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April showers usually bring May flowers – and lawns that sport a nice green sheen.
Not so anymore in some parts of America, where a combination of drought and icier than normal winters has left lawns pocked with stale hues of brown and yellow. It has forced some homeowners to resort to a relatively inexpensive way to keep up appearances: green paint.
But where did this impulse to have the perfect green lawn come from?
Historian Ted Steinberg tells the story of this distinctly American phenomenon, one that emerged in the decades after World War II. Soon thereafter, an entire industry devoted to selling concoctions of grass-growing chemicals sprouted up.
Yet nowadays, he writes, “The ideal of a resource-intensive perfect lawn is an ecological conceit that the country may no longer be able to afford.”
Also today:
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Americans – especially those living in areas affected by drought – are turning to paint to give their grass that perfect green sheen.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Ted Steinberg, Case Western Reserve University
The ideal of perfect turf – a weed-free, supergreen monoculture – is a relatively recent phenomenon.
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Education
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W. Ian O'Byrne, College of Charleston
A scholar explains how artificial intelligence systems can revolutionize the way students learn.
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Politics + Society
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Boaz Dvir, Penn State
President Joe Biden recently spoke out in support of the ongoing protests in Israel, raising some observers’ eyebrows about the ties between Israel and the US.
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John C. Watson, American University
A news organization doesn’t have to publish or broadcast the facts or the truth. And there are no standardized requirements to be a journalist.
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Health + Medicine
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James Phillips, University of Washington
Motion sickness results when your senses report conflicting information to your brain that it can’t reconcile based on its expectations about how the world works.
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Science + Technology
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Megan Keller, Cornell University
Antibiotic resistance has contributed to millions of deaths worldwide. Research suggests that any bacteria can develop antibiotic tolerance, and possibly resistance, when pushed to their limits.
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Ethics + Religion
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Chad Gibbs, College of Charleston
Yom HaShoah, which falls on April 17-18, 2023, pointedly commemorates Jewish resistance to the Nazis.
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Joseph Patrick Kelly, College of Charleston
Twenty-five years after the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, Northern Ireland is still resisting the culture of violence.
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