The Green Bandwagon

It seems like everyone these days is jumping on the green bandwagon.  From car manufacturers to retail chain stores, “going green” is redefining how we make our purchases.  Advertisements about sustainable choices, green products, and eco-friendly companies are everywhere – the TV, billboards, websites, subway cars, bus stops...  Going green has become part of our 21^st century culture.  Retailers have successfully helped us realize that this new environmental movement is no longer just for the long-haired, hippie tree huggers – it’s also for the soccer moms who want their kids to eat right, the young couples who want to save on bills, and the business executives who want to redefine their image.  Retailers what us to know that everyone can go green!

Photo: Can we really buy sustainability as retailers would like us to believe? Livingston Manor, The Catskills, NY

 But unfortunately, many environmentally-friendly advertisements promote the false idea that we can all buy-into sustainability, quite literally, by buying.  What retailers really mean by “go green” is “BUY green.”  Wouldn’t it be so nice and easy if all we had to do to protect our natural environment was to buy stuff?  Buy a new car and POOF!! the rainforest is saved!  Buy an organic apple and POOF!! there are no toxic chemicals in the groundwater!  Buy an Energy-Star washing machine and POOF!! there are no water shortage problems!  Yes, it would be nice if we could simply buy a healthy environment. 

Faulty as it may be, this idea of buying sustainability and promoting a green image is working.  For example, the hybrid Toyota Prius has become an indelible green-status marker, letting all others know that this driver has reached, “Harmony between man, nature, and machine.”  Reusable bags have become the latest must-have fashion item.  Bags like Envirosax® ensure that you are “spreading the eco-friendly message with style!”   Food stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, which sell “the highest quality natural & organic products,” have built their entire image around being green.  Even conventional retailers like Walmart want you to know that they are going green – you can even view Walmart’s recent Global Sustainability Milestone Meetings on their website via webcast. 

Objectively, green advertising isn’t a bad thing.  If you do drive a Prius or shop at Whole Foods, then heck, that’s great!  But there are two things that are problematic with green advertising.  The first is that a product advertised as green may not actually be all that beneficial to the environment.  You always want to investigate the story behind a green product or a type of green certification.  Secondly, once you buy a green product you’re done – there’s no next step.  Except of course to discard that product when a newer, greener one comes out.

To truly improve our environment, we need to do more than just buy the latest green trend items.  We need to volunteer at our local nature center.  We need to grow our own vegetables.  We need to donate to environmental charities.  We need to invest in scientific research that will provide solutions to local and global problems.  We need to start our own compost pile.  We need to plant more trees.  We need to help our children develop an appreciation for nature.  We need to support the development of local laws that protect open space.  We need to support our local farmers.  We need to hike in the woods.  We need to DO more, and BUY less. 

Photo: We need to do green acts, like planting trees. Virgina Tech Campus

There is a lot of green that needs to be done.  Instead of just buying green, also remember to DO green. 

BIG House on the Prairie

Before there was Roosevelt Field and the Coliseum, Adelphi and Hofstra, or even Levittown and Garden City, there was once a prairie.  Yes, a prairie!  Long Island was once home to the only true tall-grass prairie east of the Mississippi River – a prairie that was called the Hempstead Plains.  40,000 – 60,000 acres of uninterrupted grasslands once covered a huge swath of Nassau County, all the way from the Queens border to the Suffolk border.  Surprising as it is, it’s true that the view from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s little house on the Kansas prairie would not have been very different had she built her house on the Hempstead Plains instead. 

Photo: Little Bluestem (Schizachryium scoparium) was a common grass of Long Island's prairie. Garden City

Amber waves of 6 ft. tall grasses blowing gently in the breeze were home to all sorts of insects and wildlife.  Imagine an endless sea of Little (Schizachryium scoparium) and Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), and Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) with Karner Blue Butterflies (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) dancing in and out of Blue Lupine flowers (Lupinus perrennis). Today, the view from our big houses is vastly different, as we gaze upon an endless sea of green manicured lawns, traffic, and shopping malls. 

It turns out that flat prairies (especially ones next to New York City), with few trees to get in the way and readily workable soil, are some of the most desirable pieces of land for development.  Worldwide, grassland – not rainforest, nor tundra, nor wetland – is one of the most critically endangered ecosystems.  The endangered Sandplain Gerardia plant (Agalinis acuta), and the threatened Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) and Henslow’s Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii) are just a few species that are dependent on the shrinking prairie grasslands.

Photo: A small parcel of the Hempstead Plains at the Garden City Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum with Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis).

Yet we can still experience the beauty of our home-grown prairie in the few fragments that are left.  One of the largest remnants of the Hempstead Plains is located on the campus of Nassau Community College in Garden City.  Near the looming shadows of the Nassau Coliseum and the Long Island Marriot, lies the 19 acres of natural grasslands.  The site is actively managed by the non-profit Friends of the Hempstead Plains at Nassau Community College, Inc.  (Check out www.friendsofhp.org).  Through the dedication of emeritus faculty and volunteers, the site has been maintained as a biological time-capsule of what most of Nassau County looked like centuries ago.  By collecting seeds, removing invasive plants, and cataloguing the vegetation, the Friends group has been working hard to restore the ecological integrity of the site.  The site is open to the public and volunteers many Friday afternoons and Saturdays throughout the growing season.  In the next few years, an interpretive center and children’s garden will be created adjacent to the grassland.  This outdoor classroom will be used to educate school groups and volunteers about the unique environment of Long Island’s Hempstead Plains.

Photo: Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) makes a great accent in the garden. Riverhead

Below is a short list of some NY native prairie plants that you may want to grow and create your own backyard meadow.  Many of these plants can be purchased through the Long Island Native Grass Initiative (Contact Polly.Weigand@co.suffolk.ny.us) and conservation seed catalogs.

Grasses

Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)

Broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus)

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)

Little Bluestem (Schizachryium scoparium)

Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans)

Wildflowers

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Wild Indigo (Baptisia tinctoria)

Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus)

Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium fistulosum)

Yellow Star Grass (Hypoxis hirsuta)

Birdfoot Violet (Viola pedata)

Early Bloomers

Although spring doesn’t officially start for another week, a stroll in the garden will tell you otherwise.  With the snow finally melted and the soil beginning to warm, the garden is once again showing signs of life.  Spring-flowering bulbs are beginning to poke through the leaf litter, and tree flower buds are beginning to swell.  Many migrating birds are back and can be easily seen perched on bare tree branches.   All these signs are telling us that spring has arrived.

Photo: Witchhazels flowering on March 9th, Hofstra University, Hempstead

But for me, the unofficial start to spring begins with the blooming of the Witchhazels (Hamamelis spp.).  Almost a month before the Flowering Cherries or Forsythia come into bloom, the Witchhazel proudly displays its golden-yellow flowers.  Unique clusters of tendril-like petals hug the thin branches of this large, upright, deciduous shrub.  The sunny yellow flowers displayed against a backdrop of drab grays and browns, remind us of the warmer days soon to come.  But If the Witchhazel had waited another month until the other spring flowering trees were in bloom, probably not many people would be paying attention to the odd-looking, funky flowers.  But the Witchhazel is smart – by flowering before any other tree, the Witchhazel can monopolize a small number of pollinators, and monopolize the hearts of a large number of gardeners.    

Photo: The unique flowers of Witchhazel

Most Witchhazels planted these days are cultivars of the hybrid Witchhazel (Hamamelis x intermedia), which is a cross between the Chinese (H. mollis) and Japanese Witchhazels (H. japonica).  The hybrid Witchhazel is a fairly vigorous large, multi-stemmed shrub that grows up to 20 feet tall, with an upright, spreading habit.  One of the top cultivars for yellow flowers is ‘Arnold Promise.’  Other varieties have been developed with copper-colored or red flowers, including ‘Jelena’ and ‘Rubin.’  Witchhazel can be grown in full sun or partial shade, and prefers moist, fertile, acidic soil.  The leaves of Witchhazel have wavy edges, and many plants have a slightly blue or gray tinge to the foliage.  Depending on the cultivar, fall color can be a spectacular display of bright yellow, scarlet, or orange. 

Photo: 'Arnold Promise' is a great yellow-flowering cultivar of Hamamelis x intermedia, Riverhead

But if you happen to spot yellow flowers amidst all this fall color, your eyes are not deceiving you – our native Common Witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana) actually flowers in late fall rather than late winter.  Common Witchhazel is native to most of the eastern U.S. where it forms an understory large shrub or small tree in deciduous forests.  Common Witchhazel also makes an excellent landscape plant, perfect for the shrub border, native gardens, or naturalized areas.    

Hamamelis is a genus of plants that loves to flower when few others are doing so.  If you would like to extend the season in your garden, consider planting a Witchhazel.  No other plant will tell you that spring is unofficially here!

The Kids Aren't Alright

Most everyone is well aware of the growing number of problems that plague children these days.  Childhood obesity and diabetes, depression and teen suicide, school bullying, and attention-deficit disorder are some of the heart-breaking difficulties that families face.  Today, growing-up healthy and happy seems to be more difficult than ever before.  Thanks to Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, we can now add another problem to this laundry list: “nature-deficit disorder.”  Yet we can also add a viable solution: nature.

Louv describes nature-deficit disorder as the human costs of alienation from nature that can be increasingly perceived in individuals, families, and communities.  While not a medical diagnosis, nature-deficit disorder is a term that may help explain the increasing feeling of isolation from the physical and spiritual world, and its negative results.  In his book, Louv pleads that if we don’t want our next generation to be entrapped by physical and emotional illnesses, we have to reunite our children with nature. 

Louv emphasizes that a child’s early experiences in nature – whether that means in the backyard, the back woods, the family farm or garden, or the overgrown, empty lot – are formative and essential.  Among other things, nature will teach a child to utilize all the senses, manage risks, and learn the limitations of his or her body, while nurturing creativity, and most importantly, inspiring awe.  Louv makes a case that childhood experiences in nature were influential in the creative development of some of the world’s greatest leaders.  Louv recounts the stories of little Thomas Edison sitting on goose eggs to make them hatch, young Eleanor Roosevelt disappearing into the woods to write short stories about butterflies, and the small John Muir chasing down seagulls on the beach. 

Photo: As a kid, I loved climbing trees like this giant European Beech (Fagus sylvatica). 1995

Which got me to thinking, can our childhood nature experiences really be absolutely essential to how and who we grow up to be?  At least for me, I think the answer is pretty straightforward.  Thankfully I had the type of parents who encouraged outdoor play and exploration – a father who collected frogs and turtles and took me and my sisters camping every year, and a mother who taught us to be observant and creative. 

Louv reports that one of the main stumbling blocks to reuniting children with nature is the vast number of distractions keeping kids inside.  In his book, he recounts that when one fourth-grader in San Diego was questioned, the child replied, “I like to play indoors better ‘cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are.”  How true.  Growing up in an affluent suburb in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, my family was one of the only households that didn’t have Nintendo or Sega Genesis.   My sisters and I were only allowed to play video games at friends’ houses.  At a friend’s house, I’d first be so excited to play Super Mario Brothers for the novelty of it, but I would always get bored quickly.  Without much video game practice, of course I’d die right away and would have to wait forever for it to be my turn again.  TV is another huge distraction that was minimized in my childhood.  Growing up, I was only allowed to watch TV after 7pm, if I finished my homework.  No “Saved by the Bell” or Saturday morning cartoons for me.  Instead, I’d end up going down to the park, or riding my bike, or playing horses in the backyard.  Although my boyfriend is continually mocks me about all the ‘80s pop culture I missed, I feel I’m the better for it.  Looking back, it is amazing how much my parents resisted the technology craze.  Today’s parents must have it even harder as more and more electronic distractions are keeping kids inside.     

I remember often playing in our backyard.  The grass would get torn up from all the running around on all fours me and my sisters would do while playing horses, or dogs, or cats.  I remember picking blueberries, raspberries, and cherries in our backyard, still wet from morning dew.  I remember counting the goldfish in our dinky pond, not really minding that they kept getting eaten by passing herons, so long as I could get a glimpse of the snowy white shorebirds.  I remember growing parsley and cucumbers and being proud to actually eat vegetables.  I remember cleaning-out a narrow, hidden section of our backyard sandwiched between two neighbors’ fences and declaring it our clubhouse.  I remember sweltering in the summer sun pulling out never-ending weeds from the driveway by hand as one of my chores.  I remember trying to not make eye contact with the neighbors walking by who looked on amused yet curious that a 14 year old girl was mowing the lawn instead of the landscapers.  I remember climbing our Norway Maple tree in the front yard and being silent and surprised that no one walking by ever looked up to see me.  I remember climbing an enormous beech tree once at a family picnic, and feeling somewhat smug that the arboretum attendant looked absolutely shocked at how high I had climbed when he told me to get down from there immediately.   I’d bet that it’s not a coincidence that I became an arborist or an extension agent.

Photo: Today, nature is still an important aspect of my life. Mongaup Pond, the Catskills, 2010

Yesterday I was fortunate to hear a lecture by Susan Lacerte, Executive Director of the Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing.  She described the process of redesigning their offices and garden to create a sustainable gray water and storm water catchment and recycling system.  As a result of their efforts, the Queens Botanical Garden was one of the first places in the country to achieve platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) Green Building Rating System, the highest possible certification.  Her inspiration for using water as a central feature in the garden came from her childhood – the memory of camping with her family.  Huddled inside the tent during a rainstorm, she vividly remembers hearing raindrops hit the top of her tent and watching them gently roll down the sides and off, to splat on the ground and make mud puddles.  From mud puddle memories LEED™ platinum certification is born.  Perhaps Richard Louv is really on to something…  Nature for both kids and adults may be more important for emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being than we’ve ever realized.  I think it’s time we all took a step outside. 

 Louv, Richard. 2008. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Algonquin Books: Chapel Hill, NC.