1. The Grass is Always Greener

Pick Me Up, I'm Scared.

Madeline Pendleton and David Roberts

Society & Culture

4.8 • 783 Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2021

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to the first episode of our podcast! In this episode: Madeline smacks her lips a lot (sorry, we're new to this) and we talk about front lawns, community spaces, geodesic domes, and the housing crisis.

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/pickmeupimscared

Sources:

1) https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/the-american-obsession-with-lawns/

2) https://www.businessinsider.com/americas-biggest-crop-is-grass-2016-2

3) https://www.businessinsider.com/where-grass-lawns-came-from-2016-5#and-in-drought-stricken-regions-out-west-its-not-worth-all-the-water-to-grow-a-yard-full-of-plants-from-rainy-england-in-southern-california-stick-with-a-native-grass-instead-16

4) https://www.nrdc.org/experts/tracy-quinn/why-lawn-must-die

5) https://www.cnn.com/style/article/lawns-american-yard-us/index.html

6) https://www.nrdc.org/stories/more-sustainable-and-beautiful-alternatives-grass-lawn

7) https://ggwash.org/view/72499/lawns-are-good-for-almost-nothing-environment-eco-landscaping

8) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/video/lawn-grass-environment-history.html

9) https://www.cnps.org/

10) https://www.jstor.org/stable/24706922

11) https://www.dailycal.org/2021/03/20/why-do-we-have-lawns-anyway/

12) https://www.monticello.org/slavery/

13) https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery/

Further Reading:

1) "Debt: The First 5000 Years" by David Graeber

2) "Confronting Empire" by Arundhati Roy

3) "Forest Bathing Is Great for Your Health. Here’s How to Do It" by Qing Li, Time Magazine

4) "When June Jordan and Buckminster Fuller Tried to Redesign Harlem" by Claire Schwartz, The New Yorker

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Pick Me Up, I'm scared. The podcast. I'm your host, Madeline. And I'm your co-host, Kenna. And today we're
0:29.8	going to be talking about what a front yard would look like in Utopia. Ooh, I like this one. Very
0:35.4	on brand for me. Yes, Kenna loves the idea of Utopia. So I wanted to start by asking,
0:40.4	Kenna, imagine your Utopia. What does a front yard look like there? Oh my gosh. I think in Utopia,
0:48.4	there probably is no front yard. It's just like an opening onto a greater square where all your friends, family, chosen family,
0:59.0	like exists and it's pretty to each one's own particular taste.
1:03.5	I don't know.
1:04.5	It'd probably be to my own taste.
1:06.0	I mean, in my life, I would prefer just to walk out into the world and it be beautiful and see people and be
1:13.5	inviting to other people. But yeah, it's hard to imagine a front lawn for me. Okay. So this is
1:19.3	apparently right on track with the general growing consensus about how front lawns are an evil thing
1:25.7	that needs to be obliterated and destroyed at all costs.
1:29.1	I think I have watched possibly a YouTube documentary about front lawns or it had the opening of front lawns and how it is somewhat bad.
1:44.4	Yes.
1:45.0	So, okay, I fell into this rabbit hole on TikTok maybe a year ago of teenagers absolutely
1:52.2	dissing front lawns in the most hilarious way possible.
1:56.4	It would be like a trend where you'd see like a photo of an American like green landscape front lawn and then some like hip teen with good eyeliner would be like a trend where you'd see like a photo of an American like green landscape front lawn
2:01.4	and then some like hip teen with good eyeliner would be like not in my future house uh-uh
2:07.3	like I'm instead going to have this like beautiful mossy fairyland garden and then the video
2:13.8	would just like show these natural landscapes with people being like, oh yes, beautiful, gorgeous, love it.
2:19.5	And this sent me down this rabbit hole because I wanted to learn more about why people
2:25.5	hate front lawn so much.
	...

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