ecologist

"I am not eating my own rice yet," the ecologist joked.

Many ecologists also want us to look beyond the benefits the wildflowers provide for us.

Schwarz, an urban ecologist, said she was surprised to learn about the extent to which regulations requiring non-grass surfaces for sports and outdoor physical education dictated the design of some schoolyards.

The 27-year-old urban ecologist and biodiversity educator, originally from New Jersey, has spent the last five years working in composting and native gardening.

And because creating fuel breaks harms ecosystems and, at worst, can make them even more fire prone, fire ecologists warn they need to be deployed strategically.