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(Earth House is a student residence at Connecticut College founded with the ideals of environmental activism and environmental living. Each year the house is home to seven students chosen for their dedication to environmental issues.)

Something strange is happening at Earth House. Areas of lawn are disappearing, students wielding shovels have been spotted, and the grounds crew steers their riding lawn mowers away. There should be nothing strange at all about students taking an active and responsible role in their environment. The work at Earth House speaks not of the accomplishments of students, but of a tradition here of an ethical relationship to the land.

SALT, or "Smaller American Lawns Today" is not a new concept. The ideas behind SALT are not unfamiliar to anyone not willing or able to keep up with the Jones' when it comes to maintaining monoculture against nature's own tendency towards bio-diversity. A growing number of home owners are approaching their own land with an eye for ecology rather than with ingrained notions from the commercial economy. The American lawn today is an industry supported, not by necessity, but through our own luxury. The American lawn has been called a botanical absurdity, a living fossil in a modern human zoo.

SALT originates from citizens at Connecticut College and its scope is nation wide. The focus on the reduction of lawn size is based not only in esthetic consideration, nor is its intent to proliferate a single idea of land management for everyone. Rather, the transition to more ecologically sound home grounds is born of necessity as one aspect of the burgeoning of a sustainable American economy. Our focus is environmental but sustainability must become universal. By reducing lawn size, the American homeowner can reduce pesticide usage, free up precious fertilizer for use in agriculture, curtail the pollution produced by burning fossil fuels, and support wildlife habitats. The challenge SALT presents to Connecticut College as a supposed environmental model is to take a lead as a community on issues of concern to its citizens.

The idea is not to construct a landscape from scratch. In supporting a sustainable home grounds it is not necessary to spend money! Most of the beneficial species are there, trying to emerge but unable to compete with the thick mat of a lawn or the aggressive growth of invasive exotic species. It is as stewards of the land that we should promote an environment able to maintain itself. By reducing the lawn size and by planting native, you bring sustainability to the landscape.

SALT has a particular interest to the members of Earth House, the environmental model within the environmental model of Connecticut College. Our methods at Earth House consist of practices not uncommon among many homeowners and inspired by the Arboretum and Jim Luce, supervisor of grounds. Methods such as salvaging discarded material, composting organic matter, responsibly collecting seed locally, building areas of shrub plantings or meadow for example. Sit long enough on the porch at Earth House, and in between the thunder of traffic along Route 32, you may be able to have a conversation. Look past the stream of cars, and you may catch a glimpse of the Thames; past the artifice of the American lawn towards a culture in balance with a natural economy.

Jesse Locantore Arboretum Intern 1998-99