by Nissa Hanna
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- Pollinator Pathway, a Seattle-area program, is encouraging a healthy local pollinator population (bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and bats) by planting a thoroughfare of hospitable gardens.
- Along the route — a beeline between Seattle University and Nora’s Woods (a small urban forest) — the oft-neglected area between street and sidewalk is turned into a pollinator-friendly habitat with 70-90% native plants (the animals’ fave).
- The program’s creator, Sarah Bergmann, hopes to branch out to other cities, starting with an invite for a path in Niagara Falls, NY (SeattleTimes.com, 29 January 2011).
WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS
- Consumer awareness is growing around the need for pollinator-friendly gardens. Benevolent gardeners want to do their part by using their plots to help protect this precious population.
- But interest is still emerging, so brands and retailers have an opportunity to position themselves as pollinator advocates by educating, encouraging and rallying their customers for this important effort.
RESOURCES
