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Ecocide (noun)
The destruction of the natural environment by deliberate or negligent human action.
In this series, entitled Ecocide, Brian Murray, founder of microWild, reflects on how everyday domestic habits, industrial practices, and government decisions combine to devastate the environment and its wildlife inhabitants.
IN 1830, JUST before the start of the Victorian era, an Englishman named Edwin Beard Budding invented the hand-pushed lawnmower. Before this, neat lawns were achieved initially through animal grazing and later scything.
These close-cropped, grassy surfaces tended to be the preserve of those wealthy enough to have their lawns scythed for them. A definite sign of elite status. In addition to this, the Victorian obsession with lawn sports like cricket, croquet, tennis and bowls further fuelled the desire for a neat lawn.
And, of course, as with any trend that begins with the upper class, this filtered down to the middle and working classes over time. So much so that by the end of the twentieth century, an entire poisonous industry had emerged, promising homeowners the most beautiful lawns fed by toxic fertilisers and ecocidal weedkillers. Killing all and sundry in the world of plants and animals was a small price to pay for keeping up with the Joneses.
This obsession with neat, grass-only lawns is now a culturally entrenched symbol of civic responsibility and social order. It even provides value to a property. The entire country is filled with many gardens of a similar ilk. A well-kept patch of grass, no weeds, mind, with surrounding and well-segregated borders usually filled with non-native plants, bushes and trees. And that patch of grass is religiously kept at bay with frequent mowing.
And if a single dandelion or a clump of moss dares to disrupt this sterile perfection, it is promptly met with a cocktail of poisonous chemicals that has far-reaching and damaging effects on the environment way beyond the confines of the offending ‘weed’. But that’s an article for another day.
On a national scale, county and city councils take the Victorian ethos to a new extreme with an almost fundamentalist attitude toward grass-cutting. While they all appear to be signed up to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, social media posts regularly show mindless destruction of habitats critical for invertebrate and animal feeding, breeding and sheltering.
Lots of councils talk about their reduced mowing regimes. In reality, large-scale mowing of any area does untold damage to insect and invertebrate life, even if it is less frequent. A better answer might be targeted mowing, where every area is assigned no-mow sections for spring, summer, and late autumn. This allows insect and invertebrate life to feed, breed and shelter in these areas throughout the year. In print, it appears to make perfect sense.
But there will always be dissenting voices. For some people, nature must pay a price to coexist alongside us humans, with our compulsion for neatness. They do not perceive native wildflowers and long grass as biodiversity feeding and breeding hotspots as I do. They fail to see the beauty and wonder of nature in tall grass gently stirred by a soft breeze. Instead, they regard it as an overgrown mess and immediately complain to their local councillor.
This is a prime example of shifting baselines. People are used to the old way of doing things, where native wildflowers (weeds) have been poisoned out of existence, and grass has been kept unnecessarily short for the longest time. They grew up with this, and offering anything else seems wrong.
The councils, to their shame, doff their hats to the handful of complainants, time and time again.
If councils and householders act now, the baseline can be shifted again. Away from the sterile neatness that pervades housing estates and roadsides across the country, to something that genuinely supports our wildlife. Not token gestures.
Not all open grass spaces need to be mown. And if you decide not to mow an area now. Don’t mow it next month or the month after. Follow the once-a-year, cut-and-lift protocol advised by the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan.
Not all grass verges need to be kept short. Keep the edges short and allow the central bands to grow and support life. I have seen this done in the real world, and it lifts my heart to see the native wildflowers that flourish and the number of flying insects you will observe.
If you are a homeowner, take a stand. If you are annihilating your grass patch just to keep the neighbours happy and the social order, why not let it grow and instead plant a sign stating that you are doing your small part in the current biodiversity crisis? I’ll design it for you, just ask!
In conclusion, though, ask yourself these questions.
If the answer is yes to all three of the above questions, you know what to do. Take action.
Brian Murray is the founder of microWild, a biodiversity project based in Blessington, Wicklow. Focusing on invertebrates, microWild provides areas for them to feed, breed, and shelter, including a native wildflower meadow, purpose-built microhabitats, and a pond. Brian shares images of these often-unseen invertebrates on social media and also delivers educational opportunities through workshops, courses, and walks on the microWild site. More at BlueSky and Instagram.
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