is this is like we really have to take care of it. And another reason that the insects are so important to all of this is because when they die and decompose, they unlock that dead plant material that's inside them to become compost and return these nutrients to the soil. So, yes, fungi and bacteria can do this too, but it's a much more slow process than insects.

Speaker 1: 9:45

We need healthy soil to have healthy plants, to have a healthy food web. It is all connected. You can't fix all of it, right? None of us can fix all of it, but we can take some personal responsibility. And if you have a place, even if you don't have a yard, but if you have a balcony or a patio or some spot where you can even have a couple of pots with some native plants that are important in your area, that's going to make a huge difference. It may not seem like it to you, but to the food web it's going to feel amazing. And the other thing that you can do, regardless of if you have the ability to have plants or not, is you can educate other people, because it's really vital to change the cultural norms about what yards are supposed to look like. In a lot of people's minds, those golf course green, beautifully mowed lawns are the ideal, and anyone who strays from that is looked at differently. We need to change that cultural societal norm and you can do that by just talking to people. Just talk to people, share stuff on social media. It doesn't have to be like a big thing. You can also, of course, donate to nonprofits and all of that, but just think about ways that you can just share this podcast with somebody so that they understand, or begin to understand, some of what you are now beginning to understand, which is how important these native powerhouse plants are to each region.

Speaker 1: 11:22

I want to make a quick note here about native plants because some people think oh my God, this is sprawling across my grass and it's invasive. I want to make sure to define these terms for you really quick and I will also put some resources down in the show notes for you about this, because I want to be very, very clear about this. The distinction of native versus invasive, versus not native but friendly, etc. Is not made by you or I. It is actually determined by the agriculture department or some sort of university extension in your area. It is based on what is intended to grow there naturally, in a native fashion, and not so much how it behaves in your yard. Now, that's not to say that there are some native plants that you might not want in your yard because they take over a little bit. They can be native and aggressive, and maybe you don't want that, but that doesn't mean they're not native, right, and so that's part of what you have to think about too. There's gonna be a ton of resources in this episode for you, I promise.

Speaker 1: 12:33

I wanna leave you with this thought Native plants. Did you feel a glimmer, a spark, a light in the dark during this episode? You will love my online course, the Soulful Seeker. You can check it out at sparkconsciousnessnet, slash TSS, and you can also support the show as a Patreon member or episode sponsor. Learn about all of these opportunities and find additional resources about the topic covered in today's episode. In the show notes, just hang on to the word yards to help jog your memory and remind you to hop on over to season two, episode three of Give a Fuck, presented by Spark Consciousness, to find all of that awesome info. And I will see you next time. Thank you.