<
https://coloradosun.com/2026/04/02/this-colorado-neighborhood-is-saving-bees-through-sustainable-development/>
"In 2019, the big minds at the Butterfly Pavilion knew habitat destruction,
chemical pollution, parasites and pathogens were crushing populations of bees,
butterflies, moths and beetles, and that without these critical species one out
of every three bites of food we eat could be at severe risk.
However, pollinators aren’t just critical to keeping three-quarters of the
world’s flowering plants alive and around 35% of food crops producing,
according to the USDA.
“They keep wetlands going. They keep our grasslands going. They make sure
forests are diverse. And if they can keep those plant communities healthy and
reproducing by assisting plants in their reproduction, that means our water is
filtered, and we can hold on to our soil and not just have a big old dust
bowl,” said Amy Yarger, director of horticulture at the Butterfly Pavilion, the
science-based invertebrate conservation organization in Westminster.
So the big thinkers there created “pollinator districts,” or communities
designed, constructed and maintained in such a way that pollinator habitat
demonstrates a net gain over time.
And now, seven years later, the city of Manitou Springs is a certified
municipal pollinator district, the city of Lafayette is working toward becoming
one and a suburban development in Broomfield that was the first in the world to
embrace the designation is showing how a new model of living built around
saving bees and butterflies could change the definition of sprawl on the Front
Range."
Via Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
