04.15.2020

Spring is coming, Nature is waking. Along with the Earth's new growth comes the yearly reminder of how far we've divorced ourselves from the Natural World.

The common lawn serves as the quintessential illustration of our misguidedness. 

What is required to create a lawn? Did we not first have to remove the species that called our plots home? Did we not roll out turf or spread uniformed seeds: developed, grown, harvested, manufactured, marketed, packaged, distributed, shipped...? Do we not indefinitely expend resources—both our own and the Earth's—to keep them fed and watered? Do we not buy machines, gasoline, piping, and chemical agents to maintain the aesthetic appeal of these manifestations of Ego?

What is the lawn but a rejection of Nature?

Of course, the lawn itself is not The Problem—it serves only as a somewhat alarming exemplification of our behaviors and value-structures. We must go on to ask ourselves:

If the lawn has become normalized—even praised and Valued—what else has taken root in our minds? What else have we normalized and accepted? What other beliefs and behaviors have we embodied? Who and what are we gifting our resources to, and what are we seeing perpetuated by doing so?

Our mind's valleys have long ago been tilled and planted—alien seeds have taken root. We were recruited to the wrong side of a losing war...

Disassemble your lawn mowers and sell them for scrap. Dig a hole in your lawn and plant in it a native grass. Reclaim your Self as Nature reclaims its land.