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Most of us would be better off without lawns
- ourmandave 10y agoThis article speaks to me. My neighbor is retired and his only purpose in life seems to be keeping a fairway quality lawn which means he's cranking the social contract to 11. I don't know how much he spends in weed killer and fertilizer. Maybe he doesn't want to lay on his deathbed and regret, "If only I'd mowed more..."
- leecarraher 10y agosounds like you neighbor is obsolete https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Obsolete_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Obsolete_Man
- DougN7 10y agoI wonder if we live next to the same guy :) Seriously though, I think it's just a hobby and a way to remain active and valuable. Definitely helps the property values...
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- refurb 10y agoJesus Christ! Someone is getting enjoyment out of something you see no purpose to? You need to get him to stop!! And right now! What's next? Putting up bird feeders? Ugh!!
- Fricken 10y agoMy father had one of those miniature farms, he worked very hard to maintain it (and conscripted me into assisting). Every week he would ritually harvest a useless crop which went directly into the garbage. He was a very proud man, and used the condition of his lawn to signal his moral superiority. Often in the evenings around the dinner table he would single out malingerers in the neighbourhood and proclaim them to be substandard human beings. These proclamations weren't typically backed up by action until he was appointed an administrator on the condominium board. Newly backed with institutional authority, he took to logging lawn care infractions, and hand delivering customized warning notices to scofflaws with great zeal.
- refurb 10y agoSo he was kind of doing the opposite of what the author of this blog post is doing. Guy who hates lawn looks down on guy who likes lawn, guy who likes lawn looks down on guy who hates lawn. It's all circular!
- ourmandave 10y agoI didn't mean to be so harsh. It's his Happy Place and who am I to judge. But there's no fence, so you could take a picture and use it in Refurb's Lawn Care brochure as the "before and after" spread. (Mine being the wah-wah-waaaaah side.) The social contract to keep up is untenable.
- aaron695 10y agoYou shouldn't belittle the hobbies the old have in an attempt to give their life value. You to will be old one day and some youngster might belittle you for doing something dumb like playing old, redundant Xbox games when you're so bored life is losing meaning.
- ourmandave 10y agoYou're right. Re-reading it does sound harsh and if extreme lawn care is his thing then more power to him. To some I already am "old one day." My daughter used to pretend to be David Attenborough and narrate aloud whatever I was doing while drawing unkind pictures to document it. "And this is the Dave in his natural habitat. See how he struggles to climb under the car to reach the oil pan."
- nwatson 10y agoLawn care is a religion in North Carolina. In the city, in the country. What's amazing is that when driving in any rural area, you'll see frequently small houses on five or ten acres of perfectly cultivated and mowed grass with no agricultural purpose ... just for show.
- throwaway_xx9 10y agoMakes me want to plant a dandelion garden.
- blackguardx 10y agoNo sheep? What bothers me is that a lawn was meant for food for sheep. Without sheep or other ruminants, there is no purpose. Man was never meant to mow.
- Retra 10y ago"Man was never meant" to do the vast majority of what they do.
- fitzwatermellow 10y agoI plan on saving this article. Then I will write an agent that will search the text for any phrase that contains the concept of "landscaping." It will then replace those selections with new phrase sentiments generated from a random list of similar acts of drudgery. Laundry, driving, bathing, child-rearing, grocery shopping, sight-seeing, reading, speaking, attending weddings, barmitvahs, dentistry, cosmology, climate change, signing autographs, game of thrones, breakfast, etc. I plan on calling it the Deep Whine program. I expect it to be the first AI with a regular column in the Op-Ed section of a major national news publication. "Instead of calling it Work, realize it is Play" -Alan Watts
- psyc 10y agohttps://twitter.com/thinkpiecebot https://twitter.com/thinkpiecebot
- inputcoffee 10y agoWhat about the theory that they're a good place for children to play outside?
- Johnnybe 10y agoThis is what I came to say. My children love playing on our large lawn. I consider them lucky given the number of dirt (drought resistant) parks these days.
- skyrw 10y agoFalse. If HN has taught me anything it's that we should all be living in energy neutral cube farms while drinking soylent. Any free time should be spent learning how to code. Your lawn is frivolous.
- analog31 10y agoDepending on the climate where you live (and the tolerance of your neighbors), you can scale way back on maintenance, and still have a lawn that's good enough for kids and pets. My family lives in central Wisconsin, and our neighbors are OK with us having a crappy lawn. We don't fertilize or water it. (Fertilizer increases the water demand, water increases the need for mowing). It's full of weeds. Kids can run around on weeds. It only requires a handful of mowings every year, then it goes dormant unless there are unusual amounts of rain (like this year). By late July, the grass has stopped growing, and it's only weeds, which I can control with a manual "weed whip." For better or worse, the weeds are drought resistant. So I doubt the contention that my lawn requires water, fertilizer, or even weekly mowing. As the kids have gotten older, the need for an extensive backyard has diminished, and I'm gradually turning more of it over to the vegetable garden every year.
- swiley 10y agoThis whole thread I thought this is what people meant by "lawn" because I live in a rural place where this is very normal. I thought everyone was really whiny because it really doesn't take /that/ much work to maintain a yard like this. I honestly don't understand why it's so uncommon.
- new_hackers 10y agoI enjoy taking care of my lawn. It is a chance to "turn off" and just do physical labor.
- Johnnybe 10y agoWhile enjoying a beer.
- sverige 10y agoThorstein Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class [0] explains this best as a leftover modern desire by the gentry to emulate the nobility by engaging in conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. (A massively inadequate summary of the argument, to be sure.) [1] Veblen specifically talks in detail about the practice of maintaining manicured lawns. I read it thirty years ago, but remember it as being hilarious. He's one of my favorite Norwegians (admittedly a short list). [0] http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/833 http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/833 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Class https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Clas...
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- syngrog66 10y ago+1 from me because he's one of the few cases where his work is not only smart/educating in RL, but, as a bonus, he almost sounds like a fictional character, too good to be true. When I first encountered him I thought to myself, "He sounds like somebody improvised up by Douglas Adams in HHGG. 'An apple fell from a tree. This was widely regarded as a bad move. In fact the most popular selling series of books on economics, by one Thorstein Veblen, in his The Theory of the Leisure Class, has pretty much confirmed this, though it has taken nearly a millenia for his proof to fully saturate and be accepted to date within the furthest reaches of the Galactic Empire, despite many incentives for readers such as scratch-and-sniff insta-win prizes.'"
- stickfigure 10y agoI have a large backyard lawn in Northern California. The water bill in summer months crosses $200 (and that doesn't count the gardeners), but it's worth every penny. The lawn is the centerpiece of the house. People play on it, camp on it, picnic on it, and lounge on it all the time. As far as I'm concerned, it's a gorgeous backyard with an afterthought of a house attached. Sometimes my wife and I sleep in a tent overnight just for fun. I find articles like this somewhat offensive. Different people are motivated by different things; who is the author to make such far-reaching claims? I'm sympathetic to people who want to replace their lawns, but I also respect people who prefer to enjoy theirs. Why does this need to become a moral crusade?
- Retra 10y agoI becomes a moral crusade for exactly the same reason you get offended.
- mikeash 10y agoThe article isn't saying that you're evil for enjoying your lawn. It's merely saying that most people don't really benefit from them and that they'd be better off without them. As far as I can tell, that's true, and it's not contradicted by your relatively unusual enjoyment of yours. It's a moral crusade because millions of people are sold on the idea of lawns and end up not benefitting from them, causing wasted resources and environmental damage along the way.
- toomuchtodo 10y ago> I find articles like this somewhat offensive. Different people are motivated by different things; who is the author to make such far-reaching claims? I'm sympathetic to people who want to replace their lawns, but I also respect people who prefer to enjoy theirs. Why does this need to become a moral crusade? For the same reason you would be offended if someone threw perfectly good food out while people go hungry. It's conspicuous consumption. Because you can do something does not mean others won't judge. If you don't care, don't care! But don't be shocked when people rally against such waste of resources (in California, of all places!), and pass laws to rectify the problem.
- zaroth 10y agoI wonder if there is like some kind of natural force that would help people find the right-sized lawn to live on? 9 billion gallons per day sure sounds like a lot though!
- refurb 10y agoI hate when article do that. Let me pick a unit of measure that makes the number sound REALLY big. Did you know I weigh 75 THOUSAND grams? I'm huge!!! I'm not sure where he got the 9 billion gallons per day from, but it's suspect. Total public utility water use is 42 billion gallons per day. So lawns take up 25% of all public water use?[1] I could see that being true in some areas, but when I used to live in Michigan it rained often enough that rarely ever watered. Maybe once or twice a summer? [1]http://water.usgs.gov/watuse/wuto.html http://water.usgs.gov/watuse/wuto.html
- toodlebunions 10y agoThey're also a tremendous waste of water and many are a significant source of herbicide exposure and fertilizer runoff. Most states need a heavy tax on excess water consumption, especially California and the southwest.
- sn41 10y agoIt is sad that even in India, which is chronically short of water, people maintain lawns in 45+ degree Celsius (113 F) temperatures in the summer.
- Ar-Curunir 10y agoI have never seen a American-style lawn in India. Where are you seeing these lawns? Most people just keep a garden with potted plants (commonly known as a veranda).
- sn41 10y agoWhich part of India did you see? There are big-ass lawns in my hometown, Thrissur, Kerala. Also, lawns covering homefronts where I currently reside in North India. I am not going to be specific, but somewhere in UP.
- Ar-Curunir 10y agoTo be fair, I've lived mostly in cities, but I doubt the case is going to be different in rural India. I have grandparents in Dehradun, grew up in Bombay, have cousins in Delhi and relatives in Jharkhand, and no where have I seen lawns in the American manner; only concrete verandas with potted plants.
- sn41 10y agoYeah.. you should go down to Kerala sometime. Or to central government employee quarters.
- vamsinator 10y agoDelhi people take it to the next level by having rooftop lawns. I stayed in a rooftop apartment there once and nothing beats rolling around on grass in the middle of a summer night. As far as I can tell in India lawns are a sign of wealth and position. I once visited a dusty air force base in Bikaner and the commander's house had a beaut lawn with 2 airmen dedicated to maintaining it.
- paulddraper 10y agoI hate dancing. I'm not good at it, and there are much more efficient ways to exercise or socialize. I think it's a soul-crushing timesuck, and you obviously should think so too. </s> Tone it down. Anecdotes about pastime preferences aren't news.
- kaonashi 10y agoDancing doesn't exacerbate droughts.
- paulddraper 10y ago"Lawns make droughts worse" would be a more reasonable headline. Although fewer clicks I suppose.
- Dowwie 10y agoI am inspired by the front yard landscaping of Western Portland, OR. Hardly any property has grass lawn. Grass is replaced by lush ground cover, ferns, wild grasses, flowering bushes, etc.
- toomanybeersies 10y agoMy parents place (in New Zealand) is similar, the only lawn they have is the mandated patch between the road and the footpath, and a 5x5 m patch out front, which is more ornamental than functional. Most of the back yard is decked. It's great when you don't have any kids that need space to run around, and it's very low maintenance, but I suspect that they're going to run into issues when selling the place, there's not a whole lot of demand for a 4 bedroom house with no lawn, and the place isn't really laid out such that you could just replace the deck with a lawn.
- elthran 10y ago>the only lawn they have is the mandated patch There's a law that says they have to have a patch of grass?
- toomanybeersies 10y agoIt's a local council thing, you have to have grass between the footpath and the road. Not allowed to just have flowers or vegetables. Sort of makes sense, it's semi-public land. In some cities, it's actually the council's job to mow them as well.
- telotortium 10y agoThe sillier and more wasteful thing in my view is the front yard. The back yard is a luxury and definitely an instance of conspicuous consumption in denser suburbs and cities, but it's easy to see why people like it -- it provides an open yet semi-private space where you, your kids, or your dog can play, and also a convenient place to host a gathering with your friends. When weather permits, you see people in their back yard all the time. The front yard, however, sees much less use in most neighborhoods, at least until you're so far out in the country that you practically live on a farm -- it's rare that you'll see anybody on the front lawn unless they're mowing or landscaping it or on their way elsewhere, precisely due to its lack of privacy. The suburbs in general can, with some debate, be accused of being a result of the lack in imagination in adapting the estates of the British landed gentry to smaller lot sizes; the front yard is much less defensible against this accusation. The only practical functions of the front yard in relatively dense suburbs, such as those making up most of California, are these: - Provide an appealing botanical decoration for the front of the house. - Decrease noise from passing traffic. - Prevent passersby from looking into your windows as easily. But the puny size of front yards in these suburbs limits their effectiveness in satisfying these objectives, which would be much better served by a hedge or ivy-covered wall. These shouldn't be much more expensive than the front lawn, especially considering that you could either eliminate the front yard and expand the back yard or gain increased privacy in the front yard would make people more likely to use it.
- geebee 10y agoThere is some evidence that foliage on pedestrian streets does increase a sense of well being, lower blood pressure, and so forth. There was an article a while back that showed greater health benefits to walking around trees than walking along a concrete suburban sprawl. Another thing that front yards help with is reducing the amount of rain runoff that makes its way into storm drains. This is actually becoming a big problem in SF, which has an antiquated combined storm and sewage system. http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/news-san-francisco-sewers-floods-el-nino-sfpuc-wastewater-cayuga-mission-district/Content?oid=4160430 http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/news-san-francisco-sewe... That doesn't mean lawns are needed, of course, but unfortunately a lot of my neighbors (south of 280), as well as residents in the outer sunset and a few other neighborhoods, are paving over their front yards for extra parking. I find the whole thing pretty depressing, and it is causing infrastructure problems. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Paved-over-S-F-yards-raise-concerns-4218247.php http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Paved-over-S-F-yards-r... http://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/surfrider-un-paving-san-francisco http://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/surfrider-un-pav... It's actually illegal, but this is San Francisco, so you know.
- SubiculumCode 10y agohttp://extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/wildlife/landscaping-for-wildlife/pa-wildlife-10 http://extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/wildlife/landscap... Replace lawns with plants and trees found in your local ecosystem. Gives them a home. In the central valley.of California, that means oak trees, and drought tolerant plants.
- cmdrfred 10y agoI'm replacing my front yard with stone this fall. Mowing sucks.
- pvaldes 10y agoThere are other low-mowing solutions available...
- cmdrfred 10y agoI'm not looking for low I'm looking for no.
- nasalgoat 10y agoI converted my front lawn to all native perennial plants and flowers, with aggressive ground cover plants around them. It looks great and is essentially zero maintenance - I only water it once or twice depending on the weather. I highly recommend it.
- pvaldes 10y agoCould we know some more about your garden?
- cmdrfred 10y ago
- justanother 10y agoAfter unfortunate experiences in Real Estate, I began a new life as the Renting Scum in decent, fiber-optic-Internet-having neighborhoods. As you may imagine, this Floridian enclave of happiness has an HOA which utterly lacks enthusiasm for Renting Scum. Indeed, my webcams show them photographing my front lawn several times weekly. If one of their dogs happens to pee on my lawn and create a dead spot more than a couple inches across? My landlord hears about it from them. My expensive lawn service comes a couple days late after a heavy rain and the grass gets a bit long? Landlord. It barely rains at all during a summer month and things get a bit sparse and brown? Landlord (unless I illegally water on multiple days, which I do, just like the police who live around me do). TL;DR many of us maintain the Reaganian-perfect front lawn out of the first scene of a David Lynch movie under duress, even if it's the dumbest, most wasteful thing we ever heard of. Hey man, fiber's fiber.
- mc32 10y agoThere can be beauty in simplicity --whether a green grass lawn or a sand/rock garden --they're only soul crushing if you're doing them while you would otherwise not. That said, I prefer maintaining shrubs and other decorative plants in the tiny garden I have --yes, it's a time suck _but_ that's the whole point of it. You get to connect and care and semi meditate, or in the least take your mind away from preoccupation (it's a kind of therapy through futility). So, really whether you enjoy them or not depends on how you use them in your life.
- Fej 10y agoJohn Green made this amazing video a while back: https://youtu.be/-enGOMQgdvg https://youtu.be/-enGOMQgdvg Note that this was before he became a famous author (not that that really matters).
- WalterBright 10y agoI'd prefer to have a lawn with native meadow grasses in it, but the blackberry bushes and other invasive plants ruin everything. The only way to keep those at bay is to mow them down regularly. (The blackberries kill everything.)