Erin M

Our environments are our home, but it's hard to feel like you're home when you're spending time outside if that's something you almost never do. I think that having easy access to good green space, and having that experience be a part of our daily lives, makes the care of that space feel necessary and personal. The more time I spend in my yard, the more grateful I feel that I get to be in that space, and the more I feel that I should be taking care of it -- and that I WANT to be taking care of it. We have some lantana bushes that our pollinators love (bees, butterflies, wasps, hummingbirds) but our yard is still mostly grass. It's important to know what healthy green space looks like -- I'd never have known that grass lawns weren't good for ecosystems if someone hadn't told me, and shown me photos of what healthy, biodiverse lawns look like. If we can spend some time just literally being in our neighborhoods and green spaces (instead of staying inside by default, or stressing out the whole time because we think we're wasting time that we could be being productive instead), and if we can spread understanding among our friends and family of what a healthy space should  look like, we unavoidably cultivate our sense of belonging in and responsibility for our environments.