https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/08/03/my-town-calls-my-lawn-a-nuisance-but-i-still-refuse-to-mow-it/?tid=HP_opinion

My town calls my lawn ‘a nuisance.’ But I still refuse to mow it.

Sarah Baker and her partner stand in their yard outside Alexandria, Ohio. Town officials have declared it “a nuisance.” (Sarah Baker)

A mutilated garter snake, a sliced frog and countless slashed grasshoppers. That was the scene of carnage in my yard in September, after local officials ordered me to mow my overgrown lawn or be fined $1,000. Three months earlier, I had stopped mowing my nearly one acre of country land in a rural Ohio town. A diverse potpourri of plants began to flourish, and a rich assortment of insects and animals followed. I had essentially grown a working ecosystem, one that had been waiting for the chance to emerge.

So this season, I took a stand and refused to mow at all.

In June, my partner and I received an official written warning from the trustee board of St. Albans Township, stating that our yard had become “a nuisance.” Ohio law allows local governments to control any vegetation on private property that they deem a nuisance, after a seven-day warning to the property owners. But the law does not define what “a nuisance” is, effectively giving local leaders the power to remove whatever grass or plants offend them. In our case, the trustees decided that our lawn was too tall and thick and would attract “nuisance animals” such as “snakes and rodents.” If we didn’t cut it, they would hire someone to do so and bring law enforcement with them.

But the main point of growing a natural yard is to attract wildlife and build a self-regulating environment. The un-mowed plants in our yard attract plant-eating bugs and rodents, which in turn attract birds, bats, toads and garter snakes that eat them. Then hawks fly in to eat the snakes. Seeing all this life emerge in just one growing season made me realize just how much nature manicured lawns displace and disrupt.

There are 40.5 million acres of lawn in the United States, more than double the size of the country’s largest national forest. We disconnect ourselves from wildlife habitat loss by viewing it as a problem caused by industry and agriculture. But lawns are our biggest “crop,” beating out corn, wheat and fruit combined. Habitat loss isn’t a problem happening out there somewhere; it’s happening in our own back yards.

This has serious consequences. About 95 percent of the natural landscape in the lower 48 states has been developed into cities, suburbs and farmland. Meanwhile, the global population of vertebrate animals, from birds to fish, has been cut in half during the past four decades. Honey bees, which we depend on to pollinate our fruits and other crops, have been dying off at an unsustainable rate. Because one in three bites of food you take requires a pollinating insect to produce it, their rapid decline is a threat to humanity. Monarch butterflies have been even more affected, with their numbers dropping 90 percent since the 1990s. Butterflies are an important part of the food chain, so ecologists have long used them to measure the health of ecosystems.

Nature preserves and parks are not enough to fix the problem; much of wildlife is migratory and needs continuous habitat to thrive. Natural yards can act as bridges between the larger natural spaces.



Habitat loss isn’t the only consequence; maintaining a mowed and fertilized lawn also pollutes the air, water and soil. The emissions from lawnmowers and other garden equipment are responsible for more than 5 percent of urban air pollution. An hour of gas-powered lawn mowing produces as much pollution as four hours of driving a car. Americans use 800 million gallons of gas every year for lawn equipment, and 17 million gallons are spilled while refueling mowers — more than was leaked by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Homeowners use up to 10 times more chemicals per acre on their lawns than farmers use on crops, chemicals that can end up in drinking water and waterways.

I decided to tackle the issue by letting my yard grow wild, and I’m not alone. Homeowners across the country have latched on to the natural lawn and “no mow” movement.

At first I felt guilty. The stigma that comes with the look of an un-mowed lawn was hard to push through (no pun intended). I was afraid of what people would think, because Americans have been deeply conditioned to see their manicured lawns as status symbols. But after we started explaining to people why we had stopped mowing, they were much less critical. If we allow ourselves to truly see a mowed lawn for what it is — a green desert that provides no food or shelter for wildlife — we can re-condition ourselves to take pride in not mowing.

For me, growing a natural lawn doesn’t mean just letting it go. I spend a lot of time weeding out invasive, non-native plants — like thistles, burdock and garlic mustard — that can take over and create a destructive monoculture of their own. But I also think it is wrong to vilify all invasive plants before we fully understand them. After all, a weed is just “a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered,” Ralph Waldo Emerson said.

I’ve been a gardener for years, but since I stopped mowing, I not only feel more connected to nature, I also see the interconnectedness in nature. Never before have I had so few pests in my vegetable garden thanks to my yard’s newfound biodiversity, including predators that keeps crop-damaging bugs in check. When you stop mowing, you get it; you not only see first-hand all the nature that we have lost start to come back, you get to interact with it.

To prevent the mowing company hired by my township from coming in and flattening everything, my partner and I used a scythe to cut the height of our lawn down to 8 inches. The trustees were satisfied enough to call off the abatement of our lawn for now. It was a compromise, but it bought us some time to figure out our next move.

People should be allowed to live out their values on their own property as long as they are not causing a true nuisance that hinders their neighbors’ use of their own properties. In May, the White House released a strategy to protect pollinators by increasing wildlife habitat. But while the report encourages homeowners to set aside natural habitat for wildlife, it offers them no legal support to do so. We need local regulations of private lawns to reflect science, not the whims of town officials. They should be developed in consultation with ecologists and botanists, to set standards for natural yards that are safe and healthy for both humans and wildlife.

Society needs to adjust its cultural norms on lawn aesthetics. For the health of the planet, and for our own health, we need to start letting nature dictate how we design our outdoor spaces. We need to reassess how much mowed space we really need. By the size of most people’s lawns in my area, you’d think they were hosting a weekly lacrosse match. But the only time I ever really see them on their lawns is when they are mowing them.

Instead of putting nature in its place, we need to find our place in nature. Local officials have told us countless times that our lawn looks bad and is a nuisance. In one public meeting, a brave young boy, Max Burton, stood up and told our critics, “What you are saying is that life itself is a nuisance.” As the planet’s environmental problems mount, the real nuisances are mowed lawns and the laws that enforce them

..this shit is silly.

if you want to live on a rural farm, do that. you can't expect to move into a neighborhood with uniform/manicured lawns and think they won't complain when your idea of a "natural yard" doesn't fit their standard for property value.


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

>..this shit is silly.
>
>if you want to live on a rural farm, do that. you can't expect
>to move into a neighborhood with uniform/manicured lawns and
>think they won't complain when your idea of a "natural yard"
>doesn't fit their standard for property value.

It's just silly to think you can come to a place where there's a standard set and you know this before buying and then you want to buck the system at your neighbor's expense. F that.

But he should hire a landscape architect to make it look decent

>People should be allowed to live out their values on their own
>property as long as they are not causing a true nuisance that
>hinders their neighbors’ use of their own properties. In
>May, the White House released a strategy to protect
>pollinators by increasing wildlife habitat. But while the
>report encourages homeowners to set aside natural habitat for
>wildlife, it offers them no legal support to do so. We need
>local regulations of private lawns to reflect science, not the
>whims of town officials. They should be developed in
>consultation with ecologists and botanists, to set standards
>for natural yards that are safe and healthy for both humans
>and wildlife.

I live next door to you, your tall ass grass brings with it an "ecosystem". That "ecosystems" invades my property and causes damage and brings pests to my property as well as those around you.

You're a selfish prick for that.


---------------------------

"Where was the peace when we were getting shot? Where's the peace when we were getting laid out?
Where is the peace when we are in the back of ambulances? Where is the peace then?
They don't want to call for peace then.

and this woman trying to grow a forrest

nah, this broad crazy

seems like her and her "partner" just want to get out of the work it takes to own a home.

---------------------------

"Where was the peace when we were getting shot? Where's the peace when we were getting laid out?
Where is the peace when we are in the back of ambulances? Where is the peace then?
They don't want to call for peace then.

they don't just let anything grow in their lawn.

'For me, growing a natural lawn doesn’t mean just letting it go. I spend a lot of time weeding out invasive, non-native plants — like thistles, burdock and garlic mustard — that can take over and create a destructive monoculture of their own. But I also think it is wrong to vilify all invasive plants before we fully understand them. After all, a weed is just “a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered,” Ralph Waldo Emerson said.'

---------------------------

"Where was the peace when we were getting shot? Where's the peace when we were getting laid out?
Where is the peace when we are in the back of ambulances? Where is the peace then?
They don't want to call for peace then.

i dig it.

i agree w/what she's talking about, generally.

as long as she and her man get out there and manicure it somehow i think it's fine to grow a lil patch of prairie on their property.

when i was a kid one of my neighbors out in the Bay Area had a farm growing in his yard. 'farm' as in he grew corn and had fruit trees and other veggies and produce. it totally stood out in the neighborhood and at first i thought that shit was crazy as hell. but that's b/c i was used to manicured lawns like i'd seen in the STL suburbs i knew at the time. after i accepted that the man's farm didn't mean his house was slovenly i was totally down w/it.

anyway, i like the way the couple handled the issue - they cut the prairie down by a few inches to satisfy the town's rules. for now.

and cats. and dogs.

as do cats and other predators who eat rodents.

but this is one of the first thigns i thought of.

less seriously but still debilitating can be lime disease.

There are real good reasons that for hundreds of years human civilization has maintained gardens in cities.

all of which attract rodents.

oh, and in our cities we collect our rubbish outdoors. which also attracts rodents.

so we must be loaded down w/the plague, right?

.

my parents have all sorts of flowers and bushes and trees in their front and back yards. they can't keep squirrels, rabbits and moles out of that stuff. should they dig it all up b/c it attracts rodents?

is black and they're trying to spin this like having a yard that attracts bugs, RATS and other vermin and snakes is a PLUS.

i dated a guy with a similar yard and both his kids had what were probably spider bites that got infected with mrsa.

to me it wasn't the aesthetics that bothered me, but the health issue something like this creates.

if you want to live like this live WAY out in the country where there aren't laws against this.

For me, growing a natural lawn doesn’t mean just letting it go. I spend a lot of time weeding out invasive, non-native plants — like thistles, burdock and garlic mustard — that can take over and create a destructive monoculture of their own. But I also think it is wrong to vilify all invasive plants before we fully understand them. After all, a weed is just “a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered,” Ralph Waldo Emerson said.

But the main point of growing a natural yard is to attract wildlife and build a self-regulating environment. The un-mowed plants in our yard attract plant-eating bugs and rodents, which in turn attract birds, bats, toads and garter snakes that eat them. Then hawks fly in to eat the snakes. Seeing all this life emerge in just one growing season made me realize just how much nature manicured lawns displace and disrupt.

..or worse.


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

for a missing __ in one acre of prairie grass.

looking for the dog in that shit and sues you....

even if they don't sue you, how could you put people at risk in good conscience?

never that.

what you just said makes SO MUCH sense.

..causing severe injury (or worse)

she wrote a blog about inconveniencing an entire neighborhood for her own selfish ideas about community and can't understand why more people don't support her efforts.


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

it's not like hawks aren't already up in the air anyway. like one can't just swoop down at any moment and take a child or a pet whenever they want.

and surely the hawks who would come around b/c they want the relatively small prey in the form of mice attracted to grass would be more interested in larger animals they don't recognize as prey - you know, like human children. and our pets.

this is all making so much sense. you should keep going.

..the rest of the community disagrees with her methods.

end of story.


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

you read real good, dude.

that is indeed the story so far.

*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

wise move.

..but if you want to claim this as a victory, its all yours.




*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

b/c i don't. but if you need it then by all means go on and claim it. i hadn't planned to so it's all yours.

if everyone's house looked like that you'd probably have an outbreak of bubonic plague. Sorry, i'm never going to be pro poor hygiene in cities or towns.

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/judystone/files/2015/06/PlagueEcologyUS-cdc-e1435028193372.jpg

Plague Killed A Colorado Teen. What Do You Need To Know?
Comment Now Follow Comments

http://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2015/06/23/plague-killed-a-colorado-teen-what-do-you-need-to-know/

Echoing a bygone era, a 16 year old boy, Taylor Gaes, just died of plague in Colorado. It happens now and then, especially in the western U.S., as plague is often carried by fleas on prairie dogs or squirrels, or by rats in urban areas. Plague is more often found in Africa and Asia.

Plague is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis. People become infected either through a bite from an infected flea from rodents or by handling an animal infected with plague. Hungry fleas, leaving a dead animal, may latch onto a person or dog or cat, with the pet then carrying the infection to the home. Cats, being aggressive hunters of rodents, are more likely than dogs to become infected. The incubation period is usually 2-6 days. Hunters are also susceptible to plague from exposure to infected blood while skinning their prey. They may get the more localized form, bubonic plague, which causes lymph node swelling (aka buboes), or rarely the septicemic (bloodstream) form, with sudden shock and bleeding. While the buboe is a telltale clue, the symptoms of other forms of plague are very nonspecific until they become overwhelming, as happened to this teen. In fact, this septicemic form could easily be mistaken for meningococcal sepsis, the bacteria that regularly causes meningitis and death in unvaccinated teens.

b/c, you know, rats and mice.

you're on to something.

oh and we have rats and mice in the subways here too. and in alleys. and on the elevated rail tracks all over the city.

they gotta go. b/c Bubonic Plague.

oh wait. but we have rats and mice in those places but don't have BP. that can't be. can it?

b/c rats + mice = plague.

what's going on????

#droughtshaming

#statefullofdumbasspeople

Don't cry about a drought when you have a natural resource fully capable of supplying your aqueous needs.

same for Texas.

---------------------------

"Where was the peace when we were getting shot? Where's the peace when we were getting laid out?
Where is the peace when we are in the back of ambulances? Where is the peace then?
They don't want to call for peace then.

that's why it's not done on a wide-scale basis.

or other sports drinks.

great idea.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

and 50 needs the money so that's a good look on several fronts.

Australia uses seawater desalination largely powered by wind farms.

Also...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination#Existing_facilities_and_facilities_under_construction
---------------------------

"Where was the peace when we were getting shot? Where's the peace when we were getting laid out?
Where is the peace when we are in the back of ambulances? Where is the peace then?
They don't want to call for peace then.

"Compared to existing sources, desalination is considered to be expensive, but research is underway to develop more effective desalination technology."

"Australia is the driest inhabitable continent on earth and its installed desalination capacity is around 1% of the total world’s desalination capacity."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawater_desalination_in_Australia#Desalination

she said if she can stop shaving and wearing deodorant we can live like this inside and outside the home.

when you move into certain communities, you enter into agreements to do certain things...apparently theirs is to keep a well manicured lawn...and they know it's a rule because there is a statue that allows whoever to come to their yard and clear it up if they see fit. they knew this before hand...so to now be like "we dont' want to do it" is silly.

thats' the only reason i'd have an issue with this...but yeah i get their point and its actually an interesting one. i'd support doing this in the backyard. not the front.

If that's the type of neighborhood she moved into. I'm sure there are plenty of areas in the state that would allow her to accomplish her habitat. If what they are doing is affecting the neighborhood and property values in a negative fashion, then that's a problem.

I know it's a blog, but it's more patting-self-on-the-backism than anything else. She's taking an approach in this piece based on anecdotal first-hand evidence, disingenuous representations of scientific fact, and wanting to feel good about her decision. It's a good decision in a lot of ways, but...


>I had
>essentially grown a working ecosystem, one that had been
>waiting for the chance to emerge.

No, she hadn't grown it. She just let it grow. That's a big difference.

> In our case, the
>trustees decided that our lawn was too tall and thick and
>would attract “nuisance animals” such as “snakes and
>rodents.”

Very much on her side in this... more (diverse) animals is generally a sign of a healthier ecosystem, and it's great to observe that in our immediate location.

That said, all that stuff can and does thrive in neighborhoods of manicured lawns as well. And most lawns whether wild or not have a healthy number of rodents, from mice through chipmunks, squirrels and groundhogs (all of which I get even though I mow.)


>But the main point of growing a natural yard is to attract
>wildlife

agree

>and build a self-regulating environment.

Disagree... if it were self-regulating, you wouldn't have to go take care of the invasive species.

> The
>un-mowed plants in our yard attract plant-eating bugs and
>rodents, which in turn attract birds, bats, toads and garter
>snakes that eat them. Then hawks fly in to eat the snakes.
>Seeing all this life emerge in just one growing season made me
>realize just how much nature manicured lawns displace and
>disrupt.

I think she's putting the cart before the horse a bit here. Anecdotally I've got all that down to the hawk; the young hawk that hatched this spring has just fledged.

Side note: I just ran over a snake with the mower on Saturday. Felt terrible about it.

Plus, there are far fewer bats than there used to be, and that doesn't appear to have anything to do with us.

>There are 40.5 million acres of lawn in the United States,
>more than double the size of the country’s largest national
>forest.

but only slightly more 20% of the total acreage of all national forests and grasslands. Disingenuous comparison on her part.


>But lawns are our biggest “crop,” beating out corn, wheat
>and fruit combined.

Where the hell is this stat from? And what's she talking about by 'biggest'? Assuming she means 'takes up the most acreage':
A quick Googling gives me
Corn: ~14 million acres
Wheat: ~60 million acres
Fruit: can't find anything, but we're already way over 100% of her stat cited for lawn acreage

>Habitat loss isn’t a problem happening
>out there somewhere; it’s happening in our own back yards.

Agreed with the last clause, but industry & agriculture do remain the bigger problems, and arguing that they are not is somewhat counterproductive.

>This has serious consequences. About 95 percent of the natural
>landscape in the lower 48 states has been developed into
>cities, suburbs and farmland. Meanwhile, the global population
>of vertebrate animals, from birds to fish, has been cut in
>half during the past four decades.

However the populations of several vertebrate species has been rising enormously in areas long-since developed. I read a while back that there are more foxes and groundhogs in the US now than at any previous point in history, and of course deer have adapted swimmingly to the suburbs. Comeback stories like beaver and bear too.

not saying that habitat loss isn't a problem, just that looking at it one-sidedly is, well, one-sided.

> Honey bees, which we depend
>on to pollinate our fruits and other crops, have been dying
>off at an unsustainable rate.

for reasons as yet undetermined, though it's likely that agricultural pesticides have more to do with colony collapse than anything else.

> Monarch
>butterflies have been even more affected, with their numbers
>dropping 90 percent since the 1990s. Butterflies are an
>important part of the food chain, so ecologists have long used
>them to measure the health of ecosystems.

AFIK, scientific consensus is growing that the primary problem for monarchs has been the elimination of milkweed on farmland thanks to the blanket application of Roundup and other herbicides made possible by the genetic modification of herbicide-resistant crops.

Yes, not pulling out the milkweed in your yard and providing additional sources of pollen for mature butterflies is great... but yards are the least of the issue.

>Nature preserves and parks are not enough to fix the problem;
>much of wildlife is migratory and needs continuous habitat to
>thrive. Natural yards can act as bridges between the larger
>natural spaces.

yep

>>having any]

^^ was that RWQ bit in the article proper? lol

> Homeowners use up to 10
>times more chemicals per acre on their lawns than farmers use
>on crops,

I was curious about this stat. It's all over the web; the few sites that list a source just say 'US Fish & Wildlife Service.' Googling the sentence 'US FIsh & Wildlife Service' gives us only one document,
a booklet for homeowners on how to protect frogs. The booklet does not cite any source for the claim.

http://www.fws.gov/contaminants/Documents/homeowners_guide_frogs.pdf

> I spend a lot of time weeding out invasive, non-native
>plants — like thistles, burdock and garlic mustard — that
>can take over and create a destructive monoculture of their
>own.

Effectively eeding out invasives on an unmowed one acre would be almost a full time job.

PLUS, if you've ever dealt with Canadian thistle... you can't control that shit with weeding. Doesn't work.

>But I also think it is wrong to vilify all invasive
>plants before we fully understand them. After all, a weed is
>just “a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered,”
> Ralph Waldo Emerson said.

The very definition of 'invasive' is one that takes the niche of a native and outcompetes the native. Nothing good there. If it's not 'invasive,' it's just a non-native and plenty of non-natives that contribute to their new environments without taking them over.

>To prevent the mowing company hired by my township from coming
>in and flattening everything, my partner and I used a scythe
>to cut the height of our lawn down to 8 inches.

Good move.

Back breaking, maybe, but good move.

> We need
>local regulations of private lawns to reflect science, not the
>whims of town officials. They should be developed in
>consultation with ecologists and botanists, to set standards
>for natural yards that are safe and healthy for both humans
>and wildlife.

100% agree.

I have friends in a homeowners' association - not a condo - where they are a) not allowed to have vegetable gardens, and b) are required to maintain a sprinkler system an keep their lawn watered and green. IN TEXAS.

That kinda shit is just idiotic.

> As the planet’s environmental problems mount,
>the real nuisances are mowed lawns and the laws that enforce
>them

as is this statement.


*shrug*

Also, she should have talked more about trees. So much isn't just about the grass, but the trees.

and i like where her heart is.

now I gotta go home and weed a shitload of crabgrass out of flower beds it's outcompeting the fuck out of my native plants... because I (even though I mow) choose not to use any herbicides or fertilizers of any sort on my lawn.

*shrug*

and maybe this couple will adjust their behavior going forward b/c they're gonna keep having this fight otherwise. maybe they can have their prairie but keep it trimmed at a height that won't upset their neighbors.

it stays too warm for too many months here. Where my property ends looks like you stepped off into a jungle.

most people are impressed because we grow food and share with neighbors, but the number of vermin are QUICKLY balanced by way of the snakes and other stuff. Both my neighbors have manicured lawns and don't say shit. lucky i guess.

>https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/08/03/my-town-calls-my-lawn-a-nuisance-but-i-still-refuse-to-mow-it/?tid=HP_opinion
>
>My town calls my lawn ‘a nuisance.’ But I still refuse to
>mow it.
>
> Sarah Baker and her partner stand in their yard outside
>Alexandria, Ohio. Town officials have declared it “a
>nuisance.” (Sarah Baker)
>
>A mutilated garter snake, a sliced frog and countless slashed
>grasshoppers. That was the scene of carnage in my yard in
>September, after local officials ordered me to mow my
>overgrown lawn or be fined $1,000. Three months earlier, I had
>stopped mowing my nearly one acre of country land in a rural
>Ohio town. A diverse potpourri of plants began to flourish,
>and a rich assortment of insects and animals followed. I had
>essentially grown a working ecosystem, one that had been
>waiting for the chance to emerge.
>
>So this season, I took a stand and refused to mow at all.
>
>In June, my partner and I received an official written warning
>from the trustee board of St. Albans Township, stating that
>our yard had become “a nuisance.” Ohio law allows local
>governments to control any vegetation on private property that
>they deem a nuisance, after a seven-day warning to the
>property owners. But the law does not define what “a
>nuisance” is, effectively giving local leaders the power to
>remove whatever grass or plants offend them. In our case, the
>trustees decided that our lawn was too tall and thick and
>would attract “nuisance animals” such as “snakes and
>rodents.” If we didn’t cut it, they would hire someone to
>do so and bring law enforcement with them.
>
>But the main point of growing a natural yard is to attract
>wildlife and build a self-regulating environment. The
>un-mowed plants in our yard attract plant-eating bugs and
>rodents, which in turn attract birds, bats, toads and garter
>snakes that eat them. Then hawks fly in to eat the snakes.
>Seeing all this life emerge in just one growing season made me
>realize just how much nature manicured lawns displace and
>disrupt.
>
>There are 40.5 million acres of lawn in the United States,
>more than double the size of the country’s largest national
>forest. We disconnect ourselves from wildlife habitat loss by
>viewing it as a problem caused by industry and agriculture.
>But lawns are our biggest “crop,” beating out corn, wheat
>and fruit combined. Habitat loss isn’t a problem happening
>out there somewhere; it’s happening in our own back yards.
>
>This has serious consequences. About 95 percent of the natural
>landscape in the lower 48 states has been developed into
>cities, suburbs and farmland. Meanwhile, the global population
>of vertebrate animals, from birds to fish, has been cut in
>half during the past four decades. Honey bees, which we depend
>on to pollinate our fruits and other crops, have been dying
>off at an unsustainable rate. Because one in three bites of
>food you take requires a pollinating insect to produce it,
>their rapid decline is a threat to humanity. Monarch
>butterflies have been even more affected, with their numbers
>dropping 90 percent since the 1990s. Butterflies are an
>important part of the food chain, so ecologists have long used
>them to measure the health of ecosystems.
>
>Nature preserves and parks are not enough to fix the problem;
>much of wildlife is migratory and needs continuous habitat to
>thrive. Natural yards can act as bridges between the larger
>natural spaces.
>
>>having any]
>
>Habitat loss isn’t the only consequence; maintaining a mowed
>and fertilized lawn also pollutes the air, water and soil. The
>emissions from lawnmowers and other garden equipment are
>responsible for more than 5 percent of urban air pollution. An
>hour of gas-powered lawn mowing produces as much pollution as
>four hours of driving a car. Americans use 800 million gallons
>of gas every year for lawn equipment, and 17 million gallons
>are spilled while refueling mowers — more than was leaked by
>the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Homeowners use up to 10
>times more chemicals per acre on their lawns than farmers use
>on crops, chemicals that can end up in drinking water and
>waterways.
>
>I decided to tackle the issue by letting my yard grow wild,
>and I’m not alone. Homeowners across the country have
>latched on to the natural lawn and “no mow” movement.
>
>At first I felt guilty. The stigma that comes with the look of
>an un-mowed lawn was hard to push through (no pun intended). I
>was afraid of what people would think, because Americans have
>been deeply conditioned to see their manicured lawns as status
>symbols. But after we started explaining to people why we had
>stopped mowing, they were much less critical. If we allow
>ourselves to truly see a mowed lawn for what it is — a green
>desert that provides no food or shelter for wildlife — we
>can re-condition ourselves to take pride in not mowing.
>
>For me, growing a natural lawn doesn’t mean just letting it
>go. I spend a lot of time weeding out invasive, non-native
>plants — like thistles, burdock and garlic mustard — that
>can take over and create a destructive monoculture of their
>own. But I also think it is wrong to vilify all invasive
>plants before we fully understand them. After all, a weed is
>just “a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered,”
> Ralph Waldo Emerson said.
>
>I’ve been a gardener for years, but since I stopped mowing,
>I not only feel more connected to nature, I also see the
>interconnectedness in nature. Never before have I had so few
>pests in my vegetable garden thanks to my yard’s newfound
>biodiversity, including predators that keeps crop-damaging
>bugs in check. When you stop mowing, you get it; you not only
>see first-hand all the nature that we have lost start to come
>back, you get to interact with it.
>
>To prevent the mowing company hired by my township from coming
>in and flattening everything, my partner and I used a scythe
>to cut the height of our lawn down to 8 inches. The trustees
>were satisfied enough to call off the abatement of our lawn
>for now. It was a compromise, but it bought us some time to
>figure out our next move.
>
>People should be allowed to live out their values on their own
>property as long as they are not causing a true nuisance that
>hinders their neighbors’ use of their own properties. In
>May, the White House released a strategy to protect
>pollinators by increasing wildlife habitat. But while the
>report encourages homeowners to set aside natural habitat for
>wildlife, it offers them no legal support to do so. We need
>local regulations of private lawns to reflect science, not the
>whims of town officials. They should be developed in
>consultation with ecologists and botanists, to set standards
>for natural yards that are safe and healthy for both humans
>and wildlife.
>
>Society needs to adjust its cultural norms on lawn aesthetics.
>For the health of the planet, and for our own health, we need
>to start letting nature dictate how we design our outdoor
>spaces. We need to reassess how much mowed space we really
>need. By the size of most people’s lawns in my area, you’d
>think they were hosting a weekly lacrosse match. But the only
>time I ever really see them on their lawns is when they are
>mowing them.
>
>Instead of putting nature in its place, we need to find our
>place in nature. Local officials have told us countless times
>that our lawn looks bad and is a nuisance. In one public
>meeting, a brave young boy, Max Burton, stood up and told our
>critics, “What you are saying is that life itself is a
>nuisance.” As the planet’s environmental problems mount,
>the real nuisances are mowed lawns and the laws that enforce
>them