Letters

Does anyone else remember flies? June bugs? Cellar bugs? Earwigs? Fireflies?

When it turned cold, big, fat flies would sneak into the house. We had hilarious competitions to see who could smack the most with a newspaper. Now? Not one in the house all year. It is, frankly, bizarre and sad.

This ties to my comments that the Community Preservation Fund work is good as far as it goes, but it cannot do enough. What needs to change is our approach to land management.

I propose a change in the preamble to the zoning code, which currently states that the objective is the preservation of value. It means, of course, monetary value. Let”s replace that with the preservation and restoration of the natural environment, and the promotion of community among all living things.

Practices that need to be immediately banned include the use of any pesticide or fertilizer on lawns, mosquito sprays, organic tick treatments (not really effective anyway), the use of leaf blowers (because leaf litter is where insects nest and live), the removal of plant matter to dumps — any of it: grass clippings, tree limbs, leaves. Decomposed, these are the fertilizers. Vacant grass lawn should be discouraged. Shaggy areas full of wildflowers and native grasses, full height, should replace them.

This can all be managed without human discomfort. People lived here for decades without any of these things. It is great fun to watch what pops up when we let the natural environment be.

Oh, yes — tick-borne disease, the excuse for so much destructive practice. It is, in fact, glaring evidence of a seriously disordered environment: overpopulation of deer and underpopulation of — you got it — birds, small invertebrates and small mammals that eat ticks as well as other insects.

If we want a world for our children and grandchildren, it is indeed time to wake up.

Amy Paradise

Hampton Bays