Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Weeding as tidying
For perhaps the majority of people, but for different reasons, neatness and tidiness
are associated with order, beauty and happiness. There are various ways by which
tidiness can be achieved, and indeed a variety of perceptions about what constitutes
tidiness. For example, someone who loves mowing lawns, and a passionate native
gardener who removes exotics, are both 'tidying up' in the sense of creating order
in their environment. This engagement can be summarised in the words of the
participant who said, 'As long as it's tidy, I'm happy', and another who said, 'When
it's tidy, you feel better.'
Conversely, lack of tidiness can induce shame; 'I'm ashamed of it now because
it's a bit of a mess.' The garden cannot perform its role as a place of peace or leisure
if it is a mess, and will become rather a place of stress (another set of demands in
already busy lives) and work (or guilt, if the work is not done). These emotions
were particularly experienced by women, such as the one who said, 'It irritates me
if I see it looking too scruffy.' Another, a working mother, said wearily of her
garden, as if of another child, 'I resented the mess and the constant need.'
With a few exceptions, we interpreted tidying practices not as the 'domination
of nature' often critiqued within the Western psyche, but rather as an expression
of a need for order within busy lives and dynamic domestic spaces. Most people
wanted a living environment that was clean, safe and tidy, and the reason nature
and weeds should stay 'out there' is because of their challenge to those attributes,
usually expressed in terms of dirt, danger and/or mess. Tidiness was valued for a
complex set of reasons that included social respectability, a certain moral quality,
and the stress occasioned by mess. Weeding as tidying recognised the importance
of nature being able to 'do its own thing', indeed, it is often able to celebrate that,
provided it is not right on the doorstep. It is also a spatial practice; most people
wanted to put some distance between themselves and the perceived messiness of
nature.
The labour of weeding
Thus tidying practices show both negative and positive dimensions, such as those
associated with work and guilt. Like housework, there is always weeding to do, as
Quentin recounted:
Mainly at the moment I would get out there and actually weed it and tidy it
up again. It actually looked good at one time but I've just left it because I've
been on shift work and just so busy lately that I haven't had time to actually
do anything, so it's just gone on to how it has at the moment.
(Quentin, Albion Park)
The labour of initial weed removal is different from maintenance. Various study
participants described the huge task to remove lantana - including with goats and
bulldozers - when they moved into their house and garden. The maintenance task
Search WWH ::
Custom Search