Professor pleads for weeds

A dandelion is a wildflower by any other name; a weed, the dandelion is not. \nThe 2004 Simply Living Fair kicked off its sixth annual three-day affair Friday in Bloomington. Marti Crouch, a former associate professor of biology at IU, attracted about a hundred people to the John Waldron Arts Center Auditorium to hear her keynote address, "Weeds Shall Overcome: Ending Our War on Nature."\nThe Simply Living Fair advocates a return to a simple lifestyle governed by basic necessities, such as eating organic food and coexisting with nature. Festivities included activity booths and scheduled workshops on health and fitness, echo-spirituality to nature appreciation.\n"The first thing I learned about weeds- weeds are beautiful," Crouch said. "Aesthetics is something we learn. We learn if something is beautiful or ugly." \nHer father worked as a florist; his specialty was floral arrangements. Crouch also shared youthful memories of cooking weeds with her American Indian mentor, Mrs. Lightfoot.\n"The second lesson I learned: you can eat (certain) weeds. There is food right out there on the edge of the lawn," she said. "It tasted good and it was free." \nHer presentation focused on a new lawn aesthetic and suggestions for industrial agriculture improvement. Crouch is especially concerned with pesticide use in Bloomington and on campus, and her message highlighted the plight of weeds from the separation of Pangaea through war in the 21st century.\n"We have to start back 200 million years ago, when there was no barrier to movement of animals and plants. (Weeds) first became a problem when we evolved from a hunter/gatherer lifestyle towards industrial forms of agriculture," she said. "We stopped coexisting with weeds. Fifteenth and 16th century European exploration mixed plants and animals, spreading them ahead of immigration." \nKate Cruikshank, a former associate professor of education at IU, agreed with Crouch's idealist view of human-weed relationships. \n"Wildflowers and weeds are the same thing; it's a matter of perception in our mind. I decide that's a weed, and (I decide) it's no longer beautiful," Cruickshank said. "We have to think about change from a larger perspective. The way it is, is not always the way it should be."\nIn addition to the lower-class/poverty social stigma often perceived by the sight of weeds, Crouch discussed the characteristics of weeds often associated with people. \n"We don't get to choose who will mate with who. (Weeds) are truly wild," she said. "They come and go as they please, and they thrive on change and disturbance." \nCrouch believes the self-loathing and hate people often project onto weaker species is problematic for animal and plant life in general. She gained insight into the "war on weeds" while working with migrant strawberry pickers in Oregon. Crouch rented a room in the middle of a bean field, so she could observe and analyze the attitudes of industrial agriculture towards weeds, exemplified in the tactics used to kill them.\n"We have to kill to eat, but why the chemical weapons?" she asked the audience. "It's warfare of hate when you only have to strike once to kill all your weeds. Various species are suffering ill health and sorrow from feeling alone in the world."\nCrouch believes industrialization, peer pressure for clean fields and advertising pressure all contribute to the demise of the dandelion. She offered the audience several weed control alternatives.\n"Don't keep up the arms race, the weeds shall overcome, even if it takes five to 10 million years," Crouch said. "This war on weeds is only breeding more weeds. It's an escalating situation." \nJunior Julio Borrero appreciated Crouch's message and offered his own assessment of yard maintenance in a weed-friendly world.\n"We, as Americans, attempt to control nature. We are often afraid of the uncontrollable," Borrero said. "Who has the good lawns? The people with money to maintain them do. 'Hey, my yard is perfect; therefore, I have status.'"\nToward the end of her speech, Crouch divulged the purpose of her weed-hugging mission work.\n"You pull the weeds; you don't hate them. Promoting a different lawn aesthetic is peace work for me," she said. "This is the way I express my desire to live in this world. We are facing extinction with some species (of weeds)."\nBorrero believes the future of his lawn is in his hands.\n"I won't try to eradicate all the weeds from my lawn -- that's silly. I will try to let anything grow. The point is not to eradicate that which you can't control," he said. "The point is to try to coexist peacefully. Your existence is going to mean the destruction of life around you, but it doesn't have to be with an us-versus-them mentality."\n-- Contact staff writer David A. \nNosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.