
Minnesota Will Pay Residents to Grow Bee-Friendly Lawns - pseudolus
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/minnesota-will-pay-residents-grow-bee-friendly-lawns-180972430/
======
Aromasin
I recently added a load of "bee-friendly" high nectar plants to my garden.
Until recently we thought it had been unsuccessful, and wrote it off as a
failed experiment. Fast forward a couple of weeks and we suddenly couldn't
walk a few meters without spotting at least 7 or 8 bees of various different
species (both hive and solitary) buzzing around the place. It's been
wonderful, and I've recommended all my friends who are into gardening to try
it out. We've also had some new insects and bird species move in, along with a
family of hedgehogs!

If anyone else would like to outfit their garden with some more bee friendly
plants, we've had great luck with the following:-

    
    
      -Himalayan balsam
      -Yellow water iris
      -Gladioli
      -Common comfrey (Makes great fertilizer, and attracts some unique species)
      -Blackberry
      -Hedge bindweed
      -Honeysuckle (Smells amazing!)
      -Sweet pea
      -Foxglove
      -Rhododendron
      -Lavender
      -Bluebells (Good food source for early spring)
      -Clovers (Bees really have really taken a liking to these)
      -Greater knapweed (Super hardy)
      -Hellebore (Late flowerer, so great to keep them running over winter!)
      -Viper's bugloss
      -Wood anemone
    

Most of these are common meadow plants that take little to no effort other
than seeding them. Throw them down, cover with grass trimmings, mulch or
compost and you're ready to go. This particular list is ideal for a mild, wet
climate like the UK. Feel free to modify it depending on your wants and needs!

~~~
bencollier49
Is it worth pointing out that Himalayan Balsam is a major invasive species?
Characterised as a 'nuisance plant'.

[https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=480](https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=480)

~~~
bduerst
I was going to say, this list would be better if the non-native species were
labelled with a * or something.

Even in Minnesota, there's a push to restore native prairie grasses, which
also benefits bees: [https://www.beeculture.com/prairie-
restoration/](https://www.beeculture.com/prairie-restoration/)

~~~
Iwan-Zotow
> restore native prairie grasses

And what would be "native" to Minnesota given that (at least) 2C temperature
raise is pretty much in the books?

~~~
mulmen
Native plants are plants that occur... natively. If a plant was brought in
from elsewhere it is invasive. It has nothing to do with temperature.

~~~
Retric
Plant ranges are migrating due to climate change. For species that are native
to areas close enough to be introduced naturally invasive is not a useful
definition.

~~~
mulmen
Exactly. Those plants are not invasive.

------
jonnycomputer
We live by a creek in Appalachia. The creek sits at the end of our back yard.
The previous owners kept the grass mowed short all the way to the banks of the
creek. It looked nice. On the other hand, there was a tendency toward erosion,
and I feel its part of my responsibility to do what I can to encourage healthy
waterways. Besides, this area is a really important pathway for migrating
animals (see: [https://www.climatecentral.org/news/map-animal-migration-
cli...](https://www.climatecentral.org/news/map-animal-migration-climate-
change-20646)), and one of the most bio-diverse areas in the country. I don't
want to be part of the problem, and I hate mowing.

So, this early Spring, I decided that, city be damned, I'd not mow within 40'
of the creek. It rapidly turned into a thick meadow.

But then I chickened out, because I knew city officials were coming to inspect
the neighboring property. I mowed. In addition to the enormous number of
insects, I nearly mauled a turtle, a garden snake, and a bird's nest. So, I
said screw it, and put the lawn mower away. I've got plenty of lawn for the
kids to play on, and for me to sweat my undies mowing. And the city officials
never said anything.

~~~
wishinghand
Why would the city care about you having wild flora within 40’ of a river?

~~~
driverdan
Because cities love to tell people what they can and can't do, like how tall
their grass can be.

------
ourmandave
There was a recent story of a pest control company that accidentally sprayed
the wrong yard while the person was away running errands. They even left an
invoice.

She'd spent 3 years cultivating a pollinator friendly yard. The next day she
noticed there were no butterflies around.

[https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/pest-company-
mistakenly...](https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/pest-company-mistakenly-
sprays-parkville-womans-yard-killing-years-of-hard-work)

~~~
hayd
Why the hell would you ever want your yard sprayed?

~~~
gallamine
Mosquitos are dangerous, painful and a huge nuisance for a lot of people.

~~~
jMyles
If we're talking about the USA, mosquitos are not dangerous enough to warrant
taking any action whatsoever. Of the dozens and dozens of species of mosquito,
there are less than a handful that are potentially dangerous, and only in a
small region, and only sometimes.

There is no reason to spray chemical toxins in a yard because of mosquitos.

If you want to take action to reduce mosquito numbers, start with pooling
water. They are often able to breed in ruts left by vehicles driving on paths
where they aren't supposed to be.

~~~
blunte
Mosquitoes are pretty generally determined to be bad. Their value to any
ecosystem is difficult to justify. However, many methods used to eliminate
them have collateral damage.

I want this:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser)

If you search for videos, particularly the high speed captures, you'll be
impressed.

~~~
ravenstine
Holy crap! I imagined this exact thing when I was a kid. I didn't think it had
ever become a reality. Very cool.

------
olliewagner
Just to shill for bee friendly lawns: I have a creeping thyme lawn that I
would recommend entirely. It attracts tons of bees, butterflies, doesn’t need
mowing but once a year (to clean up the spent flowers which are lovely in the
summer), is drought tolerant (I water once every 2 weeks), and is evergreen to
boot!

~~~
asdkhadsj
Whoa, now I want to do this. It sounds amazing! How many varieties can be used
in this manner?

~~~
olliewagner
Tons.
[https://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/Thyme.htm](https://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/Thyme.htm)

I have Pink Chintz, but if I had to do it again I'd probably go with Pink
Lemonade (grows faster) mixed with Caraway (culinary)

------
dietdrb
As a Texan, I've got to proudly point out that Texas has been providing an
exemption on property taxes for beekeepers for a while now.

It is restricted to property of size 5-20 acres, which I think is a great
sweet spot that doesn't allow large landowners to abuse the exemption.

[https://txbeeinspection.tamu.edu/public/agricultural-
exempti...](https://txbeeinspection.tamu.edu/public/agricultural-exemption/)

~~~
WhompingWindows
20 acres is not large? What's large for TX? Large for RI would be 2 acres.

~~~
ajmarsh
Michigan checking in, 20 acres not that big really.

------
duxup
The U of M also offers free bee classes at the lab they mentioned:

[https://www.beelab.umn.edu/](https://www.beelab.umn.edu/)

------
munk-a
Within the article they mention that this issue is due, in a large part, to
monoculture farming so, why not do as cities do with developers who need to
provide a certain proportion of affordable housing in new developments and
just require a portion of farms to be free growth land. I'm all for this
initiative on top of that but pushing for better agricultural land usage would
probably increase the efficiency of the land that's actively farmed and
provide more evenly spread preserves. It's always easier to target businesses
through penalization than individuals through incentivization.

Bees are pretty sensitive to various chemicals, I'm not convinced that the
population decline isn't also due to urban chemical usages that we haven't
discovered yet.

~~~
mutt2016
Have you done a study?

------
blunte
I live on a 1ha (2.4acre) property in far southwest (Zeeland) Netherlands, an
area of mostly commercial farming. Our neighbors on all sides are commercial
farmers.

We, however, are permaculture novices/enthusiasts. My girlfriend knows what
each plant does, why it grows well or does not, and what it provides to
plants/insects around it.

Since moving here a year ago, we have seen a marked increase in bee and bird
numbers. Unfortunately, the owners of the property have the "tidy" mentality;
periodically they come and destroy flowers and "weeds" that they think do not
belong. It's utterly depressing. Tonight, after a culling, I walked and
observed many large bees ducking in and out of the flowers on cut plants. And
while I don't know the name of the bees we have, they live individually in
holes dug in the ground (like the ones in the article).

It is such a battle to educate people that think the right way is to cut the
grass on the lowest setting, to use herbicides to remove plants that are not
simple grasses, and to otherwise sanitize things they don't understand. When I
walked out and spoke to the guy and said, "We really enjoyed the fresh parsley
we used from this plant that you just destroyed", he seemed a bit shocked. To
him it was a weed.

If the glaciers are indeed melting at unprecedented (in human terms) rates,
and the ice caps are melting, and the co2 is accumulating, sea levels and
temperatures rising, etc. etc., it becomes quite difficult to see a decent
future for humanity beyond 100 (or 40?) years. It's enough to make one want to
just burn everything down and finish the job to get it over with.

~~~
vram22
Good work, keep it up. I'm just getting interested in permaculture myself. Had
done some organic gardening in the past.

~~~
blunte
Look up "food forest" while you're at it. A successful food forest is balanced
and requires no maintenance, but you get fresh edible food just for the effort
of walking in and picking it.

~~~
vram22
Thanks. I did come across the term "food forest" a few years ago, had read
some articles and saw some pictures of them. Very interesting. It definitely
works. Also there is precedent for it.

In some articles, Wikipedia or other, about the term, I saw that traditional
gardens in places such as Kerala (India), North-Eastern states of India (like
Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, etc. - which have climate partly like
Kerala, in the sense of getting a lot of rain), and probably places in other
countries, like maybe Thailand, Philippines, etc, are basically like food
forests, or rather, food forests are like them (since they came earlier). For
example, in home gardens, as they are called in Kerala, common plants grown in
the same area (polyculture), often just part of and outside some person's
home, include species like banana, coconut, jackfruit (all three are medium to
big trees, although banana is more like a herb) (also all three being wonder
trees in the sense of having many uses), spices like cardamom, pepper, clove,
various edible greens, herbs and spices like turmeric, coriander, cumin,
onion, garlic, etc. All growing together in natural symbiosis and helping each
other.

>requires no maintenance,

A bit of a nitpick, but they do require maintenance. It is not a closed loop.
Since we keep harvesting stuff, nutrients decrease, so we have to add inputs
too, like organic manure, compost, etc. Can't keep taking without giving back.

------
kaikai
The Xerces Society has pollinator-friendly plant lists for a variety of region
in the US: [https://xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/plant-
lists/](https://xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/plant-lists/)

They're named after a butterfly that used to live in the Sunset District of
San Francisco, and went extinct because a city was built on their habitat.

------
calebm
Here's what's great: all you have to do to make your lawn more bee-friendly is
literally nothing. Just stop dumping chemicals on it and flowering "weeds"
will grow (which can be beautiful, by the way).

~~~
cwkoss
A surprising number of common yard weeds are useful medicinal plants as well.
I found self heal and lemon balm in my yard this week!

------
_zachs
As a human, this sounds great, but as a human with a deadly bee allergy, this
doesn't sound great.

~~~
smcguinness
If your humanity is intrigued then take a look at Solitary bees many are
either stingless or less aggressive by nature of not being hive driven.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee#Solitary_and_communal_bees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee#Solitary_and_communal_bees)

------
dawnerd
I planted a normal grass backyard when I bought this house a few years ago,
but since the local clover has just dominated. At first I found it annoying as
I couldn't mow it down without bees getting aggressive, but now I just leave
it until it starts to get too high. The bees absolutely love it, there's got
to be several dozen at any time. Great thing too is once I do chop it back
down it re-flowers very quickly.

Since then I've put in a mason bee shelter, and planted more butterfly
friendly plants.

~~~
sokoloff
When clover out-competes a regionally appropriate grass, it's usually a strong
indication that the soil was low in available nitrogen.

~~~
dawnerd
Which makes sense. The homebuilders never replaced any of the soil and just
left it as clay. I didn't really put down much before planting anything but it
seems that the soil quality is getting better. The wild berries love it at
least.

~~~
jelliclesfarm
plant fruit trees.. they do well in clay as they hold water. and the
pollinators will take care of the pollination.

------
toss1
Wow, this is excellent!

There's a few additional cautions I heard in a talk from a rep of the Xerces
Society for protecting invertebrates [1].

One is that some of the new pesticides are systemic and durable. This means
that you can buy a plant from a nursery that is supposedly bee- or butterfly-
friendly, but if it was sprayed with one of these pesticides in it's growth,
it now will actually be deadly to the very insects you are trying to attract
and nurture.

Also, many of the bred variants of the plants may look nice, but actually be
incapable of growing the nectar, etc. that supports the insects we're trying
to nurture.

So, best to seek out the original native cultivars and organically grown (or
at least with known transient non-systemic pesticides).

Also check out the Xerces society and its materials -- they're a wealth of
knowledge on the subject.

[1]

~~~
toss1
Oops, somehow the link didn't make it in there

[1] [https://xerces.org/](https://xerces.org/)

------
j_m_b
I wonder how well this will go over with the local municipalities and
homeowner's associations. They are the biggest barriers to converting lawns
into useful land, not the cost.

------
ryanmercer
I think it would probably be more effective to just provide seeds for native
flowering plants to them directly, as well as sowing county/city/state parks
and interstate/highway greens with some.

I've had the idea for years of playing Johnny Appleseed by being "Ryan
Flowerseed" and driving around throwing hand fulls of seeds from native
flowering species off the shoulder/into the medians of interstates and
highways but it would actually be quite expensive to do it even over
relatively short distances and I'd probably get a ticket for littering
_facepalm_.

~~~
RosanaAnaDana
So a couple of complicating factors with that. Typically maintainers of
'right-of-way' spaces (transportation corridors), are pretty heavy users of
herbicide and manage in a manner which is fairly antagonistic towards plant/
animal life.

Likewise, whenever you are running a program to do some kind of home-owner
outreach/ change in behavior, its pretty important to have some training,
professional educators, validation components to the work. Otherwise the
program will get accused of just handing out freebies with no return on
investment. As well, you'll want to quantify the residual impact of the
program. Typically the goals of these programs is to try and create an overall
shift in how people manage their spaces and a 'keeping-up-with-the-joneses'
effect. For that to work however, the impact needs to be visually appealing.

Leaving it to homeowners is probably a bad idea.

~~~
ryanmercer
>So a couple of complicating factors with that. Typically maintainers of
'right-of-way' spaces (transportation corridors), are pretty heavy users of
herbicide and manage in a manner which is fairly antagonistic towards plant/
animal life.

Here in Indiana many have signs that say something along the lines of
"wildflowers, do not cut" so I would presume this means do not spray either.

------
drdeadringer
I previously read how "local honey" supposedly helps with certain allergies. I
do not have personal experience with either allergies or how local honey might
help them, but I am curious if anybody has -- or at least if anyone has
investigated such ideas.

~~~
a_c_s
One problem with this is that most "local" honeys in the USA can be labeled as
such even if they are 99%+ non-local honey. Just because it is sold in a
farmer's market doesn't mean it is actually local :-(

------
anythingnonidin
See also this Nature paper that Paul Stamets is an author on: Extracts of
Polypore Mushroom Mycelia Reduce Viruses in Honey Bees

> Waves of highly infectious viruses sweeping through global honey bee
> populations have contributed to recent declines in honey bee health. Bees
> have been observed foraging on mushroom mycelium, suggesting that they may
> be deriving medicinal or nutritional value from fungi. Fungi are known to
> produce a wide array of chemicals with antimicrobial activity, including
> compounds active against bacteria, other fungi, or viruses. We tested
> extracts from the mycelium of multiple polypore fungal species known to have
> antiviral properties. Extracts from amadou (Fomes) and reishi (Ganoderma)
> fungi reduced the levels of honey bee deformed wing virus (DWV) and Lake
> Sinai virus (LSV) in a dose-dependent manner. In field trials, colonies fed
> Ganoderma resinaceum extract exhibited a 79-fold reduction in DWV and a
> 45,000-fold reduction in LSV compared to control colonies. These findings
> indicate honey bees may gain health benefits from fungi and their
> antimicrobial compounds.

[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32194-8](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32194-8)

------
bovermyer
I live in Minnesota and will be taking advantage of this.

Though, to be fair, I was going to do it anyway, with or without subsidies.

~~~
superkuh
Try cup plant around your water downspouts (or any local water).
[https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/cup-
plant](https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/cup-plant) Bees and birds
love them.

~~~
bovermyer
Thanks for the tip!

------
novaleaf
If you know a bee-friendly alternative to grass for the Pacific Northwest,
please let me know. clover? and where to get seed for it? I have about .5
acres I wouldn't mind turning over.

~~~
ianburrell
In Portland, I use grass and clover mix [1]. Can get lawn mixes with more
flowers like yarrow and daisies [2]. Or can go to wildflower meadow [3]. Lots
of places have mixes with native wildflowers.

1: [https://ptlawnseed.com/collections/eco-and-alternative-
lawns...](https://ptlawnseed.com/collections/eco-and-alternative-
lawns/products/pt-769-r-r-eco-turf-mix) 2:
[https://ptlawnseed.com/collections/eco-and-alternative-
lawns...](https://ptlawnseed.com/collections/eco-and-alternative-
lawns/products/fleur-de-lawn) 3:
[https://ptlawnseed.com/products/pt-454-native-urban-
meadow-m...](https://ptlawnseed.com/products/pt-454-native-urban-meadow-mix)

------
tomohawk
We have a very bee friendly yard. It's basically survival of the fittest. We
did a bunch of research on plants that would work well in our area and be
hardy. A plant that is invasive in one area may not be invasive at all in
yours. We might treat a plant as a pet for a little while, but if it cannot
survive on its own, something else will.

We minimized the lawn area and use zoyzia there. It is hardy in our zone, and
requires minimal care (no watering, mow every few weeks, no chemicals).

We're fortunate to live in a community without a housing association, so we
don't have to worry about that. Some of our neighbors love it, and some hate
it since it is not the 'traditional' mowed lawn. We spend a lot less time
working on it than they do on theirs, though, and enjoy the critters.

------
mjmasn
Great news for the bees! In related news, I was just reading about a number of
councils in the UK leaving roadside verges to flower, saving them money and
encouraging wildlife to flourish.

Would be great to see more of this in towns and cities too, new developments
that cover an entire area with concrete and a few token trees/shrubs are not a
good long term outcome for anyone. I guess it comes down to how much a
planning authority can enforce both the implementation and long term upkeep of
'wild' spaces by the private developers and management companies.

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
england-48772448](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-48772448)

~~~
war1025
The state of Iowa (US) has a program to plant native species in the ditches
and medians of state highways. Heard about it on the radio a year or so ago.
Explains why the ditches are always so pretty to look at.

[https://iowadot.gov/lrtf/integrated-roadside-vegetation-
mana...](https://iowadot.gov/lrtf/integrated-roadside-vegetation-
management/why-it-matters)

------
vhodges
For people in the Lower Mainland (all of BC?)

[https://www.westcoastseeds.com/collections/lawn-
solutions/pr...](https://www.westcoastseeds.com/collections/lawn-
solutions/products/bee-turf)

We have a small garden box (4'x8') if Raspberry bushes and when it was
flowering there was so much activity around it that it sounded like a hive in
there!

One thing I've noticed this year is bumble/honey bees in abundance!

------
smcguinness
I mentioned in a child but I wanted to point out there are different species
of bees. Solitary bees are growing in popularity and offer more effective
pollination than the tradition honey bee and are non-(or less)aggressive.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee#Solitary_and_communal_bees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee#Solitary_and_communal_bees)

~~~
edraferi
Is it possible to explicitly host a colony of non-stinging bees to keep away
stinging varieties?

I have family members who are terrified of bees. Don’t want someone to step on
a bee and get stung, etc

~~~
smcguinness
Yes. However, it isn't really a colony or hive. I actually had my first bee
house this summer (in Texas) in hopes of pollinating my apple tree (spoiler -
it worked).

I bought 40 Mason bee larva from
[https://masonbeesforsale.com](https://masonbeesforsale.com) around March and
around May I found some reeds in my bee house filled with mud (meaning they
had created their nest). It was a fun experiment and at no time did I feel
like bees were swarming. If anything, they actually left my yard an pollinated
my neighbors plants.

------
kawsper
In the UK I have ordered seeds from Pictorial Meadows
[http://www.pictorialmeadows.co.uk/](http://www.pictorialmeadows.co.uk/) they
optimize for more colour, a longer flowering season, and better support for
biodiversity.

------
jelliclesfarm
i have a lavender farm. it is a joy to have native and honey bees around. i
rent my land from a quasi federal facility...so my land licence doesnt allow
me to have bee hives as it would try to oust the local native bees.

while..as a farmer and beekeeper..i got annoyed because it took away a
lucrative source of income from hives and honey...i slowly began to appreciate
their rationale. i started seeing so many bees that arent really honey bees.

in california, honey bees are actually foreign italian bees. as a beekeeper,
my favourite part of the job is to observe bees...and it was fascinating how
many other kinds of bees there were other than italian bees that we usually
buy ..as queen bee and nucs..

this, of course, creates an interesting problem. italian honeybees..not being
native californian dont always tolerate native californian pollen. in
spring..if there is a lack of flowering species, they will feed anyways when
they swarm to california buckeye which is likely to be toxic to their
digestive systems(this is true too of yellow jessamine vine in the south of
usa) and can kill them.

the hack is to make sure they have other nectar flowers in early spring. they
wont go to the harmful flowers is sufficient food is around and available. the
easy answer is brambles. bramble berries flower early and are pollen/nectar
laden. when i heard about it, i felt like i stumbled upon some super awesome
secret.

i wish i can encourage everyone to be friends of bees...and other pollinators.
there is so much we dont know about them. at times..when i am tired and had a
bit of tipple..i even let me mind wander and wonder if they are possibly alien
to our planet. bees are almost like alien intelligence. when they leave us, we
should be scared...very worried, at least.

------
gbrown
Man, I wish we had that here. I've slowly replaced about 30% of my lawn with
native prairie beds, added clover to the rest, and never spray.

------
joe2
This site has tips for plants that attract pollinators, organized by
region/ecosystem type. Just have to punch in your US/Canadian zip
[https://www.pollinator.org/guides](https://www.pollinator.org/guides)

------
RosanaAnaDana
Hmm. Wonder if they need people to validate the effectiveness of their 'Bee-
scapes'.

------
archy_
How much does it benefit bees to go out of their way to these lawns? Or are
they more likely to build a new hive nearby and increase the bee population
and subsequently the health of the local environment?

~~~
WhompingWindows
Bees have a large range, sometimes over 3 miles, so it's going to be fine to
have a few dozen beekeepers per metropolitan area. Each hive can cover 9*pi ~
27 sq miles.

------
swayvil
I wish they would do this in IL. I would be all over that. My garden is
already that way. Lots of beebalm and wildflowers. Just this morning I was
thinking, "Why not do the whole front yard?".

------
ageofwant
A bit late to comment but this is very relevant
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz9I2YwmV8M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz9I2YwmV8M)

------
smb111
What a great idea. We have been doing this with our lawn, although more down
to laziness!

------
agumonkey
Pardon the shallow sarcasm but aren't we paying for things people used to do ?

------
bryan11
In the past, large wildflowers and flowering bushes in my front yard would
draw many butterflies and bees. The city started spaying all neighborhoods for
mosquitoes every few weeks. You don't see butterflies or bees around any more.
The bee hives in a nearby city were killed by mosquito spraying.

------
OrgNet
How about paying them to have a hive?

------
misotaur
This thread is missing pictures.

------
macawfish
Watch as all the landlords do a 180.

------
digitalsushi
It's unsettling that we're both so eager to save the bees, and so eager to
save our kids from ticks.

~~~
moate
I don't know that it's "unsettling". Both of those seem like objectively good
things. The fact that it can be difficult to do both simultaneously is
definitely "a thing" but I don't believe it's unsettling. "Difficult to
balance" maybe?

Unless you feel that either A- Saving Bees is bad or B- Killing ticks is bad?

~~~
macawfish
I feel that C- killing ticks with ecologically destructive methods is
ridiculously ignorant.

~~~
moate
But that doesn't mean that it's "unsettling" that we want to save bees, which
is what that statement implies.

~~~
macawfish
I understood them to be saying they were unsettled by the dissonance of it.

~~~
moate
I believe that you read it that way. I believe that it's a difficult to
understand sentence that doesn't appear to properly articulate the message the
writer was attempting to convey and that maybe different word choice would
provide greater clarity to their point and further the overall discussion.

TL;dr- we deep enough down the semantics rabbit hole and I'm tapping out.
Words, amirite?

~~~
macawfish
U r rite

------
hinkley
Houston, we have a problem. And that problem is the children.

And as Whitney Houston used to say, "pass me the coke"^W^W^W^W "I believe the
children are our future"

I love bees to death, but white clover in lawns is a good way to introduce
children to the business end of honey bees. Trying to get my own family to
stop and watch a bush full of honey and bumblebees working has taken years of
desensitization both for myself and then for them.

If you don't want bees to be in crisis again in 30 years when those kids are
in charge, you need a better plan than this. Or at least a reworded one. What
you want is flower beds in yards, (And you need to break the iron fist of the
HOA to get more of those), not flowers in lawns.

~~~
DuskStar
Bees are pretty good about 'live and let live', at least in my experience.
Unless you step on a bumblebee barefoot or something of the like, of course...

Wasps and hornets give bees a bad name.

~~~
hinkley
Right, and where are children going to step on bees?

~~~
gilbetron
I grew up in the bad old 70s, full of bees and other stinging things, walking
around barefoot pretty much all summer and I've never been stung on the foot.
Likewise, we have a very bee-friendly yard, and our son (now 10) has never
been stung by one.

Wasps and hornets? Him once, and myself 2-3 times, but that has nothing to do
with plants, those suckers like making hives all over the place.

~~~
hinkley
Try talking to people with bee phobias, instead of acting only on your own
experiences. I get a high percentage of people who were either stung as a
child or witnessed it happen to someone else.

It's very similar to your wasp experience, and some people's experience with
certain dog breeds. What terrifies us is when a creature lashes out and we
don't understand why. If we understand we feel we have control of the
situation.

Most of us [lack] that feeling of control with wasps (I like parasitic wasps,
I still hate the hornet family). Some people have this with chihuahuas or pits
(hard to read body language). A lot of people who fear bees have the same
thing.

I have to show them that you can put your face right up to bees foraging and
nothing happens because they are busy and have no opinion on your proximity
(it's the hive they care about).

People won't 'show up' for things they have no feelings about, or things they
have negative feelings about. I don't want to deal with another generation of
suburban bee-haters when I'm old and grey.

Edit: tortured use of negatives

~~~
gilbetron
Are we supposed to shape our world to fit the most fearful?

Or should we shape our world to fit our goals, and help the fearful adapt to
it?

~~~
DuskStar
> Are we supposed to shape our world to fit the most fearful?

I'd say that whether we are supposed to or not, and despite how bad an idea it
seems to be, we _are_ shaping the world to fit the most fearful.

