<story><title>Bee-friendly urban wildflower meadows prove a hit with German city dwellers</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/20/bee-friendly-urban-wildflower-meadows-prove-a-hit-with-german-city-dwellers</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rapnie</author><text>I do some &amp;quot;guerilla seeding&amp;quot; now and then where I live, scattering seeds in abandoned city spots that are waiting for new housing to be build (which can take years). It is so beautiful what flowers emerge, and when I see how both residents and tourists enjoy them, taking pictures and such, I felt it should be common practice to sow such spaces with flowers. Suggested it to our municipality, but after a &amp;quot;Maybe, we&amp;#x27;ll consider it&amp;quot; nothing happened. It is such low effort, low cost though.. it has a good ROI in terms of well-being for bees and humans alike :)</text></item><item><author>techsupporter</author><text>This is something that cities the world over should be doing, both from a bee and a people perspective.  Density is a lot more nice if greenery is nearby.  Doesn&amp;#x27;t really matter if it&amp;#x27;s a park or an allotment or a library with a wide area.  Just plenty of &amp;quot;something&amp;quot; with a large &amp;quot;big something&amp;quot; every so often.&lt;p&gt;In most cities I have experience with, high quality outdoor space is largely reserved for the parts of town populated by people living in detached, one-family dwellings.  The more dense parts of town are clustered next to noisy streets or with pollution.  Not much greenspace.  The cities that have gotten it more right than wrong are usually in western Europe and parts of Asia.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Christian Schmid-Egger, who coordinates Berlin’s wildflower meadows on behalf of the German Wildlife Foundation, said any conservation effort would ultimate require broader changes in agricultural practices: “If we are going to save the bees, we won’t be doing it in cities.”&lt;p&gt;He&amp;#x27;s not wrong, but he&amp;#x27;s also not fully right either.  One of the biggest damages we&amp;#x27;ve done to our biome is to pave so much of it, largely to make space for automobiles.  Animals and insects need places to thrive all over and setting aside more space among our population for both people &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; insects makes for a better environment.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>matkoniecz</author><text>Cities in Poland started doing this.&lt;p&gt;One of motivations was that seeding wild flowers gives reason to cut grass less often, allowing to save money and noise. Maybe the same applies in USA and cost cutting could be used as an argument?&lt;p&gt;Other motivations were biodiversity and that it is less ugly (though not everyone is fan of them).&lt;p&gt;From city official website: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.krakow.pl&amp;#x2F;aktualnosci&amp;#x2F;237069,1926,komunikat,zdecyduj__gdzie_powstana_nowe_laki_kwietne.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.krakow.pl&amp;#x2F;aktualnosci&amp;#x2F;237069,1926,komunikat,zdec...&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;zzm.krakow.pl&amp;#x2F;dzialania-antysmogowe&amp;#x2F;393-sianie-lak-kwietnych.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;zzm.krakow.pl&amp;#x2F;dzialania-antysmogowe&amp;#x2F;393-sianie-lak-k...&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.krakow.pl&amp;#x2F;aktualnosci&amp;#x2F;247208,29,komunikat,nowe_laki_kwietne_w_twoich_rekach.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.krakow.pl&amp;#x2F;aktualnosci&amp;#x2F;247208,29,komunikat,nowe_l...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Bee-friendly urban wildflower meadows prove a hit with German city dwellers</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/20/bee-friendly-urban-wildflower-meadows-prove-a-hit-with-german-city-dwellers</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rapnie</author><text>I do some &amp;quot;guerilla seeding&amp;quot; now and then where I live, scattering seeds in abandoned city spots that are waiting for new housing to be build (which can take years). It is so beautiful what flowers emerge, and when I see how both residents and tourists enjoy them, taking pictures and such, I felt it should be common practice to sow such spaces with flowers. Suggested it to our municipality, but after a &amp;quot;Maybe, we&amp;#x27;ll consider it&amp;quot; nothing happened. It is such low effort, low cost though.. it has a good ROI in terms of well-being for bees and humans alike :)</text></item><item><author>techsupporter</author><text>This is something that cities the world over should be doing, both from a bee and a people perspective.  Density is a lot more nice if greenery is nearby.  Doesn&amp;#x27;t really matter if it&amp;#x27;s a park or an allotment or a library with a wide area.  Just plenty of &amp;quot;something&amp;quot; with a large &amp;quot;big something&amp;quot; every so often.&lt;p&gt;In most cities I have experience with, high quality outdoor space is largely reserved for the parts of town populated by people living in detached, one-family dwellings.  The more dense parts of town are clustered next to noisy streets or with pollution.  Not much greenspace.  The cities that have gotten it more right than wrong are usually in western Europe and parts of Asia.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Christian Schmid-Egger, who coordinates Berlin’s wildflower meadows on behalf of the German Wildlife Foundation, said any conservation effort would ultimate require broader changes in agricultural practices: “If we are going to save the bees, we won’t be doing it in cities.”&lt;p&gt;He&amp;#x27;s not wrong, but he&amp;#x27;s also not fully right either.  One of the biggest damages we&amp;#x27;ve done to our biome is to pave so much of it, largely to make space for automobiles.  Animals and insects need places to thrive all over and setting aside more space among our population for both people &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; insects makes for a better environment.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Sharlin</author><text>In my city, a grassroots organization that started as a bunch of &amp;quot;guerrilla gardeners&amp;quot; now has their urban meadow projects sanctioned by the city, more meadows are being created, and they do paid consulting for the city as well on the topic of biodiversity and various restoration projects. Very nice.</text></comment>