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The Cult of the American Lawn
- georgeburdell 2y agoLawn apologist here. I have one because my kids use it daily, and it’s easy to spend 30 minutes to mow it a few times a month instead of maintaining countless bushes in the same space. I also don’t use chemicals except fertilizer and a copper-based fungicide, so there’s a decent amount of bug life. The real ecological dead zones are the fake grass “lawns”, that are both nutrient free and heat islands, and for some reason get tax breaks to install.
- ceejayoz 2y ago> for some reason get tax breaks to install Isn't that reason "water"?
- steveBK123 2y agoReally a regional thing. The home I grew up in up in the Northeast had 1 acre lot and not a sprinkler in sight.
- ceejayoz 2y agoWe aren't getting tax breaks for drought-resistant landscaping in the Northeast, though.
- georgeburdell 2y agoYes that’s ostensibly the reason, but I wouldn’t get tax breaks for covering my lawn with plastic bags.
- alistairSH 2y agoYeah, there's lawns and "lawns". The perfectly manufactured, 100% single grass variety, that takes lots of chemicals, water, and mowing? Terrible. Grassy area that has some clover and dandelions, gets mowed 2x month, and doesn't need watering or chemical treatment? Fine by me. Personally, I'd rather have some bushes and perennials that I trim 2x year, add much in the Spring, and that's it. And that's the way yard has been going over the last 5 years - the grass portion is smaller every year. I might just pull the plug on grass this season, dig it up, add some fresh soil, and plant some plants.
- mvieira38 2y agoYou can have it both ways though... A nice little grass play area, maybe some small soccer goals, and in the periphery of that some perennials, maybe some rosemary so the kids can pick it when helping at the kitchen? You may delimit the play area with a clover lawn too
- alistairSH 2y agoYou should be able to have it both ways, except there are neighborhoods/towns that require "though shalt have 100% Kentucky Bluegrass trimmed within 1.5"-2.75" inches length and bushes shall be aligned with building edges or property boundaries." Ideally, there should never be requirements to have a "well groomed" lawn. And incentives should be aligned to discourage overly manicured lawns (higher water costs, taxes on fertilizer, whatever else works).
- lo_zamoyski 2y agoSome also substitute grass with plants like creeping thyme.
- mvieira38 2y agoWouldn't the kids benefit from a tree or two instead of a barren wasteland of green under direct sunlight? If you do have a tree I guess the antilawn crowd doesn't mind you at all
- georgeburdell 2y agoI do have one large tree, but space is limited because much of the lawn is over underground utilities near which you really shouldn’t place trees
- AlecSchueler 2y agoSounds like the problem is that the house lacks a park or similar area within walking distance. We have a garden here but there's two grass fields running along the street along with several play parks, a large park and a small swamp area within 5 minutes walking (Netherlands).
- georgeburdell 2y agoWe have 3 parks within 1km, but it’s easier to just let them outside and play ball with minimal supervision in a safe enclosed space
- op00to 2y agoMy neighbor has zoysiagrass, and has someone spraypaint his lawn green in the winter. It's pretty hilarious. I too have zoysiagrass, but I'm cool with the dead look in the winter so that I don't worry about it in the summer when I forget to water.
- wileydragonfly 2y agoThat’s tinted fertilizer but I also find it amusing
- op00to 2y agoRight - it’s not literal paint. I don’t know the utility of fertilizer in fall/winter though. I just pay some guy to do all the stuff and I enjoy it.
- jmclnx 2y agoAs a non-owner, I would love to have a lawn of dandelions, but the owner insists on a lawn and buys a lot of chemicals to keep it that way.
- ravenstine 2y agoThat's a shame since dandelions aren't actually harmful to lawns.
- i80and 2y agoMaybe it's growing up with Bloom County comic books, but dandelions to me are even beautiful and joyful
- Izkata 2y agoAlso, they're edible.
- robocat 2y agoMy friend makes a sort of artistic twine from the stems. For some odd reason that has made me much happier to see a lawn full of dandelion flowers
- david422 2y agoThis is from memory, and I can't find the sources - but at one point I read that some company developed some new pesticides for lawns and as a side effect, dandelions were killed. Which meant the company did a PR campaign to re-brand dandelions as weeds... and here we are.
- InfamousRece 2y agoMy HOA charges $38 fine per dandelion. They send me a picture with all dandelions circled and counted along with the violation notice.
- lotsofpulp 2y agoSimple solution is marginal water prices. Make the price curve steeper and steeper until water consumption decreases to desired levels. Convincing people to care about the future is the hard part though, and I have no solution for that.
- thrance 2y agoYou're just going to make lawn a privilege, and even more of a status symbol than it already is, and therefore more desirable. Just ban lawns in places where it can't grow naturally, it's not that hard.
- lotsofpulp 2y agoThe goal is to reduce water usage, not ban status symbols.
- sailfast 2y agoThis article is conflating the need for a "lawn" and what it means with people violating the terms and covenants they signed when they joined an HOA. If your HOA requires grass, you've gotta have grass, even if you want a garden. As someone that has had the poor fortune of being on an HOA board neighbors like these might say they're well meaning but really they're just breaking a promise and not willing to do the hard work to convince the HOA to amend their bylaws. Having a lawn can be great - it's hard to play soccer or toss a frisbee in a rain garden. Having a garden or letting it go "natural" is also cool and a lot of people do it in the US - but not if you've signed a piece of paper saying you will keep your lawn a lawn.
- jchw 2y agoBut that's just a straight-forward appeal-to-authority argument, and it doesn't really do anything to justify the existence and prevalence of the rules. Is it really a good use of time to go and fight each HOA individually? It doesn't really seem like we have time for that.
- LiquidSky 2y ago<But that's just a straight-forward appeal-to-authority argument No, it isn't. It's a simple statement of contractual obligation. They signed a deed under the authority of an HOA so they are bound to obey the rules of the HOA. If you don't like that don't buy property beholden to an HOA.
- jchw 2y agoYes. It's a simple statement of an obligation. The critique is against the existence of said obligation.
- toasterlovin 2y agoWhich obligation you entered into willingly. So really you’re appealing to your own authority to legally bind yourself in contracts.
- underseacables 2y agoI had a lawn and it cost money to maintain but ..I liked it. I liked the space it gave my kids to play, for me to play, and I liked the dark green grass; the area got lots of rain. The lush green is pleasing to the eye but I do agree that we should be as environmentally concious about it as we can in avoiding pesticides and other harmful chemicals
- r00fus 2y agoClover is easier to maintain, easier to setup and remains green longer. You might want to make your lawn at least 25% clover by just thrown down some seed - apparently that's what the country used to do in the past. It won't be "homogenous" look but IMHO I think that's even prettier.
- hakfoo 2y agoI've heard that the standard grass seed mixes used to include a percentage of clover, until early herbicides came out that tended to kill it, so the Yard Industry retconned clover into a weed.
- thrance 2y ago> How did the American lawn become the site of such vicious disagreements? American culture embodies a zeal for individuality and property rights — of the idea that people should be able to conduct their own affairs in their own territory without the neighbors or the government imposing their views and forcing conformity. As recent events showed, this position is purely an aesthetic one for most. Americans are actually very keen on dictating to others what they should or shouldn't do.
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- keybored 2y agoMiddle class habits and whatnot get the blame for most ecological ills.[1] It’s your car commute that is causing climate change, not the whole system of fossil fuel dependence.[2] It’s all those plastic straws and plastic bags that you’re using, not the fishing industry dumping their equipment in the Ocean. It’s you throwing out food, not food makers being incentivized to throw out food in order to optimize supply for profit. It’s your lawn using all the water which is causing a water shortage in California, not the farming industry growing almonds in an arid climate. And now it’s your, oh look it’s your lawn again. On the one hand you can look at America. It ain’t very densely populated. And it takes active effort to get rid of dandelions. Are we really that good at mowing lawns and paving over nature? On the other hand Georgia is a big piece of land. If I were an American I would say screw it, let’s just 1. Ban sickeningly green residential lawns in arid climates 2. All lawns that remain are required to have at least 1/3 dandelion per square feet Would that help the bees and the water shortage? Maybe. But at least opinion-makers would stop complaining. (And move on to the next thing.) [1] I wrote all of this and then a Ctrl+Shift+W fatfinger killed it, thanks Chrome. Reminds to use a “notepad” before posting. [2] And cars play a role in that. And who made countries like America massively car-dependent? Joe Parkingspace who has to live one hour by car from work or two hours by bus? (This is ill-informed. I’m not American so I don’t know what the ratios are on the ground. And it will differ from Philadelphia to Vancouver, WA.)
- Dowwie 2y agohttps://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-stupid-is-our-obsession-with-lawns/ https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-stupid-is-our-obsession...
- Analemma_ 2y ago> Hartzheim identifies as a libertarian but told me she considered neat lawns a sort of civic virtue, which she acknowledged could be inconsistent with her usual suspicion of onerous regulations. “I generally think government should stay out of people’s business,” she said. “But we live in a city, and there are rules for a reason; we have to live next door to folks. Letting yards go willy-nilly, having mice and voles everywhere — that isn’t something we should support.” This is such a perfect encapsulation of actually-existing libertarianism that I would call it a mean-spirited and uncharitable parody if it wasn't quoting a real person. "The government should stay out of your business, except when I hold you at gunpoint until I like your lawn." (And you can't even blame this part on HOAs, this was a city councilor talking about a municipal regulation for lawn standards)
- nicholasjarnold 2y ago> "We were being bullied on our own property." Solution - Refuse to purchase property subject to an HOA. I realize this might not be a tenable solution for some people, and I find that to be a very unfortunate situation. We should really educate our friends, kids, neighbors on the perils of these often-broad and legally binding agreements that seem to be sneaking into real-estate contracts/deeds at an alarming rate nationally. If you aren't comfortable with each and every provision being enforced upon you, don't purchase! Regarding the grass lawn situation, there are alternatives like mixing in clover varieties which actually fix nitrogen (e.g. improve soil health) while requiring considerably less water than most lawn grass to survive. Here in urban Denver my wife and I have opted for a 100% "mini clover" lawn in both the front and back yards. It's already green and growing while neighboring yards are still dead winter brown grass. It also stays nice and green well into the late fall after most grass is dormant/dead. I realize this doesn't do a lot to address the biodiversity angle the article took on, but it's a potential alternative for those seeking options. If you allow it to grow a bit you'll get flowers that are helpful for pollinators in addition to the healthier soil. I can attest that after you give the clover seed 6 weeks or so to set roots and sprout (no walking on, keep it moist) it will serve you for years. We're on year 4 at our house. No regrets.
- r00fus 2y agoWe literally threw down clover seed on our barren front yard and it's a lush green expanse now. Like almost zero effort other than initial watering.
- toomuchtodo 2y agoWhat kind of clover?
- Evil_Saint 2y agoIt is really hard to avoid them. I think the only solution is a federal law allowing you to opt out of any HOAs.
- jghn 2y ago
- seabird 2y agoThe natural angle is cool if you don't want to lounge around in your yard. The pollen, ticks, mice, raccoons, weeds, etc. are generally not what people are looking to deal with in urban/suburban living. I have a shop on a couple of acres that I let get pretty unruly because I don't really give a shit how it looks. After picking off quite a few ticks and dealing with raccoons constantly trying to get into the building for a while, I just started knocking down all the bushes and kept the grass real short. No issues since. Additionally, the HOA rules aren't there to stop well meaning homeowners who want a more natural yard, they're there to stop completely untamed blight. The latter case is significantly more common than the former and it is absolutely a problem. As much as it pains me to say (I think HOAs are one of the saddest, most pathetic parts of American life), lawn rules are reasonable at their core, even though the enforcement is overzealous.
- ryandrake 2y agoA rule is itself unreasonable if it can only be made reasonable with selective/lax enforcement. If the HOA just wants to combat "untamed blight" then the rule should be about untamed blight. Don't write the rule such that it demands a specific species of grass, with a length requirement specified to the centimeter.
- seabird 2y ago>only be made reasonable with selective/lax enforcement This is just a lot of local zoning ordinances. Sometimes it's stupid and annoying but like 95%+ of the time it's fine and not terribly important to expend any energy changing. I don't need any convincing that HOAs do it in the most power hungry freak way possible, but so much of our lives runs on letting things be a little loose, and that's a good thing.
- casey2 2y agoSo you can't handle a raccoon living in a bush on a yard somebody says you own so you destroy it's habitat? Very cool. Do you want a medal? Should the ruminants who need grazing land be allowed to bulldoze your stapled together plywood or is that unreasonable?
- jjice 2y agoI grew up in the North East in the US and I only knew a few people across all the places I've lived that actually were interested in their lawns. Most of everyone's laws just "happened". I really never gave it much thought. Water comes from the sky and your lawn grew to the point you needed to cut it every two weeks or so. You had some clovers and weeds in there, but it was mostly grass. We'd pull weeds as kids if they were particularly egregious, but that was only when my mom would plant flowers near the house. I rent in a city now, so I have very little lawn exposure these days, but is this experience similar for others in the North East (or maybe East coast in general)? HOAs are a completely separate beast entirely. I can't imagine spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home only to pay an additional fee for the privilege to do what someone else tells me. I don't care if my neighbors have a project car that's half built sitting in the drive way or a dead lawn.
- GuinansEyebrows 2y agoI wonder if HOAs would still exist the same way they do now if the American economy wasn’t so centered around the promise of infinite property value growth
- foobarian 2y agoI've been in New England a while and have the same experience. And for all the talk about "evil HOAs" I can't say I've run into such a thing here. Maybe they are more popular elsewhere and became a meme.
- smeej 2y agoI'm also in New England but grew up in suburban Denver and I think it might well just be a matter of the houses and neighborhoods' having existed before anybody got the bright idea to make HOAs. It's hard to enforce an HOA on owners who already have their houses. It's a different thing altogether when you're expanding into unbuilt territory.
- chneu 2y agoLook for suburban golf courses and you'll find hoas
- wrp 2y agoWhen Americans talk about getting rid of lawns, they generally assume that means allowing just sparse or natural growth over the same construction arrangement. I'm thinking of Tucson, Arizona and places around New Mexico. I think there is a much better approach. I'm lived around the Middle East, where most residential planning is around walls and courtyards. It's a wonderful use of space. I would always prefer a house with a courtyard over the traditional American open layout, lawn or no lawn.
- arbuge 2y agoCorrect. In Europe and Mexico, South America etc. this is also the building pattern. The walls of the house go up to the sidewalk and all the yard space (if any) is at the back. And maybe a courtyard, as you said.
- lo_zamoyski 2y agoThis is also common in Mexico. Spanish influence. It creates a private space for the residents, which I think is nice.
- DoughnutHole 2y agoI have to assume this is entirely because American architectural practices are ultimately derived from England’s, where courtyards are not particularly helpful. They make perfect sense in warm, sunny regions like the Mediterranean because they provide a shaded and comparatively cool area on hot sunny summer days. The courtyard giving shade is a negative in England since it seldom gets very hot and so people are actively trying to enjoy the sun, not hide from it. And as a double whammy a courtyard means more exposed walls so a home that’s harder to heat in colder winters. Of course plenty of Americans live in places much hotter and sunnier than England - but their English heritage has left them with standard building practices unsuited to their environment.
- wonder_er 2y agoHOA's are part of how supremacists of the day, after losing a tool ("state-backed discrimination, segregation, and oppression of ppl of the global majority") figured out how to hide the oppression elsewhere. The concept in american jurisprudence of 'the government is less likely to interfere with contracts between private parties' meant refusing to sell a home to a person of the global majority, while being illegal in some ways, is no longer illegal if it's backed by this fictional entity called "a home owner's association". The belief in political authority, and indeed any sort of authority, is sometimes hard to view as anything but a dangerous superstition.
- JKCalhoun 2y agoSo you're saying some people enjoy a power trip.
- kylehotchkiss 2y agoEspecially older people who didn’t have a fulfilling career. HOAs satisfy their desire for power and control. It’s really dumb we allow this quasi-government with no due process (I couldn’t mow because I was ill, for example) to exist.
- mech987876 2y agoI have no idea what you are saying.
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- surfmike 2y agoWhen I've lived abroad everyone (Norway, Poland, Canada...) almost everyone also had lawns in the suburbs. This is not an American-only thing. Obviously the HOA resistance to anything different is bad, but less than 30% of homes in the US are in a HOA. Most homes with a yard without an HOA still have a green lawn.
- Oarch 2y agoWhy would anyone do drugs when they could just mow a lawn? - Hank Hill