Did you know that your lawn may be harmful not only to the planet's health, but that of your children, pets, and family?

 

See The Unsettling Realities of American Lawn Culture:

"Golf courses. They're not called greens for nothing... They use a lot of liquid fertilizers to keep their grass growing and that has all the sheet flow contamination, [nitrogen and phosphorous] just like farms do. And then, obviously our grass yards. People spread the beated fertilizer all over the place. That can make its way to street inlets, make its way to streams, and contribute [to algal blooms and contamination]."

Mission Statement:

 

           In an era where the importance of ecological issues are at an all-time high, we aim to educate people on a global scale of the larger implications that contemporary American lawn care practices raise. The current dominant culture of "Monocultural" spaces and turf lawns that demote biodiversity are the predominant ecosystems maintained by humans in the 21st century. The desire behind cultivating a lawn has become a status symbol with a cult like following in the United States, and is often seen as the ultimate symbol of "The American Dream." Because it's so embedded in our society, which associates ideals of having a pristine lawn to success, the general American public is less likely to consider, or even discount the negative impacts that the modern lawn may bring along.

         From pesticides harming children and pets to the lack of biodiversity and carbon sequestration, turf lawns provide very little for humans outside from a place to recreate. We acknowledge that turf spaces are needed in our society, we claim they have become far too pervasive and are now negatively impacting our existence as a a species in addition the the existence of every other species on this planet. 

Areas of focus

Human Impacts

The negative side affects of pesticides are most impactful on young children who play outside in the grass and do not have fully developed organs to filter out the toxins we spray on our lawns. However, evidence of cross-contamination is common in households for weeks to months after applications due to cross-breezes, pets, shoes, and clothing bringing it in from outside. While signage is commonly used to prevent cross-contamination, due to this slew of reasons, it is almost impossible to prevent. Consistent contamination with common pesticides has loose associations with an uptick in non-Hodgkins lymphoma as well as other cancers. Early signs of overexposure often show in rashes. 

Biological Impacts

On a smaller scale, individual species are directly and indirectly affected by our common lawn care practices. More directly, the space we use for lawns is habitat which was once used by different flora and fauna. The practice of monocultural lawns (meaning maintaining one type of turf) provides little livable space that animals can inhabit. Additionally, the process of keeping a lawn monocultural commonly involves the spraying of pesticides. The chemicals can be ingested both through the respiratory system and well as absorbed through pores in the skin. It is also common for preticides to wash into larger bodies of water through streams, rivers, storm drains, lakes, and so on.

Ecological Impacts

On a large scale, pesticides that run into larger bodies of water kill fish populations and create large algae spores that can be toxic to humans. This also reduces biodiversity due to some species being more resilient than others to toxins. Going back to the rooting of this problem, monocultural lawns inherently reduce biodiversity in their nature. The lack of food and habitat resources found in turf lawns also drastically decreases the number of animals that can survive in that habitat. This halts the natural cycles of the environment and creates a sterile zone where life can not exist. While the concept of a lawn may seem necessary for human flourishment, the extent to which we go to produce these landscapes wherever possible is too much. 

About us

          We are two college students based out of Saint Michael's College in Colchester, VT. honing our skills with the digital arts through our passion for climate advocacy and environmental justice. Posed with creating a documentary for our Senior Capstone Project, we felt we could dedicade this time to a topic we found both problematic and ubiquitous within our society. Many people care deeply for the enviornment but overlook simple changes they could make due to their normality in our society, lawns being among the most significant.  We acklowedge that lawns will remain a reality and by no means are we trying to eradicate them. We do, however, feel that their prevalence in our society has reached the point of obsession, where such a desire for the status symbol that lawns represent has caused us to throw proper caution to the wayside. We do not hope to end the lawn, but to offer alternatives so people can maintain their environment in a mutualistic, authentically sustainable manner between people and planet, and aim to bring these resources forth to audiences nationally and internationally.

Contact us

Personal experience is priceless and stories like the one we are trying to tell are not possible without the individuals affected. If you have any personal experiences in similar areas, both scholarly or first hand, please contact us below.

Location

Saint Michael's College

1 Winooski Park 
Colchester, Vermont, United States (05439)