It’s Time To Kill The Lawn
American lawns waste water, kill biodiversity, and generate huge amounts of pollution. It’s time to rewild them
I understand why Americans love their lawns.
They can be mesmerizingly pretty. When you behold a huge spread of lawn mowed into perfect cross-hatching — the sun casting microshadows that accentuate the checkerboard pattern — you are looking at a type of artwork: Nature transformed by pure geometry. It’s like contemplating the Platonic essence of green-ness.
Lawns can also be useful, utilitarian. Want to play a pickup game of football, or have a picnic? Go hit your lawn.
The act of caring for a lawn can also, like all gardening, be deeply fulfilling: Watching something you cultivate transform into a thick, lush creation.
There’s also a social element to lawns, particularly in suburbs. If you don’t tend your lawn, your neighbors may well begin to regard you as a slob. They’ll start complaining that you’re dragging down property values. Indeed, this is why many homeowners associations have requirements about how often you mow your lawn, and what state you keep it in.
