The Vineyard Conservation Society (VCS) is the Island’s local environmental organization, dedicated to preserving our land and water through advocacy, education, and legal defense. In this Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club program on July 18, Samantha Look will share the details of the VCS “Vineyard Lawns” initiative. Due to rising concerns for how the health of our ponds, our wildlife, our pets and our own bodies are impacted by lawn care practices, VCS is advocating for a more holistic and ecologically friendly approach to how we maintain our lawns. The collective area dedicated to lawn space in the United States is roughly equivalent to the combined landmass of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. How we reduce and manage these spaces has significant impacts. Sam will share information about how the seemingly simple act of caring for a lawn intersects strongly with climate change, water quality and personal health, as well as tips and resources for how to apply the Vineyard Lawn approach in your own backyard.
Samantha is the newly-appointed Executive Director of VCS. She began working with the organization in 2014 and helped lead plastic pollution reduction efforts, including the island-wide plastic bag ban. She is one of the three member team that maintains the Island Climate Action Network and is the liaison for the Land Use, Natural Resources and Biodiversity section of the MV Climate Action Plan. She helped lead efforts to draft and campaign the house size bylaw that was successfully adopted in West Tisbury in 2022. Sam is an avid gardener, and before working for VCS, was an assistant designer in her mother, Carly Look’s, landscape design office. Understanding the role that home gardeners can play in the protection of biodiversity and the ways in which our yards can act as extensions of our local ecosystems is a central interest to Sam and VCS.
FREE to MVGC Members / Open to non-members @ $10.00 pp. The program will take place at 1 pm at The Old Mill in West Tisbury. Oak Bluffs members and VP to provide snacks & refreshments
