Just wanna point out here that, no!, it’s not the iPhone & internet echo chambers making us antisocial. Instead, USA antisocial behavior has its origins way, way back in the development of suburbia, specifically the post-WW2 & utterly car-dependent lifestyle, including oversized houses, plus with specific reference to today’s article, the oversized yard, plus, yes of course, perfectly manicured.
It seemed like a good idea at the time … 🙄 Well, we have painted ourselves into a corner 😔
… All I will say here, for the sake of brevity, is that you have to live overseas for a while (e.g. France, Japan) in order to see how the Mother Unnatural & inhumane & antisocial USA post-WW2 car-dependent suburban residential environment has made us Americans so different from ‘normal people,’ who do not live in utterly car-dependent environments.
(Pssst, It’s not just Karen, the HOA president, ok? We’ve all been psychologically affected by this novel & radical departure from millennia of city mouse & country mouse lifestyles. Our technology - the car & the artificial suburban mouse lifestyle - has had an immensely antisocial effect on us all, politico-socio-economically.)
In a word, life on a walking scale is humane, but life on a driving scale is inhumane.
That’s what the fuss over weeds & butterfly gardens is really all about. But you have to step outside of the culture in order to see the culture.
Yes, I’m implying that you should not even be allowed to own & operate a big yard in the first place (unless you’re a farmer).
Peter Wohlleben a forest ecologist from Germany has written many books describing the intricate hidden communications of trees and their astonishing interconnections with the web of life. His profound insights reveal how ancient forests sustain themselves, moderate weather and are key to the survival of every species. He advocates for preservation of ancient forests before the store of "tree knowledge" and adaptability is gone.
In my view we need to heed that warning, preserve forests with minimal disruption, but also reimagine farming and gardening so it's more in tune with nature. City folk and most humans I suppose won't want to accept true wildness. So maybe it should be a compromise where we decide to minimize negative and highly destructive but profitable protocols in favor of regenerative and healthy practices. It won't be easy to turn the profit driven ships around but it's looking like a shipwreck.
I try to live by my principles, with an organic garden, and I refuse to condone anything that harms even tiny microbes in the soil. But I have to "curate" my yard, trimming and weeding and cutting. I soon learned that I couldn't go too "wild" and I needed to plan ahead and shape the landscape with moderation and common sense in tune with nature. It's a learning curve for me but it's rewarding in many ways.
I would have asked the mayor "Who pays the property tax?" If the city, city council, mayor or neighbors pay them for her then they could do as they wish, otherwise I would tell them to stick it up their Wazoo!
Enjoyed this and it does have a very serious side. There are lots of enthusiasts locally for re wilding , it’s the thing to do. Some even calling for it nationally instead of farmland , especially for animals. Re wilding is another way to destroy our real food system’s.
It is complicated to pin down. The requirements and "approved" landscaping come from different sources. There are many things that they are trying to address.
There are the obvious issues of the "aesthetics" and perceived impacts on property values.
The yards that attract butterflies and flowers for bees to pollinate are wonderful but when they harbor rats and other pests, not so much. There are problems as to risks of fires. There are problems of properties being used to hide illegal activities. The rules for how much of a property is paved over for instance are part of flood control. There are also rules for how many trees a property has in its landscaping hoping to fight heat islands that are formed by cities.
There are problems with the conflict of property rights. Besides just what you can do on your own property, there are the effects on neighboring properties. It isn't cut and dried as different people have differing opinions on what is "natural" and what is "derelict."
One of the biggest problems is that many HOAs and local governments use boilerplate regulations that are not specifically tailored to the local environment. They are not taking into consideration any unusual conditions such as water restrictions imposed by drought conditions. It is especially bad when they create rules to maintain a manicured green lawn in the middle of a freaking desert such as you see in parts of California, Nevada, and Arizona.
That is assuming that you can even recreate a "natural" environment. Without the balance of things like having natural predators, normal fires, and a normal succession of species, you don't have a natural environment. Natural environments change over time. They are not just static.
mental rights
https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.1038/s44319-025-00505-6
Just wanna point out here that, no!, it’s not the iPhone & internet echo chambers making us antisocial. Instead, USA antisocial behavior has its origins way, way back in the development of suburbia, specifically the post-WW2 & utterly car-dependent lifestyle, including oversized houses, plus with specific reference to today’s article, the oversized yard, plus, yes of course, perfectly manicured.
It seemed like a good idea at the time … 🙄 Well, we have painted ourselves into a corner 😔
… All I will say here, for the sake of brevity, is that you have to live overseas for a while (e.g. France, Japan) in order to see how the Mother Unnatural & inhumane & antisocial USA post-WW2 car-dependent suburban residential environment has made us Americans so different from ‘normal people,’ who do not live in utterly car-dependent environments.
(Pssst, It’s not just Karen, the HOA president, ok? We’ve all been psychologically affected by this novel & radical departure from millennia of city mouse & country mouse lifestyles. Our technology - the car & the artificial suburban mouse lifestyle - has had an immensely antisocial effect on us all, politico-socio-economically.)
In a word, life on a walking scale is humane, but life on a driving scale is inhumane.
That’s what the fuss over weeds & butterfly gardens is really all about. But you have to step outside of the culture in order to see the culture.
Yes, I’m implying that you should not even be allowed to own & operate a big yard in the first place (unless you’re a farmer).
Peter Wohlleben a forest ecologist from Germany has written many books describing the intricate hidden communications of trees and their astonishing interconnections with the web of life. His profound insights reveal how ancient forests sustain themselves, moderate weather and are key to the survival of every species. He advocates for preservation of ancient forests before the store of "tree knowledge" and adaptability is gone.
In my view we need to heed that warning, preserve forests with minimal disruption, but also reimagine farming and gardening so it's more in tune with nature. City folk and most humans I suppose won't want to accept true wildness. So maybe it should be a compromise where we decide to minimize negative and highly destructive but profitable protocols in favor of regenerative and healthy practices. It won't be easy to turn the profit driven ships around but it's looking like a shipwreck.
I try to live by my principles, with an organic garden, and I refuse to condone anything that harms even tiny microbes in the soil. But I have to "curate" my yard, trimming and weeding and cutting. I soon learned that I couldn't go too "wild" and I needed to plan ahead and shape the landscape with moderation and common sense in tune with nature. It's a learning curve for me but it's rewarding in many ways.
I would have asked the mayor "Who pays the property tax?" If the city, city council, mayor or neighbors pay them for her then they could do as they wish, otherwise I would tell them to stick it up their Wazoo!
Enjoyed this and it does have a very serious side. There are lots of enthusiasts locally for re wilding , it’s the thing to do. Some even calling for it nationally instead of farmland , especially for animals. Re wilding is another way to destroy our real food system’s.
It is complicated to pin down. The requirements and "approved" landscaping come from different sources. There are many things that they are trying to address.
There are the obvious issues of the "aesthetics" and perceived impacts on property values.
The yards that attract butterflies and flowers for bees to pollinate are wonderful but when they harbor rats and other pests, not so much. There are problems as to risks of fires. There are problems of properties being used to hide illegal activities. The rules for how much of a property is paved over for instance are part of flood control. There are also rules for how many trees a property has in its landscaping hoping to fight heat islands that are formed by cities.
There are problems with the conflict of property rights. Besides just what you can do on your own property, there are the effects on neighboring properties. It isn't cut and dried as different people have differing opinions on what is "natural" and what is "derelict."
One of the biggest problems is that many HOAs and local governments use boilerplate regulations that are not specifically tailored to the local environment. They are not taking into consideration any unusual conditions such as water restrictions imposed by drought conditions. It is especially bad when they create rules to maintain a manicured green lawn in the middle of a freaking desert such as you see in parts of California, Nevada, and Arizona.
Most people do not want wilderness. They want curated and manicured trails and pretend to call it wilderness.
That is assuming that you can even recreate a "natural" environment. Without the balance of things like having natural predators, normal fires, and a normal succession of species, you don't have a natural environment. Natural environments change over time. They are not just static.