Monoculture Uniformity: The American Plight of Grass Lawns

• In Event: Sustainability Transformations: Walkable Suburbs, Environmental Justice Advocacy, Ecovillage Adaptations, Grass Lawns, and Fashion

Abstract

A commonplace commodity in America, grass lawns are seldom thought of as anything other than a necessity for every home and public space. The motive of uniformity perpetuated by the planting of a single grass seed for miles around the country — creating a monoculture— has become a normality when, in reality, this landscaping practice is extremely harmful. This paper examines the history and psychology behind how lawns became so popularized in America and why people are so often complacent to trends. Beyond this, scientific journals and books were also analyzed so that the full impacts of grass lawns can be divulged. The high maintenance quality of owning a grass lawn, although widely considered a signifier of wealth, is actually a preservation of an unhealthy relationship with nature. The consistent mowing over lawns causes compactness in the soil which prevents natural nutrient cycling. In turn, homeowners turn to synthetic fertilizers which end up running off the surface of the compact soil with rainwater. The industrialization of people’s lawns promotes a detrimental interrelation with one’s environment. Necessary pollinator resources are stripped from the soil to make way for more monocultures grass seeds. Human intervention is the only way non-native grasses can flourish in the United States in the first place. Therefore, people must take this educational opportunity to implement native plants and meadows in spaces where grass lawns are not being utilized. The negative impacts of non-native grass lawns is undeniable, therefore, steps need to be taken to move past this monoculture in order for mimic natural plant ecosystems. The actions of man have negatively affected other species for too long, and it is imperative that we attempt to reconcile these wrong doings by implementing more natural landscaping practices for the good of all ecosystem inhabitants.

Author

• Jessica Jabbour