The area in front of Janet and Jeffrey Crouch's house in Columbia, Maryland, does not look usual for their neighborhood.
在马里兰州哥伦比亚市，珍妮特和杰弗里·克劳奇家门前的这片区域看起来跟邻居们家不太一样。
That is because the Crouches do not have a grass lawn. Instead, they have some small trees and many native plants.
那是因为克劳奇家没有草坪。相反，他们有一些小树和许多本地植物。
Lawns are areas around a house or in a park that are covered with short grass. In recent years, support for replacing lawns with native plants has been increasing in the United States. The process is called rewilding.
Lawns是指房子周围或公园里覆盖着短草的区域。近年来，在美国，越来越多的人支持用本土植物取代草坪。这个过程被称为野化。
In fact, the number of Americans planning to turn part of their lawn to native wildflowers doubled between 2019 and 2021. That information comes from the National Gardening Survey of 2,061 U.S. adults. In 2019, the percentage was nine percent. By 2021, it rose to 19 percent.
事实上，计划将部分草坪变成本地野花的美国人数量在2019年至2021年间翻了一番。这一信息来自对2061名美国成年人进行的全国园艺调查。2019年，这一比例为9%。到2021年，这一比例上升到19%。
Paul Robbins is the writer of Lawn People: How Grasses, Weeds, and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are.
保罗·罗宾斯是《Lawn People: How Grasses, Weeds, and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are.(草坪人:草地、杂草和化学物质如何塑造我们)》一书的作者。
He said that most people would prefer not to have lawns. "But they feel that they need to have them, or that they can't do anything about it." He added that many homeowners feel they should have lawns to please their neighbors.
他说，大多数人不想要草坪。“但他们觉得他们需要这些东西，或者他们也没别的办法。”他补充说，许多房主认为他们应该有草坪，只是为了取悦邻居。
It can be costly to keep a lawn looking good and green. But the Crouches had to spend much more money for the right not to have one.
保持草坪的美观和绿色是很昂贵的。但是为了不要草坪，克劳奇夫妇不得不花更多的钱。
People living in a house next to them complained to their homeowner's association, or HOA. The neighbors did not like that the Crouches did not have a grass lawn. HOAs can make rules about the plants that homeowners in a neighborhood are permitted to grow. Many HOAs require grass lawns.
住在他们隔壁的人向他们的房主协会(HOA)投诉。邻居们不喜欢克劳奇家没有草坪。HOA可以对一个社区的房主可以种植的植物制定规则。许多房主协会都要求有草坪。
The HOA ordered the Crouches to pull out their native plants and put in grass. However, they refused.
业主协会命令克劳奇夫妇拔掉他们的本土植物，种上青草。然而，他们拒绝了。
We knew we were doing things that were beneficial for the environment, said Janet Crouch. She told VOA that it seemed wrong to put in only grass, which she called an environmental dead zone.
“我们知道我们在做对环境有益的事情。”珍妮特·克劳奇说。她告诉美国之音，只种草似乎是错误的，她称之为环境死区。
Lawns are called environmental dead zones in part because they provide no food or shelter for wildlife. They also do not support pollinators like birds, bees, and butterflies. Bee populations have been getting smaller in North America and may be getting smaller around the world.
草坪被称为环境死区，部分原因是它们不能为野生动物提供食物或庇护所，也不支持像鸟类、蜜蜂和蝴蝶等传粉者。北美的蜜蜂数量越来越少，世界各地的蜜蜂数量可能也越来越少。
Ted Steinberg is the writer of American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn. He said there are other reasons that lawns are bad for the environment.
泰德·斯坦伯格是《 American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn(美国绿色:对完美草坪的执着追求)》一书的作者。他说，草坪对环境有害还有其他原因。
He said they require a lot of water and chemicals. Large amounts of water can remove nutrients from the soil.
他说，草坪需要大量的水和化学品。大量的水会使土壤中的养分流失。
Steinberg said that after the water removes the nutrients, people buy even more chemicals to put on their lawns. Scientists say some of these chemicals might cause cancer and other health problems.
斯坦伯格说，在水带走营养物质后，人们会购买更多的化学物质来喷洒在草坪上。科学家表示，其中一些化学物质可能会导致癌症和其他健康问题。
Nancy Lawson is the writer of The Humane Gardener and Wildscapes. She is also Janet Crouch's sister and the person who urged the Crouches to put in native plants.
南希·劳森是《The Humane Gardener(人道园丁)》和《Wildscapes(野生景观)》的作者。她也是珍妮特·克劳奇的妹妹，也是她敦促克劳奇一家种植本地植物的。
Lawson said there are over 16 million hectares of grass lawns in the U.S. That means lawns use more water than any other irrigated crop in the country.
劳森说，美国有超过1600万公顷的草坪，这意味着草坪比任何其他灌溉农作物都需要更多的水。
The Crouches' battle against their HOA took three years. They say they spent $60,000 fighting to keep their natural garden. They won. Because of their efforts, the state of Maryland passed a law that lets people grow native plants instead of grass, no matter what their HOA wants.
克劳奇夫妇与业主协会的斗争持续了三年。他们说他们花了6万美元来保护他们的自然花园。他们赢了。由于他们的努力，马里兰州通过了一项法律，允许人们种植本地植物而不是只是草坪，无论他们的业主协会想不想要。
I'm Andrew Smith.
安德鲁·史密斯报道。
The area in front of Janet and Jeffrey Crouch's house in Columbia, Maryland, does not look usual for their neighborhood.
That is because the Crouches do not have a grass lawn. Instead, they have some small trees and many native plants.
Lawns are areas around a house or in a park that are covered with short grass. In recent years, support for replacing lawns with native plants has been increasing in the United States. The process is called rewilding.
In fact, the number of Americans planning to turn part of their lawn to native wildflowers doubled between 2019 and 2021. That information comes from the National Gardening Survey of 2,061 U.S. adults. In 2019, the percentage was nine percent. By 2021, it rose to 19 percent.
Paul Robbins is the writer of Lawn People: How Grasses, Weeds, and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are.
He said that most people would prefer not to have lawns. "But they feel that they need to have them, or that they can't do anything about it." He added that many homeowners feel they should have lawns to please their neighbors.
It can be costly to keep a lawn looking good and green. But the Crouches had to spend much more money for the right not to have one.
People living in a house next to them complained to their homeowner's association, or HOA. The neighbors did not like that the Crouches did not have a grass lawn. HOAs can make rules about the plants that homeowners in a neighborhood are permitted to grow. Many HOAs require grass lawns.
The HOA ordered the Crouches to pull out their native plants and put in grass. However, they refused.
"We knew we were doing things that were beneficial for the environment," said Janet Crouch. She told VOA that it seemed wrong to put in only grass, which she called an environmental dead zone.
Lawns are called environmental dead zones in part because they provide no food or shelter for wildlife. They also do not support pollinators like birds, bees, and butterflies. Bee populations have been getting smaller in North America and may be getting smaller around the world.
Ted Steinberg is the writer of American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn. He said there are other reasons that lawns are bad for the environment.
He said they require a lot of water and chemicals. Large amounts of water can remove nutrients from the soil.
Steinberg said that after the water removes the nutrients, people buy even more chemicals to put on their lawns. Scientists say some of these chemicals might cause cancer and other health problems.
Nancy Lawson is the writer of The Humane Gardener and Wildscapes. She is also Janet Crouch's sister and the person who urged the Crouches to put in native plants.
Lawson said there are over 16 million hectares of grass lawns in the U.S. That means lawns use more water than any other irrigated crop in the country.
The Crouches' battle against their HOA took three years. They say they spent $60,000 fighting to keep their natural garden. They won. Because of their efforts, the state of Maryland passed a law that lets people grow native plants instead of grass, no matter what their HOA wants.
I'm Andrew Smith.
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Words in This Story
replace -v. to remove something and put something else in its place
complain -v. to find fault with something, express dissatisfaction, or make an accusation against
beneficial -adj. helpful or having desirable effects
irrigate -v. to supply areas of land with water by artificial means, such as canals or pipes carrying water from rivers or lakes
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