Aileen Eilert and her plastic wagon loaded with tomato and pepper starter plants, headed for the subdivision one block over to campaign (Photo by Ashley Gross)
Many environmentalists knock the suburbs. They don’t like how
dependent suburbs are on cars. They don’t like the sprawl, the large
houses and huge lawns. They think it’s a waste of land. Ashley Gross
reports… one woman is on a campaign to see some of those expansive
lawns turned into something a little more productive:
Transcript
Many environmentalists knock the suburbs. They don’t like how
dependent suburbs are on cars. They don’t like the sprawl, the large
houses and huge lawns. They think it’s a waste of land. Ashley Gross
reports… one woman is on a campaign to see some of those expansive
lawns turned into something a little more productive:
(sound of movie music)
Ever since soldiers returned from World War II, the suburbs have been portrayed as
the family-friendly ‘good life.’
“And so they joined the stream of family life in the suburbs. Soon to become part of
its familiar sights. Soon to absorb its familiar sounds.”
One of the most constant of those familiar sounds is a lawnmower.
(sound of lawnmower)
That noise just grates on Aileen Eilert’s nerves. Her goal is to live a more
environmentally-friendly life in the suburbs.
(sound of opening door and walking outside)
She does have a lawn. But she and her husband are converting much of it to
vegetable garden plots.
“So I have some snow peas growing here and here’s you know four tomato plants
and Bruce planted some peppers all the way down here.”
Eilert says gardening means she drives less often to the grocery store – and she’s
not buying produce shipped in from a different continent.
That’s important to her. Eilert says she decided to use less oil after her nephew was
killed in Iraq in 2005.
“You know, we’re fighting over there and it was about oil, and so I just thought I’ve
got to do something. I mean, it’s too late for me to do anything about my nephew,
and he was such a good kid. I’d like it to be where people – oh we don’t need to buy
oil from countries that may not be friendly to us or may not be stable.”
Eilert is not alone. People in the suburbs are beginning to think about their lifestyles
in a different way.
Evan McKenzie is a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago He researches the
politics of suburbia.
“The stuff that was planned and put in place in the 60s and 70s and even the 80s, I
think in some cases is giving way to new ideas. I mean they’re selling and giving
away rain barrels in the suburbs so people collect rainwater to water their plants
with. I never heard of that before.”
Not everyone is onboard with the environmental movement in the suburbs yet. Last
year Americans spent almost 11 billion dollars on do-it-yourself lawn care just to
keep the grass green.
Aileen Eilert wants to change that. She calls her new campaign “Grow Food, Not
Lawns.”
Her approach is one-on-one. Today she’s pulling a plastic wagon loaded with
tomato and pepper starter plants. She’s headed for the subdivision one block over.
(sound of wagon)
Eilert approaches Tim Lakis as he mows his lawn. He gives him a pepper plant.
Then comes the pitch.
Eilert: “Lawns actually use a lot of chemicals if you put chemicals on your lawn and
that gets into the water system.”
Lakis: “Okay.”
Eilert: “And then also your lawn mower has way more emissions than a car would,
not that I’m saying that…”
Lakis: “Okay, I’ll look it over.”
Aside from some strange looks, that went pretty well.
But Eilert learns pretty quickly there’s way more gardening going on here in this
neighborhood she thought. She’d pegged it as a lawn-addicted wasteland. But this
subdivision’s residents are kinda green.
Eilert: “I assume you use a gas mower?”
Man: “No. Electric.”
Eilert: “Do you? Oh you are just the perfect person to talk to today.”
Woman: “I mean, every year I grow my tomatoes and peppers and zucchinis.”
Second Man: “Every year I try to get rid of more grass and put in more plants.”
Eilert even gets a recipe for cooking dandelions. She leaves the subdivision
encouraged.
“People were concerned and people did think it was a good idea to have gardens
and they’d be willing to make a little more of a sacrifice to make the earth a little bit
better.”
She’ll be visiting more subdivisions soon, trying to get more people to turn those
suburban lawns into gardens. And maybe get them thinking, just a little about other
things they could do.
For The Environment Report, I’m Ashley Gross.
