The area in front of Janet and Jeffrey Crouch's house in Columbia , Maryland , does not look usual for their neighborhood .
珍妮特和傑佛瑞·克勞奇夫婦位於馬里蘭州哥倫比亞的房子前面，看起來和社區裡其他人家不太一樣。
That is because the Crouches do not have a grass lawn .
這是因為克勞奇家沒有草坪。
Instead , they have some small trees and many native plants .
取而代之的是幾棵小樹和許多原生植物。
Lawns are areas around a house or in a park that are covered with short grass .
草坪是房屋周圍或公園裡覆蓋著短草的區域。
In recent years , support for replacing lawns with native plants has been increasing in the United States .
近年來，在美國，支持用原生植物取代草坪的人越來越多。
The process is called rewilding .
這個過程被稱為「再野化」。
In fact , the number of Americans planning to turn part of their lawn to native wildflowers doubled between 2019 and 2021 .
事實上，計畫把部分草坪改種原生野花的美國人數量在2019年至2021年間翻了一倍。
By 2021 , it rose to 19 percent .
到2021年，這一比例升至19%。
Paul Robbins is the writer of Lawn People : How Grasses , Weeds , and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are .
保羅·羅賓斯是《草坪人：草、雜草和化學品如何塑造我們》一書的作者。
He said that most people would prefer not to have lawns .
他說，大多數人其實寧願不要草坪。
“But they feel that they need to have them , or that they can't do anything about it .”
「但他們覺得自己必須要有，或者覺得對此無能為力。」
He added that many homeowners feel they should have lawns to please their neighbors .
他補充說，許多屋主覺得應該有草坪來讓鄰居滿意。
It can be costly to keep a lawn looking good and green .
讓草坪保持美觀翠綠可能花費不菲。
But the Crouches had to spend much more money for the right not to have one .
但克勞奇夫婦為了爭取不要草坪的權利，不得不花了多得多的錢。
People living in a house next to them complained to their homeowner's association , or HOA .
住在隔壁的人向他們的住戶協會（HOA）投訴。
The neighbors did not like that the Crouches did not have a grass lawn .
鄰居們不喜歡克勞奇家沒有草坪。
HOAs can make rules about the plants that homeowners in a neighborhood are permitted to grow .
住戶協會可以規定社區內的屋主可以種植哪些植物。
Many HOAs require grass lawns .
許多住戶協會要求必須有草坪。
The HOA ordered the Crouches to pull out their native plants and put in grass .
住戶協會命令克勞奇夫婦拔掉原生植物，改種草。
However , they refused .
然而，他們拒絕了。
“We knew we were doing things that were beneficial for the environment ,” said Janet Crouch .
「我們知道自己做的事對環境有益。」珍妮特·克勞奇說。
She told VOA that it seemed wrong to put in only grass , which she called an environmental dead zone .
她告訴美國之音，只種草似乎是不對的，她稱草坪為「環境死區」。
Lawns are called environmental dead zones in part because they provide no food or shelter for wildlife .
草坪被稱為「環境死區」，部分原因是它們不能為野生動物提供食物或棲身之所。
They also do not support pollinators like birds , bees , and butterflies .
它們也無法為鳥類、蜜蜂和蝴蝶等傳粉者提供支持。
Bee populations have been getting smaller in North America and may be getting smaller around the world .
北美的蜜蜂數量一直在減少，全世界的蜜蜂數量可能也在減少。
Ted Steinberg is the writer of American Green : The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn .
泰德·史坦伯格是《美國綠：對完美草坪的執念追求》一書的作者。
He said there are other reasons that lawns are bad for the environment .
他說，草坪對環境有害還有其他原因。
He said they require a lot of water and chemicals .
他說，草坪需要大量的水和化學品。
Large amounts of water can remove nutrients from the soil .
大量的水會把土壤中的養分沖走。
Steinberg said that after the water removes the nutrients , people buy even more chemicals to put on their lawns .
史坦伯格說，在水沖走養分之後，人們會買更多的化學品撒在草坪上。
Scientists say some of these chemicals might cause cancer and other health problems .
科學家說，其中一些化學品可能會導致癌症和其他健康問題。
Nancy Lawson is the writer of The Humane Gardener and Wildscapes .
南希·勞森是《人道園丁》和《野景》的作者。
She is also Janet Crouch's sister and the person who urged the Crouches to put in native plants .
她也是珍妮特·克勞奇的姊妹，正是她勸說克勞奇夫婦種植原生植物。
The Crouches ’ battle against their HOA took three years .
克勞奇夫婦與住戶協會的抗爭持續了三年。
They say they spent $60,000 fighting to keep their natural garden .
他們說，為了保住自己的自然花園，他們花了6萬美元。