Challenging Lawn and Order: Environmental Discourse and Lawn Care Reform in Canada

Abstract

A growing number of municipal by-laws banning the use of cosmetic pesticides on private lawns has fuelled the momentum of a lawn care reform movement in Canada. Entrenched battles have inspired civic debate about land stewardship, human health, economic governance, property rights, civic responsibility and aesthetics. This paper maps and explores the normative underpinnings and claims of the popular narratives defending and attacking the industrial lawn, and engages a discursive analysis of narratives and frames to assess the environmental and social significance of lawn reform. The paper suggests that the politics of lawn care reform stand for larger social and cultural dynamics.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticisms and comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Notes

We here distinguish between ‘naturalisation’ and ‘restoration’. Naturalisation is a laissez-faire approach while restoration involves human intervention, often at a substantial cost, to reintroduce or enhance environmental health.