Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Friday, October 02, 2015

Now Liberals Want to Eliminate the Lawn in Front of Your House to ‘Save the Planet’

A liberal from Dallas, Texas, has just proposed that we get rid of our front lawns because lawns create global warming, or are bad on the environment, or some such thing.

Writing for the Dallas Observer, columnist Eric Nicholson says that lawns are only for “uptight jerks” and are “not healthy.” He also says they are bad for the environment.

Since the non-native grasses that compose most lawns can’t be kept green with rainfall alone, and because water and sunlight make the plant grow, lawns require intensive intervention, sucking up a total of about 9 billion gallons of water per day in aggregate and costing the average homeowners about 70 hours of labor per year. Lawns tend to be punishing for the environment as well. In addition to the ecological effects of runoff, which can overwhelm water bodies with excess levels of nitrogen and phosphorous, there’s the act of lawn-mowing itself. According to National Geographic, one hour running a gas mower can pollute as much as driving a car for four hours.

Lawns are particularly troublesome in arid cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, where it’s a challenge to find enough water for people to drink, much less keep a bunch of ornamental grass verdant. The water crunch in a place like Dallas is less acute, but the principles at play are the same. There isn’t nearly enough available water to sustain the population long-term without intensive conservation efforts or massive infrastructure investment. North Texans remain attached to their lawns, though recent price hikes for water may spur many to reassess the value of a green yard.

There really aren’t that many good reasons for lawns. Responding to a Wonkblog piece describing lawns (accurately) as a “soul-crushing time suck,” Turf magazine editor Ron Hall critiques the author for failing to mention “the economic value that nicely maintained lawns add to properties. It doesn’t hint at the good will and sense of civility lawns engender in our neighborhoods. But, the biggest omission in the piece is piece is its failure to mention the well-documented environmental pluses lawns contribute to our communities — capturing dust, their cooling effect, reducing runoff, etc.”


This is the mind of a liberal.

Source

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

really again?
we need to start finding some island somewhere to put all these idiots on to live.
Can't take it anymore

Anonymous said...

Obviously another Obama voter.

Anonymous said...

maybe this fool wants to blacktop the whole world

Anonymous said...

I am a conservative that believes we should grow gardens not lawns. People put a lot of chemicals on lawns. We would all be better off to take a step back and start over. Monoculture crops are killing us, pesticides on our vegetables are killing us, and fertilizers on crops and lawns are killing us. Years from now we will wake up and say yes we should not have focused so much on green lawns.

Anonymous said...

Give them all California!

Anonymous said...

I am all for the garden idea but liberals don't like that either, check it out all the different people who have gotten fined or threatened with jail for having or growing their own food!

Anonymous said...

good point 3:43

Anonymous said...

I'd love to plow up all our grass and put in stone, timbers, native plants, vegetables, perennials. Anything to not have to mow grass all summer.

Anonymous said...

Some bird brain that doesn't like to cut grass.

Anonymous said...

Happening in Salisbury, thanks to Jim Ireton, Jake Day and Josh Hastings and the like. Josh "would rather build up than build out."

Anonymous said...

I have a garden as half my front yard. It's the only part that requires fertilizer and pesticides to keep it going.

The grass does just fine on its own...

Anonymous said...

everyone should have a garden. then you know where your food comes from and save a few bucks.