Why The Lawn Must Die.

The American lawn is a never ending effort in contributing to the ideal picture perfect house image. The sharp green blades contrasting against the stark cement, how could we ever live with the thought of getting rid of this fundamental element of a home? How did we come to this? Why is the lawn such a sacred space in America?

In the 17th and 18th century, european aristocrats were inspired by the lush greenery in paintings of the time. Envious they sought to make the landscapes of paint a reality.  From France to England the wealthy landowning individuals began to terraform their landscape, in turn this foundational element symbolized a new form of wealth being that the greenery was to be tended to closely and that they can afford to keep the grass prestine. This idea carried onward and spread throughout remaining countries eventually landing in the United States.

Contributing to the American Dream was to have a patch of grass at the front of your home but like most things, this comes at a cost. According to the EPA, lawn owners use about 78 million pounds of pesticides and 90 million pounds of fertilizer every single year with traces of these chemicals ending up in waterways and our drinking water, not to mention this runoff ends up negatively impacting the animal and insect populations that partake of this water also. Along with the chemicals that keep our lawns nice & green one of the huge resources at stake here is our water, the ecological destruction and one if not the most valuable resource for mankind is sacrificed in place of having a green well kept lawn.

To ditch the care of lawns and let them die isn’t necesarrily the route we should take, rather finding alternatives to the green patch of land is a start. Having a front yard designed to the type of climate you live in and or putting plants that grow naturally in the area provide that you don’t necessarily need any maintenance. There are numerous ways to go about this but it is the understanding and motivation to do so that will postively impact all lives moving forward.