50 signatures reached
To: Croydon Council
Croydon Pollinator Project
Turn unused areas of green space in the borough into wildflower meadows/locations to help boost pollinator numbers.
Why is this important?
I have tried emailing Croydon Council, contacting MP's and even have met with one to submit a proposal to back my idea, only to hear nothing back despite multiple emails.
So, this is all I have left aside from going vigilante by planting wildflowers everywhere.
Pollinators are dying across the globe; we need them for our food and they are vital for the ecosystem. The journal 'Nature Communications' believes that the largest factor driving this is loss of habitats and shrinking ranges.
I have personally been informed multiple times by Croydon Council that 'Croydon has over 120 parks which provide a wide rich mixture of plants for bees and butterflies.' This, however, is not enough as many of these parks do not contain wildflowers and are mowed so regularly, that more common wildflowers (like dandelions) cannot grow and thus pollinators, like bees, cannot feed.
As global warming is changing traditional weather patterns, many butterflies, like the marbled white, are emerging too early to feed on their preferred food source; thus many are starving and are not able to mate.
So, while planting broad ranging wildflowers that open in the summer months, we must also consider growing wildflowers that open earlier in spring and last late into autumn in order to sustain them throughout the unpredictable weather. No food for pollinators means no food for humans.
It is simple really; planting more wildflowers will cut down on maintenance costs and help the environment.
The wiping out of pollinators marks a serious environmental problem which we need to turn around. Unused areas of green space around Croydon can be turned into miniature meadows which will help reverse it and will also be strikingly beautiful.
This impacts all of us and it needs to be taken seriously.
We need 1,000 signatures for this to be discussed by the council, so let's get there!
Thank you.
So, this is all I have left aside from going vigilante by planting wildflowers everywhere.
Pollinators are dying across the globe; we need them for our food and they are vital for the ecosystem. The journal 'Nature Communications' believes that the largest factor driving this is loss of habitats and shrinking ranges.
I have personally been informed multiple times by Croydon Council that 'Croydon has over 120 parks which provide a wide rich mixture of plants for bees and butterflies.' This, however, is not enough as many of these parks do not contain wildflowers and are mowed so regularly, that more common wildflowers (like dandelions) cannot grow and thus pollinators, like bees, cannot feed.
As global warming is changing traditional weather patterns, many butterflies, like the marbled white, are emerging too early to feed on their preferred food source; thus many are starving and are not able to mate.
So, while planting broad ranging wildflowers that open in the summer months, we must also consider growing wildflowers that open earlier in spring and last late into autumn in order to sustain them throughout the unpredictable weather. No food for pollinators means no food for humans.
It is simple really; planting more wildflowers will cut down on maintenance costs and help the environment.
The wiping out of pollinators marks a serious environmental problem which we need to turn around. Unused areas of green space around Croydon can be turned into miniature meadows which will help reverse it and will also be strikingly beautiful.
This impacts all of us and it needs to be taken seriously.
We need 1,000 signatures for this to be discussed by the council, so let's get there!
Thank you.
