A few points related to lawns... The stereotypical American lawn is a fairly new thing, basically "created" by Scott and the rest of the fertilizer industry in

A few points related to lawns... The stereotypical American lawn is a fairly new thing, basically "created" by Scott and the rest of the fertilizer industry in the 60s and 70s. Prior to this, lawns were mixed plants, and not expected to be nearly 100% grass. They were generally more drought tolerant and needed less maintenance (both water, fertilizer, and mowing). Electric mowers (battery) are sufficiently good today that we really should phase out the sale of gas mowers. At least for "normal" sized lawns. Mechanical push mowers are also an option for small enough lawns. And aside from inertia, there's no good reason that most yards need to be predominantly grass lawn. I've found that, at least for my small yard, hardscape, shrubs, and other plants are lower maintenance (twice annual pruning, monthly weeding during the grow season). I only water when I add/replace plants or particularly hot/dry weeks. And I've cut out all fertilizer. I've cut the amount of grass by about half and will likely cut it by another half at the end of this season. All my lawn tools are now battery powered as well.