4 ms·

I would be very glad if grass lawns were made unlawful in the US. It is a terrible waste of time, money, and natural resources for something so useless. I don't

I would be very glad if grass lawns were made unlawful in the US. It is a terrible waste of time, money, and natural resources for something so useless. I don't have any idea why this silly concept became so common in this country.

echelon 4y ago
I get how you would come to believe that if you didn't have one. Let's ban avocados, too! They're an incredible waste of water and resources. (I can't stand how they taste, so this wouldn't affect me.)
- 8f2ab37a-ed6c 4y ago
- coliveira 4y ago
  I happen to be forced by the city to maintain a green lawn. That's why I came to believe this.
  - bradleyjg 4y ago
    There’s a authoritarian law you don’t like, so you hope to seize power and pass the opposite authoritarian law. How about trying for a truce instead?
    - userbinator 4y ago
      American politics in a nutshell.
  - SteveGerencser 4y ago
    Apply to be a federally protected wildlife habitat. My daughter did that in a city in Indiana. Ripped out her 'lawn' and replanted with native grasses and things to promote butterfly and bee habitats. The city hates that they can't fine her anymore. https://www.nwf.org/garden-for-wildlife/certify https://www.nwf.org/garden-for-wildlife/certify
- RC_ITR 4y ago
  Well, lawns are the worst culprit in the “urban water use” category, so the true comparison is “let’s ban beef cattle” and that will become an increasingly less crazy-sounding idea in the coming years (especially in the US West) Avocados use an order of magnitude less water than beef.
- hosh 4y ago
  I grew up in suburban America, and live within a major metropolitan area. I have had lawns. Over the years with what I have learned, I came to the conclusion that lawns as they are generally developed are a big waste, and there are better ways to achieve what I can get out of a lawn. And yes, avacados use up a lot of water, as do nuts. Our food system is built on top of shipping food far away to where it is consumed rather than growing locally. And yes, growing locally means giving up some things, being more attuned to seasonality, and growing and consuming alternate varieties and foods with equivalent nutrition. It sounds absurd to say, get rid of all the avacados, but to me, it is absurd we are cloning avacados and wrecking a lot of ecologies in order to ship them far away to people. And I like avacados and giving them up has an effect on me.
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    Shipping food from where water is to where it isn't is fine. Dunno why farmers here sell undried, oh sorry, "fresh" corn for a premium when it saves them drying + storage costs.
    - hosh 4y ago
      Shipped food are bred for monocropping and transport. Tomatoes in grocery stores, for example, are chosen for its uniform shape and ability to be stored and transported. They are not bread for taste or nutritional value. That is also leaving aside having to depend on the global supply chain and cheap transport for food. Which is more costly and fragile than developing local food sources and food sovereignty.
      - Scoundreller 4y ago
        Still depends on the food. Even local tomatoes and other “fresh” crops will be the same mono-cropping garbage unless you hunt down niche stuff at a farmer’s market (or in my case, grow your own!)
        hosh 4y ago
        Yes, the most local food are the ones that are grown at home. When you add seed-saving, there is an opportunity to breed landraces specific to your environment, taste, and nutritional density. No transport on refrigerated trucks needed. Onsite compost complements the whole setup. Then you add greywater for the perennial food forest.
- SteveGerencser 4y ago
  Almonds too. They are a terrible use of water and can literally kill people.
  - hosh 4y ago
    Which is nuts (no pun intended), because there are nut trees that can grow well in arid and semi-arid conditions. The thing is, in order to maximize commercial yields for shipping almonds far away, we end up with agricultural practiced that deplete soil and water resources.
bsder 4y ago
Grass lawns are a red herring. The water shortages are almost all brought about by big agribusiness usage of water in places where we shouldn't be doing big agribusinesses.

echelon 4y ago

I get how you would come to believe that if you didn't have one. Let's ban avocados, too! They're an incredible waste of water and resources. (I can't stand how they taste, so this wouldn't affect me.)

8f2ab37a-ed6c 4y ago
coliveira 4y ago
I happen to be forced by the city to maintain a green lawn. That's why I came to believe this.
- bradleyjg 4y ago
  There’s a authoritarian law you don’t like, so you hope to seize power and pass the opposite authoritarian law. How about trying for a truce instead?
  - userbinator 4y ago
    American politics in a nutshell.
- SteveGerencser 4y ago
  Apply to be a federally protected wildlife habitat. My daughter did that in a city in Indiana. Ripped out her 'lawn' and replanted with native grasses and things to promote butterfly and bee habitats. The city hates that they can't fine her anymore. https://www.nwf.org/garden-for-wildlife/certify https://www.nwf.org/garden-for-wildlife/certify
RC_ITR 4y ago
Well, lawns are the worst culprit in the “urban water use” category, so the true comparison is “let’s ban beef cattle” and that will become an increasingly less crazy-sounding idea in the coming years (especially in the US West) Avocados use an order of magnitude less water than beef.
hosh 4y ago
I grew up in suburban America, and live within a major metropolitan area. I have had lawns. Over the years with what I have learned, I came to the conclusion that lawns as they are generally developed are a big waste, and there are better ways to achieve what I can get out of a lawn. And yes, avacados use up a lot of water, as do nuts. Our food system is built on top of shipping food far away to where it is consumed rather than growing locally. And yes, growing locally means giving up some things, being more attuned to seasonality, and growing and consuming alternate varieties and foods with equivalent nutrition. It sounds absurd to say, get rid of all the avacados, but to me, it is absurd we are cloning avacados and wrecking a lot of ecologies in order to ship them far away to people. And I like avacados and giving them up has an effect on me.
- Scoundreller 4y ago
  Shipping food from where water is to where it isn't is fine. Dunno why farmers here sell undried, oh sorry, "fresh" corn for a premium when it saves them drying + storage costs.
  - hosh 4y ago
    Shipped food are bred for monocropping and transport. Tomatoes in grocery stores, for example, are chosen for its uniform shape and ability to be stored and transported. They are not bread for taste or nutritional value. That is also leaving aside having to depend on the global supply chain and cheap transport for food. Which is more costly and fragile than developing local food sources and food sovereignty.
    - Scoundreller 4y ago
      Still depends on the food. Even local tomatoes and other “fresh” crops will be the same mono-cropping garbage unless you hunt down niche stuff at a farmer’s market (or in my case, grow your own!)
      - hosh 4y ago
        Yes, the most local food are the ones that are grown at home. When you add seed-saving, there is an opportunity to breed landraces specific to your environment, taste, and nutritional density. No transport on refrigerated trucks needed. Onsite compost complements the whole setup. Then you add greywater for the perennial food forest.
SteveGerencser 4y ago
Almonds too. They are a terrible use of water and can literally kill people.
- hosh 4y ago
  Which is nuts (no pun intended), because there are nut trees that can grow well in arid and semi-arid conditions. The thing is, in order to maximize commercial yields for shipping almonds far away, we end up with agricultural practiced that deplete soil and water resources.

bsder 4y ago

Grass lawns are a red herring. The water shortages are almost all brought about by big agribusiness usage of water in places where we shouldn't be doing big agribusinesses.