Pawns with Lawns (Mickey Z.)

[Tace]

Mickey Z. -- World News Trust

Mar. 1, 2009 -- The single most irrigated crop in the United States is… (drum roll please) lawn. Yep, 40 million acres of lawn exist across the Land of Denial and Americans collectively spend about $40 billion on seed, sod, and chemicals each year. And then there's all that water.

If you include golf courses, lawns in America cover an area roughly the size of New York State and require 238 gallons of (usually drinking-quality) water per person, per day. According to the EPA, nearly a third of all residential water use in the US goes toward what is euphemistically known as "landscaping."

We have become a nation of pawns with lawns. Food comes from the drive-thru, entertainment is televised, the concept of play exists on hand-held computers, democracy is a reality show every four years, and that tiny parcel of land we allegedly share with some bailed out bank is inevitably set aside to be a lawn.

As described by Ted Steinberg, author of American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn, when it comes to lawns, social and ecological factors often work in coordination. "Perfection became a commodity of post-World War II prefabricated housing such as Levittown, N.Y., in the late 1940s," writes Steinberg. "Mowing became a priority of the bylaws of such communities."

Lawn mowers produce several types of pollutants, including ozone precursors, carbon dioxide, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (classified as probable carcinogens by the CDC). In fact, operating a typical gasoline mower produces as much polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as driving a car roughly 95 miles. Since some folks are legally required to maintain a lawn (more about that shortly), here's a suggestion or two: human-powered mowers or try using your bicycle.

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http://www.worldnewstrust.com/wnt-reports/commentary/pawns-with-lawns-mickey-z.html

[ensho]

1. true

the gardner and curb appeal TV shows are turning more and more Green. showing how to have a beautiful yard in a new way. life is change and loss.

[bertman]

2. My brother is heavily addicted to his lawn. I fortunately was the one who did the lawn

care for our family during my formative years and have long since abandoned any desire or love for lawns.

Natural is best.

What is beyond amazing to me is how few Americans understand the grave danger we face from insufficient water supplies and polluted water supplies. Every community is one major drought away from NO POTABLE WATER. Yet our elected officials act as if there is a limitless supply of that life-giving substance and that we can use it as we see fit.

Just one more standard-of-living change that's coming down the pike. Or, maybe I should say, pipe.

Recommend.