Well, here's my bottom line on all of this. I don't think there are simple solutions to most problems. In this case, my husband and I are part of a social world that behaves in a certain way toward lawns. We are really not free, given this human environment, to let our yard do anything but be orderly. There is some leeway, however, about how we do this. We can choose, for example, not to put herbicides on our lawn. Instead, I am perpetually pulling up the dandelions. I do choose, however, to let the violets grow where they may, as long as I have not decided to put some hastas or spirea in their place. We live on a ravine and own about 1/3 of an acre of it. It is a woods with many animals and wildflowers and more mosquitos this year than I have ever encountered (I can literally brush them off my arms in droves). I have learned that there is a NWF Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program that, incidentally, has a website at http://www.igc.apc.org/nwf/prog/habitats/bwhp.html This program encourages ordinary folks to care for their lawns in such a way as to encourage wildlife. Of course this means not using pesticides and herbicides. I have begun to garden for the wildlife in the ravine -- hawks, owls, downy woodpeckers, crows, cardinals, squirrels, chipmunks etc -- and have been thinking about how to encourage my neighbors to stop using pesticides -- perhaps getting them all involved in the BWHP. In the meantime, there is the mosquito problem. I have recently acquired some toads, but neighbors tell me that the reason we don't have toads is because we have racoons and possums. The racoons and possums are -- in the minds of many of us -- basically pests. They don't have predators, and the city thinks they are picturesque and won't haul any of them away. Now if we had fewer racoons and possums, we might have more toads and fewer mosquitos. But the food chain is disrupted so we have an overabundance of racoons and possums. I live in a city neighborhood, by the way. I am now wondering about bats and bat houses, to help with the 'skeeters. Any advice? But this is my point: It's all pretty complicated. I live in a human social world that is less than ideal from my perspective and limits what I am able to do. But I can think about and try to develop ecologically sound ways to take care of such problems as weeds and mosquitos, and I can try to help other people change their behavior. This doesn't mean I understand the lawn thing! Candice Bradley >From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Jun 20 03:33:13 1996 Date: Thu, 20 Jun 1996 10:32:58 BST From: cuummjf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: 'Wild' and 'beautiful'? To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > I was suggesting that humans do, >and should model their living spaces to fit their sense of beauty >bearing in mind the affect that will have on the environment and on >other people in the community. So you do accept that our dominant ideas of 'beauty' in the West have serious sexist, racist, ageist and ableist ramifications and that appeals to 'beauty' can not be made in an unproblematic way? On the question of 'lawn aesthetics', don't you think there is a parallel between the social pressure to cut our lawns and the pressure on men to shave their faces and women their legs (though for sure these last two examples have important differences in the deployments of power which occur). Mastery of nature/mastery of body - isn't body hair supposed to symbolise sexual power and animality?? We cut our lawn a month ago after it (sic) had got 'out of control' cos we were having practical difficulties getting across to our laundry stand. But since then it (sic) has grown back to the former size and interestingly there are now several species of flower flourishing within the lawn, though others might call these weeds............ As for the idea of seeking out nature 'untouched' by humanity, this is totally caught within the idea that we are separate from nature. In an important sense we are nature. Moreover, this idea has disturbing parallels with mastering ideas of purity and male fantasies of 'deflowering' 'innocent' and 'untouched' women. Thoughts/feelings? Richard
