2008 Woodie Awards
The grass at UMass: The revolution will be fertilized
Matt Morin, Collegian columnist
Issue date: 5/12/08 Section: Editorial / Opinion
UMass is an economy all to itself. We have a balance of trade with the larger Massachusetts economy (in debt), we have class stratification (administration, teachers, students and workers), and we even have an industrial sector, with the new heating plant coming online. In fact, we have everything you would need for a proper capitalist system, and perhaps nothing exemplifies this more then our agricultural sector.
Now I know what you must be thinking: you've never seen any crops being grown on campus before. Well, these crops are especially low to the ground, as they aren't meant to seem like a crop at all. If you look closely, however, you will see that almost all of our unpaved space is covered with the same tired mono-culture: grass.
This plant is the pride and joy of this institution, evidenced by the obsessive care it receives. Those little yellow flags everywhere that let you know pesticides have just been sprayed, well, those just go to show you that grass is unbelievably more important than the health and environmental problems associated with spraying poison on 80 percent of the campus. If you look closely, you can notice that it is planting season now, as the earth has been loosened and Monsanto's finest broadcast every which way. Soon, there will be a small army of harvesters, cutting this grand crop, not for food or for profit or for people but just for the glory of this beautiful plant.
Now perhaps you think my sarcasm is a bit extreme. They are, after all, just lawns. But lawns are a serious environmental problem, using ten times as many chemicals than actual industrial farming. This goes on to pollute our air soil and water. The emissions out of just one power mower, operated for one hour, are equal to those of a car driven 350 miles. This is all for a plant that is purely aesthetic.
But how aesthetically pleasing is our campus really? Is all this pollution and upkeep really getting us anywhere? I don't think we need to take a poll here. It's an obvious fact - UMass is not easy on the eyes. And while most people would attribute this to the buildings, I would argue that the landscaping has a lot to do with it as well. It's not that the grass is ugly, but that it is too insignificant to really take one's attention away from the buildings. We have a few trees here; it is true. But compared to most schools, we are a barren campus. And it's not just a lack of trees that makes it barren but the lack of anything besides grass and trees. Luckily, as a University, we have committed ourselves to carbon neutrality - officially - meaning that at some point in time, this basic feature of our campus, of intensive lawn maintenance, will have to change. The question I would like to pose is, how about next semester?
Now I know what you must be thinking: you've never seen any crops being grown on campus before. Well, these crops are especially low to the ground, as they aren't meant to seem like a crop at all. If you look closely, however, you will see that almost all of our unpaved space is covered with the same tired mono-culture: grass.
This plant is the pride and joy of this institution, evidenced by the obsessive care it receives. Those little yellow flags everywhere that let you know pesticides have just been sprayed, well, those just go to show you that grass is unbelievably more important than the health and environmental problems associated with spraying poison on 80 percent of the campus. If you look closely, you can notice that it is planting season now, as the earth has been loosened and Monsanto's finest broadcast every which way. Soon, there will be a small army of harvesters, cutting this grand crop, not for food or for profit or for people but just for the glory of this beautiful plant.
Now perhaps you think my sarcasm is a bit extreme. They are, after all, just lawns. But lawns are a serious environmental problem, using ten times as many chemicals than actual industrial farming. This goes on to pollute our air soil and water. The emissions out of just one power mower, operated for one hour, are equal to those of a car driven 350 miles. This is all for a plant that is purely aesthetic.
But how aesthetically pleasing is our campus really? Is all this pollution and upkeep really getting us anywhere? I don't think we need to take a poll here. It's an obvious fact - UMass is not easy on the eyes. And while most people would attribute this to the buildings, I would argue that the landscaping has a lot to do with it as well. It's not that the grass is ugly, but that it is too insignificant to really take one's attention away from the buildings. We have a few trees here; it is true. But compared to most schools, we are a barren campus. And it's not just a lack of trees that makes it barren but the lack of anything besides grass and trees. Luckily, as a University, we have committed ourselves to carbon neutrality - officially - meaning that at some point in time, this basic feature of our campus, of intensive lawn maintenance, will have to change. The question I would like to pose is, how about next semester?
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