A giant insect ecosystem is collapsing due to humans. It's a catastrophe

[NJCher]

18. Here's something you can do

Get rid of your lawn. And contact your state roads department and see if they have plans for eliminating lawn.

The reason is you want a lot of plant diversity to support all these bugs. And birds.

I am heading an effort in my town to do just that. I got rid of my lawn over 15 years ago. I have all kinds of stuff growing out there: shrubs, ground cover, flowers, ornamentals, and garden plants.

In NJ, there is an effort underway to get rid of lawn and mowing on the state roads. Yesterday I drove past a huge and very long patch of cosmos. It was simply stunning.

What do you grow in the winter? A cover crop, like rye, that will replenish the soil. Just turn it under in the spring and you're good to go. Turning it over does not necessarily mean digging, although most of the time just a light turnover will do the trick. And it saves you buying and lugging compost home, too.

Here's a transcript of a podcast from Freakonomics on it. The statistics cited in it will absolutely stun you.

http://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-stupid-obsession-lawns/

Read or listen.