The meadow mutiny
{Earth and Leaf editorial – The Meadow Mutiny}
Oh dear. This one has made it onto here because it shows how the public need educating. The dog poo and litter comes from their community. Worry about ticks is ill founded, but a handy excuse. We tidy up too much. They should talk to the council, maybe offer help. Explain how much grass is needed for their kids to play.
{extract below}
The meadow mutiny: why a rewilding scheme sparked a residents’ revolt
A council in Derbyshire decided to let grass grow wild – and a group of vigilante mowers fought back. What can be done to make sure essential environmental schemes get the local support they need?
The vigilante mowers of Rayneham Road in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, don’t look like dissidents. Ranging in age from 49 to 68, most have adult children and comfortably sized houses in a quiet corner of the East Midlands. They are not people you might usually associate with a picket line. But when the council stopped mowing the communal green space opposite their redbrick houses as part of a borough-wide rewilding scheme, it wasn’t long before mutiny took hold.
The grass reached hip height. Fears about dog poo, litter and ticks spread. Residents felt there was nowhere for visiting grandchildren to run amok or play football. “It was up to my daughter’s nose at one point,” says 54-year-old teacher Marnay Dudley. “I found it so depressing,” says her retired neighbour Moira Barclay.
Today’s link to our pages or posts . . .
Why culled deer carcasses in Scotland should be left to rot
The opposite of compulsive tidying