Green cancer

It’s about 20 years since we got rid of our lawn. I finally woke up to the fact that it was just a waste of good growing space and in its place I could have hundreds more plants.

Bill Mollison, of permaculture fame, calls lawns ‘green cancer’.

Here’s an article about an American family that decided to turn their lawn into a wildflower meadow. The neighbours complained and the local council ordered them to mow it. Of course it could only happen in America!

Rob Hopkins of Transition Culture has a post about lawns which includes lots of links and part of an interview with Bill Mollison.

I think the ubiquitous suburban ‘green cancer’ will gradually disappear over the next decade as more and more people realise that if they want to eat, and eat healthily and cheaply, then their food is going to have to come from right outside their back door. I watch my neighbours on their one hectare properties, riding around on their mowers each weekend and wonder what they’re going to do when petrol is finally rationed. Will they choose to drive the mower or the car?