Healthy communities have active and engaged citizenry and civic life. Whether this may be through leading a community garden or making collective decisions for a new green development project. It is essential to have the voices of community members in these conversations because it allows for the collective interest, understanding, and support of all residents.

Outreach and engagement

• Outreach is a one-way communication that tells community members about an issue, problem, opportunity, or decision. They can take the form of something physical, such as a flier, or something virtual, like a website posting.

• Engagement is a two-way communication that broadens public participation and wider community input. This allows for community members to become informed about, participate in, and influence public decisions, such as by attending a city-council deliberation.

Approaches to members of the community should open up the discussion and encourage participation with methods that respect diverse purposes and goals. It is vital to ensure that outreach, engagement and participation in decision-making are accessible to all. This may include novel ways of incorporating the well-being of Berkeley's animals as well as its people.

Thinking about a lawn? Consider a native garden instead

Although there are many human benefits to keeping a lawn, there are adversely many consequences to the overarching multispecies ecosystem as well. 

For example:

• • • Lawns are monocultures, they are essentially a biological desert that supports very few species, and even then, those species are prone to the effects of chemical pollutants and mowing

    • Lawn care upkeep not only introduces toxins into the environment, especially through storm run-offs, tools needed to upkeep (such as a lawn mower or leaf blower) additionally add to noise pollution

    • Lawn care upkeep also removes critical nesting and food resources for insects and animals alike, even something as little as leaf debris or weeds is crucial for another lifeform's wellbeing 

There are many ways to make your lawn more pollinator-friendly if there are immediate and long-term barriers that prevent you from restoring your lawn to a more natural state with native plants and low human interference. 

One recommendation is to consider seasonality when you are altering your green space in any way. For example, you may want to participate in "No Mow May" if you want to help early-season pollinators. Another recommendation is to keep your area as natural as possible. Your overgrown grass, fallen leaves, and other natural “debris” serve a huge role in the larger ecosystem as a habitat for many animals and insects. After all, creating the ideal pollinator hot spot must go beyond accessibility to nectar. 

In addition, ask yourself these questions - Who is the lawn really for? What is the purpose of the lawn, to be seen as an aesthetic, or a home? Why is this conversation important?