Lawn and fence. Photo courtesy of Ed Schipul.
The American ideal of the house with a white picket fence usually includes a nice green lawn. Now, that ideal has become a part of law in many communities; many zoning rules and homeowner codes mandate grass in front of our houses. Suburban environments are looking more and more the same, all across the country.
Kimberly Bois in New Hampshire is just one example; she decided to plant flowers in her small front yard and was eventually sued by her condo association. They reportedly told Kimberly that they “just want[ed] all the units to look the same.” Similarly, thanks to its lawns, suburban Phoenix now looks in many ways more like a northeastern suburb than the desert a mile outside of town. But Phoenix is a desert–should it really look the same as Connecticut or Oregon?
Google Earth aerial of Phoenix, AZ
Covering yards across the United States in grass requires a lot of resources:
Water – Many home irrigation systems are wasteful; they spray sidewalks or over water, leading to water running right off into the drain. While it is impossible to know the exact amount of water used on lawns on a daily basis across the entire country, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 30% of the average household’s water use is outdoors, and half of that is to water lawn. If you live somewhere hot and dry, grass species like zoysia may be a better option.
Fertilizer and Chemicals – An awful lot of fertilizer and chemicals get used to keep lawns looking lush and green. The US EPA states that on average, Americans buy 70 million pounds of fertilizer per year. The National Gardening Association estimates that homeowners use over 125 million pounds of pesticides to kill grubs, ants, and other insects, and herbicides to kill those pesky dandelions, per year. These chemicals not only harm the things you’re after, they can be toxic to people and other animals.
Money – Lawn care products and companies are big business in the US. According to Bloomberg News, at least 6 billion dollars per year is spent on lawns.
That perfectly green lawn can hurt:
Bee and wildflowers. Photo courtesy of Wolfie.
Biodiversity – To a bird or a bee, flying over a swath of suburban lawn must be like trudging through a vast desert, no food or water in sight. By making the environment the same all across the country, people are pushing out native plants and animals. Simple things like replacing just a part of your lawn with native wildflowers or shrubs can make a big difference. The Honeybee Conservancy can show you how to make your yard a friendlier place for pollinators, and Plant Native has information about biodiverse alternatives to traditional lawn.
Environmental Quality – The fertilizer and chemicals applied to lawns often wash off and end up in local streams, rivers, and ponds. Fertilizer can lead to algae blooms in local ponds, while chemicals can harm fish and the animals that eat them. This guide in Popular Mechanics is a starting place to learn about how and when to fertilize lawn that you decide to keep. And the EPA has good advice, too–on watering, pesticides, and fertilizer.
So is it a waste?
Lawn takes up a lot of space on our land, but unless you’re playing baseball in your front yard every day, it usually sits empty.
Purdue Horticultural Wildflower Garden. Courtesy of Qsthomson.
Imagine instead, some of that space filled with beautiful flowers and other plants that provide variety and diverse habitat for animal species, and don’t need constant watering, fertilizing, or chemicals.
This spring, think about pulling up some of that grass, especially along the sides of your home and in the front yard. Keep the lawn for the places where it gets the most use, and you’ll have more time to enjoy picnics and play baseball on that small patch of green.
For in-depth research:
Robbins, Paul, Sharp, Julie T. “Producing and Consuming Chemicals: The Moral Economy of the American lawn.” Economic Geography (2003) Vol. 79 No. 4.
Robbins, Paul, Sharp, Julie. “The Lawn-Chemical Economy and its discontents.” Antipode (2003): 955-979.
It’s like something out of The Three Stooges.
Ever hear of buying a cannon to swat a fly? Here’s the real-life story…
Neighbors who have 12’x12′ front lawns (some slightly more, some slightly less) hiring professional landscapers to manicure their lawns every week. A 10-minute job easily done with a push mower maybe once or twice a
month becomes a noisy, weekly Event.
It’s a team of 3 to 6 people on average. They park their trailer on the side of the road, set up cones, and leap out with their wonderfully colorful neon yellow vests.
(This indicates they’re Hired Working Class as opposed to vandals or vagrants–Very Important in Modern America! Otherwise the police would be called!)
They strap on noisy diesel-powered backpack gear to blow a handful of leaves around. One following the other so not one leaf is missed. This is very important. Despite the fact that after they leave a gust of wind picks up and blows the leaves they’ve spent the past hour blowing right back where they originally were!
The other stooge gets out a ride-around lawn mower nearly the size of a volkswagon.
It nearly covers parts of peoples’ lawns in itself.
He mounts it and drives around and around and around on the grass for an hour or so until he knows its cut.
There might even be a second guy behind him riding a backup mower Just In Case a few strands are missed.
All this can go on for a couple hours time.
It’s Noisy. It’s annoying. It burns up gasoline. It pumps fumes around.
The end result lawn also incorporates lots of fertilizers, insecticides–poisons–into the non-natural green grass which needs also to be watered constantly. It proves nothing but death. Pets develop cancer if they spend time on these fields. It kills wildlife. It’s only function is to Prove Something to those who see it. Idiot American are programmed to believe that it represents prosperity, cleanliness, and who-knows-what-else. To me it’s a massive drain on resources and a waste of money. Even more so if the lawn is located in drought regions where water is far better spent elsewhere. Like on crops.
They have this done because their neighbor does it and his neighbor does it and his neighbor does it. Leading all the way back to the first McMansion the block.
The logic is simple: “If our neighbor can afford to have professional lawn service then so can we. If they can have it done once a week then so can we.” In other words, it’s all about status not practicality.
They would not be caught dead performing the work of Peasants. Simple as that.
Rather, they are playing the role of English lords.
The manicured lawn is an extension of their McMansion, which is also a parellel extension of their luxury car collection (Always parked outdoors, never garaged!), and in turn is a materialistic extension of their tiny penises.
They are, after all, White folks.
21st Century Americans only care about image not substance; about keeping up with the status quo and their precious cliques.
They also tend to be Trump-kissing Republicans: environmentalism? What’s that? A Hoax perpetrated by the Commies. Jesus will take care of us!
I’m for Trump and have a yard full of native wild flowers