Vox and PBS ask 'Why do we have grass lawns?'

Today is Prime Day, but I'm not feeling like recounting a tale of the Retail Apocalypse the Retail Apocalypse that involves Amazon.* Instead, I'm continuing with the theme of how humans change the environment I explored in yesterday's PBS Terra on 'the invasive Burmese Pythons of the Everglades' for World Snake Day. That was an accidental introduction that produced an invasive species. Today, I'm examining a deliberate change in the landscape, Vox asking and answering Why do we have grass lawns?

Lawns aren’t natural. Why do so many Americans have them?
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Grass lawns are so ubiquitous in the US you would assume that they're the most natural and obvious choice for what to put in our yards. But turf grass is not only not native to the US, but it takes a lot of time, money, and resources to maintain.

Today, some cities are offering "cash for grass" programs and giving residents as much as $25,000 to replace their turf grass lawns with more environmentally sustainable options.

But some people still like green grass lawns and enjoy maintaining them, so what should they do? In this video we go through the multitude of options that yard owners have and talk to experts to see what they have to say.

I have a lawn, but I inherited it when I bought the house and I live in Michigan, where I don't have to water it. If I still lived in southern California and owned a house there, I'd have replaced any lawn on the property with something more water-conserving and sustainable, like the landscape Sara Bendrick planted.

Speaking of southern California, PBS returns there to examine turf grass, both on lawns and golf courses, as it explains How Lawns Became the Status Symbol of the United States.

How much do you really know about the grass beneath your feet? It turns out, there's a whole lot more to it than meets the tee. Shane ventures beyond the green lawns and learns about the costly and cultural resources at play when it comes to maintaining this so called "crop."

Hearing about the regulatory environment that promotes lawns reminds me of what I wrote in Oak Park Woman plants vegetable garden; city objects 13 years ago.

If you're interested in sustainability on the local and personal levels, your biggest obstacles will be homeowners associations, zoning boards, and city councils. Those people will be wedded to business as usual long after it becomes apparent to early adopters that BAU just isn't working any more. Watch those local governing entities hang onto the past like adherents of a cargo cult.
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When it comes to enforcing business as usual (BAU) norms of middle-class respectability as a way of maintaining property values, Oak Park does not play. Oak Park is so afraid of catching what they think Detroit has, which is blight, that they restrict what property owners can do more than neighboring cities and enforce their will with a vengeance. Put your trash cans out too early or leave them out too long and the police will ticket you. Let your grass grow too high and the city will mow your lawn for you and then bill you. You can only hold two yard sales per year and you have to inform the city in advance. If you want to drink wine while dining in the city, you're out of luck; there are no restaurants with liquor licenses. The list goes on and on.

Of course, the people who live there and like it make a point of saying that the police will arrive before you hang up your call to 911, but all the above is the flip side of what the locals praise as "great city services." I hope their property values and middle-class sensibilities are worth it.

Remember, that controversy was about replacing a lawn with a vegetable garden, something more useful and productive.

Also, watching the scenes of suburbia reminds me that this was the week I used to show The End of Suburbia and now show Treasures of the Earth: Power. I no longer require my students to watch James Howard Kunstler and the rest of the Prophets of Doom, but they can still watch The End of Suburbia for extra credit. After all, I conserve my resources.

*I'm also not posting anything involving current events. That's because my blog passed its monthly page view goal just before Noon on Monday, so I'm once again blogging about more evergreen topics that will be good to share in August, like the environmental cost of lawns. This also includes this year's Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards, which will be announced later this morning. Look for me to write about them, beginning with examining how Gold Derby's predictions for Emmy-nominated shows fared tomorrow. Stay tuned.