Green does not mean good for the planet. In times where we have to reshape every aspect of our lives to cut our carbon emissions, we first have to look at our own backyards.
Stop reading. Close your eyes and picture a garden in your mind. Come on, close your eyes.
You have probably imagined a tidy garden, maybe with a majestic tree surrounded by colourful flowers. You may have even imagined the sound of a few birds. And underneath it, a patch of green, short and fresh grass.
Spring is coming. And in these troubled times, some of us only dream to be able to lie in this beautiful grass and not stuck between our 4 walls. We all have good memories attached to it while playing and running on it as kids. The beautiful lawns of French castles or the astonishing “Jardins à l’anglaise” can only put us in wonder with their perfect lines and proportions.
That is because grass is a symbol, a rationalised. form of nature that can be dominated at the hands of humans. Most importantly, it has sunk deep inside the English culture. The image of someone busy with a lawnmower on a sunny day has become an ideal, it is seen as a productive and respectful way of spending your free time. It makes us feel safe in a way. We have control over it and exercise such control as we wish, whether that be by taking out all of the weeds or keeping it at a certain height all year round.
However, there comes a time to condemn this cute little plant. To put it simply, grass lawns do soak up carbon dioxide in theory, but they emit more of it overall. This is due to the “need” for mowing, fertilising, and watering it. So I repeat, grass, even if it looks green and eco-friendly, won’t lock away carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. On top of that, climate change will make it even more difficult to maintain a well-kept lawn. The rise in temperature that we will face will lead to a longer growing season, especially in the north part of the country. And the south of the country will see its climate becoming dryer.
We often hear about this big evil called “suburban sprawl”. Its shadow slowly eating nature around the cities and turning it into big houses. But what is really taking the space is often the large gardens surrounding these homes. Just imagine that more than 600,000 football pitches worth of land is used by gardens. An army of gardeners determined to maintain it. These soldiers spent a lot of time, even more during the lockdown, on maintaining a perfect garden, with the perfect flowers, the perfect trees, and most importantly, grass. People love it so much that the demand for artificial grass is skyrocketing.
If we spent so much time, effort, and money in “taking care” of nature, why don’t we do it the right way? The need to adapt our gardens to make them vital refuges for animals, and not just aesthetically pleasing, is crucial. I believe that gardens should be more representative of the richness and diversity of nature. This may sound very hippie style environmentalist. But individualism is growing and people want to be different. And it is important to break those “templates” of what gardens should look like. During my research, I was shocked that some people, in different parts of the world, could be fined for having “grass that is too long” or “a vegetable garden on a front lawn”. Let’s get out of uniformity and look for what is best.
Alternatives exist. There is no need to be a passionate to figure it out. With a few clicks on the internet, you can find out multiple resources on eco-friendly options. If you just want the feeling of walking barefoot on nature, use clover instead of grass. It is very beneficial to the ground and doesn’t need to be taken care of once established. And this is just an example out of dozens of ground-cover possibilities. Or why don’t we let grass or long herbs grow in public spaces? It could boost biodiversity by offering shelter to insects, birds, and other small animals.
We need to start by changing our attitude towards nature, from trying to domesticate it to letting it grow, and from rationalising it to beginning to understand it. This is not reserved for determined environmentalists and doesn’t require sacrifices: just an open mind. We currently still see parks and gardens as we saw them hundreds of years ago. Many aspects of our livelihoods are starting to evolve, why not this one? Habits like flying and meat consumption are being questioned more frequently, so why not add our fake green habits to the table? Grass is just the first step.
Now imagine a garden that is free of any cultural norms and full of life. Biodiversity flows into it and nature is not domesticated but free. Close your eyes and picture it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robin Kwon is a 1st year engineering student in a quest to finding a balanced relationship with the environment in all aspects of life. Robin has a particular interest in the protection of our oceans, slow fashion, and sustainable development.
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