The back lawn

One fact about our culture can frame my argument: the two most important contributions America has made to the world history of landscape are the front lawn and the wilderness preserve. What can one say about such a culture? One conclusion would be that its thinking on the subject of nature is schizophrenic, that this is a culture that cannot decide whether to dominate nature in the name of civilization, or to worship it, untouched, as a means of escape from civilization.
– ‘Beyond Wilderness and Lawn’, by Michael Pollan, Harvard Design Magazine, no 4 (Winter/Spring 1998)