A few weeks ago, there was some news coverage about a Hudson Valley town that took a woman to court because her lawn was overgrown. She faced a fine of up to $1,000 a day.
It's not that the property-owner couldn’t afford a lawnmower. In fact, she said that she had invested thousands of dollars in plants that would make her property friendly to butterflies and bees and other pollinators, and that restore soil health and prevent erosion. But some neighbors weren’t pleased, because what she hasn’t done is cultivate a lawn.
Of course, giving up a lawn to a bit of “rewilding” — that is, letting nature have a chance to restore its own processes — is a rational choice for anybody concerned about the planet’s health. Irrigating the 50 million acres of lawns in America draws nearly 3 trillion gallons of water a year; mowing and trimming them burns 200 million gallons of gasoline, and fertilizing those lawns spreads 70 million pounds of chemicals. Our love of lawns not only wastes water and pollutes ecosystems; it also increases greenhouse gases and diminishes the biodiversity that sustains the planet.
But neatly-maintained yards suggest order, which scientists say is a human craving. Indeed, we have come to associate progress in civilization with order. But if disorder and uncertainty make us uncomfortable, they can also propel us toward action to make things right again; comfort, by contrast, leaves us in our ruts.
Which is why we may see our lawns as not just an affront to the environment, but also as a reflection of one of American society’s most significant problems — namely, the nation’s political polarization.
Recent research suggests that our political divide is shaped in part by a sense of uncertainty; and uncertainty, it seems, drives people to cling to what they know.
That’s something that political psychologists have been exploring for years – the notion that intolerance of uncertainty drives political polarization. And it seems to be true. That is, people who can’t stand not knowing what’s coming next are more likely to see issues in a sort of black-and-white starkness, and they therefore become sharply partisan. Their desire for order outweighs any interest they may have in exploring differing views or hearing out those who disagree with them.
Researchers from three prestigious universities — Brown, Penn and NYU — reported in a study published three years ago that, in their words, “intolerance to uncertainty may play an outsized role in shaping polarized perceptions.”
You might imagine otherwise – you know, that a moderate view would be the logical response to stress, as the more stable choice. But that’s not what people tend to choose, the researchers found. Instead, periods of uncertainty cause people to embrace extremists and ideological purists.
And that helps to explain the enduring popularity of Donald Trump. His extremism makes him compelling even to some people who consider themselves moderate, because that moderation is overridden by their sense of uncertainty. Yes, the reality of Trump is chaos and confusion, as his presidency made clear. But voters have short memories. And he projects firmness, of the sort that has built the success of other contemporary authoritarian leaders, such as Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, whom Trump admires.
It's ironic that the figure who has brought so much chaos to our society fulfills the desire for order felt by many Americans. But in this view, Trump’s rise may be a product of the resentment many people feel about the uncertainty that’s inevitable in a democracy. And his continued success can be explained by the envy they have for the discipline of autocracy. It’s as though we want our political system, no less than our lawns, to display neat edges and clear sightlines.
This isn’t good for us, you know. Nature depends upon diversity for its resilience. Without a wide range of plants, animals and micro-organisms, ecosystems break down, putting at risk the air we breathe and the food we eat. The earth’s survival hinges upon its complexity.
Likewise, human interactions draw strength from diversity — the many kinds of people and the many opinions and ideas that must precede progress. That diversity brings with it a level of uncertainty, as well as the opportunity for creativity and growth. Uncertainty is not a failure of democracy; it’s a characteristic.
We need to be comfortable with that, and welcome it no less than we welcome the diversity of nature. Imagine if we could get this across in the election season: that our tolerance of uncertainty in the political world will strengthen our democracy – just as your neighborhood will be better if your lush monochromatic lawn gives way to nature’s robust abundance.
Rex Smith, the co-host of The Media Project on WAMC, is the former editor of the Times Union of Albany and The Record in Troy. His weekly digital report, The Upstate American, is published by Substack.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.