The idea that cleared land is preferable to a wild meadow or a forest is so deep in our bones, so ancient, that it feels unnatural even to question it. Clear the land! Cut it short! Then you will have your herd and crops; you’ll see the invaders coming. Clear the land and you’ll finally feel like you have enough. You’ll feel safe.

Frederick Law Olmsted tapped into this ancient impulse in 1869, when he pioneered the American suburb with an expanse of lawn linking every home. One long, unbroken park, it democratized an aristocratic English luxury: a shared green space, in exchange for our tacit promise to maintain our little slice of heaven.

It’s a beautiful idea, neighborly. But as with so many things, it’s run to its logical conclusion, a dead end of unimaginably vast monocultures of freakish, unnatural grass—add all the lawns up, it’s the size of Texas. But few places naturally support lawns, so we hemorrhage water, blanket the ground with chemicals to achieve that ancient dream of feeling prosperous and safe.

To be sure, the tide has shifted. We’re realizing, with a child’s ‘aha’, that nature knows what to do, and that we are nature ourselves. We might, within our small sphere, bring back the flowers that want to live where we do. We might help the birds, the insects, and yes, the teeming, microscopic universe below the ground that—we finally remember—is alive. It is alive, and we are alive with it.

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Links:

• Looking for Lawns – NASA Earth Observatory, November 2005

  
  

• Native Plant Finder - National Wildlife Federation

  
  

• Homegrown National Park - native species, mosquito buckets, and more

  
  

• How the Perfect Lawn Became a Symbol of the American Dream – Farrell Evans, History Channel, February 17, 2021

  
  

• The Cult Of The American Lawn – Oliver Milman, NOĒMA, March 2025

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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