Bee The Change Webcast - Episode 1 - Sustainable landscaping
Channel: Alvéole
Date: 2023-05-29

Expansive lawns, expensive lawns: How sustainable landscaping is better for bees, buildings, and budgets alike

The US has got about 44 million acres of lawn, which is an area bigger than the size of New England. If you pay attention to your lawn at all, and do what the lawn care industry says you should do, it's an ecological deadscape. And that's embedded in a matrix of 135 million acres of residential landscapes. None of it is designed to run the ecosystems that support us.

Every landscape needs to preserve pollinators, every landscape needs to preserve a food web, every landscape needs to manage the watershed, and every landscape needs to sequester carbon. 

Lawn does none of those things.

According to our speakers, 'bee-ing' the change starts with personal responsibility, with good design, and by starting to see conservation has happening – quite literally – in your own backyard. 

Whether you’re a developer, a property manager, or a homeowner, you’re likely to learn a thing or two about sustainable landscaping in this fascinating conversation:

✅ Why you don't have to get rid of your lawn to do the right thing
✅ How we can and should practice conservation on personal property 
✅ How the aesthetics of landscaping are changing 
✅ Why sustainable landscaping is the low-hanging fruit of your sustainability efforts
✅ What property managers and developers should do when thinking about landscaping

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our outstanding speakers: Douglas Tallamy, Matthew Shepherd, and Amy Hovis.

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AVAILABLE RESOURCES
Douglas Tallamy’s Hub on Homegrown National Park: https://www.homegrownnationalpark.org/tallamys-hub/

Xerces Society’s Bring Back the Pollinators campaign: https://xerces.org/bring-back-the-pollinators

Xerces Society’s Mid-Atlantic Native Meadows: Guidelines for Planning, Preparation, Design, Installation, and Maintenance: https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/publications/19-052_MidAtlantic_Meadow_guidelines_web.pdf

Xerces Society’s Pollinator-friendly plant lists: https://xerces.org/publications/plant-lists

Eden Garden Design in Austin, Texas: https://www.edenaustin.com/

Barton Springs Nursery in Austin, Texas: https://bartonspringsnursery.com/

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ALVÉOLE'S BEE THE CHANGE WEBCAST SERIES
"Bee The Change" is a quarterly webcast hosted by Alvéole’s CEO Alex Mclean, where we explore topics, research, and trends relevant to bee-friendly cities - that is, greener and more resilient urban spaces and built environments. 

In each webcast, we'll engage in thought-provoking conversations with experts, scientists, researchers, and change-makers who see cities being at the root of change. We'll explore a wide range of topics at the intersection of conservation, urbanism, and architecture.

Uncover with us the links between nature and cities, city dwellers and bees, as well as the interconnectedness of social, economic, and environmental issues within urban spaces.