Fighting Climate Change with Native Plants

The consequences of climate change are expansive and devastating for our current way of life. Michigan in particular faces unique threats that must be addressed as we design for the fight against climate change. As climate change continues, extreme weather is going to be a significant result, and for Michigan, and other states in the midwest, that means heavier and more frequent rainfall. The heaviest rainstorms in the midwest already drop over 31% more precipitation than they did fifty years ago. While the impact of increased rainfall may not seem as devastating as the fires that rage across California or the hurricanes in the tropics, it will result in more flooding, erosion, and runoff into our waterways. This endangers Michigan’s water quality and puts all the great lakes at risk as nitrates, phosphates, E coli, and other pollutants enter our waterways in runoff. The resulting toxic algal blooms not only close down beaches, but also poison our drinking water and kill wildlife. Maintaining the health of Michigan’s great lakes is vital in the fight against climate change as they contain 21% of the world's fresh water and their ecosystems support an incredible range of life, including our own.

Climate change is and will be one of the biggest challenges our species has ever had to face, but the biggest challenge begins with changing ourselves and our society so that our relationship with the Earth can shift from exploitation and abuse to one of cooperation and symbiosis. Climate change is a problem of our own creation, but in order to work towards viable solutions we have to understand what the root cause and driving force of climate change really is. Climate change goes beyond the issue of increasing levels of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere or plastic in the ocean. Rather, our economic systems rely on both exploitation of people and the Earth and infinite growth on a planet with finite resources. The innovation resulting from the industrial and technological revolutions have given us nearly limitless power to pursue human desires and fuel consumption, but at the cost of all other life on the planet and now ourselves. An obvious response to this is making new “sustainable” technologies that can maintain our current ways of life, but these solutions fall short on invoking change in our relationship with the earth and nature. While biodesign presents the opportunity to find new, creative, and unique solutions to prevent climate change or deal with it’s consequences, it can also continue to foster this exploitative relationship we have with the earth and potentially lead us into a progress trap with more devastating consequences down the line. The successful outcomes of biodesign depend on us using it as not just a way to find new solutions so that our way of life can be maintained despite climate change, but rather, biodesign must seek to challenge and change our relationship with nature so that it is symbiotic and cooperative rather than exploitative and abusive.

From American expansion westward to perfectly green lawns turning our homes into kingdoms, western and colonial societies have sought to dominate and conquer nature, while failing to understand that we are a part of nature. Many other societies, such as those of indegenous people, have understood that nature is fundamental to our existence and survival and developed ways of living that work with ecosystems and support the livelihood of both people and nature. As climate change continues to unfold we must revolutionize our relationship with nature by also learning that nature is not a world for us to conquer, but rather our most powerful ally against climate change and filled with the unreplicable technology of life that has been evolving for over four billion years. As the likelihood of preventing climate change decreases with every day societies choose not to take action, we can look to the resilience and power of nature to reduce harm and overcome consequences while rebuilding our relationship with nature. The rain in Michigan is already here and creating runoff that poisons our water with every storm. While more sophisticated storm drains and water filtration systems could be a solution to collecting water runoff the government has not proved very useful in combating climate change so we need practical solutions individuals can take part in. Working at an individual scale and with nature, we can reintroduce native ecosystems we have uprooted in favor of grass and concrete by rewilding our lawns. While monocultures of grass have carpeted properties for centuries, they are ecosystem desserts with shallow root systems that require fertilizer and water to stay alive. Native plants, in contrast, have deeper and more extensive root systems that play a huge role in capturing and storing stormwater and are adapted to thrive in Michigan’s climate without the need for additional support and they provide food and habitat for pollinators and insects.