Hi everybody, it's Joe Lampel, the Joe behind Joe Gardner, and welcome to the Joe Gardner Show.

Today is our final episode in a three-part series featuring two stories of Canadian homeowners,

each trying to defend their legal right to unlaw in their yard, simply to create a natural habitat that supports biodiversity.

And if you haven't listened to those two episodes yet, I highly encourage

you to do so. Each story is compelling, emotional, and it will leave you wondering why trying to do

some good for wildlife in your own yard can be so hard. It's a long and lonely fight, unless you

want to hire an attorney, which can still be a long fight, but just maybe not quite so lonely.

In today's episode, we meet two Canadian powerhouses fighting for homeowners' rights

to grow native gardens and move away from traditional high-maintenance lawns.

Nina Marie Lister and Lorraine Johnson have been at the forefront of challenging outdated

municipal bylaws that restrict

naturalized landscapes advocating for policies that embrace biodiversity and ecological resilience.

Nina Marie Lister is one of North America's leading voices in ecological urbanism. She is the

founder and director of the ecological design lab at Toronto Metropolitan

University. Her work focuses on integrating ecology and urban planning to promote biodiversity.

And she has been instrumental in developing resources like the bylaws for biodiversity project,

which aids municipalities in revising outdated

regulations that hinder ecological gardening practices.

Lorraine Johnson is a renowned environmental advocate, author and one of Canada's most influential

voices in native plant gardening and biodiversity. She has been a leading force in pushing

for municipal bylaw reforms

that support biodiversity, particularly in urban and suburban areas, where homeowners often

...