4 ms·

Lawns originated as a display of wealth, showing that you were so wealthy you could afford to have land that wasn't devoted to growing food. This attitude persi

Lawns originated as a display of wealth, showing that you were so wealthy you could afford to have land that wasn't devoted to growing food. This attitude persists, even though the origin is forgotten; the majority of people hanker after displays of status even if they don't consciously understand what they are doing. I don't agree with it (I think lawns are stupid and forests are great) but that's the way it is. To change it would take concerted public education. I believe some US states (Colorado?) have efforts to encourage people to plant native species, for example. When I lived in Australia there were some fairly half-hearted efforts to do the same (though the majority of people still had stupidly wasteful lawns; Australia is mostly desert, it shouldn't look like the UK y'all.)

luckylion 7y ago
Shouldn't it shift back now that lawn is the default, similar to fat/thin, pale/tan or oysters as food? It's easy and cheap to have a your yard covered in lawn and use a mower to keep it reasonably groomed, it's expensive to have trees put in.
pjc50 7y ago
> Australia is mostly desert, it shouldn't look like the UK y'all. This is the big problem - lawns kind of make sense if you're trying to be a tiny Capability Brown emulating the English countryside, but outside of the temperate maritime climate they're highly unnatural and have to be kept on life support.
- Gravityloss 7y ago
  The things they have to do to maintain golf courses in other climates is sad as well.
- pvaldes 7y ago
  Is a desert now, but that shouldn't prevent us to restore a bit of the old australian forests here and there. Some places in Australia have much more water and are typically forested.
jacquesm 7y ago
Lawns are also great for kids to play on.
- Jedd 7y ago
  People say this, but I think there's plenty of shared lawns (parks, ovals, etc) for kids to mindlessly play on ... and ... I think that kids possibly get more use out of playing (working) in a productive home garden, with planting, weeding, harvesting, eating etc.
  - watwut 7y ago
    For 10 minutes approximately. The rest is a lot of work for adults.
  - jacquesm 7y ago
    "don't walk on the grass". "no soccer" "this is not a playing field" Public space tends to be for people to look at, rarely to interact with. My kids get endless hours of fun out of the garden. If it looked pretty and was nicely planted then they wouldn't.
    - watwut 7y ago
      Not where I live. Grass in public parks is used by kids to play, the parts with decorative flowers are quite small. And people who have garden with vegetables and fruits really dont want kids to randomly play there - they want the vegetables and fruits to grow and be eaten. But, people with kids and productive garden have part of garden dedicated to kids play - it typically has only low maintenance grass on it.

luckylion 7y ago

Shouldn't it shift back now that lawn is the default, similar to fat/thin, pale/tan or oysters as food? It's easy and cheap to have a your yard covered in lawn and use a mower to keep it reasonably groomed, it's expensive to have trees put in.

pjc50 7y ago

> Australia is mostly desert, it shouldn't look like the UK y'all. This is the big problem - lawns kind of make sense if you're trying to be a tiny Capability Brown emulating the English countryside, but outside of the temperate maritime climate they're highly unnatural and have to be kept on life support.

Gravityloss 7y ago
The things they have to do to maintain golf courses in other climates is sad as well.
pvaldes 7y ago
Is a desert now, but that shouldn't prevent us to restore a bit of the old australian forests here and there. Some places in Australia have much more water and are typically forested.

jacquesm 7y ago

Lawns are also great for kids to play on.

Jedd 7y ago
People say this, but I think there's plenty of shared lawns (parks, ovals, etc) for kids to mindlessly play on ... and ... I think that kids possibly get more use out of playing (working) in a productive home garden, with planting, weeding, harvesting, eating etc.
- watwut 7y ago
  For 10 minutes approximately. The rest is a lot of work for adults.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  "don't walk on the grass". "no soccer" "this is not a playing field" Public space tends to be for people to look at, rarely to interact with. My kids get endless hours of fun out of the garden. If it looked pretty and was nicely planted then they wouldn't.
  - watwut 7y ago
    Not where I live. Grass in public parks is used by kids to play, the parts with decorative flowers are quite small. And people who have garden with vegetables and fruits really dont want kids to randomly play there - they want the vegetables and fruits to grow and be eaten. But, people with kids and productive garden have part of garden dedicated to kids play - it typically has only low maintenance grass on it.