Bob Eaton: Tips to help the natural world thrive for our grandchildren

To The Daily Sun,

I want my grandchildren (that's if I can get my kids to hurry up and provide some) to enjoy the natural world the way I have. I garden. I garden a lot. I garden with native plants and don't use any chemicals. Why am I saying this? Because every year I see a decline in our New Hampshire pollinators, birds, bats, and lately even the lake creatures. Research says by the time my grandchildren I'm waiting for are big enough to enjoy fireflies, they will be gone from our world. I wonder what will be left? The losses are happening fast. Much is due to humans.

Here are easy tips so readers can help our natural world thrive:

• Stop using pesticide/insecticides. They don't just kill select insects but all insects, including bees, butterflies, dragonflies.
• Fishing: mayflies are vanishing due to neonicotinoid in waterways.
• When readers drive down the road are bugs now all over their windshield? I bet not. Stop spraying.
• Save electricity: turn out the lights. Or try a motion sensor — save fireflies and moths (food for birds).
• Save water: plant native, use less water and give the pollinators and birds more food.
• Reduce lawn size: try clover for enriching nitrogen, water saving and bee food. Or sedges and native shrubs.
• Save time and yard work (and get some exercise). Leave the leaves. It's money-saving organic garden mulch in the garden and full of life. Bees, 34 types of caterpillar and more all live in leaf litter, providing us with spring pollinators. Don't throw them away. Be gentle. That leaf blower is a big monster against these tiny important creatures.

Let’s all work together and save our pollinators. Need more tips? Questions? sixleggedsociety.com.

Bob Eaton

Wolfeboro