LETTERS TO THE ECITOR

Here’s how to be a good neighbor

Posted

To the editor:

Greater Riverdale residents are fortunate to have one of the greenest areas in New York City. Depressing facts on extinction and record-breaking heat temperatures are anxiety-provoking for everyone. There is a cure — and it is available.

For our local ecology to thrive in a human-dominated landscape, we need to be stewards for nature. Plant choice matters. As author and researcher Doug Tallamy says, climate collapse is not an option.

Plant Native NW Bronx is a grassroots community organization that works on use of land and ecological restoration in the Northwest Bronx.

We educate and advocate with homeowners, apartment buildings, schools, houses of worship, and other institutions to encourage shifting the use of land from decorative, non-native plantings, to plantings native to our locality that will encourage more pollinators, increased insect and bird populations, greater biodiversity overall, reduced carbon emissions through more sustainable maintenance methods, and more environmentally and climate-friendly neighborhoods.

How can you help? Making very small changes with minor effort can lead to physical, psychological and environmental benefits for everyone. Landowners in greater Riverdale can play an enormous part in this solution.

Residents can participate in our neighborhood walks, list their homes on our pollinator map when they add indigenous plants to their balconies or gardens, and learn from their neighbors how to care for them.

Do you want your address on the map (not your name)? Email us at pnnwbx1@gmail.com. Also, we will have a selection of native plants to distribute to the community on Sundays beginning Oct. 2 at The Riverdale Y Sunday Market, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., located in the parking lot of the Riverdale Temple at 4545 Independence Avenue.

Ann Lane

Ann Lane, greater Riverdale, neighbors

Comments