"True, it is only a symbolic step, but its symbolism is so potent that it could conceivably set off a revolution in consciousness -- just the sort of

...revolution that may be needed if we are ever to strike a healthier relationship between the American people and the American land. "

"I propose that, tomorrow morning, President Bush issue an executive order to the Park Service to rip out the White House lawn."
-Michael Pollan,1991


... "Front lawns, we decided, would unite us, and, ever since, their maintenance has been regarded as an important ritual of consensus in America, even a civic obligation. Indeed, the citizen who neglects to vote is sooner tolerated -- and far more common -- than the citizen who neglects to mow: in hundreds of communities the failure to mow is punishable by fines. That's because our quasi-public unhedged front yards all run together -- in a sense, the White House lawn is contiguous with every other lawn in the land -- and the laggard who neglects to tend his lawn spoils the effect for everyone.
The democratic symbolism of the lawn may be appealing, but it carries an absurd and, today, unsupportable environmental price tag. In our quest for the perfect lawn, we waste vast quantities of water and energy, human as well as petrochemical. (The total annual amount of time spent mowing lawns in America comes to 30 hours for every man, woman, and child.) Acre for acre, the American lawn receives four times as much chemical pesticide as any U.S. farmland."[...]