Destroy All Their Lawns

Lawns have long served a colonial role in our society, starting off as symbols of aristocracy in Europe and spreading to the american elite. Early on, lawns were a labor-intensive affair, often being maintained for colonial elites by enslaved peoples. European grasses also played a pivotal role in the destruction of native ecosystems and indigenous ways of life. Destroy Your Lawn, a zine re-published in our zine library, details the effect these lawns were intended to have. “As colonist cattle devoured native grasses, colonists brought over european grasses which crowded out their indigenous counterparts. This subtle change helped the wider project of destroying ecosystems that had been built and maintained by indigenous people to starve them out.”

With a history of colonization and exploitation, european grass lawns continue to bring harm to us. Lawns are responsible for a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions, with a Princeton study finding that 5% of US CO2 emissions originated from lawn maintenance. Keeping lawns manicured also relies on killing off the base of the food chain, insects. Often demeaned as ‘pests,’ chemical pesticides are employed to kill them. While some chemicals are more harmful than others, many leech into the soil, and harm soil health, with about 63% of US soils being contaminated with pesticides. UW continues to use these pesticides all over campus.

UW has a track record of being a colonial force. From Boeing’s drones, to ROTC, to the literal founding of the university on the genocide of Indigenous people (apologies for linking an article by the reactionary Daily, please cancel us!). UW’s perfectly manicured lawns are another physical manifestation of settler colonialism. The Gould Hall garden continues the larger Seattle community’s shared history of radical gardening. The destruction of this garden is another attempt by the state to quash self-determination and maintain the rigid illusions of a colonial state.

Anarchist Calisthenics

Every guerilla garden is an anarchist learning center. Breaking the rules of land ‘ownership’ means rejecting the authority of the law and unlearning the reverence for property we’re all raised with under capitalism. The act of gardening restores a connection to land that many of us have lost, and to garden with other people requires us to form meaningful, cooperative connections with each other. Like graffiti, the high visibility of a garden turns it into a declaration: we’re working together, we don’t care about the law, and we’re not afraid to admit it. In fact, we’re proud of it. 

Guerilla gardening has got to be one of the best ways to practice anarchist calisthenics: breaking smaller rules as a way of working up to the big ones. In the words of James C. Scott, “One day you will be called on to break a big law in the name of justice and rationality. Everything will depend on it. You have to be ready. How are you going to prepare for that day when it really matters? You have to stay ‘in shape’ so that when the big day comes you will be ready.” Breaking even these smaller rules can be scary when it goes against everything you’ve been taught, but doing so as part of a team reminds you you’re not in it alone, and it enhances the joy and pride in the experience. It’s fun to fuck shit up with friends! And once you’ve done that, you can fuck shit up anytime with the knowledge that people you respect would think what you’re doing is awesome. That gives you confidence in your own decisions and empowers you to act autonomously. You’re not just a DVD logo bouncing aimlessly off whatever wall is put up in front of you; you’re a person who can make their own decisions, and you have the right to resist any institution that tries to take that from you.