Press Kit

Make Europe Wild Again

“A climate campaign for lazy people” “The easiest climate solution”

“A climate resilient Europe”

«Lawns as we know them are old fashioned»

“Bye Bye droughts and floods”

“Do less, achieve more”

“Save the climate… and your wallet”

ByeByeGrass CampaignWhy?Our current way of landscape gardening is incredibly damaging and is in a constant battle to tame nature. Millions are spent each year on liming, fertilisation, pesticides, mowing and prun-ing, and at the smallest glimpse of a box tree moth or drought, everything is ruined.

Water is a prominent issue in climate change: there is either too little or too much. Nature follows stages of ecological succession: moss and lichen want to become grass, which develop into shrubs, and eventually trees and an entire forest! As long as we stop the natural order of progression nature can’t defend itself. Let nature thrive, it’s our only ally against climate change. Give nature a chance and it will take care of itself.

Goal?We are striving for a climate resilient living and working environment.

Solution?To encourage people and local governments to let their lawns grow, to plant flowers and trees, to mow less and sow more!

Who Louis De Jaeger started his crusade against the traditional grass lawn last Spring. He gathered a crew of local celebrities, scientists and authors to campaign alongside him and their message is loud and clear: a happy lawn is a free lawn.

Tine Hens Historian, author and journalistMies Maria Meulders Coach, singer and hostWouter Knaepen Biologist at EcoductEmily Vanhosbeek Biologist at EcoductJelle Van den Berghe Biologist at Ecotoop and teacher at PXL Thomas Ducheyne Writer & marketeer at Azo VaneuhEllen De Vrieze Green Space Management Centaurea & Sustainability UGentElias Goossens Biologist and Industrial Engineer in Sustainable LandscapingLoïc van Doorn Biologist and Herpetologist CentaureaLouis De Jaeger Garden- & Landscape Architecture Agency Commensalist

Herr SeeleArtist, celebrity, illus-

trator, has been eating organic food for a long

time and is environmen-tally minded.

Bartel Van RietSpecialist in forest

management, survival techniques and land-

scape architecture.

Dirk DraulansPassionate biologist,

author and science edi-tor for Knack magazine.

Steven VrommanThe Low Impact man

dreaming of a sustain-able world through pro-environmental

behavioural change.

Tondre la pelouse, c’est l’enfer*

*Lawn mowing is hell

Highway to hell

België is in oorlogssituatie Een zelfgecreëerde vijand, de klimaatcrisis,

dreigt onze levensstandaard en zelfs de men-sheid te vernietigen. De grootste klimaatbuff-er en onze enige beschermer: ons natuurlijk

ecosysteem met zijn biodiversiteit, is door de mens verzwakt en op sommige plekken zelfs

vernietigd.

Extreme droogtes en noodweer teisteren Europa nu al, oogstmislukkingen zijn een feit, steden worden overstroomd. Het is geen vijf voor twaalf, het is vijf na twaalf. We moeten nu in actie schieten en de natuur ruimte geven en begeleiden om weer te groeien tot een complexe burcht die ons beschermt.

“A lawn is a green desert”

“Fertilizing lawn is not done, using pesticides a sin”

““Mowing too much lawn is bad for the environment, biodiversity and yout wallet””

The solution

Fence off one square foot in your garden with four sticks, let your lawn grow and share the

results on byebyegrass.eu

Mow your lawn just once a month!

Let the borders grow wild.

Sow native flowers in your lawn!Create a paradise for your children!

Plant native flowers in your lawn!

Plant a goddamn tree!

Grow edible plants!

Can’t help yourself from mowing your lawn each week? Try just mowing a quarter each

week!

Demand politicians to have greener streets

Become a guerrilla gardener and start sowing & planting!

Set up a neighborhood committeeand organize actions in your area!

Ecological succession

Optimal use of ecological successionAgriculture is on the verge of collapse and public and private gardens are being destroyed by droughts, which we experienced last summer. Nature wants to evolve from grass to forests and our gardening habits are vastly decreasing the earth’s resilience and holding this succession back. Our current ecosystem is being prevented from its want and capability to protect us from extreme heats, floods and droughts. Trees are the final stage of succession and our most power-ful means to mitigate Global Warming.

Greenhouse gasses are evil, we have to protect ourselvesWe all know that greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2, methane,… are detrimental to a bal-anced climate. Due to emissions, global warming is increasing at an alarming rate, permanent

ice coverage is shrinking, causing rising sea levels and extreme temperatures, with deadly conse-quences for our climate. Ice reflects warmth and as the ice coverage decreases, global tempera-

tures rise, causing us to become trapped in a vicious cycle. Emissions need to decrease, drastical-ly. This is the only solution. In order to protect ourselves and our earth from the effects of global

warming we must safeguard our ecosystem.

Only nature in its most free and matured form can adequately protect us against climate change.

Biodiversity and the importance of bees.Solitary bees, honey bees and bumblebees make 80% of the agriculture in Europe possible, and their estimated value lies around 22 billion euros (European commission, 2013).

Bees are drastically declining in numbers, which can lead to economical, ecological and astronomical catastrophes (Atkins & Atkins, 2016).

The United Nations warn that within the next two years significant steps must be taken to counter the decline in biodiversity. If these steps are not taken, mankind is signing its own death sentence (De Standaard, 2018) (UN, 2018).

Water issuesClimate models forecast long periods of drought with heavy rains in concentrated areas for the next 20 years (Tabari H., 2018) (Zadehtalaeia, Tabaria & Willems, 2018).

Ancient aquifers are being drained faster than they can be replenished, a chronic water dep-rivation threatens (Department of agriculture and fishery, 2018).

The more biodiverse our (dune) grasslands are, the more resistant they are to droughts (Rooijen et al., 2015).

Air quality More consideration of sustainable green space will result in better air quality (Nowak, 2002).

Grass is a green desertA monoculture of lawns offers few ecosystem services (Ignatieva & Ahrné, 2013). A lawn managed like a grassland absorbs CO2 more efficiently (Dass, Houlton, Wang & Warlind, 2018).

TreesTrees are one of the cheapest and most efficient buffers against climate change, droughts, floods, air pollution, extreme heat and winds (Tudge, 2016)(Seits & Escobedo, 2014).The number of trees in Europe is insufficient.

Trees are, alongside oceans, soil and grasslands, the most effective manner of absorbing CO2 (Ni, Eskeland, Giske, & Hansen, 2016).

Trees are natural air conditioning (Akbari, Pomerantz, & Taha, 2001).Trees store water in the soil (Fazio, 2010).

Trees maintain a healthy soil ecosystem and are an integral part of the rain cycle (Sheil & Murdiyarso, 2009).

Trees are the cheapest and simplest solution to environmental change (Forestry Commis-sion England, 2018).

Public healthTrees have a positive effect on public health (H. Donovan, 2013).

There is an inverse relation between the number of trees in a city and depression (Ten Brink et al., 2016).

More flowers, shrubs and trees make people happier (Alcock, White, Wheeler, Fleming, & De-pledge, 2014).

People living in green spaces are in better health, less stressed and have less chance of being obese (Nielsen & Hansen, 2007).

Mow lessMowing every two to three weeks, instead of every week, has an incredibly positive effect for bees (B. Lermana, R. Contostac, Milamb, & Bang, 2018).

We have observed up to 50 times more insect species in lawns that have been mowed just once a year (Garbuzov, A. Fensome, & L. W. Ratnieks, 2014).

BibliographyAkbari, H., Pomerantz, M., & Taha, H. (2001). Cool surfaces and shade trees to reduce energy use and improve air quality in urban areas. Solar Energy, Elsevier, 295-310.Alcock, I., White, M. P., Wheeler, B. W., Fleming, L. E., & Depledge, M. H. (2014). Longitudinal Effects on Mental Health of Moving to Greener and Less Green Urban Areas. Envi-ronmental Science and Technoly, 1247–1255.Atkins, J., & Atkins, B. (2016). In The Business of Bees. Greenleaf Publishing.B. Lermana, S., R. Contostac, A., Milamb, J., & Bang, C. (2018). To mow or to mow less: Lawn mowing frequency affects bee abundance and diversity in suburban yards. Biologi-can conservation, Elsevier, pp. 160-174.Dass, P., Houlton, B. Z., Wang, Y., & Warlind, D. (2018). Grasslands may be more reliable carbon sinks than forests in California. Environmental Research Letters.Departement Landbouw & Visserij. (2018, K. Walraevens, 2003, Grondwatermodellering voor Landeniaan, Krijt en Sokkel: modelleren van een aantal scenario’s). Vlaamse grondwaterproblematiek . Opgehaald van DEPARTEMENT LANDBOUW & VISSERIJ: https://lv.vlaanderen.be/nl/voorlichting-info/publicaties/praktijkgidsen/water/du-urzaam-watergebruik-algemeen/belang-van-2Dewaelheyns, V., Kerselaers, E., & Rogge, E. (2016). A toolbox for garden governance. Land Use Policy, 191-205.Europese Commissie. (2013). Bees & Pesticides: Commission to proceed with plan to better protect bees. Brussel.Fazio, D. J. (2010). How Trees Can Retain Stormwater Runoff. Tree city USA bulletin.Forestry Commission England. (2018, 1 31). How trees can help reduce climate change. Opgehaald van Forestry Commission England: https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-869ga8Garbuzov, M., A. Fensome, K., & L. W. Ratnieks, F. (2014, Augustus 4). Public approval plus more wildlife: twin benefits of reduced mowing of amenity grass in a suburban public park in Saltdean, UK. Insect Conservation and Diversity, pp. 107-119.H.Donovan, G. e. (2013, February). The Relationship Between Trees and Human Health: Evidence from the Spread of the Emerald Ash Borer. American Journal of Preventive Medicine , pp. 139-145 .Ignatieva, M., & Ahrné, K. (2013, januari 9). Biodiverse green infrastructure for the 21st century: from “green desert” of lawns to biophilic cities. Journal of Architecture and Urbanism.Ni, Y., Eskeland, G. S., Giske, J., & Hansen, J.-P. (2016, Februari 26). The global potential for carbon capture and storage from forestry. Carbon Balance and Management, p. 11.Nielsen, T. S., & Hansen, K. B. (2007, December). Do green areas affect health? Health & Place, 13(4), 839-850.Nowak, D. (2002). THE EFFECTS OF URBAN TREES ON AIR QUALITY. Syracuse, New York, VSA.Rooijen, N. M., Keersmaecker, W. d., Ozinga, W. A., Coppin, P., Hennekens, S. M., Schamine, J. H., . . . Honnay, O. (2015). Plant Species Diversity Mediates Ecosystem Stability of Natural Dune Grasslands in Response to Drought. Ecosystems.Seits, J., & Escobedo, F. (2014). Urban Forests in Florida: Trees Control Stormwater Runoff and Improve Water Quality. University of Florida IFAS.Sheil, D., & Murdiyarso, D. (2009, April 1). How Forests Attract Rain: An Examination of a New Hypothesis. BioScience, pp. 341-347.Tabari H., W. P. (2018). Anomalous Extreme Rainfall Variability Over Europe ― Interaction Between Climate Variability and Climate Change. In New Trends in Urban Drainage Modelling. (pp. 375-379). Cham: Mannina G. (eds).ten Brink, P., Mutafoglu, K., Schweitzer, J.-P., Kettunen, M., Twigger-Ross, C., Kuipers, Y., . . . Ojala, A. (2016). The Health and Social Benefits of Nature and Biodiversity Protection – Executive summary. A report for the European Commission (ENV.B.3/ETU/2014/0039),. London / Brussels: Institute for European Environmental Policy.Tudge, C. (2006). The Secret Lives of Trees. Australia: Penguin Books.Zadehtalaeia, P., Tabaria, H., & Willems, P. (2018). Precipitation intensity–duration–frequency curves for central Belgium with an ensemble of EURO-CORDEX simulations, and associated uncertainties. Atmospheric Research(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2017.09.015), 1-12.

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Make Europe Wild Again

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