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No Mow May encourages homeowners to stash the lawn mower each spring and let flowers and grass grow for pollinators and water retention. And if your neighbor’s lawn already looks like a wildflower field most of the time, it could be more intentional than passersby might assume.The movement has expanded to “Let It Bloom June” and the fall version: “Leave the leaves.” Conservation and horticulture groups say year-round low-mowing while selectively leaving native plants to grow can save huge amounts of drinking water and lead to lasting and impactful ecological changes.When Amanda Beltramini Healan moved into her Nashville ranch house in 2016, the yard had been manicured for sale: a walnut tree, roses from a home improvement store and short grass. So she experimented, first with a 10-by-10-foot patch where she dug up the grass and sowed native seeds. Then she planted goldenrods in the culvert near the street, and let more of her yard grow tall without mowing.Local authorities apparently didn’t appreciate her natural look: “I got a letter from the city saying that I had to mow it,” she said.But then, a friend told her about No Mow Month signs, provided by the Cumberland River Compact, a local water conservation nonprofit. Soon she was signaling to the city that she’s no derelict, but a participant in an international movement.These days, every month is No Mow May in parts of her property. While she keeps the growth shorter near the culvert and street, her backyard is filled with native grasses and plants up to her knees or waist. There’s a decomposing tree trunk where scores of skinks and bugs live, birds nest under her carport and she regularly finds fawns sleeping in the safety of the high grasses.“I have a lot of insects and bugs and that’s protein, so the birds and the bird’s nests are everywhere. Cardinals and wrens and cowbirds and robins,” she said. “I wake up to them, especially during spring migration right now. It’s just a cacophony in the morning and in the evening, especially when the mulberries come in.”The movement is popularized by groups such as Plantlife, a conservation organization based in England.American lawns, based on English and French traditions, are increasingly seen as a wasteful monoculture that encourages an overuse of pesticides, fertilizer and water. Outdoor spraying and irrigation account for over 30% of a U.S. household’s total water consumption, and can be twice that in drier climates, according to the EPA.Some criticize No Mow campaigns as a fad that could invite invasive plants to spread unchecked without helping pollinators much, if only done for a month.A guide outlining No Mow pros, cons and limitations, written by consumer horticulture extension specialist Aaron Steil at Iowa State University, says reducing mowing to every two weeks and replacing turf with plants that pollinate all year long can offer more benefits without risking a citation or complaints.The No Mow effort does encourage people to think more about biodiversity in their yards, and many local nature organizations advise provide guidance on picking noninvasive plants that fit each region’s climate and precipitation levels.Reducing mowing encourages longer-rooted native grasses and flowers to grow, which breaks up compacted soil and improves drainage, “meaning that when it rains, more water is going to be captured and stored in lawns versus being generated as a runoff and entering into our stormwater system,” said Jason Sprouls, urban waters program manager for the Cumberland River Compact.Beltramini Healan isn’t just letting just anything grow she learned which plants are invasive, non-native or not beneficial to the ecosystem and carefully prunes and weeds so the keepers have room to thrive.Nashville homeowner Brandon Griffith said he was just tired of mowing when he decided years ago wait and see what comes up. Then he consciously added flowering plants to attract bees and bugs. Now he sees so many insects and pollinators all over his garden that the neighbors’ kids come over to look for butterflies.It’s about giving them the time “to come out of their larva or their egg stage and be able to grow,” said Griffith. He said he’s never heard a complaint in fact, some of his neighbors also stopped mowing for a month each spring. His four-year-old son catches lizards, digs for worms and hunts for bugs in the yard.“I just enjoy coming out and walking around,” said Griffith. “And looking at it, it’s kind of peaceful. It’s kinda relaxing.”__This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Amanda Beltramini Healan’s name and to correct that Aaron Steil works at Iowa State University, not the University of Iowa. Kristin M. Hall, Associated Press
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Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. Summer officially starts in a few weeks, but Ive already ordered and preordered the books that will keep me company on airplanes and trips to the beach. The first Modern CEO reading list was heavy on buzzworthy titles. Last years edition was a bit more dutiful, highlighting three works that explored the complexities of capitalism. This year, Im diving into the lives of the ultrarich, whose impact on culture, society, and policy continues to rise. The Haves and the Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich by Evan Osnos Thanks in part to social media, consumptionof luxury goods, five-star resorts, rare wines, and the likeis increasingly conspicuous. One place where the ultrarich can avoid prying eyes? Aboard their superyachts. As Evan Osnos, a staff writer and podcast host at The New Yorker, writes of such floating mansions: These shrines to excess capital exist in a conditional state of visibility: they are meant to be unmistakable to a slender stratum of societyand all but unseen by everyone else. Osnoss collection of essays promises to shed light on the excesses but also on how the rich amass and keep their wealth and the power that it affords. Personal History: A Memoir by Katharine Graham and Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein One of the biggest business stories of the yearWarren Buffetts announcement that he will step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathawayand the ongoing struggles of The Washington Post under Jeff Bezos (a superyacht owner), are prompting me to reread two great books on my bookshelf. Personal History is Grahams candid memoir of the personal and professional hurdles she had to overcome en route to becoming CEO of The Washington Post Company and one of the most admired executives in media. Lowensteins masterful portrait of Buffett is part biography, part investing tutorial. Graham and Buffett were longtime friends, and Lowenstein seems to credit Graham with leavening some of Buffetts thrifty instincts. Stories of Buffetts frugalityhis primary residence is a home he bought in Omaha in 1958 for $31,500will surely be a good palate cleanser after the Osnos book. Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altmans OpenAI by Karen Hao Hao, an Atlantic contributor, is one of the leading journalists covering artificial intelligence (AI), and her book promises to be an unflinching look at the potential and perils of OpenAI CEO Sam Altmans ambitions for generative AI, which seem to mirror the move fast and break things ethos of many tech companies. Luckily for readers, Hao seems willing to explore the unintended consequences of unfettered AI expansion, including the environmental impacts of water- and energy-hungry data centers. So Far Gone by Jess Walter Walters latest bookmy one fiction pickhas many of the things I love in novel: a road trip, multigenerational conflict, and a gruff former journalist as the protagonist. In So Far Gone, Rhys Kinnick sets off to rescue his daughter and grandchildren from a radical militia group. Its a world Walter knows well: As a journalist for the Spokane, Washington Spokesman-Review, Walter covered the 1992 standoff at Ruby Ridge in Northern Idaho, which is credited with fueling the anti-government militia movement. Challenging stuff, but an early review from Ann Patchett confirms why I love Walters writing: Jess Walter managed to build such a warm, funny, loving novel out of so many horrible parts. What are you reading this summer? Whats on your summer reading list? Please send the name, author, and a sentence or two about why youd recommend it to modern leaders to stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Ill publish a bonus newsletter with reader suggestions before the official start of summer. Read more: summer reading roundup 24 books to read this summer, according to The Atlantic The Economists latest beach friendly reads The 15 books USA Today says you should read this summer
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The Coca-Cola Co. just announced its newest limited-time soda, and its a combination of Sprite and tea that was initially floated by a team of interns six years ago. Sprite + Tea just hit shelves earlier across the U.S. and Canada, and is expected to remain on the market through October. The soda is available in both regular and zero-sugar varieties, and, according to a press release, it blends the crisp, lemon-lime refreshment of Sprite with the classically refreshing flavor of tea. The new product arrives just a month after Coca-Cola announced better-than-anticipated first-quarter 2025 financial results, logging a 2% year-over-year revenue decline but maintaining its growth forecasts for 2025, unlike rival PepsiCo. For years now, Coca-Cola has been experimenting with new, unexpected flavor combinations designed to attract younger consumers, ranging from Spiced Coke to last summers Sprite Chill and the ever-popular seasonal rerelease Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry. Most recently, the company introduced Orange Cream Coke, citing growing demand among millennials and Gen Z-ers for fun, unexpected tastes and sensory experiences as the inspiration behind the nostalgic flavor. [Photo: Coca-Cola] Unlike these other flavor plays from the company, Sprite + Tea might already be familiar to many fans. Thats because before it became an official product, the soda started as an idea floated by Coca-Cola interns that later became a viral DIY TikTok trend. TikTok saw it first In an interview with Ad Age, Coca-Cola Co. senior creative director A.P. Chaney explained that Sprite + Tea first landed on executives radars back in 2019, when a group of interns pitched a combination of the two beverages. It was an R&D project, and interns were asked to come up with different innovations and marketing ideas for different brands, and Sprite + Tea was an ideation of that, Chaney told Ad Age. From there, the idea seems to have sat on the back burner until summer 2023, when a DIY Sprite tea started popping up on TikTok. In an initial TikTok by Malaysian chef Hisham Raus, Raus is shown steeping Lipton tea bags in a regular bottle of Sprite and enjoying the concoction with a slice of lemon. The video, which has since racked up 19.8 million views and 1.3 million likes, has spawned dozens of copycat videos across platforms like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. Food influencer @shophocho7798 re-created the concept in a YouTube video with 3.7 million views, calling the result literally a carbonated Arnold Palmer. In another YouTube short with 8.3 million views, creator Jordan Howlett declared the hack delicious and encouraged his 4.4 million subscribers to give it a try. When [the trend] blew up on TikTok with millions of views, it was a gut check that we were on the right track, Chaney said in the companys press release. While its unlikely that Coca-Cola is actually using the tea bag hack to mass-produce Sprite + Tea, the release does note that Coca-Colas North American R&D team completed several rounds of consumer testing to fine-tune the formula for the amber-colored sparkling beverage. For Coca-Cola, Sprite seems to be a reliable base for flavor remixes: In 2024, the limited-time Sprite Chill became the companys best-selling drink innovation, and Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry has returned several times as a holiday fan favorite since 2013. Meanwhile, the recent Spiced Coke experiment was phased out after just six months when it failed to land with customers. TikTok is already flooded with videos of fans trying Sprite + Tea, with some reviews commending the drinks strong tea flavor,” while others recommend that viewers stick with the DIY version.
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