Love this so much! A Philly scientist and artist have teamed up to protect our area’s biodiversity. “Long story short, we’re trying to make it as easy as possible for people to take action to protect Philly biodiversity by giving critters some habitat,” explained Sarah McAnulty, a popular Philly-based scientist and artist behind the Squid Facts street art series. “Planting native plants is a relatively cheap and easy solution that gives butterflies, moths, lightning bugs, and native bees something to eat and a place to raise their babies.” 

Sarah teamed up with local artist Meg Lemieur to design the colorful posters that are delivering these free seeds to passersby all around Philadelphia. “I love this project because I’m always trying to connect folks to nature through my art, encouraging them to delight in its beauty while realizing how connected we are to it,” Meg added. “I drew the flowers as accurately as possible, which is my favorite thing to do. And then I popped the design with bright and simple colors to catch people’s eyes from across the street.”

A study from early March found that the USA’s butterfly population has decreased by 22% since 2000. And it’s possible, if not likely, that means other insect populations are also at risk. “Humans and bugs can coexist,” Sarah continued. “We just need to make sure that we’re providing them with something to eat and a place to lay their eggs.” A QR code on each poster leads the curious to more information on the project, its goals, and how you can take these seeds and start helping today. “I’m aiming for 5000 seed packets distributed over the next month,” Sarah concluded. “We’re already halfway there.”