Mowing in the Rain

My neighbor Patrick was mowing his lawn in the rain at 8:00 this morning. The sound of the lawnmower roaring, the rain pounding on the roof, the thunder booming and lightning flashing was a symphony to insanity in a decade of climate change.

Why do Americans obsess about lawns? One theory is that immaculate lawns announces affluence. A pristine lawn may also say "responsible" and "hard-working." Robert Grese, an Associate Professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Minnesota, says that our lawns are modeled after the grounds of the early English manor, which was lush and green because of the wet climate, and did not require additional watering or chemicals. In other words, a well-manicured lawn says "Aristocracy."

Is it all worth it? We are killing ourselves. Worse, we are killing our children. The #2 cause of death in children ages 5-9 is cancer linked to the poisons we put on our lawns and on our farm fields. Toxic chemicals in the environment are proven to cause some neurodevelopmental disabilities, such as learning disabilities, Attention Deficit and Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder as well as autism.

Someone needs to write the death-of-children version of "Silent Spring," only it would be called "The Silent Womb."

And those little signs poked into lawns by chemical companies that say you or your pet--who can't read anyway--can walk on the treated grass after ten days, but there is no finer print under the fine print that tells you that lawn chemicals really have a half life of up to one year?

Yesterday I was walking my dog Seymour along the street. In front of us was a mother pushing her two-year-old daughter in the stroller, with her eight year old son walking by their side. We passed a house with a treated lawn, that cute little sign sticking out. The maple tree "helicopters" had been raining down all morning in the wind. The boy picked up a handful from the corner of the treated lawn and showered them down on his sister, who squealed in delight. The mother laughed. I was crying inside.

Make/Do Tip: Don't have lawns. Let the grass grow. Don't mow it. Don't pour poison on it. Turn your lawn into a Woodland or a Prairie. Stick native plants in here or there. Don't even buy plants. Dig them out of ditches or the woods, or get them from friends who are dividing their lilies or irises.

Make/Do
Olivia