by Jess Zimmerman. Awesome, an excuse to be lazy in the fall! Melissa Hopkins, a spokesperson for the National Audobon Society, is encouraging people not to bag up their leaves, because 8 million tons of them end up in landfills every year. (The leaves are biodegradable, of course, but the bags are not.) Instead, you can compost them, rake them onto trees and shrubs to serve as mulch, or just leave them on the lawn if the leaf cover is thin enough. If it's not, you can break them up with a lawn mower. The best part of this is Hopkins' attitude towards that suburban curse, the Perfect Lawn: For people who struggle with having leaves spread across their lawn, Hopkins offers a new way to look at your lawn. “Instead of this perfectly manicured, untouchable space, think of it as this living, breathing habitat,” she says. “And when you start thinking about it that way, you're going to start seeing that the more that you do stuff like this, the more birds are going to be attracted to your yard, diversity of birds, insects, butterflies. And with this leaf cover, come spring, it's going to go into the ground. So you're going to have your nice green lawn again.” Leaves were falling onto grass and shrubs long before humans were around to complain about it, so basically if you sit tight and don't get too fussy over your lawn, it'll be fine.

More on SKCEA.org:

• Solar power from the moon is fake, but also real
  by Christopher Mims. Solar panels that transform light from the moon into usable quantities of energy:...
• Study Shows Over-Cleanliness Negatively Affects Immune System
  In a never-ending quest to eliminate human contact with germs, science has given society a number of hygienic chemicals. Among these chemicals are Triclosan, found commonly in anti-bacterial soaps, toothpaste, and many other products, and Bisphenol A (BPA), found in the protectiv...
• On Eve of New Climate Regs, A Primer, Part II: Lawsuits
  Yesterday ScienceInsider went through the implications of new federal rules on greenhouse gases for industries which pollute the air with these pollutants. But legal challenges could complicate an already complex landscape for the rules. ...
• The Era Of Cheap Water Is Over: Deloitte
  Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) today launched the Water Tight 2012 report, which explores the future of the global water sector in the year ahead. The report examines how major global trends such as population growth, increasing economic development, and urbanization, co...
• Winter Woes
  Predicting the weather has always been a joyous sport and great conversation. NOAA has made some predictions for the US. The Pacific Northwest should brace for a colder and wetter than average winter, while most of the South and Southeast will be warmer and drier than average thr...